Lafayette Dyna-Com 23 & 40 CB Walkie-Talkies (handheld/portable) Features/Power & Range Test.

This video is for people that appreciate and are interested in long-lasting CB radio walkie-talkies (handheld/portables) that have stood the test of time for over 40 years. Feel free to leave comments and talk about the video and/or your CB radio walkie talkies.
Music performed by Musicman364.
You can skip to certain segments of the video below.
SKIP-TO VIDEO SEGMENTS:
Introduction - 00:48
Radio features segment - 1:25
Power tests - 8:47
Short-range transmission test - 9:37
¼ mile transmission test - 12:09
1.2 mile transmission test - 15:13
Summary review - 20:08
Box contents & print ads - 24:03
My video on Realistic walkie talkies:
• Realistic CB Walkie Ta...
My video on the Midland 13-763 walkie talkie:
• Midland 13-763 CB Walk...
“Shorts” of edited walkie-talkie range tests are also included on my channel.
• Realistic TRC-226 CB w...
• PRESIDENT RANDY II FCC...
• Realistic TRC-99C CB w...
• Realistic TRC-101 CB w...
• MIDLAND 13-763 CB walk...
• PRESIDENT RANDY II CB ...
• LAFAYETTE Dyna-Com 23 ...
• PRESIDENT RANDY II CB ...
• LAFAYETTE Dyna-Com 40 ...
//////////////////////////////////////////////
CB radio KZbin Channels I really like:
/ @mackspubliclandhuntin...
/ @steve_niceguy
/ @cbradiomagazine
//////////////////////////////////////////////
John 3:16 (King James Bible) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[@JK-pu6lj]

Also love the uniden.... best compact SSB ever made

[@musicman364]

Totally agree - my favorite mobile/base.

[@urbanprospecting]

Well done video. I have a couple of these radios. Very heavy and built solid radios. They were very expensive at the time.

[@musicman364]

Thank you very much! They are built like tanks.

[@mackspubliclandhuntingoutd6715]

Awesome Video, those are some nice radios! dang now I got to find them at a resonable price.

[@musicman364]

Thanks Sir! Yes Mack, the Dyna-Coms are pricy - I just gave up and paid an arm and a leg. I would stick with the Dyna-Com 23. I also like it better because it has a nice dial and you don't need to press the button to see the channel.

[@mackspubliclandhuntingoutd6715]

@musicman364 i just ordered an Alpha Tek walkie talkie . Looks like a Macdonald but the 3 switches have different functions. Looks like it was made for the European market. Hope it works.

[@musicman364]

@@mackspubliclandhuntingoutd6715 I don't think I'm familiar with those Mack, but I'd love to see it (I couldn't find a picture in Google search). The MacDonald is a good-looking radio. Don't give up hope if it doesn't work right at first. Sometimes a little cleaning, solder and DeoxIT can do the trick. Steve is interested in the GE, so a may do the GE and MacDonald in one vid. Share your Alpha Tek when you get it. Take care.

[@mackspubliclandhuntingoutd6715]

@@musicman364 the alpha tek look just like a Macdonald but the 3 toggle buttons have different funstions. The Alph also has a twin that the brand is called GREAT so google GREAT GT-417 . good looking old radios. also I was given 2 trc 83's from a friend and just put batterins in them and nither works so i guess i will open them up and clean the terminals and you can see some of them.

[@jamesshackelford6721]

Here is an idea for a really long but good video. Get all of your older handheld CBs all at the same time and with a third person test all of them as far as transmitting and receiving range . Using only the antenna that came or is installed in the radios . Then use both internal and external microphones on the radios.

[@musicman364]

Oh yes, good idea and I did plan on doing that some day. The problem is time. I may retire this year and then I will be able to do more videos like that. Right now I'm enlisting my sons to help me with the range tests - so far, I don't think they mind. I think it's really important to capture the back-to-back send and receive on these vids. I am adding to the video "shorts" section of my channel so folks can just get a quick snapshot of range tests - for viewer convenience. Thanks for the comment.

[@jamesshackelford6721]

@ I suggested that so people who don’t know much about CB radios or new to CB radios and might be wanting to get just handheld radios do to living in a apartment like myself and my wife do they see the benefit of handhelds. It’s also a good refresher course to lots of us that have been using Cb radios for years.

