my handheld CB addiction.

[niceguy71]

I took all my handhelds out and set them on my work bench... I pretty much have one or two of every model ever made... I still need to get the ThunderPole TX some time... but I have a bunch of handhelds!!!! and 4 or 5 of each of my favorites.
so now I can see what models I have, and what models I need to get ( not going to be many more)
I will review and range test each one soon.
I just thought I would share my video of them..... don't expect any great Hollywood video.... I have a serious problem with being in front of the camera!!! once I turn the camera on, I look and talk like a complete moron! ( I look much smarter when no one is around to see it)

I'm also not very good at working a smartphone camera.... but this is just for fun and when I get better, I may try to remake the video.
my You Tube video of my handheld CB's

 

[KB4MSZ]

That is astounding. What a collection.

 

[slowmover]

I’ve thought about buying a foam-lined X-long rifle case to be able to flip it open to display the 16-18 however many mobile microphones I’ve got just to have fun with others.

The other man said it best.

.

 

[slowmover]

To the OP: I’ve not had any real interest in hand-helds past seeing the appeal. I like that the connection to the youngest “you” remains true.

Are there sites or forums where handy-talkies like this are the focus? I ask as there “ought” to be a starting point for those interested. You’ve now made yourself an “authority”.

I was moved 5-6/years back to become serious about my work truck comms. The tap on the shoulder, in spiritual terms. As I’d noted that once having read thru Mr Applegate’s donation of experience that there wasn’t a decent set of models concerning big trucks to follow. Not written or in videos.

I’m not a licensed operator nor would I want to claim I’m any more than I am: a man who wants to get home from far distant places, safely, and having been able to use radio to operate more efficiently in the face of problems. I know something about physical installation, gear choices, and with very high operating times.

No one’s “expert”. Willingness and an open wallet.

I lay it out this way to be encouraging on the subject at hand. The OP is far ahead of where I’d be and is a reliable source for advice. What I hoped my efforts would yield — be useful information to others — as I struggled again to get it right in a Class 8 truck.

This is my two-cents of advice. That radio collection is impressive, and hints made elsewhere tell me that there’s also depth.

PRESIDENT Randy is my sole interest till now as its design fits what I want as adjunct to a mobile or base rig. SimonTheWizard drops hints about both NRC and SSB to show up in similar hand-helds which I hope come true.

But I don’t have squat for experiential reality re power draw, antenna choices, etc, though I’ve tried to lay out potentials for Randy elsewhere.

Am now looking forward with interest to a piece of gear in comparative reviews where I’d had but little just yesterday.

If I’m faced with use of these “big” handy-talkies, I’d really like to know what’s reasonable expectation given good condition.

.

 

[KI4ZNG]

Your handheld collection is quite impressive! I'm willing to bet that it brought back some memories when you were setting them up on your bench. Oh and your video was great too.

 

[K7MH]

I have always thought it would be cool to have a collection like that. The only problem is that it is never ending as there are a zillion of them!!
Congrats on the collection!!
I would probably limit a collection to older CB walkie talkies of 100 milliwatts.

 

[niceguy71]

!
I would probably limit a collection to older CB walkie talkies of 100 milliwatts.

thank you
believe me I wish I could limit myself to just 10 or 15..... I'm trying to find the handheld that gets the most Range and most battery life.... and the newest radio's are kicking butt... the 100 Milliwatts I no longer even take out to see how far they go..... it's VERY surprising... I have a couple of TRC 1 watt handhelds with the short 36 inch non center loaded antenna...... they actually are factory set to 1 watt input .....1/2 watt output and they sound better and go just as far as some of my 4 watt input 3.5 watt output radios???? they don't give as strong as a signal on the signal meter... but they sound so clear and understandable even with the small antenna... some of these radios really surprise me.

 

[wtp]

try this page, nice guy...

RigPix Database - CB, "Freeband" and more

 

[niceguy71]

try this page, nice guy...

RigPix Database - CB, "Freeband" and more

that is quite the list!... but it didn't have all the radio shack handhelds... I have all the manuals ( and service manuals) for every radio shack handheld ever made but I don't know much about the Cobra handhelds... I have a lot of them... the 28, the 33, the 35, the 35 with weather channels 35 WX, the 36, the 38, the 40, the 45, and the newest one the 50 but the list only shows the 38....
still a great site thank you

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Very nice collection! Looks like 4 of each! You will be all set for the apocalypse! It is amazing the degree of engineering put into those radios.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Still looking for a couple of these as they have a very interesting RF design. Just one crystal required for Tx and Rx.

