handheld CB pin broken off in the BNC connector... is drilling my only option?

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

seeing this post was originally about repairing a radio I thought I would ask another question.

this is TOO LONG OF A POST..... don't bother to read it unless you too have and like the TRC 207 handheld CB radio. or you really have no life.
you have been warned.

I had a couple Radio Shack handhelds when I was a kid that I wanted to talk all around the town in the worst way...... I worked all summer mowing lawns, waxing cars, weeding gardens..... whatever I could, to buy a Radio Shack handheld CB.. it was $19.99..... turned out it was a one watt input 1/2 watt output with one channel 14 crystal in it..... I couldn't talk to anyone!!!... so the next summer I worked all year again and bought the two watt radio shack handheld ( one watt output) for $29.99 and again could not talk to anyone!!!
the next year I really busted my ass worked night and day wasted the whole summer just to get a handheld CB.... I got the 3 watt TRC handheld ( 1.5 watts output ) one channel 14 crystal in it..... it was $39.99 a HUGE AMOUNT for a teenager back then. all three of these radio's had 4 feet tall antenna's........ and again I could not get anyone.... I figured being stuck on channel 14 didn't help.
my Mother had her brother the truck driver come over so I could talk to him and make sure it worked. he told me I really needed a 4 watt output radio and 40 channels to find someone to talk with... he drove down our long 900 foot farm driveway to get to the main street..... I was able to talk to him until he got about 100 feet from the main road!!!! so I got about 800 feet!!!!
so I said THAT"S IT!!!! no more stupid radios!!! ( but I still had the radio bug in me)
when I got a real job at minimum wage $3.25 an hour ( a 40 hour, weeks pay after taxes was about $70.00.... I went to Radio Shack and got a 4 watt handheld CB that had 40 channels!!! it was $99.99
I figured I got a real deal radio now!
and I would be able to talk around the town... NOPE! ... I was lucky to get a 1/2 mile out of it... it had a brand new to Radio Shack, fancy Dancy, new innovation the new rubber ducky antenna!!!! Radio Shack made a big deal about this new type antenna back then.
well I learned the Rubber Ducky SUCKED! I missed the telescoping antenna's
so for the next 35 years I tried to get a different longer antenna for it.
it is only a one wire antenna????? most antenna's have two wires... but in the picture you can see it is only solid stud.... I tried to get a bolt that would go into that hole.. it's an 8MM but it's got a weird thread and NOTHING screws into it... ( I've spent a lot of time at hardware stores) I thought I could somehow bolt a telescoping antenna on it.... I have read articles on it for years about other people looking for some kind of adapter to allow a better antenna.... but it seems TRC made this very different...... most antenna's are 50 Ohms ... not this one??? so Radio Shack made sure no one would use anything other than their antenna on it. ........ many people have tried other ways of getting a different antenna on the connection and it usually burns out the radio???
it has become my obsession I have tried everything... TRUST ME they do not make any kind of adapter for it... I have a Maxon CB that has a similar antenna, but they do make an adapter for that one, and I have it, it's a Motorola MX to BNC Antenna adapter for Motorola Maxon ICOM Radios... but it doesn't come close to fitting the TRC 207..... the Maxon has two wires to it, so the adapter connects in two places,
the center hole and the outer ring.... my TRC 207 is all one piece.
so I opened up my TRC 207 today after 35 years and was going to change the weird fitting for a BNC connector.... PLENTY OF ROOM!!!!! but the Auxiliary antenna connector in the side, is 50 ohms and is wired to a different part of the board? ... the one single wire that goes to the weird connector has a lot of electronic pieces in line with it and goes to a completely different part of the board?
I was going to cut that out and solder to the two wires to the Auxiliary antenna connection on the board... but I found using my multimeter that when you plug an Auxiliary antenna jack into it.... it disconnects the weird fitting....... well, if I solder it on the board, it will not be disconnecting all that weird wiring for the weird antenna connection... meaning both would be used at the same time??? probably causing trouble.
so I made a piece that I can attach to the side of the radio, and plug into the Auxiliary port and it allows me to use the GREAT HYS 51 inch telescoping antenna... I find I get over 4 miles range with that great antenna.... looks ugly and not what I wanted... but if it works and I can get 4 miles range I'll play with it..... then another day I may buy a cheap TRC 207 off E-bay to solder a BNC connector on and if it burns it out.... it was only an experiment any way..... I don't want to experiment on the radio that I had to work two weeks scrubbing floors to get... as it works really nice! I always like how well it receives and my voice always sounds clean and clear on it... it also shuts off the display to save battery life after 3 seconds... I always thought it was a nice radio, if it wasn't for that damn duck antenna.
so any thoughts about just cutting out the old antenna wiring ( leaving it connected to the board) and soldering to the board where the Auxiliary antenna connector is????