[@thestonerguy5276]

Nice comparisons. The Dyna-Com 40 TX audio might have been improved by using an external 4-pin microphone, but I always thought it was a bit strange to have a 4-pin connector on it, while base radios like the SSB-140 used a 5-pin DIN, like Radio Shack (most likely a different mfg. made the handheld line). They were heavy units (perhaps not as heavy as some Midland models) that seemed like they would hold up better when knocked about, versus another brand using a plastic body. The killer back then was how much it cost to fill up those battery tubes with new AA cells. I tried using rechargeable batteries, but battery technology just wasn't what it is today. If they had given a lot of thought to that, they (mfg.) may have been able to design a circuit that was more frugal in AA power consumption. Thanks for the comparison!

[@musicman364]

Thank you very for the comment. I actually really wanted to try a 4-pin on the 40, and I even bought a Lafayette/Shure Brothers mic model CA9G off eBay, but it didn't work - squealed. I think the 4-pin may be wired differently - maybe I just need to experiment some more (I have Cobra, D104M6B, Pace, and Uniden mics I can try too). I thought the Randy external mic sounded great, but I did a little mod with a dremel I saw another guy do on KZbin - basically a small hole where one needed to be. Yes, rechargeables have come a long way. Steve_niceguy and Mack's Public Land Hunting just did some nice videos on rechargeable AA batteries. Have a great week!

[@steve_niceguy]

Great Video Steve! you certainty put a lot of thought and time into it!!! those are some seriously old classics... nice to see them working. what are you using for your video editing? I have only figured out how to use Microsoft ClipChamp... not ideal but it's about the only thing I've found that I could make work. I bought some expensive video editing software... but I'm completely lost on trying to get it to work. I have a lot of mobile CB antenna's and I'm just getting set up to see what antenna would give me the best distance... that is going to be my next video. ... I'm taking out a Tram 3500 a Stryker SAR-10 a K-40 with magnetic mount and lastly a Sirio 5000 performer and maybe my neighbors LiL Wil...... the Sirio is supposed to be the best in the world! and at 77 inches it should be.... but as I was researching mobile antenna's I read so much great stuff about the Wilson 1000.... in fact reading reviews it gets almost 100% GREAT reviews on everything I read.... people love em and swear by them... so I thought I would buy one to test... but it's $137.50.... I'm not spending that on a test... but I was impressed you had one... someday I'd love to see how far you can get from your mobile to your base??? it was also great that you showed your base antenna... people have these very expensive and tall base antenna's... it was great that you have something anyone getting into the hobby could buy and set up and have fun with... nice to see... and as I said it would be great to see how that Wilson 1000 and single story Francis antenna can do. I'm looking forward to seeing that GE range tested. I watched a youtube video with a translator turned on... and this guy took a GE and it puts out 5 watts and swung up to about 9... and with it's 5 foot antenna I think it will do awesome... I also like that it only takes 8 batteries... I bet it will do a great job.. so if you get the time I'd love to see that test. you are getting me excited about doing these fun tests again... I have about 25 video's stored on my computer but I'm too picky to let them be seen... but after watching what a nice job you do, maybe I can re-edit them and post some. I think Mack started this whole..... "this is the blank blank blank from XX miles"..... thing... and I LOVED what he did and planned to copy him..... and I see you copying him too... we are both Mack want-a-be clones ha ha ... but you've done great, thanks for doing them.... nice job on the music too. keep up the great work!! if you turn on the translator and read what is said... this guy did a fantastic job on the two types of GE handhelds. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJmopa2gntt0o7s

[@musicman364]

Hi again Steve - thanks for the comments! Video editing is done on NCH VideoPad Video Editor. I've been using it way over 10 years and I never go for the subscription stuff, I just buy out-right. I also use other programs from them for video file conversions and CD burning. I've learned the NCH video editing a bit by watching tutorials on KZbin and just poking around in it and experimenting. I probably had a little head start because I already knew how to use ProTools for music editing - a lot of the same concepts. . . more to follow. . . reading all of your message. . .

[@musicman364]

Continuing Steve . . . I'm looking forward to your mobile antenna shoot-out. All those antennas you mentioned should work great (Stryker looks so very cool). When I was doing the heavy CBing in the late 80s and 90s, I lived in LA (San Fernando Valley) around tons of CBers that new their stuff, and they always recommended the Francis Amazer and the Wilson 1000. Ever since then I have been using them and have ZERO complaints and have always got a good match with my radios - I'm still stuck on them. . . Lov'em. Also yes, I would love to range test my Wilson and Francis. . . Just FYI, that Uniden PC-122XL (SSB) is probably doing better than it did out the box. . . more to follow. . .

