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Realistic TRC-448, 40 CHL SSB-AM

TXRiverRat

TXRiverRat

New/old timer CBer
Jun 18, 2019
15
14
13
73
Austin TX area
Found a couple old TRC-448's. One was my late father-in-law's, and 1 I got off EBAY from a guy in Canada. The one from Ebay looks almost new, and the 1 from my father-in-law was sitting in an old garage for over 30+ years. Both seemed to work OK. Just looking for some thoughts as to opinions of this model of radio for today's radio usage. Just put up a Procom Patriot 12' antenna, 26 feet in the air. I'm limited on hgt due to being in a HOA area.
I'm an old CBer from back in the early '70's, just trying to get back into the CB atmosphere. I just retired and am looking for a hobby again.
 
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Those are fantastic radios. I ran one as my base for years off of a Radio Shack/Micronta 2.5 amp power supply. My antenna was a Radio Shack/Archer .64 wave and I was using a Turner +3 base mic. It was one excellent sounding rig.

I never tweaked mine, but folks would get an impressive number of additional channels out of them.

Luck is on your side.
 
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Hang on to those radios. I believe they are Uniden built and still can outperform the radios built today. Get on the air and have some fun. Then start studying for you ameture license. HF bands are a blast. I am retired and was doing CB back in the 70s and started back up in late 90s. Got my General license and I am having more fun that ever. 11 meters or CB is just another band to have fun on for me.
 
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Alan Blackmon said:
Hang on to those radios. I believe they are Uniden built and still can outperform the radios built today. Get on the air and have some fun. Then start studying for you ameture license. HF bands are a blast. I am retired and was doing CB back in the 70s and started back up in late 90s. Got my General license and I am having more fun that ever. 11 meters or CB is just another band to have fun on for me.
Click to expand...

EASIER SAID THAN DONE! lol. I have forgotten most of what I learned from my Air Force days.
You see, I was a "Manual Morse Intercept Operator" (Ditty Bopper), USAFSS , (R29231, R20731, R20751),back in the early '70s. I should know the code, but it's been a long time. I really wasn't very good at it. But my grandfather was happy I had some training. He was a Railroad Depot Agent for over 50 years, in the early to mid 1900s. They used code between stations. He only had 1 hand, and sent code with a metal hook as a hand on the end of his wrist. (wore out several Morse key pads).

These radios have tags that say Radio Shack Realistic, & China, but I have heard that some of these models are thru Uniden. I was beginning to have a few problems with them, so I've sent them off to the "CBMAN" in TN, to have them checked and possibly repaired and tweaked; hope to hear from him sometime soon. Right now I'm just playing with a Midland 13-882C, 23 chl, another one of my late father-in-law's radios.

Thanks for your input.

TXRiverRat
Central TX
 
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TXRiverRat said:
EASIER SAID THAN DONE! lol. I have forgotten most of what I learned from my Air Force days.
You see, I was a "Manual Morse Intercept Operator" (Ditty Bopper), USAFSS , (R29231, R20731, R20751),back in the early '70s. I should know the code, but it's been a long time. I really wasn't very good at it. But my grandfather was happy I had some training. He was a Railroad Depot Agent for over 50 years, in the early to mid 1900s. They used code between stations. He only had 1 hand, and sent code with a metal hook as a hand on the end of his wrist. (wore out several Morse key pads).

These radios have tags that say Radio Shack Realistic, & China, but I have heard that some of these models are thru Uniden. I was beginning to have a few problems with them, so I've sent them off to the "CBMAN" in TN, to have them checked and possibly repaired and tweaked; hope to hear from him sometime soon. Right now I'm just playing with a Midland 13-882C, 23 chl, another one of my late father-in-law's radios.

Thanks for your input.

TXRiverRat
Central TX
Click to expand...

Good news (for some) is there is no longer a code requirement. Just a short test to get on as a Technician license, then move to general with another test at same time (free to try if you pass the Tech test).. cost is like $15 most places, see do it for free.
 
TRC448 is NOT a Uniden-made radio.

Pretty sure it was made by NDI, Nihon Dengyo Inc.

Not a bad one, but not a Uniden. The REC86345 PLL chip is a real dinosaur, not used in many other models or brands. Adding extra frequencies becomes risky business without proper precautions for unprotected MOS chips like that one.

At least the factory service manual is posted at CB Tricks, so I guess it's not a complete orphan.

73
 
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Great radio, I have 2 both work I did buy the second one for parts if needed in the future, they are in the same Sams as the Cobra 2000.
Made in Japan and built in an unorthodox way compared to what others were doing at the time. Do not let anyone mess with the limiter, I found they work great with a Super Star hand microphone.
To this day I still get compliments on sideband talking to hf rigs.
If you want to get rid of them, let me know.
Good luck and happy 73’s to ya
Flash, Alabama 327
 
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Nomad is right as it isn't a uniden board. If you look at the main board it is in 2 sections joined together.
 
One of the things I liked about this radio is it had separate internal adjustments for AM and SSB Mic gain.
I ran a stock mike with very good results.
The only real modification to TX aside from just adjusting Mic gain levels was I cut the control traces to the PLL and added pull down resistors across the cuts and switched the pins with mini toggles neatly mounted in the bottom cover.
And yes it had a nice big meter.
The Rx backlight was changed to green, Tx was changed to Orange.
I don't remember for sure now ( been many years) but I think that board did not us a IC for audio.
Two transistors used in push / pull was the set up.
What I did NOT like about the radio was the crappy RS mike plug.
Output was great to drive the Magum 6000 Amp that was behind it and it was mean and clean
I bought that radio for a whopping $75 bucks, bone stock with the box and everything that came with it new.
It was a DX machine with that amp and a Francis 8 foot whip.
If I could hear them, I could talk to them.
The only thing that could have made it any better would have been a frequency counter.
I spent several hours one day over at Tracy's place ( KE6OYE) with a freq counter flipping switches and writing a road map for the radio.
Ah, the good old days......

73
Jeff
 
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