1) The Motorola MX-BNC style adaptor is rather worthless except for sticking a BNC style antenna directly above. Why? Because unless the knurled outer ring actually touches something grounded, you won't get continuity on the shield side to connected an external antenna via coax.

2) The radio has a 50 OHM auxiliary side connector apparently for the purpose you have shown. Having a schematic of the radio will verify this. The 50 OHM connector would be connected directly to the circuitry of the antenna switch/PA and receiver as engineers intended.

3) The MX style "Ducky" is a compromise of engineering standards. The impedance is something quite different than 50 OHMS, thus the engineers, forced by the marketing and stylist "experts" at Radio Shack probably added a matching network (again the schematic will show this) so that as much of the feeble transmit and receive energy are radiated/picked up by the rubber ducky. If you look at certain Military radios, they actually gave a switchable network inside.

4) You could wire the auxillary connector to feed a BNC installed at the top of the radio, but you will again be faced with finding a rubber ducky antenna that behaves near 50 OHMS on the radio. But at least there will be a physical connector.

5) Motorola made a very low cost low band portable radio back in the 70's that had a flexible antenna. It also had a tuning slug inside so you could peak it up for best performance. It was a true MX style.

6) If your threaded connector is too large, you might find threaded inserts at ACE hardware that will fit the jack and allow a true MX style antenna to thread inside.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

RigPix Database - CB, "Freeband" and more - Handic Micman X

I would actually like to get a pair of these. They are FM and require only one crystal per channel.

 

[niceguy71]

4) You could wire the auxillary connector to feed a BNC installed at the top of the radio, but you will again be faced with finding a rubber ducky antenna that behaves near 50 OHMS on the radio. But at least there will be a physical connector.

I'd like to do that.... Amazon sells a BNC rubber ducky antenna for CB band so they are not a problem to get, I have bought a couple to replace other handheld rubber antenna's that had the rubber fall apart.....
I see where two wires come off the board going to the Auxiliary ant. port... so I could solder two more wires into the same area of the board and run it up to a BNC connector easy peasy......... but I see when you push a jack into that port it opens the metal apart breaking the connection to the existing antenna connection... I see that on my multimeter.... but I can't see where it is to cut it.... and I don't want to just wire it to the aux port because then the radio will be sending the signal to both connections.... so I'll test it with the crazy way I have it and see if that 51" HYS ant. gets 3 plus miles like many of my other handheld radios.... if the aux. ant. port to the telescoping performs really good I'll start soldering and see what happens..... but if I get a mile with the rubber duck and a mile with the telescoping antenna then there would be no point in doing anything.

6) If your threaded connector is too large, you might find threaded inserts at ACE hardware that will fit the jack and allow a true MX style antenna to thread inside.

I have been to Ace and AuBuchon's hardware... they have every nut and bolt under the sun...... but nothing for that crazy radio!!!! I had all the helpers trying to find something that would screw into it..... NOTHING screws into it..... what I wanted to do was make a 2 inch long PVC 3/4 inch diameter pipe with two caps on each end.... I would drill a hole in one end and drop a long bolt through it with a nut on the other side ..... the extra bolt hanging out would screw into my TRC 207 antenna port ( if I could have found the right size bolt.) .... on the other cap I would solder a BNC connector and run the wire out a small hole in the side of the pvc pipe that would plug into the Auxiliary port....
doing this would look weird.... but I could easily switch from factory duck antenna to the good long range telescoping antenna.... but it wasn't meant to be.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Various portable antenna connector styles Larsen used to provide as special order. I wonder if yours is MD Type # 14?:

CODE CONNECTOR CONNECTOR DESCRIPTION
10 1/4-32x3/16 Threaded Male Stud Connector (MX Type)
14 M7x1.0 Threaded Male Stud Connector (MD Type)
15 BNC BNC Exposed-Chrome (BN Type)
16 BNC Covered BNC Covered (BNX Type)
17 TNC TNC Exposed - Chrome (TN Type)
17RP* TNC TNC Exposed - Reverse Polarity
18 TNC Covered TNC Covered (TNX Type)
20 SMA Male T1 SMA Male - Extended Base (SMS Type)
21 SMA F T1 SMA Female - Flush Base (SF Type)
22 SMA F T2 SMA Female - Recessed Insulator - No Cover Skirt (EFJ Type) (SFJ Type)
23 SMA F T3 SMA Female - Recessed Insulator - Short Cover Skirt (Uniden Type) (SFU Type)
24 SMA Male T2 SMA Male - Flush Base (SM Type)
24RP* SMA Male T2 SMA Male - Flush Base - Reverse Polarity

Do you still have the threaded part of your original antenna? If so, maybe it can be drilled to accept a smaller thread as an adaptor?