[@musicman364]

Continuing . . . I was actually trying to decide on the next video to do, and I think you helped me out. . . I can do the G.E. I have had that one since brand new out the box. I think I bought it while I was a radio dispatcher for AAA - back in the early 90s when they actually used radios - dream job for a CBer (paid well too)! I saw one guy do a little video on one (Mullet Man I think) and his didn't do that well. But I'm going to have faith in my G.E., since it's been given tender loving care for over 30 years. . . haha. . . more to follow. . .

[@musicman364]

Last. . . Yup, Mack was my inspiration. He was the first person that actually did EXACTLY what I wanted to see on a walkie-talkie review - seems like a really "niceguy" too. Anytime I see that you or Mack posts while I'm at work, I actually get excited that I have something nice to watch when I get home. Thanks for the music compliment - I kind of get to kill two birds with one stone sharing my music on the walkie-talkie vids (I used to be an Army Band commander. . . retired in 2012). See ya.

[@diogeneslamp8241]

Walkie T- oh yea!

[@musicman364]

Love your VW Thing. I always wanted a Type 3 Square-back. Favorite Beetle year is '67.

[@diogeneslamp8241]

@ some of my friends up here in New Jersey have old 40 channel side band cb’s with big antennas and talk on the side band. I have one of those Lafayette 6 channel dyna coms- the old metal one and talked to one of these guys about 3-4 miles away with my radio. Yes he had a monster antenna but my radio didn’t. I also totally recapped a 3 channel realistic chrome job with the angled mike at the bottom and it really works great!

[@musicman364]

@@diogeneslamp8241 I was stationed in the Army at Ft. Monmouth New Jersey in '80s. Yes, those Dyna-Coms can get out 3-4 miles. Love those Realistics too. Thanks for the comment.

[@diogeneslamp8241]

@ isn’t there a radio museum in that area? I think I went to one there a few years back. I had a huge collection of hand held walkie t’s now just have maybe 4 dynacoms a few realistic 40’s and 23’s and an old cobra base usb that I never tested. Will get it doing one of these days…

[@musicman364]

@@diogeneslamp8241 Make some videos when you have a chance. Don't know about the museum, but that sounds right since it used to be the Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM).

[@radiotory]

I thought for a long time whether I should buy them for testing or not

[@musicman364]

It depends. I would only buy them if you like those kind of radios, like I do. I like their size, their build quality, their appearance, and most of them work well. I also prefer dials and switches over menu displays. I can always remember a switch and dial but cannot always remember menu functions. But I'm always happy to see other folks make videos and demonstrate their radios. I noticed on your videos that you listen to airport frequencies, I'm a private pilot. Thanks for the comment and keep making videos.

[@JK-pu6lj]

MusicMan I have fixed many of these radios and your speaker is bad for the dynacom 40. The sound is bad because the coil in the speaker is going out. They are an odd speaker at 80 Ohm and most of the sets I have repaired 50/50 speaker is bad. Ebay sometimes has a few speakers at 80ohm check the size before you buy if i have parts I could send you one or you can buy a parts radio. 12, 23 have same speaker and maybe the 3. The tinny sound is due to coil not moving... love the video the Dyn-Com were the best built radios and used in Europe and USA by government agencies only solid 10-11 meter Walke built. I have on hand finals and pre drivers if you ever need one. I have the 40 Dyna-com and the Hy-gain same radio. Oh and as you probably know the speaker also is the mic so same tinny sound if you had an external mic your sound would be different it is a EAM-9 might find on ebay it is a 8ohm not 80ohm standard speaker at .5 watts so you can find a mic that fits the jack and reconfigure input I can help you with where the wires go if you need. Great Video.

[@musicman364]

Thanks very much! I was hoping someone would chime in on the 40's tone. Your comments are a huge help, I really appreciate it. Funny, I wanted a 23 for parts, but I found a pristine one on eBay, bought it, and it works great. So now I have two great 23s and one 40 that needs a little work. Sounds like I need to look for an 80 ohm speaker that fits the 40 (or find a parts radio - but that can be a roll of the dice too). Question, is the internal speaker and internal mic the same piece, or does it have a separate internal microphone from the speaker? Obviously, I'm not a technician, I just have a basic knowledge and can do some minor repairs, cleaning and soldering.

[@cpbbg5bcbbg580]

cool. video

[@musicman364]

Thanks!