Round two: 70-80's Radio. Which ones were the cream of the crop?

[mechanic]

Cream of the vintage crop? A very subjective question. However I don't think that there will be much disagreement with these choices: (Yes I know some of them are base radios!)


Trams of course. Why? In a word, overbuilt. Pick one up and you can feel the quality.

Brownings. Need I say more? Okay, the Mark IV was problematic but when they worked, they worked wonderfully.

I've said it before: Pearce-Simpsons. If you couldn't afford a Tram or Browning, this was the next best thing.

The old 23-channel Sonars had a great sound to them and IMO are a worthy addition to any serious CB collection.

I'm told that the Demco Satellite (all 5 pieces) were a force to be reckoned with but in over 40 years of CBing I've never heard one on the air.

Johnson Viking. When you want to totally dominate a channel. If you've ever heard one on the air, you won't forget it. If you haven't, you have no idea of just how good AM can sound.

On to the more esoteric:

CPI: Seriously now, was there anything more advanced for it's time? They looked and were built like nothing else. 100% made in USA. Could there be anything better?

Well, yes...

Was the Stoner the best CB radio ever? Tough call. An SSB-only radio that cost more than anything else on the market? Definitely not for your average CB'er. They had to be doing something right, pristine examples still bring four figures on the used market.

Lesser known but still a major contender was the ARF 2001. Talk about advanced for it's time! Who the hell knew what a microprocessor was back in the 70's? Damn fine radio.

A friend of mine had an old Demco and it was a super rig! great audio on both RX and TX.... must be the tubes! I have two HyGain 623s with a tube final, TV sweep tube I think. Cannot wait till they are up and running!

73 mechanic

 

[N8YX]

My faves are the CPI line, SBE LCB8/LCBS4/8 (still looking for a good example of each) and the HyGain 623.

CPI's receivers are second to none with regards to its CB competition. A/B switching tests between my base set and a number of higher-end ham rigs in the shack show the CP2000 to be very close in performance to even the best engineered of the bunch. About the only thing missing IMHO is a good IF notch filter and possibly a shift control or narrow SSB filter selector switch but otherwise those radios work fine for their intended purpose.

 

[Wire Weasel]

If a 40 ch is good with you....and why wouldn't you want one if any radio up to 12/79 is okay with you, then I would pick the Cobra 148GTL. President Adams was my favorite 40ch SSB from back then but it may be an 80's model.

If you are going to pick a 23ch then the above Brownings and Trams are good and I always loved the looks of the Kraco SSB Deluxe.

Good luck

 

[kd-5-bgt]

Cobra 148 would be a great choice,that radio has been in production for a very long time...Royce made some pretty decent radios as well

I had a Royce 641 base that was a solid old rig....and from what my feeble mind can recall they made pretty nice mobiles as well

 

[70cst]

Great info all. Thanks

 

[70cst]

Cream of the vintage crop? A very subjective question. However I don't think that there will be much disagreement with these choices: (Yes I know some of them are base radios!)


Trams of course. Why? In a word, overbuilt. Pick one up and you can feel the quality.

Brownings. Need I say more? Okay, the Mark IV was problematic but when they worked, they worked wonderfully.

I've said it before: Pearce-Simpsons. If you couldn't afford a Tram or Browning, this was the next best thing.

The old 23-channel Sonars had a great sound to them and IMO are a worthy addition to any serious CB collection.

I'm told that the Demco Satellite (all 5 pieces) were a force to be reckoned with but in over 40 years of CBing I've never heard one on the air.

Johnson Viking. When you want to totally dominate a channel. If you've ever heard one on the air, you won't forget it. If you haven't, you have no idea of just how good AM can sound.

On to the more esoteric:

CPI: Seriously now, was there anything more advanced for it's time? They looked and were built like nothing else. 100% made in USA. Could there be anything better?

Well, yes...

Was the Stoner the best CB radio ever? Tough call. An SSB-only radio that cost more than anything else on the market? Definitely not for your average CB'er. They had to be doing something right, pristine examples still bring four figures on the used market.

Lesser known but still a major contender was the ARF 2001. Talk about advanced for it's time! Who the hell knew what a microprocessor was back in the 70's? Damn fine radio.

Great info ...Thanks

 

[Johnno]

Had a picture of C W McCall on the Box, and his signature as well, I am sure you remember the song that reached number one position on the Billboard pop and country charts by him, Convoy.

Like this one?

 

[unit_399]

My choice for a vintage mobile setup would be the President Adams. Uniden's top-of-the-line 858ssb rig. Made in 1979. Full-featured including 2-channel scan, built-in speech processing, and Uniden quality. This was the mobile rig to have back in the day. Hard to find. Second choices would be the Cobra 138XLR or the original President Grant (3 push-button front). These two have all of the features of the Adams except the scan. Great audio (even with the stock hand mike), and excellent receive. Looking forward to seeing the end result of your restoration. 73s.

- 399

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Sonar FS-2340 and a D-104.

 

[Hairball]

SBE Console V.

 

[dave457]

Trc 457

 

[TM86]

I really like the Madison I had in the 80's.

I'll have to see how the CPI I picked up on flea bay does once I have the guts to rip into it to do a recap and apply power.

 

[cralt]

In my eyes it doesn't get much more 70's then the Kraco De Luxe CB's.


Those underdash midlands where kinda cool too.


But I think the problem with these cool old 23 channel sets is everyone is going to have off or failed crystals

 

[Crawdad]

Those underdash midlands where kinda cool too.

That's outside the box,eh?

 

[Ziploc]

Realistic trc 449