 

[Fast1eddie]

Had a Lafayette Dyna Com 23. I was just getting interested in electronics ay 16 and was surprised at the range of the radio. The whip antenna was very long and held up well. I liked the metal case coupling your body to the radio.
I would love to see a 10/11 meter HT with sideband.

 

[otobmark]

What was the name of the Swedish company that made orange cased radios? They were near commercial grade, being used for serious work in Sweden. I always wanted both a mobile and a handheld but never happened.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

What was the name of the Swedish company that made orange cased radios? They were near commercial grade, being used for serious work in Sweden. I always wanted both a mobile and a handheld but never happened.

HANDIC. See my post #11 above.

 

[slowmover]

What was the name of the Swedish company that made orange cased radios? They were near commercial grade, being used for serious work in Sweden. I always wanted both a mobile and a handheld but never happened.

 

[otobmark]

I would have never remembered “Handic”. That’s the brand though. I really wanted one. Also considered was the Motorola CB.

 

[FPR1981]

I also have somewhat of an affinity for handhelds. I have a couple old Realistics that have the telescoping antennas on them with the coil in the middle. Both have the external 5-pin DIN mic jacks. I'm known to throw mine on my radio desk and run my D-104 through it. When I was a teenager in the early 1990s, I mounted one on my bicycle handlebars and used an echo mic on it, LOL.

No one believed me that I was on a bicycle, with a handheld, talking with an echo mic. With that telescoping antenna, and depending on the elevation where I was, I had no trouble talking anywhere in town on it. One night I stood at the top of a hill 11 miles from town and was talking to a person on a base station at the other end. I was barely above their noise level, but for that distance, being audible on CB from a handheld was no small feat.

These old Realistics make nice spur-of-the-moment base stations or mobile units using the RCA-to-SO-239 adapter. Many times I used mine as such.

I also own a President Randy. As far as modern amenities are concerned, with it being modeled more along the lines of something like a modern ham-grade walkie talkie, it's a cool piece. I don't consider its performance to be as good as my old Realistics, but I also do not have to contend with slapping 8 or 10 rechargeable batteries in it, and it's much smaller.

I do not like the TNC configuration for the antenna, but the features and convenience factors make up for that.

 

[niceguy71]

I also have somewhat of an affinity for handhelds. I have a couple old Realistics that have the telescoping antennas on them with the coil in the middle. Both have the external 5-pin DIN mic jacks. I'm known to throw mine on my radio desk and run my D-104 through it. When I was a teenager in the early 1990s, I mounted one on my bicycle handlebars and used an echo mic on it, LOL.

No one believed me that I was on a bicycle, with a handheld, talking with an echo mic. With that telescoping antenna, and depending on the elevation where I was, I had no trouble talking anywhere in town on it. One night I stood at the top of a hill 11 miles from town and was talking to a person on a base station at the other end. I was barely above their noise level, but for that distance, being audible on CB from a handheld was no small feat.

These old Realistics make nice spur-of-the-moment base stations or mobile units using the RCA-to-SO-239 adapter. Many times I used mine as such.

I also own a President Randy. As far as modern amenities are concerned, with it being modeled more along the lines of something like a modern ham-grade walkie talkie, it's a cool piece. I don't consider its performance to be as good as my old Realistics, but I also do not have to contend with slapping 8 or 10 rechargeable batteries in it, and it's much smaller.

I do not like the TNC configuration for the antenna, but the features and convenience factors make up for that.

