cb radio question here?
- Thread starter danristheman
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After some quick Googling it's an oldie, but I've never seen one before. I have some President radios and my RCI 2990dx base station.
Well, you have 22 channels on the dial, which is the original CB band when it was first introduced out of the 11 meter ham band. This is for receive only. You've got 6 fixed crystal controlled channels. Those 6 channels are the only ones you can transmit on with that radio without replacing the crystals. If it hasn't been used in a couple of decades, I'd be prepared to replace the capacitors if you plan on using it as they could be dried out and you'll let the smoke out of them when you plug it in.
I plugged it up and its still works it comes to life just trying to figure out how to transmit it also has vacuum tubes in it.
Dan Rose
Dan Rose
Put it on Fixed and use the 6 crystal channels to transmit. Key the mic and you should be on the air. If not, then there's something wrong with it. Yes, this radio predates transistors by quite some time! If you can get your hands on a tube tester, you can haul out the tubes one by one and see which one/what ones are bad to get it working again, if that's the problem. With some googling you might even be able to track down a schematic, or at least a schematic of a similar model to help you with your troubleshooting.
Can't speak to the specific radio, but the brand was well respected in its day. I used to sell electronics and was into CB radios and scanners in the late 70s. (wasn't everyone thanks to Smokey & the Bandit, "Convoy", etc). I remember DeWald was considered a "premium" brand at the time and sold for a pretty penny in comparison to the average brands.
I looked at the bottom of the radio and it still had its warranty card still on it plus wiring diagram. there is also lot of people on the cb in this area but when I tuned into a crystal I can hear people talking. Is also 42 watts per channel pretty good?
Dan Rose
Dan Rose
Did you mean you CAN'T hear anything when you are tuned to a crystal channel? If so, you might want to make sure there's actually crystals in the six slots. The prior owner could have yanked some of them. It could just be that the activity on your area isn't on whatever six channels are loaded in your radio. 42 watts out? That's illegal. Legal limit is 4 watts (AM carrier power). Did you see that 42 watts on a label next to 120V? That's likely the power consumption of the radio on transmit, not output power. These old radios aren't terribly efficient. 4 watts AM carrier power could very well draw 42 watts from the wall.
i'll take pic of the wattage that its puts out. i can hear people talking on the crystals. before they put restricters on CB radios they use to have lots of power when they had tubes.
Dan rose
Dan rose
When CB was created in the end of 1958, the limit was 5 watts input. Unless this radio was modified, it shouldn't be putting out more than that (with an unmodulated carrier). I don't know what RF tubes are in your radio, but 6BA6s were popular in that era and they're not capable of the power you state totally unrestricted. Regardless, the rules today state 4 watts is the limit. Exceeding this would be illegal. Notice I keep saying "unmodulated". This means key down with no audio. You will exceed this if you are yelling "HELLO RADIO" into the mic. An AM carrier with 100% modulation will be FOUR times the unmodulated carrier power. So you're limited to 16 watts PEP on AM. If your radio is factory, I'd say your meter is out of calibration. Borrow a Bird wattmeter with appropriate slug and give it a try. You're going to want to transmit into a dummy load for the most accurate read as well. If you really are putting out 42 watts (carrier OR PEP), then you're breaking the law. That being said, CB is very under enforced these days and there are many exceeding the limit by much more than that. Don't forget if you get a ham license you're allowed up to 1500 watts and you can legally talk more than 250km! ...just not on 11 meters 
Okay looking at your last photo it's exactly what I had suspected. 42 watts is the amount of power the unit draws from the wall socket, not the amount of power that goes out over the air. Power supplies are not 100% efficient and neither are transmitters. That's why you have the disparity between 20 watts PEP and the 42 watts being consumed. The pictures of the schematic are a bit out of focus for me to read it. You've got your six receive crystals in the bottom right and your six transmit crystals in the upper right. These are what determines the channels your radio receives and transmits on when using the fixed channel selector. Did you have any specific questions about this radio? Is it not working correctly?
I would like to talk on it but on the certain crystals i get drowned out by the other guys talking on it a mile a minute. lower cyrstals are you use for the lower bands under 10. 4,5,6 crystals are used around channel 19. Would this be a collecters item also? How would I talk on this radio compared to a cb radio out of a car or truck? Another funny story about this radio if you guys live in apartment where you can't put antenna up you can take a Cb radio antenna use a BBQ grill with a vent at the top. open the vent up run the antenna up through the vent and now you have a ground plane to pick signals I'll post pics on what it looks like.
Dan Rose
Dan Rose
Have you checked things out with an SWR meter? They might not be hearing you because your signal isn't being radiated efficiently. If your antenna is really close to your apartment that's going to have a negative effect on your radiation pattern as well. Technically, you should have the antenna at least 9 feet away from any obstructions. Also, the people you're hearing could be running illegal power and just can't hear you anyway. The antenna is the most important component here so don't compromise on it if you don't have to. If you want different channels, crystals are still available. I have no idea what this radio is worth or if it's a collectable. Might want to try an antique radio forum for that. I know with ham gear, they're collectable to varying degrees. Some use sweep tube finals which aren't being made anymore and have a limited life, so the tubes are actually becoming worth more than the radio itself.
