Mystery Radio Revealed!

[@davidparris7774]

Fire it up. I doubt that the FCC would even notice it now days.

[@hawkinscsa]

Yes, bring it back to life!

[@JCWise-sf9ww]

Mike, thank you for bring back memories of CB call signs and handles. In the 1970's most of us CB'ers just used our handle, mine was "Mr Spock" the character from Star Trek, I did have a FCC call sign, KTL****. I don't remember the last 4 numbers. SURE THING GET IT WORKING AGAIN ON 11 METERS, the CB band, see if you can contact another person.

[@Havilah_Springs]

Yes, fire it up! The QSL cards were a nice touch, brought back some memories from the 60s, GREAT JOB from KFY-9537 "The Little Big Cheif"

[@MIKROWAVE1]

That CJ-5 had 4 wheel drive - an Smokey on my tail!

[@Havilah_Springs]

@@MIKROWAVE1 I still have CW McCall's 8=track of that! LOL

[@KnightT60]

I think this was built from an article that appeared in the March 1959 issue of Radio and TV News Magazine. The article was written by the famous author Donald Stoner. Heathkit would subsequently steal the circuit and it would become the Heathkit Lunch Box series of transceivers. .

[@jeromeGrzelak]

We had stoner electronics in california i met him kg6mn

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Wow! I just downloaded the magazine article. Now this is a real mystery. If this came first, then you may have the story 100% correct, that Heathkit stole the circuit. There are changes and improvements in the Heath schematic of course including power flexibility and the trap, so it would meet FCC. Maybe a follow up video?

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

Fascinating, Mike and yes, fire it up!! Balancing the theory with the history of American CB made this far more interesting than a standard "tear down". Can I suggest when talking about mains transformers, you include a caveat for your many international viewers and remind them that their voltages may vary. Best 73, Ace G0ACE

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Yes and the CB story abroad, especially in the UK and AUS is very interesting on its own merit.

[@hazevthewolf178]

Yeah. Get a rock for around 29 Mhz, retune the receiver and have a go at 10 metre AM.

[@martincvitkovich724]

My Heathkit CB is tuned to 29.025. We need to start a club for these old radios and have a 10 meter net! KB8TPT

[@hazevthewolf178]

@@martincvitkovich724 Yes!

[@hazevthewolf178]

@@martincvitkovich724 Hope to meet you there someday.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

That's a big Negatory! You got the Reverend Joshua Duncan Sloane, Church of the Wayfaring Stranger here. I don't read nothin' in scripture that says thou shall not put the pedal to the metal on Channel 8.

[@ab1dq593]

Excellent NEARFEST find and video, Mike....really loved the inclusion of the QSL cards. Both of my parents were into CB radio and were active in our local CB club when I was growing up Rescue 9 in Lawrence). Their love of CB and involvement with the many friends they made was a formative radio experience for me and one of my gateways to ham radio. Would love ti see you fire this rig up and perhaps go through how to mod it for 10 or 12 M. 73 de AB1DQ.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

CB grew so fast that there were 400000 licensed CB ops by 1964. This was a huge deal since there were only 250000 or so Hams.

[@superhet7281]

Yeah, fire it up on 10 meters! I enjoyed the vintage sci-fi montage at the beginning. Great stuff, Mike!

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Fun stuff from our childhood.

[@vtradio]

Thanks for the lesson and the tease at the beginning. I learned something. 73 Paul AA1SU

[@yophotoman]

In the late 50's, my uncle built a clone of a Heathkit CB-1, from scratch using the owner's manual. He acquired a pair of CB-1's for my dad and installed them, one in the house with a modified military surplus ground plane antenna and the other in a 1954 Buick with the vibrator power supply and a 102" whip. Cool setup for it's time.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

There was a time between 1959 and 1965 when CBs were fairly expensive tube and crystal jobs, and these were not economical for many folks. The glut of solid state low-cost radios came much later in the 70s.

[@yophotoman]

@@MIKROWAVE1 The radios dad got were used. One even had a diy crystal switch. He had two channels, 5 & 9!

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Yeah! It was a big deal to have more than a few crystal channels. I rigged a vibrator powered RCA CB for my uncle's Winnebago that we took to Alaska in 73. It was ancient then!

[@va3ngc]

LOL - it sure could have been a good prop in those old B&W sci-fi's. Great video.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Totally!

[@michaelmiller641]

Great video! Yes please, get it running!

[@MIKROWAVE1]

You got it!

[@marknesselhaus4376]

Oh yeah, I failed to zoom in on the xtal freq lol. Good description and yes, this would be awesome for other bands like 10M, Take care and 73 de wa4jat

[@pharanchemie8645]

Mike , Thank you for all these wonderful videos that you make with love

[@martincvitkovich724]

I recently took my Heathkit GW12 single channel CB, and tuned it to 29.025 and made contacts from Dayton Ohio to SK Canada, Arizona and New Jersy wit 1 watt. The call sign gave away your treasure.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Ah yes - some recognize the old callsigns.

[@OpossumPiper]

That's a really cool little rig. Thanks for sharing!

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Thanks for watching.

[@W1RMD]

Great interesting video. I'd like to see what you're going to do with that. See if it works on 11, and then convert it to 10 or 12 meters and it will be cool to see what it takes. Thanks Mike and 73.