I enjoyed reading that, thanks for sharing.
I have a couple pretty good meters and always do the dead key watts and the pep watts in my testing.... I also have EVERY SINGLE service manual on ALL the old Radio Shack handheld CBs.... all the old ones before the year 2000 with the telescoping antenna were all 2.5 watts out put! they all say 4 watts on the box and on the front of the radio... 4 watts input..... but all had the same circuitry and 2.5 watts output

the only one that did more was the "KING OF ALL RADIO SHACK Handhelds" the TRC 216. the service manual says it comes from the factory at 3.30 watts output and can be adjusted from 3 to 4 watts but going over 3.30 watts will not increase range but it will adversely affect the battery life.
so in my testing, most of my TRC 216 radios dead key 2.80 to 3.19... if I have 10 of them, most are between 3.0 and 3.15.... I also have 4 President Randy's and they do 3.30 watt dead key at the minimum.... so the Randy does have more power.... but I like the simple designs of the old Radio Shack handhelds myself.... and in range testing the randy with a 51" HYS TNC telescoping antenna and the TRC 216. they were about the same... maybe a little better for the Randy.....
but the best so far, were the Midland 75-822 then the Uniden pro 501 and then the Cobra HH50.... then the Randy then the 216... but I have a few that I think will do better but have not tested them yet.
glad I'm not the only one that finds those little radios interesting.

 

[niceguy71]

seeing I showed everyone my handheld collection I thought I would show my rechargeable battery collection tonight.
as a prepper I want to be able to use 15 handhelds for security... hunting..... search/ rescue..... recon and whatever? all around my area......
I bought 200 Power Owl rechargeable batteries .... and enough chargers to recharge 80 of them at a time they are good for over a 1000 cycles ( more than my lifetime)
..... they are 1.2 volts ( as all rechargeables are ) so that is perfect as most of my handhelds take 10 rechargeables ( 10 X 1.2 volts =12 volts..) or they take 8 alkaline batteries..... ( 8 X 1.5 volts =12 volts) so it all worked out fine... but I got a couple new favorite radios... I bought three of the Cobra HH 50... and 3 of the Uniden Pro 501 handhelds..... I like the Cobra best ( I got a GREAT deal on all of them at Amazon returns and bought them for under $40 bucks each new in the box with all the stuff... just returned ( people buy them and find out they can't use them in a car I guess???.....
they take 9 batteries..... doesn't matter rechargeable or alkaline they take 9 batteries???? so if I use my rechargeables its 9 X 1.2 =10.8 volts.... it say's the radio will work from 10.8 volts to 13.8 volts..... if I used Alkaline batteries 9 X 1.5 = 13.5 volts... BIG DIFFERENCE
so I called Cobra and they said both will function exactly the same!..... as I dug into this I found alkaline batteries start out at 1.5 volts and VERY quickly go to 1.2 volts... and then slowly go lower and lower..... but the rechargeables start at 1.2 volts and stay at 1.2 volts till they are almost dead then drop off to nothing.
well this still pissed me off as I want to test them at max power... and 10.8 volts VS 13.5 volts in a handheld is HUGE.... so I looked into batteries and found EBL makes some lithium Ion 1.5 volt rechargeable batteries??? so I bought 9 to test... WOW I found they charge in under two hours!!!!.... my Power Owls 1.2 volt rechargeable are a trickle charger and it takes 12 to 15 hours to charge them every time!!!!!! and as a prepper I can't run my generator for 12 to 15 hours every time a hunting party comes back!
but I have the power owls already and spent a fortune on them and chargers .... so I just bought enough of the 1.5 volt rechargeables to run my 6 favorite radios...... one of my first tests I took out TWO Cobra HH 50 handhelds.... one with 1.2 batteries and one with 1.5 volt batteries... I also did the same for a Uniden pro 501...... I was sure the ones with the 13.5 volts would out perform the 10.8 volt radios....
NOPE they both got the exact same range! 3 miles..... the Uniden's were a little clearer but all 4 of them just barely got 3 miles.
all of them lasted the same amount of time on the batteries too if I put them on scan and leave them on my coffee table I get about a week out of them.

to keep batteries working good.. you have to discharge them till about 20% and recharge them a few times a year.... they will last months on the shelf and stiff have 90% of their charge... but you still need to cycle them.... so I put them into candles I have all over the house that turn on for 8 hours a night... when they die I recharge them.... so tonight's job is swapping out my dead rechargeable with fully charged rechargeables... I try to do that every two months......
so if any of you get a handheld and want good batteries for it get the 1.5 volt EBL's with special lithium ion charger on Amazon... only problem they come in a 8 pack and my new favorite radios take 9..
EBL 1.5 volt rechargeable batteries

 

[KB4MSZ]

You need help.