Any Tram D201, D201A owners out there?

[125]

I am just asking if their are any owners of these radios out there for their comments. I have 2 D201A's and I think they are one of the better "CB's" ever made.

[kb2vxa]

One of the better depends on which one you have. The first generation was made in the US and was hand wired, in other words had point to point wiring. The second generation was made in Mexico, used a circuit board and had heat problems typical of hot tubes and phenolic plastic. I can tell you one thing, they sound great "stock" with an unamplified Astatic D-104. Some clods tried to "tweak and peak" them and as with any radio that receives the golden screwdriver and "power mic" treatment ended up sounding like crap yet the CB monkeys seem to think anything that makes noise is OK. Oh don't mind me, I've always been a bit of a purist never having felt the need to sound like I'm processing audio with a cheese grater.

[125]

Funny thing is that my stock D-104 died so I put on the amplified D-104 but I tuned down the radio (audio) this also allows me to play with other mics. As I have said I have 2 but I put one up for sale. I also have a 3rd for parts a CB tech tried to tune it up and well. I picked it up for $25 at a hamfest for parts I could not turn that deal down because other than it being screwed up it was in mint shape no scratches and all the knobs looked like new and all the tubes were good.

[lieut25]

My Tram D201A has been siting in the garage for the past 10 years. Along with all the other CB stuff Collecting dust.

[zzdiesel]

I used to dream of owning a Tram back in the "CB Boom" days. They were the best I heard if they were tuned and set up right.

What's sad is that I can't think of anyone that I personally know who has any kind of CB rig running, base or mobile. I had more fun on CB than computers & satellites everything else put together. I don't think people will ever get along that well again.

[kb2vxa]

Well there 125 I found the amped D-104 (TUG-9 stand) to have way too much output so I added an attenuator which as a nice side effect improved the range of the gain pot. Another nice thing is I don't need to replace batteries after routing 12V phantom power through an unused conductor in the cord. The D-104 ceramic head gives a good punchy audio for operating under difficult band conditions but normally I use the 10-DA dynamic head for QSOing.

Leut, any rig that has been sitting for that long quite likely needs every electrolytic cap replaced. Oh being exposed to extremes of heat, cold and humidity it probably has even more issues besides rust and dust so you have three choices, restore it, give it to someone who will restore it or toss it and get two people mad at you.

ZZ, I too used to dream of owning a Tramp but I couldn't decide on Ginger or Mary Ann. Then also I Dream Of Genie.

[JayMojave]

Hello All: Yeah I have to agree with 125 there, I bought a old Tram D201A a few years ago and now I am getting it back to work again. It works great on AM but not on SSB, I found the first FET Transistor driving the Balance modulator to be a dead short hot allowing any audio in.

The Clarifier has very liitle frequency coverage and I am looking into that. Wounder what the frequency coverage is supposed to be?

Looking at the diagram for this radio it appears that they didn't cheap screw the design as other radios have, they have real world crystal filters in the design. FET and Bipolar Transistors, IC's and Tubes and the radios sounds like a AM Broadcast Station with a unamplified D104 Mic.

Here is a address for a guy who has spare parts.

Maycom Communications Products

Jay in the Mojave

[kb2vxa]

"Wounder what the frequency coverage is supposed to be?"
Well stop woundering unless you enjoy pain. Legally the transmit frequency shift can be no more than .005% of the channel center carrier frequency so they made the range small, maybe +/- 1.5KHz if I remember correctly. I really hate the way they do it, locking TX and RX together like that when all you want to do is shift the BFO a bit.

Those who design ham rigs know better, that why we have the RIT control... quack quack. (;->)

[JayMojave]

Hello Warren:

Well I figure it should be a couple of Kc anyway, thats what I will make work at.

Legally? Who cares on a none FCC approvered radio anyway. All I want to do is talk on SSB and you will need a few Kc's worth of fine tuning, You really need the the transmitter tied to the reciver for the Clarifier. I have Ham radios that have the RIT function, but there ham radios there supposed to have more bells and whistles. Not a big deal, and the RIT isn't used a lot.

No the designers/manufactures of the Ham radios are in trouble and sales show this. The ham radio manufactures are allowing the radios button olgy to be designed by more and more software guys who shouldn't have the finial word on the radios button olgy. The manufactures are getting away from having real Ham and CB radio operators use the radios before mass production. The operating manuals are a joke, and vague at best. After market operating manuals are sold like hot cakes.

But I sure do enjoy operating my Tram D201A, its gets a little hot like my old General Radiotelephone Super MC 11A, and few others, but a light weight fan keeps it cool. I love hearing my voice inside the radio and getting great radio reports. When I turn on my Pride DX 300 Linear Amplifier feeding my Interceptor 10K, 5/8 Ground Plane Antenna, its a gas to operate.

Lets see you ham radios shake rattle and vibrate to the modulation, and have the radio look great. Maybe you can by a software upgrade for them...?

Jay in the Mojave

[mtindor]

Originally Posted by JayMojave

No the designers/manufactures of the Ham radios are in trouble and sales show this. The ham radio manufactures are allowing the radios button olgy to be designed by more and more software guys who shouldn't have the finial word on the radios button olgy.