[@tennesseered586]

I'd enjoy an educational series about getting it working again. I recall CB call signs although I never had one. At about the age of twelve I hooked my Knight Kit CB walkie-talkie antenna to my attic wire antenna and talked with an astonished guy about 4 miles away. Must have been putting out only a handful of milliwatts at best. My grandfather bought the kits for himself some years prior but had never attempted to assemble them. Powered by a single 9 volt battery. They both worked and I felt proud.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

I had my Sears GE kids base station on CH 14 and my buddy and I learned CW on the orange key (to the delight of all on frequency i'm sure). I learned CW on CB.

[@nerdful1]

I had a knightkit cb walkie at about 12 yrs old. I had my wollensak t1500 tape recorder clipped into it. Probably a wire hanging out the window ground to hydronic radiator ground Could hear all over the neighborhood on the 2nd one. Ran home like h when a real cber said someone's playing music and I'm going looking. It was ch9 crystal, and before truckers.

[@tommybewick]

You are quite the radio detective! Very cool transmitter!. And I loved all your qsl cards from the '50s!

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Thanks for watching! Wait till you HEAR the receiver.

[@bazzaar1869]

11:20 ROFL! you about made me snort my coffee!

[@tomcroley7084]

Great stuff Mike, love the qsl card art work. CBs were the deal in the 70s. You gotta bring it back to life and get a Smokey report good buddy.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

10-4 Backdoor. Put the pedal to the metal and let-ter roar!

[@K1OIK]

I recognized the CB call right away. You have Jack, Mike and lunchbox. 1w2650

[@MIKROWAVE1]

You are a champion Burt!

[@p1nesap]

Another yes vote to resurrect!

[@SeAfasia]

The Aliens intro are excellent...73

[@MIKROWAVE1]

My childhood is showing!

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

Loved the intro and the old CB cards. Although it is tempting to suggest retuning to 12 or 10m, maybe trying to get it working on CB is the right thing to do. Would it be possible to bring it in spec. by adding some low pass filtering on the output?

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Standby for part 2 on Wed. The fact that the crystal is on frequency with no multiplication and that the second harmonic is above 50 MHz makes it pretty clean to start with; so yes, simple low pass.

[@zubrzubr6769]

It's from Mad Max's truck :))

[@MIKROWAVE1]

No Doubt! "He knows who I am. I am the Nightrider! I am the chosen one. The mighty hand of vengeance, sent down to strike the unroadworthy!"

[@nigelbrockwell6237]

Would love to see it working.

[@ironcladranchandforge7292]

Yes!! Please fire it up. Would like to see that.

[@marknesselhaus4376]

I would like to see you re-crystal it for 10 and see what you can do with it :-D

[@johnstreet797]

it's a rebastinator for contacting the artesians

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Welll...

[@SpinStar1956]

Yeah, I think yo should (at least) fire it up, as is into a dummy load to ascertain its performance. 73… 😊

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Its happening.

[@paulphoad]

Do it!! Maybe use an external antenna tuner to filter out harmonics - not the best way but helps. The recapping could be a pain.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Harmonics? Synthesized radios have harmonics. DSPs have harmonics, Hee.

[@paulphoad]

@@MIKROWAVE1 You mentioned that the output might not be "clean" enough for regulations. Fcc etc. The tuned nature of an antenna tuner can sometimes limit these..just thinking of ways that leave the unit original.

[@Swamp-Fox]

Man, my guess was way off base! I say bring it back!

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Standby for Wed. Video!

[@clifffiftytwo]

I like the idea of moving it to 10M.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Now we need the sun to calm down a bit! I like sunspots but this is ridiculous!

[@MrDmjay]

Get it working well then DDS VFO time.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Take the purity of a single crystal on frequency and defile it with a DSP audio processor and DDS VFO. Oh I mean SLIDER.

[@brianbloom1799]

Hi Mike I live In Southbury, Ct, Can you tell Me were was the Ham Fest at, and How can I get on a List, to let me know when 1 is coming back Around Thanks .And Mike I think You should Put that On Ham Frequencys,Not Cb

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Nearfest is held 2 times, once in the Spring and once in the Fall each year. Currently it is in New Hampshire at the Deerfield Fairgrounds, one of the prettiest locations for a hamfest that there is. Off Exit 3 101 towards good old Hampton Beach.

[@joohop]

YES FIRE 🔥 IT UP 🎉

[@MIKROWAVE1]

OH YES. Standby for Wednesday.

[@va3ngc]

I assume the LT/RT is transmit/Receive, but what does the L and other T stand for?

[@MIKROWAVE1]

I assume LISTEN - Transmit

[@MirlitronOne]

Make it work, Mike.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Oh Yes.

[@williamrmeara2162]

But why? Why would a CBer go to the trouble of homebrewing something like this?

[@MIKROWAVE1]

In 1959, there were no CBs on 11 meters yet! CB class A B C was 400 MHz. Class D would kick off the "stolen 11M frequencies" . The CB radios came fast but they were tube type and crystal controlled and very expensive. We didn't get cheap CBs till the late 60s early 70s.

[@tvengineer1]

you might have to replace some caps before firing up

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Oh yes but - The killer was a frozen trimmer cap! It killed the receiver from regenerating.

[@nerdful1]

Another bad Sept 11 day, losing the 11 meter band

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Sure, but in principle only. Nobody was actually using 4 MHz of Ham Band! The real tragedy was choosing that frequency from a technical standpoint for Class D CB. It skips. You can not fix that with rules. Huge mistake by the FCC.

[@alzeNL]

Obviously a prototype Baeofeng UV5R.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Tame the Baeofeng with my tabletop Mega Filter project!