Realistic Navaho Pro CB Radio - most powerful modulation circuit of any CB ?

[@richardrichard8741]

Well, after viewing the entire video, I must say that it is definitely worth everyones time to watch, learn, or be entertained. Thanks for making the time to produce this jam-packed informative video. Its refreshing to view a technicality fast paced episode without any boring parts that gives a satisfied feeling afterwards. Thanks Gregg 73 de "Dead Battery" of So. California. U. S.A.

[@michaelbezoski3096]

Stumbled on your channel, glad I did. Enjoyed old tube type short wave radios that were stuck up in the attic. One interesting tube I remember had a "tuning eye" on the top of the tube which was mounted horizontally on the face of the receiver to view when tuning. Amazing. Over course you never thought those units would be tolerant to many things interference. Thank you for the video & education.

[@alessioschiavone3898]

beautiful well built CB and that late 70/ early 80 s feel in it

[@MrSlipstreem]

What a great looking piece of kit for the era!

[@UDX-21]

WoW, I have to of them, I just need to get them working

[@thesquirrelchroniclesakare7808]

I look forward to seeing your next video on this radio. Thanks Gregg

[@Nicholasbirdvowles]

Hi Can you tell me which wires or bottle pins are the 12v supply please. Kind regards nick

[@s9radio]

not sure what you mean, bottle pins. Sams CB51 has all the schematics

[@ItsRael108]

Fantastic and a joy to watch in Scotland I can remember seeing the 23 channel new solid state cb radios in magazines and later on in smuggled in 40ch am mobile rigs truckers would bring in from abroad and sell on to am breakers before we got legal fm in UK, 27/81 a different frequency allocation huh It's all good now in UK for 11m DX I hear

[@s9radio]

Love to hear it and I'm half Scottish with our family having a farm for centuries in Strathnaver, north of Thurso. 73-Gregg s9radio

[@1112223333111]

the other non 9er the 23a 23b 11? there were a few white case bases that fcking rocked with a power mic

[@s9radio]

Yeah if I remember right Radio shack was advertising in the mid-70s that the TRC-30 Navajo what is the best selling base station in North America. 73-Gregg s9radio

[@1112223333111]

@@s9radio ya thats it. there were other look alikes that had trc something else. light dimming power😊

[@justinrayguitars6024]

One of the guys in my area has an old Navajo that he picked up at a yard sale. Man that thing rocks. Also Gregg I received your Browning book this week despite the USPS. Great book! Looking forward to improving my Mark 3.

[@CARL557511]

The Japanese electronic equipment back then was very good quality in my opinion.

[@s9radio]

Absolutely, the Japanese electronic and automotive invasion pretty much curtailed much of the America manufacturing, putting brands like RCA, Magnavox and the host of other television manufacturers in the back of the bus when compared to the Sony's. Same thing with the Datsun 240Z and the Toyota trucks, they really left an impression on how good the Japanese products really were.

[@spaceflight1019]

@@s9radio While Japanese products like radios, televisions, cameras, and motorcycles proved to be of great value and quality, cars were another thing entirely. It wasn't until the early 1980s that Japanese automakers learned how to prevent rust.

[@spaceflight1019]

@@CARL557511 By the early 1970s the number of American made radios could be counted on one hand... Pearce Simpson Guardian 23. Regency Imperial 2. Regency Range Gain 2. Tram Titan 2. Browning Golden Eagle Mark 2. Once the mass marketers like Echo, Henshaws, Lafayette, Olson's, and Radio Shack began selling cheap transistor CB radios it was game over for the American manufacturers and eventually Tram and Browning sold Japanese radios.

[@psychonauthacker]

Very cool.

[@michaelturner4457]

When you actually needed crystals for channels on your CB.

[@johnstreet797]

Plenty of space for a larger power transformer too.

[@s9radio]

Yes and a well ventilated enclosure as well. Really leads me to believe, The Shack had much more planned for this Pro Niner series, otherwise the modulation circuitry was way overkill. 73-Gregg s9radio

[@adambennett2176]

Well thats pretty 😍 cool!!! You the man!!!

[@afnDavid]

Yeah this modulation circuit can do 120% all day long without even getting warm.

[@johnwest7993]

120%? Wow! My modulator can barely break 100%! Those must be Navajos I'm hearing splattering over onto 10 meters. Gotta be. Imagine, a radio you can hear on 50 channels at the same time! Now, that's power! I need to ditch my Icom and get a Realistic! And a genuine crystal microphone instead of my antiquated dynamic one! How do they do it?

[@jameswagoner3309]

The Realistic TRC-448 had the most powerful modulation section of any radio.

[@s9radio]

How so, please qualify this statement? What type of modulation scheme did it employ and what modulator devices did the 448 use?

