Why are mobile CB radios stuck in the 70s?

[w9cll]

Nothing wrong with a little Echo on AM

Well...

 

[Greg T]

Because a lot of CB'er's are not that bright. We have a lot of cavemen with 1970's thinking.

Just like the people that take a 3/4-1 Ton diesel truck and proceed to put low profile giant tires, wheel extensions, huge lift kits and then roal coal with terrible tunes! They think they are cool but the rest of us think they are idiots!

The Stryker 955 is the poster child of everything wrong in CB even though it is not a type accepted CB radio. The face is too packed with controls to be properly usable in a mobile while driving. It has been since it came to market. As an export radio or 10m radio it is almostly stupid!

If someone gave me one I would use it and smile every time I used it. I would never spend what they charge for one. Add a little more and you could get a real amatuer HF radio.

Now the Stryker 955 would make a great base station for someone that wants to over pay for things they will likely not use, limit the amplifiers you can pair with it and have a radio that should you decide to punch your ticket will be of no use to you go ahead. I also forgot to mention how HUGE it is which makes mounting in a modern car difficult. Most of us today do not drive pedo vans and Tractor Trailers. In fact if you are not and owner/operator you might not be able to find space in the company truck which is likely a leased vehicle and not customized so a lot will not accept anything larger than a Cobra 29 or 25 sized radio.

What we really want is a an old school President Lincoln with a ChipSwitch or an RCI 2950 Shrunk down to Cobra 29 size. We want solid controls like radio's from the 1980's and 1990's had not the cheap garbage controls we have today on the modern RCI2950 and modern President Lincoln II, II+, Magnum, Yeti Optima. Modern controls feel like they are fragile and worn out when new out of the box!

You have to get rid of the ignorant and low value buyers before you can have anything good. You have to have a large enough market to be of value and you have to have a market that will vote with their wallets until the market gives them what they actual want! If you just buy what ever they kick out the door nothing changes.

As long as a market is made of super consumers you will never get quality you will get gimmicks and cosmetics. You can see this with cars and trucks that are loaded with fairly worthless content. Most of it will not be working on the truck 5, 10, 15 years latter.

Blue LED's and all the other garbage is just that garbage! It damages night vision, increases eye strain and interrupts your natural sleep and hormones! I am not Boe and Luke Duke, I am not Rosco P Coltrane or Cooter and I do not want my radio choices to be limited to radio's that Rosco P Coltrane would find cool!

There is a reason we do not see blue led's in aircraft cockpits, military vehicle displays, lab equipment, or rifle optics!

I gave up on seeing anything I want to own enter the market around 1998 when my first son was born and I got a President Lincoln. The only "New" radio I have purchased since was a NOS Yeti Optima because the price was right. All of the other radio's I have purchased post 1998 have been radios made prior to that. All of my other radio's have been gently used from about 1995 to about 1977.

I refuse to reward companies for putting out products I do not want.

Sadly I know that I am urinating into the wind because the average person buying a CB is not going to raise the bar or stop being a super consumer. I might as well hope for something impossible like the average driver using their turn signals and driving in a predictable, polite and sane manner!

The ignorant and "not so bright" authored this ↑↑↑↑ post ↑↑↑↑

 

[Smokinone]

First KISS...keep it simple stupid
Second, most of the electronics equipment from by gone era'a were over built, they ran cool all day long. Most of what I see today even in stereo equipment etc., run extremely HOT. Same with these new CB/10 meter rigs. They run hot. Heat is a killer to ekectronics, and the older engineers knew this and built their equipment keeping that in mind. Everything is pushed to the outer limits now, and typically don't last as long as older equipment. Of course tube stuff ran a little warmer than the transistorized stuff, but I still think they were designed with in mind.

 

[nfsus]

After ssb and 40ch was lined out, what was left? The pll changed the game but other than digitizing like some imports what's left on the old designs to add? FM?

Smt components have changed the ability to do much, processors have locked us into specific channels, parts so pitiful you cant peak one without breaking it.

The 02A, 8719 and older boards were tough and versatile. This new crap that's coming out is gonna be just fine until it breaks. New designs ain't the best way sometimes

 

[Rwb]

bone stock bearcat 980 x 2 n both used litte .both giving trouble.old radio shack hangin in third truck works every time.i dont truck much.but we got 3 semis and i need cb in them as unload info is sent via cb. sreamlined used very little 980 radios are litterally junk

 

[Rick330man]

One word: reliability.

My main radio at one base is an old Realistic TRC 490 SSB with a Turner Super Sidekick. I bought the radio brand new in 1981 and it is still working fine.

My main radio at a second base is an old Uniden PC-122 from their early production runs. It has with it a no-name, hand-held amplified mic. It works great and is rock solid on SSB.

I bought a brand new Uniden Bearcat 980 a couple of years back. I really liked it and thought it performed well until it died in its 6th month of service. I got my money back and went back to operating my reliable older units.

 

[Rwb]

One word: reliability.

My main radio at one base is an old Realistic TRC 490 SSB with a Turner Super Sidekick. I bought the radio brand new in 1981 and it is still working fine.

My main radio at a second base is an old Uniden PC-122 from their early production runs. It has with it a no-name, hand-held amplified mic. It works great and is rock solid on SSB.

I bought a brand new Uniden Bearcat 980 a couple of years back. I really liked it and thought it performed well until it died in its 6th month of service. I got my money back and went back to operating my reliable older units.

boy those 980 radios burned me. both are mounted top of cab in front in factory compartment. both are loosing screen visabity,1 jumps frequincy now n then when keying mic. no broke or shorted wires but might need to spread mic connecter pins tad. i got them both free but still yet not much useage. i bought fuel at same place n got points per gallon .1 nite the owner said cash in they expire at midnite so i bought both radios via ponts n had nuff left to get a big coffe n a king size candy bar,last items were better

 

[groundwire]

New radios are just overpriced junk, period! "I bought three of the same radio brand new and all of them did not work right", psshhh yeah, new radio's are awesome hahahahaha

 

[guitar_199]

Perhaps I am over-simplifying...but I don't think so.