 

[niceguy71]

Do you still have the threaded part of your original antenna? If so, maybe it can be drilled to accept a smaller thread as an adaptor?

as seen in the picture I have everything and everything is still working fine...
problem adapting my original antenna ( cutting it up) to make some crazy adapter that lets me use a bnc connector with the tall telescoping antenna is.....
I would then lose the ability to use the ORIGINAL rubber duck for short range.... I have plenty of other handhelds... I was just playing and seeing what I could do to adapt it.... but Radio Shack made sure people didn't change that antenna ...and they did a heck of a job because no one ever figured out a way to do it...
seems most people that soldered a bnc connector on in place of the factory connector ( converting it from one wire to two wires)... the radios would stop working after doing that.... but for nostalgia I may just leave it alone and use that antenna thing I made for long range.
if you watch that first video I posted that guy got 2 miles on that foolish factory one wire antenna... perhaps Radio Shack knew what they were doing.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

This comment from second video....

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

https://www.reddit.com/r/cbradio/comments/jt68so

 

[niceguy71]

View attachment 165768

This comment from second video....

hmmmm VERY INTERSTING! ... I find it hard to believe a tire stem??? but who knows... I'm going to look into this.... guess I can take the tire valve cap off and see if my TRC 207 screws onto it.
if it does I'll make the 2 inch pvc pipe thing I wanted... then I can just screw on the pvc pipe with 51" antenna and plug it into the Aux Ant. port and the whole thing will be mounted on the top of the radio like a normal antenna.

thanks RFI-EMI-GUY ... I've looked for those crazy threads for 30 years.... you may have found them in a day!

I don't know if the guy on Reddit knows what he is talking about but I bought one of these tonight and we'll see? I have been told tons of stuff and everyone is always WRONG... but I havent tried that fitting so I'll give it a shot.
I'll let you know.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805694909629.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.7e351802KMwwL8&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

My link at #47 shows a GE CB radio with the same control layout and similar looking socket and questions. The old GE land mobile portables may have used this style as well. If you are still stymied, an old machine shop may be able to find a thread gauge that contains that oddball.

 

[niceguy71]

My link at #47 shows a GE CB radio with the same control layout and similar looking socket and questions. The old GE land mobile portables may have used this style as well. If you are still stymied, an old machine shop may be able to find a thread gauge that contains that oddball.

I saw the link.... It looks very similar but I don't think it's the same as the TRC 207 I've got a few handhelds that take a Motorola one wire antenna and they are very different...
I paid a 100 bucks for the radio .. and have over a 100 in fittings to try to make an adapter... The fitting I bought from the reddit link was $5.00 after shipping... But I spent a day with the multimeter trying to figure out how to make it work with just the auxiliary antenna port part of the board.... And spend lots of time at electronics stores and hardware stores.... You saw my crazy pipe zip tied to the side of the radio.... I'm done ...... At least for now.

 

[niceguy71]

hmmmm VERY INTERSTING! ... I find it hard to believe a tire stem??? but who knows... I'm going to look into this.... guess I can take the tire valve cap off and see if my TRC 207 screws onto it.
if it does I'll make the 2 inch pvc pipe thing I wanted... then I can just screw on the pvc pipe with 51" antenna and plug it into the Aux Ant. port and the whole thing will be mounted on the top of the radio like a normal antenna.

thanks RFI-EMI-GUY ... I've looked for those crazy threads for 30 years.... you may have found them in a day!

I don't know if the guy on Reddit knows what he is talking about but I bought one of these tonight and we'll see? I have been told tons of stuff and everyone is always WRONG... but I havent tried that fitting so I'll give it a shot.
I'll let you know.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805694909629.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.7e351802KMwwL8&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

well that weird fitting arrived today.... nope not even close to fitting!
I must have over 15 different fittings that people tell me will work ..... they honestly just don't make an adapter for the TRC 207... but people will never believe it... I'm pretty active in a few forums and people are always looking for an adapter for the TRC 207.. I have yet to hear of anyone finding one..... heck I can't even find a bolt.... I may buy a cheap TRC 207 someday on E-bay and solder on a BNC connector ( TONS of room where the factory rubber duck connection is to fit one) I'll solder it to the solder joints on the board that go to the Auxiliary antenna jack..... but I don't know how to unsolder or disable the factory ducky part of the circuit board... but if I get one cheap enough I'll just solder it and see how it works and see how long it lasts.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Did you ever try a tire valve stem? The Reddit mentioned that possibility. Or go with your BNC or SMA wired to the same point and check the power and sensitivity.