Dawn
Member
This radio as far as any service publication is concerned never existed. Even two ex employees of Shakespeare/Glading claim they never heard of it while working there during the 23 channel to 40 channel changeover. There's no question they existed as there is a video on Youtube and several have passed through Ebay. Those of you that remember, the Simba was one of the most expensive and flagship bases made selling for near $600 around 1974. Multiply that by 4.5 for today's dollars. The radio was a huge ripoff though as it was nothing but a $350 Cheetah stuck in a big box with a clock and power supply with a cheap stripline directional coupler that would have sold for $15 in a radio shack box for the SWR meter.
The Simba SSB/2 looks identical to the original. You can't tell them apart except for the Simba/2 on the front panel. There is no digital 40 channel display, just an expanded rotary switch to 40 channels that's blacked out when off and you couldn't tell it from the original without seeing the extra numbers. Nothing else changed, same mechanical clock, relay switching. I understand though they were not packed with the standard base mic, but an amplified D-104 with Pearce Simpson markings like last production 23 channel Simbas.
What was inside this radio? I've heard it was an early uniden 858 chassis identical to the RS TRC-457/8, I've heard it was the exact same chassis as the one of the 40 channel Courier Centurions with the rotary dial, also and 858 based chassis. I've even heard it was similar chasiss to RS's 23 channel TR-57 which was a discrete PLL design around a phase detector, divider chain, and seperate pll chip like the early SBE's.
Whatever it was, it must have been a very short lived,gap interval products that not many were made, just to have something ready to ship by the 23 channel sunset date.
The Simba SSB/2 looks identical to the original. You can't tell them apart except for the Simba/2 on the front panel. There is no digital 40 channel display, just an expanded rotary switch to 40 channels that's blacked out when off and you couldn't tell it from the original without seeing the extra numbers. Nothing else changed, same mechanical clock, relay switching. I understand though they were not packed with the standard base mic, but an amplified D-104 with Pearce Simpson markings like last production 23 channel Simbas.
What was inside this radio? I've heard it was an early uniden 858 chassis identical to the RS TRC-457/8, I've heard it was the exact same chassis as the one of the 40 channel Courier Centurions with the rotary dial, also and 858 based chassis. I've even heard it was similar chasiss to RS's 23 channel TR-57 which was a discrete PLL design around a phase detector, divider chain, and seperate pll chip like the early SBE's.
Whatever it was, it must have been a very short lived,gap interval products that not many were made, just to have something ready to ship by the 23 channel sunset date.