does he have videos of his work online? I searched youtube and couldnt find itHere is the web site, many forum members here have used him with no issues at all.
CUSTOM CB RADIOS – CB Radio sales and service
customcbradios.com
Custom CB Radios
722 W. National Ave
Brazil In. 47834
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Radio repair
- Thread starter dbc2065
- Start date
I doubt it, he spends his time working on radio's rather then running a you tube channel. He used to be a tech at Sparky's CB Shack in Illinois maybe 12-14 years ago er so. He then moved to Indiana and opened Custom CB Radio's. Sparky had a stroke in maybe 2011 or 2012 and his shop is no longer around.
I have tried the McKinley in normal temp. conditions and even a buddy of mine tells me it doesn't sound right when he listens to it. Unlocking the clarifier is something I am willing to try. People bitch about Galaxy radio drifting but I have 2 ea. Galaxy 979 with the FC-347 Freq. counter plugged in the back of both of them and and have no problems with them. Yes I have noticed in the winter the galaxy mobiles need some warm up. By the way I also have the Galaxy 2547 base so I'm not afraid of the Galaxy radios. With all the praise the McKinley gets from forum members I'm sure I was just unfortunate and got one of their little Lemons. My sense of humor could make me compare it to other sources of aggravation but I will behave this time only ! LOL
Maybe the radio was dropped in shipping.. The USPS and FedEx are notorious for treating packages badly. I have nothing against galaxy radios, and the little they drift, when they do, isn't a deal breaker for me because they sound great. My friend has a 2547 that I aligned and it hasn't drifted at all in 4 years.
I'm probably going to catch heat for this, but there is a way to do a rough alignment to the radio without a frequency counter using a cell phone, but it only works if both ch1 and ch40 are off by the same amount (which indicates that the 10MHz oscillator is accurate, but if these two channels are off by different amounts, don't bother trying this as it won't work). What you do is take a radio you know to be on frequency, remove the final mirror board on both radios so they are not making power, and let both warm up. Download an audio signal generator app and set it to 1kHz. play that tone into the radio in need of adjustment while listening on the good radio and adjust the bad radio until the sound going into the mic is zero beating against the sound coming out of the good radio. Then, do the same in the other direction adjusting the receive until it zero beats again.
Again, only do this if the 10MHz oscillator is set right, indicated by all channels being off the same amount, because trying it with that oscillator off freq will lead you straight to the BFH method.
The only reason I am suggesting this is because, in my experience, the 10MHz oscillator is usually set right by hack shops because it is less susceptible to loading down with a counter probe. The adjustments using the balanced modulator for a test point are more easily overloaded with a probe, so that's usually where people screw up during alignments because they don't have an active probe on their bench. This tends to make my phone suggestion viable.
I'm probably going to catch heat for this, but there is a way to do a rough alignment to the radio without a frequency counter using a cell phone, but it only works if both ch1 and ch40 are off by the same amount (which indicates that the 10MHz oscillator is accurate, but if these two channels are off by different amounts, don't bother trying this as it won't work). What you do is take a radio you know to be on frequency, remove the final mirror board on both radios so they are not making power, and let both warm up. Download an audio signal generator app and set it to 1kHz. play that tone into the radio in need of adjustment while listening on the good radio and adjust the bad radio until the sound going into the mic is zero beating against the sound coming out of the good radio. Then, do the same in the other direction adjusting the receive until it zero beats again.
Again, only do this if the 10MHz oscillator is set right, indicated by all channels being off the same amount, because trying it with that oscillator off freq will lead you straight to the BFH method.
The only reason I am suggesting this is because, in my experience, the 10MHz oscillator is usually set right by hack shops because it is less susceptible to loading down with a counter probe. The adjustments using the balanced modulator for a test point are more easily overloaded with a probe, so that's usually where people screw up during alignments because they don't have an active probe on their bench. This tends to make my phone suggestion viable.
That is always a possibility but as soon as you mention something is wrong people go on the defensive and the BS begins and at my age I'm trying to eliminate all the stress in life because I wasn't taught to always Fight Nice ! LOL And thanks for your suggestion but my training has been in mechanical not electronics and I'm sorry for that. I have to leave it for the pros.
If I could find a transmit freq. adjustment pot for sideband I might try tweaking that to get it to 27.3850. I know the 27.3853 makes a difference in the receive !
Oh you remember Steel rod at the 201 on 65? there was another guy if I recall radio active? my owner operator days.
Radioactive Radio's is long gone I believe. And thank goodness, they did enough damage and stole enough money from people with their "whack pak" and "super whack pak" mods.
I think this was the final straw......
73
Jeff
Radioactive radios, that's a trip down memory lane. There were a few others that come to mind around that same time frame, some credible while others not so much. Star electronics and communications was one I bought from then there was Power by Preacher somewhere down south who's ads popped up a lot, sparky's cb shack, cb radios plus, pacific radios, of whom I purchased a few Texas star amps from. All those seem to be prominent circa 2005 or so.
Edit:
H&Y electronics, another I made multiple purchases from.
Some of these we know but some one can only wonder whatever happened to them!
Edit:
H&Y electronics, another I made multiple purchases from.
Some of these we know but some one can only wonder whatever happened to them!
Last edited:
H&Y was good for amps back then, before them Charley 3 always had great deals.
Bill Good was the best tech on the west coast before he passed, and there used to be shops all up and down the highway 99 corridor in central ca.
That was a few years ago.
73
Jeff
The patriarch of the family that owned H&Y died a few years back. He was the shrewd puppy with all the factory connections and management smarts. Management of H&Y fell to some worthless nephew types who bled it dry. Blew away never to be seen again.
I can't say I miss the old guy. He was convinced that I'm a moron because I wouldn't resell his radios and get rich.
Not sure he was wrong, but he's gone.
73
Let's see...
Jericho in Bakersfield
Flash in tulare... still open
Cb shop in fresno old 99
Dog house cb just south of fresno along the 99
Red monkey in fresno
Woodcutter I believe it was north of 152 along the 99... there might be more but that's all I can remember
I knew Steve (farm boy) at Red Monkey and Bill the tech in a wheel chair.
When they were on the west side of 99 down there it was a busy place.
Woodcutter moved up here after he sold the shop but I have not talked to him in years.
73
Jeff