Today's electronics have gone two ways(sort of)

1) Surfacemount technology. Little tiny pieces that just lay down and solder to the board, and

2) High density semiconductor packaging. (processors, programmable arrays, but all VERY high density as far as individual gates/transistors on the wafer are concerned)

BOTH OF THESE add up to "smaller parts can NOT take as much heat". When you consider THAT with....mobile radios..... well.... they tend to get mounted in vehicles....and it gets hot in those vehicles.

The old "back in the day" radios were made with individual transistors. One transistor "per package". Other passive parts were larger also.Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me like the larger, less dense parts... can handle the heat better.

Then... you add in these backlit liquid crystal (or whatever they are) these days... some of these seem to change lightness/darkness with the vehicle heat as well.

If you are going to take it home and set it under an air conditioner on your desk... maybe these things will hold up... I don't know. But it seems to me that the older "back in the days" radios... just took it all in stride.

 

[Rwb]

Perhaps I am over-simplifying...but I don't think so.

Today's electronics have gone two ways(sort of)

1) Surfacemount technology. Little tiny pieces that just lay down and solder to the board, and

2) High density semiconductor packaging. (processors, programmable arrays, but all VERY high density as far as individual gates/transistors on the wafer are concerned)

BOTH OF THESE add up to "smaller parts can NOT take as much heat". When you consider THAT with....mobile radios..... well.... they tend to get mounted in vehicles....and it gets hot in those vehicles.

The old "back in the day" radios were made with individual transistors. One transistor "per package". Other passive parts were larger also.Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me like the larger, less dense parts... can handle the heat better.

Then... you add in these backlit liquid crystal (or whatever they are) these days... some of these seem to change lightness/darkness with the vehicle heat as well.

If you are going to take it home and set it under an air conditioner on your desk... maybe these things will hold up... I don't know. But it seems to me that the older "back in the days" radios... just took it all in stride.

Got that rite

 

[secret squirrel]

Collecting 1970s CB Radios leads to serial buying. I am sure a lot of members here agree with me. Best example I have come to mind. Let's say I find a NIB Cobra 78X at a garage sale. I do not think- "This is a poor example of a quality Cobra CB for the 1970s." I do not think it's no Cobra 29GTL." In actuality what comes to mind is- "I really need to get me a 1968 Dodge Charger to go with this CB radio." "I hope I find one in orange."

 

[RidgeRunner260]

Perhaps I am over-simplifying...but I don't think so.

Today's electronics have gone two ways(sort of)

1) Surfacemount technology. Little tiny pieces that just lay down and solder to the board, and

2) High density semiconductor packaging. (processors, programmable arrays, but all VERY high density as far as individual gates/transistors on the wafer are concerned)

BOTH OF THESE add up to "smaller parts can NOT take as much heat". When you consider THAT with....mobile radios..... well.... they tend to get mounted in vehicles....and it gets hot in those vehicles.

The old "back in the day" radios were made with individual transistors. One transistor "per package". Other passive parts were larger also.Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me like the larger, less dense parts... can handle the heat better.

Then... you add in these backlit liquid crystal (or whatever they are) these days... some of these seem to change lightness/darkness with the vehicle heat as well.

If you are going to take it home and set it under an air conditioner on your desk... maybe these things will hold up... I don't know. But it seems to me that the older "back in the days" radios... just took it all in stride.

Ya, I'm not sure...

on point 1. They seem to handle vibration stress much better as there sit flat on the board less torque applied into the part. Less likely a solder joint will fail.

point 2. Some of the latest offerings such as anytone, president, and stryker are offering things like PL tones, DSP, much more flexibility on information that can be displayed on the LCD. No more nonsense with paying a tech to unlock a clarifier as its all built into the programming of the radio. the option to switch between a condenser or electret much from the front panel.

The heat thing I don't quite understand they go thru an oven at probably 700 degrees or so to be soldered. I think these things can handle some heat.

I don't know about you guys I'm not paying 900 bucks for some whiz bang snake oil tuned stryker that the guy on the other end can't tell. You can get a pretty decent radio for under 300 bucks if it last me more than 4 years great when it poops the bed I'm throwing it out and getting another.

 

[AudioShockwav]

I have been running the SS-9900 in my pickup almost two years, and so far ( knock on wood) fault free.
I paid less than $300 for the radio, programing cable included and shipping from the UK and when it got here I turned it on and started using it.
No wack pack turbo tune truckrized sand jawa mods needed, just box stock.
Anytone/Quxiang are building radios that you can take out of the box and run.
And they seem to keep improving with each model.
This is better than the other guys that have been using the same board for years and keep adding different amps on the bottom.

73
Jeff

 

[sunbulls]

Collecting 1970s CB Radios leads to serial buying. I am sure a lot of members here agree with me. Best example I have come to mind. Let's say I find a NIB Cobra 78X at a garage sale. I do not think- "This is a poor example of a quality Cobra CB for the 1970s." I do not think it's no Cobra 29GTL." In actuality what comes to mind is- "I really need to get me a 1968 Dodge Charger to go with this CB radio." "I hope I find one in orange."

After you spent that money pairing those choices together you may decide the Cobra 78X or 29GTL was a mistake. The Handic 235 rules the world of orange.

 

[Uncle Ronnie 336]

I just had the opposite complaint. WHY ARENT radios built like they were in the 70s anymore?
got an untested box of a 07 29LTDNW and a 78 29xlr. you can all probably guess which one worked