Jay,

You've piqued my curiosity. What the hell is button olgy ?

Mike

[JayMojave]

Hello Mike:

Ok this may not be electronics industry used term, but it’s used around me.

Button Olgy: (My definition)

Button Olgy, the ease or difficulty in operating something with buttons, switches, dials, lights, bells buzzers, levers, and such.

Button Olgy Friendly (BOF) a device that easy to operate, its designed layout and operation is easy to operate, and can be done without reading the manual for the most part.

Button Olgy Hostel (BOH) a device that warrants a bullet in its display and processor. A device that may have too many Menu Driven options, and needs way more key strokes and button actuations and thinking to do the simplest of functions. The device has less switches and controls as to save money from the manufacture at the expense of the user or customer who may nail it to the wall of shame.

BOH devices usually have a thick vague instruction manuals, obviously translated from another language, from someone who has never used the product.

I have had a few ham radios that have been feed to Mr. Bandsaw, and Mr, Drill press for the common good, as to relieve the frustration of use to anyone else.

If state of the art new computers, airplanes, spacecraft, new cars, and such can be manufactured then certainly BOF devices can be made.

BOH devices are manufactured to save manufacturing costs, some bean counter has competed form #1234567890 and submitted it to another not needed overhead type that has made a decision to cut costs. When these over inflated over paid, unnecessary types, can be replaced with just a few old ham radio guys who can review the product and give real world hands on market feedback.

Thats why I love to use my old Tram D201A, its user friendly to operate, (BOF) and it doesn't ask me if I really want to do something. And you can hear your voice rattling around in the radio when you transmit. Hope this helps.

Jay in the Mojave

Originally Posted by mtindor

Jay,

You've piqued my curiosity. What the hell is button olgy ?

Mike

[n9emz]

Over the past 10 years, I've owned and operated a number of Trams and one of my current "retro" CB stations is a first generation, hand-wired/VOX-equipped D201. The real problem associated with operating a D201 happens when you put something else on the air. The people you regularly QSO with will be quick to tell you how bad it sounds compared to the Tram's audio quality and presence. It's gotten to the point that I seldom operate anything other than the D201.

In stock configuration, output is 4 Watts deadkey and 11-14 Watts peak. In crystal mode, it covers CB channels 1-23 and the RX VFO range is from 26.935 to 27.565 MHz. Clarifier range is approximately -1.5 kHz/+3.5 kHz RX only. Several different modification methods are available to "strap" TX for greater output, unlock the VFO for TX operation, and open the clarifier and tie in TX. The 6L6 PA is capable of producing up to 19 Watts deadkey and nearly 40 Watts peak output without distortion, however at stock drive/output levels the rig delivers audio of such presence that listeners would suspect higher output. The best method of unlocking the VFO for TX enables perfect TX/RX tracking across the full VFO range, and VFO alignment is normally performed with emphasis on the frequencies above 27.255 MHz.

In addition to the TX capabilities of this rig, its receiver is worth comment. The D201 has awesome adjacent channel rejection and emits just as beautiful audio quality from its front-firing speaker. It is well worth the common $400 asking price for one that's had the proper "treatment."

[JayMojave]

Hello n9emz:

Great looking Tram D201 WOW! My Tram is on a cicuit board and was made in Mexico. It looks almost as good as yours.

I having problems with the Balanced Modulator Board, it doesn't tramsmit on SSB, and I traced the lost signal to a few componets. But I am sure I'll get it fired up and hummin.

Jay in the Mojave

[4william]

I bought my Tram in 1973 new. Great radio!!! I had it hooked up to a Super Penitrator 500 ground plane which I also still have. I Plan to get it 10-8 but it needs to be retubed.

[JayMojave]

Hello 4William 1136264:

I got my Tram D201A to work, now transmitting and receiving. I found C242 a capacitor for a tuned circuit acting nutzoid causing very low output power coming out of the Balanced Modulator Board, causing the driver and finial tube to have low out put power.

I also bought a new Balanced Modulator Board for 95 dollars from Barkett Electronics at:

Barkett Electronics Home Page

They treated me very well and sent the rebuilt Balance Modulator Board very quickly. The new board even worked better than my original repaired BM Board, giving the radio a few more watts out on SSB.

I talked with the Tech there who I though was real sharp, he told me it is very expensive to go thru the old Tram D201A Radios, but many still have it done. He finds many bad resistors and replaces all the electrolytic capacitors and aligns the radios. I have replaced many resistors in the transmitter and have it running really good. But the receiver has a low output and I suspect the possibility a weak tube of plate load resistor, and there's no telling what suprizes one will find there.

That Penetrator 500 5/8 Antenna is a great one. This antenna was rated to handle 1500 Watts from
Hy-Gain Back in the later 1960's to early 1980's.

Good luck on your re-tubing effort.

Jay in the Mojave

Originally Posted by 4william

I bought my Tram in 1973 new. Great radio!!! I had it hooked up to a Super Penitrator 500 ground plane which I also still have. I Plan to get it 10-8 but it needs to be retubed.