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President Washington PA/NB Mod?

will85w4

Active Member
Apr 12, 2010
152
6
26
Coachella Valley, So Cal
My Pres. Washington radio has two mods on it that I'm not sure what they do or where they go...

I know when listening to the radio earlier today, I was on 22LSB and pushed in the PA button and I heard the same thing I had heard on Ch. 6 AM a few seconds before...

Any ideas? I've tried searching online, but can't find anything relevant...
 

My Pres. Washington radio has two mods on it that I'm not sure what they do or where they go...

I know when listening to the radio earlier today, I was on 22LSB and pushed in the PA button and I heard the same thing I had heard on Ch. 6 AM a few seconds before...

Any ideas? I've tried searching online, but can't find anything relevant...

Sorry. It has two buttons on the front bottom right corner of the radio...

PA and NB

When I push these two in, that's what I don't know...what kind of mod is this?
 
Someone has added extra channels to the radio. If it is a 2 button version of the Washington look for channel mods using a 858 PLL. I have a 3 button version with the 8719 PLL and when I got it, a previous owner had put extra channels on the NB button, and had added a push/pull switch to the mic gain knob for the other switch to add channels to my version.
 
Someone has added extra channels to the radio. If it is a 2 button version of the Washington look for channel mods using a 858 PLL. I have a 3 button version with the 8719 PLL and when I got it, a previous owner had put extra channels on the NB button, and had added a push/pull switch to the mic gain knob for the other switch to add channels to my version.

this is what we were thinking. I would like to get a Freq meter to see where it goes...
 
it is a channel modification.

the normal CB 40 channels go from 26.965 (ch.1) to 27.405 (ch.40).

during the hayday of cb radio these channels became constantly crowded when the skip was rolling and so people began to venture above and below the normal 40 channels in search of some quieter frequencies.

there are still people using these freqs to this day.
the frequencies below channel 1 are generally AM operators, and the freqs above channel 40 are generally SSB operators.

to find out what frequencies you have, we will need to take the top and bottom covers off of your radio.

this is not difficult and wont mess anything up as long as you promise yourself beforehand that you're not going to mess with anything in there. LOL

when you take the top cover off, look for the largest IC chip on the board, and post the numbers that are on it.
they will either be UPD858 or MB8719.

when you take the bottom cover off, you will notice some wires going to this chip on the solder (green) side of the board.

these wires will run to either your PA or NB switch, or both.

some good closeup pics of these areas will help alot in determining exactly what mod was done, and that will allow us to find out what freq range you have when you push the switch in.
LC
 
it is a channel modification.

the normal CB 40 channels go from 26.965 (ch.1) to 27.405 (ch.40).

during the hayday of cb radio these channels became constantly crowded when the skip was rolling and so people began to venture above and below the normal 40 channels in search of some quieter frequencies.

there are still people using these freqs to this day.
the frequencies below channel 1 are generally AM operators, and the freqs above channel 40 are generally SSB operators.

to find out what frequencies you have, we will need to take the top and bottom covers off of your radio.

this is not difficult and wont mess anything up as long as you promise yourself beforehand that you're not going to mess with anything in there. LOL

when you take the top cover off, look for the largest IC chip on the board, and post the numbers that are on it.
they will either be UPD858 or MB8719.

when you take the bottom cover off, you will notice some wires going to this chip on the solder (green) side of the board.

these wires will run to either your PA or NB switch, or both.

some good closeup pics of these areas will help alot in determining exactly what mod was done, and that will allow us to find out what freq range you have when you push the switch in.
LC

Sounds good. As soon as I get a little bit of free time (I'm married) I'll take a look and take some pics...
 
so, what was the wife's reaction the first time she saw that antenna up in the air?

im sure we all have a story or two about that. LOL

mine just stood there in disbelief for a second, and then said, "oh the neighbors are just gonna love us!"

LC
 
so, what was the wife's reaction the first time she saw that antenna up in the air?

im sure we all have a story or two about that. LOL

mine just stood there in disbelief for a second, and then said, "oh the neighbors are just gonna love us!"

LC

Well, it was actually a pretty funny story...

She kinda stood there and went, "It's sooo BIG!"

I just laughed and told her, "Yeah, the bigger the better."

Then another time, we were on Catalina Island (very nice if you've never been there, you gotta go Ziplining!).

So, she loves BIG dogs! We were walking down Crescent Ave and there was a guy that had a HUGE Newfoundland! So what does she do? She runs up to the dog with open arms and kinda looks at the guy and then back down to the dog and says, "Oh my god, I love BIG Things!" A bystander hears the comment and looks at me standing there next to her and says, "Congratulations!"...I had to laugh at the comment, but my wife was so enthralled with the dog she didn't hear the comment...Lots of laughs over drinks later that night retelling the story!!!
 
Ok, back to business. Here's some pictures of the internals of my radio...
 

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LOL that was pretty funny.

great pics BTW, i love it when people post detailed pics of old radios here on the forum. helps future searchers.

looks like you have freqs both above 40 and below 1.

my guess is that your radio goes from 26.455 to 27.805.

its hard to tell because whoever did the mod used all the same color wires.
(i hate it when people do that! LOL)

as far as what switch does what, its hard to tell, but here is my guess:

when both switches are out you have the normal 1-40 (26.965 to 27.405)

with both switches in: (starting on channel 8) 27.455 to 27.805

one switch in: (starting on channel 8) 26.455 to 26.805)

other switch in: (channels 8-20) 26.855 to 27.005

there are some freqs that will be skipped because of the cb "a" channels.

you will probably have to get a freq counter to know where you are at, unless you have a very patient friend who can follow you around and find you as you transmit.

good luck with it, lots of good skip above 40 on SSB when the conditions are good.
LC
 
I have a Uniden Base Station, 40 channel Washington model. Its still in working condition. Trying to find it's value
 

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