Frankenstein 148

[poikaa]

I have been working on a project radio recently, A Cobra 148GTL and I do not know the history on it. Bought it two years ago at the Dayton HAM fest. On the last day and I had not bought any rigs so I came across the flea market booth. Wanted 45 dollars so I talked him to 30, brought it home and it was junk!
Disgusted I stowed it away and recently found it again! What a piece of junk!
Thinking of the thirty dollars and how much beer it could have bought, I started tinkering with it.... well it needed lots of TLC.... S/RF meter shot, wires all over, a goofy Expo 100 crystal kit replacing the SWR switch, broken slugs in the IF cans! Bent shafts, beat up front panel, What a piece of junk! And I forgot what "caveat emptor" means!
Since I cannot beat myself too much I decided to part out a dead 148 and I have an old Washington, all to donate parts.... 6 hours later it was up and running! pulled all the junk out and replaced the meter with a good one! Looks good now and just some final peaking, it's doing 20 watts SSB and 3 watts dead key with 8 watts swing on AM!
Not a piece of junk anymore and as soon as the stitches heal, I do not think any one will notice the bolts in the neck!

73 poikaa

 

[Rosco-p-c]

It's always a good feeling when you can bring one back from the dead. They're harder to part with later 'cause you've got a piece your time in 'em. I still have a couple of old Realistics on the shelf that I resurrected (TRC-418 & TRC-452). I haven't used them in a long time, but wouldn't let 'em go.