Vintage Lafayette HE-20d CB Radio, circa 1966!!

I thought I would share a memory with y'all, and I picked this piece up from eBay to remember my dad.
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#cbradio #hamradioconcepts #11meters

[@greydogmusic]

14:04 … I started talking on CB in 1969. Had a walkie talkie since 66. After I started talking on the CB in July 1969 that Christmas I received a two channel walkie-talkie as a Christmas present. I was saving my money to get my own CB radio. My first CB radio that I purchased used in 1970 was a Sharp CBT-55. Which is basically the exact same thing as this 6 meter radio. It had 11 channels. With the built in D battery pack it was 3 watts input. Slide it into a receiver for mobile operation or base it was five watt input. The built in telescopic antenna had a center loading coil. I know a guy that has two Lafayette HD-20d’s restored. I’m hoping he will sell me one. Congratulations on acquiring the radio that your dad had. I have the two CB radios that my dad used. The ones I first talked on. I have them on display right next to my first three CB radios in the family room. 17:26 Mobil… yes. My Dad had a Realistic Americana 23+. Same size as these Lafayettes. I believe it is 1966 vintage also. Look at 60’s automobile. They had nothing but space under the dash. You mounted the radio in the center. With the hump it was in the cars any adult sitting in the middle of the bench seat would be pretty cramped for legroom. He put it in his Chevelle when we headed to the smoky mountains for a vacation. Took it out when we got to our cabin and ran a coax from the mobile antenna and had it on the table inside. The other car traveling with us had a CB radio too I don’t remember what kind they had. I have to say, this is the first video I’ve seen by you, I find it hard to believe you don’t know how to operate a simple CB radio. 😮😮😮

[@jojojeep1]

My father had the same radio, I remember when I was five years old every night me and my two sisters used to wait for him to call us from his mobile and we would talk to our dad. That was 56 years ago for me. I remember how quiet a.m. used to be back then

[@kenn743]

an exciting radio, I have them in a he-20t version, thanks for nice video

[@alalan3735]

Great radio! Can easily be converted to 10 and 12 meter ham bands!

[@genesylvester5680]

I had these radios money was good much more the buck .I started back ,1963 I still have Lafayette catalogs from 1963 to1969. I still have 3 HB625 mobile in pristine shape and work like new

[@robertmeyer4744]

that a great old part of CB history. and i do have a bunch of Lafayette stuff, I got the full 23 ch ch CB and it works in 2023 ! needs filter caps. a nuvister is a very small metal tube that plugs in. I do have that 100 watt 12V tube amp. new caps and tubes and works ! draws around 30-35 amps. back a bunch of years ago I ran them on 2- 6V golf cart battery's. them around 225 amp hour. that was the old power ratting . input power to final . that 6 meter radio ran on 10 D cells. 15V or 12V if NiCd . 73's

[@45Unit]

😄Real radios glow in the daak.

[@DonzLockz]

It's really cool. It should be fun to restore it. I hope you get it going and use it in honour of your dad. You have so much excitement in your voice. :)📻

[@mikemandell132]

My first radio was a Lafayette 23 channel CB back around 1974, good buddy. You still needed a license which was very much like a GMRS license is today. 5 bucks, mail in a postcard and get a call. KJL2780. I think if I used my old call sign on CB now I'd be met with a flurry of 500 watt profanity. That radio was stolen from my car in Charleston SC. Never got another. Highlight of my CB experience was talking to a guy in Texas from the Newport Bridge in Rhode Island. I had a legal radio....4 watts.

[@kbjerke]

In '74, my callsign was XM4217621. How the heck do I remember that!? Catch you on the flip flop!

[@kbjerke]

Wow! *MY* first DX was also with some guy in Texas! I was using a Realistic (Radio Shack) 5 watt 23 channel "walkie-talkie" and a 108" whip attached to the rear bumper of my '67 Beetle! From the shore of Lake Ontario, just west of Toronto. Also 1974! Small world.

[@martincvitkovich724]

I recently tuned a Heathkit GW-12 single channel cb base to 29.025. It puts out 1.5 watts and I made contacts from Dayton Ohio to Saskateoun, Arizona and NJ. My neighbor in the mid 60's had a Lafayette and I had the Heathkit GW-12 that I assembled at 14 y/o.

[@HardcoreFourSix]

In 1966, my dad was making about $1.50/hr as a Service Station Attendant in SoCal. That means that radio cost about two weeks' worth of take-home pay for a regular guy

[@genesylvester5680]

O yes but money worth much more someplace will make you buy something and take it home and still pay on credit

[@genesylvester5680]

Remember layaway you pay each week on the item some places if they knew you as good customer let you take it home

[@BrianHolzheimer-mg4qt]

Love 💕 the real radios glow in the dark 🌑🌛🌝

[@bigmackstruckstop9213]

I have a lafollette handheld 3 channel CB radio(6 crystals for transmit/recieve)and it's Amazing that it still works 40 some years old.

[@user-rk2oc9bc8v]

Yes my first cb radio in 1971 mine was transistors lafayette he 20 which is a later model but looks the same l also had a lafayette micro 12 with batteries pack 12 channel crystal controlled great am radios

[@jakeroininen6298]

My HB 200 was inspected March 9 1966

[@garyjohnson4608]

If think if you look far enough, you will probably be able to find an owners manual and the schematics for this. Lafayette was hugely popular in the 60's. I'm sure that somebody will have the information you need to restore this radio.