[@jameswagoner3309]

@@s9radio the 448 was a dual final mobile radio that was capable of about 25 watts on single sideband, and two vrs to control the output of the modulation.... if you ran the vrs anywhere near halfway open in am mode you had so much modulation that it was off the scale..... they discontinued this radio right after it was introduced. I was lucky to get two of them at closeout prices. With a stock mic it was easily the loudest radio I ever had, for a standard low-level modulation, sideband rig.

[@jameswagoner3309]

This was 1978 and I have no recollection of the devices used..... all I remember was that it had a very powerful modulation section, much more than what was necessary to provide 100% modulation..... this thing add more powerful audio than my Eico 720, plate modulated transmitter.

[@lesjones5684]

Cobra 🐍 138 xlr is the best 😅😅😅

[@s9radio]

News flash, the 138 is a SINGLE CONVERSION receiver and Navaho Pro much like the 148 & 2000 is a DOUBLE CONVERSION receiver and there is NO comparison in regards to bleed-over and the better receiver. Sorry, 138 is far from the best and a CPI solid-state rig blows them all away !!!

[@spaceflight1019]

A few thoughts here... you really should have a TRC-40 Navaho Pro to compare with. I have two of them. The original Navaho Pro was a 1972 only radio sold during the brief time Radio Shack and Allied Radio were merged. The government filed anti-trust charges and the companies returned to being separate entities. The Pro Niner and Lafayette Telsat 924 were in response to the FCC's belief that the radio manufacturers weren't devoted to their desire to increase monitoring of channel 9. Apparently the Puerto Rican DX didn't reach Washington, and it was during this time that truckers were embracing CB radio and they were on channel 10. They moved to channel 19 in 1973, months before the first Arab oil embargo. The use of the FET front end was an attempt to eliminate blocking and cross modulation, issues that plagued early transistor designs. Here, it failed. When the band is open strong signals from channel 6, 9, and 11 will make using the radio difficult at best. The TRC-40 had a mechanical digital clock that was removed for the Pro Niner. Most Radio Shack base radios are designed with the AC power supply energized anytime the radio is plugged in. Never work on one, other than alignment work, with the cord plugged in! The modulation circuit was designed to mimic what AM broadcast radio was doing at the time. The limiter will make you sound "strangled", and you have to go in and clip the diode. The radio had a tendency to squeal, especially with a power mike, because there was no loading resistance on the input transistor of the mike amp. A 1000 ohm resistance to ground fixes the squeal. If you want more power you have to have a bigger transformer or use an external DC supply. Receiver voltage is typically 14.5, dropping to 12.5 on transmit and even lower under modulation. That makes the radio have downward modulation. Using a 3 amp or better external supply will fix the problem. (Edited to correct 1971 to 1972)

[@s9radio]

Actually the TRC-40 didn't appear till '72 with the TRC-49 being offered '73-'74 and yes, although dual conversion the front-end was too hot for strong stations with the minimal mechanical filter in the 455khz IF and remedied by installing a better filter which there were several options as premium 455khz filters filled the pages of radio mags back in the day. Use of the noise blanker like many radios also compounded the front-end saturation REACT pititioned the ATA (American Trucking Association) back in '65 complaining about bleedover to REACT monitors & CH-9 with the ATA agreeing to move the national trucker / travel channel to CH-19 in 1966. The FCC actually got involved declaring Channel 9 was officially reserved for emergency in '69, furthering the effort to rid truckers from CH-10. Several CB mags of the era will confirm this.

[@spaceflight1019]

@@s9radio I live near Pittsburgh, and when I got on in 1970 the truckers hadn't become a dominant force on channel 10. In fact, the dominant group was a bunch of people who defied logic and operated legally, using their callsigns and observing the five minute rules. The local REACT chapter had no problems chastising people who bled over, unless they were on channel 8 or below, because those channels were reserved for intra-station use. I consider it somewhat ironic that channel 10 is the truckers channel in Quebec, and like the Brazilian channel 5, is a useful propagation tool.

[@JustinRuth-km4wz]

U cannot beat the 858 chip

[@s9radio]

This is a crystal controlled transceiver, no PLL chip

[@JustinRuth-km4wz]

@s9radio dugh!!!! Not speaking about this particular unit..just saying these older units ..are amazing like the old 858 ..what I was saying the older stuff is nice .

[@JustinRuth-km4wz]

@s9radio what I was prefuring to was the models that run the 858.. pll were awesome aswell and were some of the most stable ..ther are trc models with 858.. this is what I was refuring to sorry about the confusion.. I love the 858. Like president Washington, Navajos , and many others .. they all have wonderful audio chains most using push pull ..audio amp stages

[@JustinRuth-km4wz]

The pro niner .. fully crystal we all know this ... Just refuring to the 858 chips wich took over later

[@eazystreet5507]

You must do it. Another super Realistic is the TRC 457.

[@StandingStones1776]

i have the 457 AM /SSB it rocks