CB Test Equipment

[Dawn]

Do any of you own CB specific test equipment? I'm not talking about swr meter/requency counter units, but real lab test equipment. Most of it was made during the boom years for a short period of time. Communications test equipment for commercial services doesn't really qualify as most of it didn't include AM or if it did, it was an afterthought. Short of aviation test equipment and broadcast, very little was made for AM during the past 45 years.

While I own 2 HP/Agilent service monitors and an array of commercial communications test equipment, a lot of it isn't really usable for AM. I do own a B&K 1040 and 2040 set and have worked with the old Hicock test system that wasn't really for service as much as it was for window dressing for dealers during the 70's. I do have a Sencore CB-41 mod/power meter. Their CB-42 doesn't seem as useful as their mobile CB-49 which is mostly analog. Leader and Meguro were the only other companies that I know of that made CB test equipment. Meguro tended to be very rare and only part of factory/distributor standard test equipment, so it's not very likely anyone has come across it. Leader's few pieces were only made about 2 years and is equally as rare. Sencore's prices and the requirment for a second phone for a repair station left most consumer repair stations out and communications repair wouldn't bother with the low repair costs and rates that were about 1/3 of professional repair fees.

Based on what I already own, I can appreciate owning a Sencore CB-49 mobile test set due to it's entirely analog. I wouldn't mind owning one of Hicock's synthesized generators even though my HP's would be capable of doing the same, these units would be more convenient rather then dealing with the limitations of the B&K 2040. Even the B&K 1040 has limitations today with modulation unless it's displayed on a scope. Hickok and Sencore depended too much on digital displays too early when the empahsis should have been on analog. No easy answers here. Even with the best communications test sets or test equipment, you still would have had to rely on obsolete equipment or amateur pressed into servicel

 

[cabletech]

Are you looking to buy some thing, or just want to know who use's what?

At one time I had the B&K service monitor with out board scope then went to the Sencor CB-42 which I still have but have not used it much this last couple of years as I do not do much CB any more.

 

[prcguy]

When I worked at Pace Communications in the mid 70's we used MEGURO MSG-2282A standard CB signal generators and I had a Logimetrics 921A for aligning VHF-lo AM business band radios. There were a few B&K CB specific generators around but the MEGURO was like HP on steroids.

For transmit we used Bird 43 with RF tap and HP 5381A freq counters into (I forget the brand) oscilloscope with a T connector at the vertical input on one side of the T and a load on the other for monitoring modulation. Pretty basic setup but there were lots of test benches set up the same.

At the time Pace was the largest manufacturer and importer of CB radios on the planet and we were set up to QC very large shipments of new radios arriving from Japan and subsequent repair of anything that failed.

Then there were the benches set up for alignment and repair of commercial FM and marine radios but that's a different subject.
prcguy

 

[ac3y]

As luck would have it, I just picked up a Meguro 2282A CB Standard Signal Generator as part of a haul of Meguro RF test gear.

I don't know much about this specific unit but I sought out Meguro for their FM and Stereo generators which were at the time the best available and later models are as good as it ever got. For example, a generation or two back, their stereo generator had max audio oscillator distortion of 0.0025%! Later models are not quite as high spec, but they sure look pretty in the pictures.

Indeed, this is lab/development quality gear, beyond the need of the routine service man.

I will post a pic of the Meguro when I get it out of the car!

 

[Dawn]

I seen one of the cb units on Ebay a while ago. It reminded me of a URM-25 series mil sig gen. I've also seen a unit that looked almost like it except it was an analog sig gen, but I think it had a lower then usual upper limit for a mid band unit that's usually good to about 50mhz not counting harmonics.. Nice find.

 

[ac3y]

Here's a pic of the Meguro generator. Individual channel selector then a really sweet +/- 5kc vernier. Super nicely made stuff, indeed!

Actual model # is MSG-228A-S. Whether there are other similar units from Meguro, I wouldn't know.

Info on some of this older Meguro equipment is hard to come by but I'm digging for it.

 

[Dawn]

That looks like the one I seen on Ebay except it had 40+ channels. I passed on it because I couldn't find a manual vendor that even had a listing for anything Meguro. AFAIK, they were only brought into the states by the CB radio companies/distributors of the day.

 

[ac3y]

Most of this specialized stuff probably ended up on production lines, and a lot of those were in Japan back when this sig gen was made. I'd have to think that they didn't make too many of these instruments and most never made it to these shores.

Similarly, most of the fancy 80s-90s FM alignment gear on ebay seems to have car radio industry cal stickers on it...Delco and the like. Later generations were set up for automated testing routines with digital control lines, with large scale manufacturing operations rather than a guy at a lab bench tweaking up radios in mind.

I'm found a few manuals for my Meguro FM/Stereo generators, which were probably a lot more common than the CB generators, but these are super hard to locate also. It is a waiting game....eventually they'll show up. On the plus side, most equipment of this quality is still in reasonable working condition, needing only switch cleaning and routine maintenance.

My 228A-S will appear on ebay before long, since I don't currently own any 27 mHz gear! With all the signal generators I recently accumulated I don't even have room for any...

 

[N0ZQR]

Really don't mean to highjack this thread, but does anyone know where I can find a meter for a Sencore CB49?

I have one where the meter movement is "hung up" and I need to find a replacement meter that I can just remove the meter face and then replace it with the one that was on the old one.

If anyone would know of a replacement meter (size and value) it would be great!!

Ron

 

[prcguy]

Back in the 70s and 80s the Sound Technologies ST1000A FM stereo generator was probably the best you could get.
prcguy

Most of this specialized stuff probably ended up on production lines, and a lot of those were in Japan back when this sig gen was made. I'd have to think that they didn't make too many of these instruments and most never made it to these shores.

Similarly, most of the fancy 80s-90s FM alignment gear on ebay seems to have car radio industry cal stickers on it...Delco and the like. Later generations were set up for automated testing routines with digital control lines, with large scale manufacturing operations rather than a guy at a lab bench tweaking up radios in mind.

I'm found a few manuals for my Meguro FM/Stereo generators, which were probably a lot more common than the CB generators, but these are super hard to locate also. It is a waiting game....eventually they'll show up. On the plus side, most equipment of this quality is still in reasonable working condition, needing only switch cleaning and routine maintenance.

My 228A-S will appear on ebay before long, since I don't currently own any 27 mHz gear! With all the signal generators I recently accumulated I don't even have room for any...

 

[Sstack]

I just saw a nice msg-228a-s here in California