[@ravenimages8779]

The internet is a wonderful thing. I actually found an original manual for my National NC 125...as well as a PDF copy.

[@jakeroininen6298]

I have a Lafayette HB 200. The radio has been boxed up for decades. Haven't seen any on KZbin. Ever come across one ?

[@kbjerke]

Wow. I remember those days. I was *addicted* to the Lafayette and Radio Shack catalogs! Cool item to restore!

[@mikemandell132]

Remember Allied?

[@kbjerke]

@@mikemandell132 Yep. As I recall, Allied/Radio Shack had a catalog I wore out every year!

[@francescaandkittycarlottac1496]

I have one Lafeyette HE 20T solid state in perfect shape running perfect. I am a ham that restore old ham equipment. The D is one tube.

[@BrianHolzheimer-mg4qt]

I have a regency Crystal CB Radio! That has 23 channels and Superbowl channel 6

[@401ksolar]

Neato, I had one of those in my mom's car so I could monitor for REACT when in the 69 Biscayne, the pre-select worked just like a ft101 (get close and peak for rcv max. BEFORE txing) I may be thinking of the Robyn but I think that was much newer with no pre-select, both had a vibrator circuit for plate voltage. The vibrator protection cap needs to be fresh to sink the flyback spike, vibrator can seems to be made with unobtainium.

[@GoldSeals]

It probably needs to be recapped.The dial is a vfo for the receive only.Not transmitting.The crystals were used for transmitting.

[@HamRadioConcepts]

Ahhhhh ok thank you

[@86casimir]

Nice this is a collector. Félicitations.😍

[@mikeerstad3705]

I had a little newer all transistor Lafayette base/ mobile stuffed into my glove box.... I unscrewed the whole cover and shoved the radio in the hole in the dash....

[@kb9liq]

Well at least you got something for $35 in a mystery box

[@jk-mm5to]

The bad old days of crystal control. But it was better than running a vfo rig in the cb band.

[@drillkjh]

The name on the back is Felicioni

[@bruehlt]

Wow those prices back then - dang!

[@86casimir]

In 1966 I was 6 years old lol

[@OnAirVoice]

I remember having to buy crystals for my CB. 😁

[@shellmaker10]

Wow expensive radio for the times. Google says that is $900 in today's money. I know people spend that kind of money and obviously much more now but back in the day that must have taken some serious convincing for the wife. Neat stuff.

[@davesradiorepairs6344]

What is $2.50 in 1966 worth in today's money? Adjusted for inflation, $2.50 in 1966 is equal to $23.33 in 2023. Annual inflation over this period was 4.00%

[@BustedKnucklesBuildsTexas]

That’s cool

[@AdamDeal-KF0PRI]

i wasnt even close lol!

[@jojojeep1]

I think one dial was for transmit, and the other dial was for receive you had a match them up before you press the microphone

[@jojojeep1]

To watts went along way back then the only electric was the telephone poles they didn’t have so much interference 55 years ago, the airwaves were quiet there was no pollution

[@francescaandkittycarlottac1496]

I have one, i do know all abouted.

[@ronleblanc9832]

try an antenna in its beautiful find . i have an old drake tranciever and separate oscillator find a tube tester i would change the filter caps.

[@ronleblanc9832]

i was 13 years old

[@ve6hdh992]

CPS is cycles per second. so 300-3500 htz.

[@hamradiotube]

Spicoli said he could fix it too...Just sayin.

[@HamRadioConcepts]

Lol I was going to put that clip in there and I forgot lol

[@alalan3735]

Plug in an antenna, wire up a mike! ;)

[@jojojeep1]

I just googled it $2.25 is $21 today

[@kbjerke]

"cps" - Cycles per second, now Hertz.

[@JeffSkymaster]

Hook up an Antenna and see what you hear?

[@arkadiuszweiss]

Nuvistor - tube lamp for military, metalized, rugerized and small noise. CPS Cycle Per Second. To think that Japan started making radio stations for the USA and Europe. The US did transfer finance and technology to Japan. The average Japanese made such radios, but his salary was so low that he would have to save up for dozens of months. Typically a few dollars a month. So Japan had no CB radio in their homes, it was about too expensive. however, the USA gave special discounts on the purchase of a TV or radio and it was the only modern equipment in poor working countries. The USA used to make great devices. Original walkie-talkie made of sheet steel or brass and chrome-plated. These original made in USA worked better than Made in Japan, but at the beginning Japan copied American products on original USA parts, that was good. Japanese workers were extremely poor and underpaid. These were not professional laboratories, but "homework" work. Then quickly, from around 1975, the USA moved production to Taiwan ROC. Small Japanese CB companies with a dozen or so employees went bankrupt. What remained were Sony, Panasonic, etc. corporations supported by the US government.

[@nc4tn]

What th’?

[@davidcolledge7914]

Cables

[@AdamosDad]

✋73's🎙 KD9OAM🎧📻📡

[@DJMICA-bz3qz]

What’s is the booooooooxxxx!!!! Lmao remember that movie