CB radio question

[Joe Cougar]

Hiya folks. I got such a good response to my battery question that I
thought I'd try and push my luck with a second,possibly OT question.
I just acquired an old but unused (still in box) CB "transceiver' . It
is a Realistic TRC-422A 40 channel model.
The manual boasts 15 transistors and It appears to be at least 25
years old.
My question is this: Would such an old unit still be serviceable and
can a CB be used effectively for emergency assistance ,or are they
primarily used for truckers to BS on?
I will have to purchase an antenna so I thought I'd get some feedback
before going to the expense and trouble of installing this thing in my
pick-up.
Is CB still used and is it worth hooking up?
Thanks----Joe C.

 

[Anthony Fremont]

"Jasen Betts" <jasen@free.net.nz> wrote in message
news:10d1.442f4364.5f4@clunker.homenet...

IIRC 25 years ago most (HF) CB was 15 Channels (or some similar
number)
now it's 40 channels, and only half of the old-style channels are
usable.
the others fall between the channels.

The OP has a 40 channel rig. This is one of those things that varies
allot by country. Since the OP uses WebTV, I suspect he's in the US
where 40 channels is the current setup. BTW, the old US setup was for
23 channels and (IIRC) all of them were incorporated into the 40 channel
spectrum.

AIUI emergency services do listen to the emergency channel and you may
find
that it corresponds to one of the usable channels.

Yes, channel 9 is widely recognized as an emergency channel in the US.

However, if you're interested in actually getting a hold of someone that
could help you, I suggest you look into Amateur Radio. It no longer
requires you to learn Morse code, plus you get to use FM and allot more
power at a frequency that actually propagates. The antennas are smaller
too.

 

[brianorion]

Re: >However, if you're interested in actually getting a hold of
someone that

could help you, I suggest you look into Amateur Radio. It no longer
requires you to learn Morse code, plus you get to use FM and allot more

power at a frequency that actually propagates. The antennas are
smaller
too.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll look into this,thanks. However the attraction was that I got
this CB for free so thought it might be of some use.
I did read the article linked in a previous post and discovered that
they went to 40 channels in 1977 to accomadate the explosion in
popularity following certain movies about truckers etc. This unused
unit appears to be dated 1981. I may try it out just for fun. Thanks
-Joe Cougar (using a friands computer-hoping I didn't screw things up)

 

[John Fields]

On 2 Apr 2006 14:59:03 -0700, "brianorion" <brianorion5@msn.com>
wrote:

Re: >However, if you're interested in actually getting a hold of
someone that

could help you, I suggest you look into Amateur Radio. It no longer
requires you to learn Morse code, plus you get to use FM and allot more

power at a frequency that actually propagates. The antennas are
smaller
too.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll look into this,thanks. However the attraction was that I got
this CB for free so thought it might be of some use.
I did read the article linked in a previous post and discovered that
they went to 40 channels in 1977 to accomadate the explosion in
popularity following certain movies about truckers etc. This unused
unit appears to be dated 1981. I may try it out just for fun. Thanks
-Joe Cougar (using a friands computer-hoping I didn't screw things up)

---
You didn't [screw things up].

Radio Shack's stuff always works, so if you've got one of their
vintage CB's which you want to put on the air, hook it up per the
manual and you'll soon be QSL'ing with lots of folks.


--
John Fields
Professional Circuit Designer

 

[Daniel]

Joe Cougar wrote:

Hiya folks. I got such a good response to my battery question that I
thought I'd try and push my luck with a second,possibly OT question.
I just acquired an old but unused (still in box) CB "transceiver' . It
is a Realistic TRC-422A 40 channel model.
The manual boasts 15 transistors and It appears to be at least 25
years old.
My question is this: Would such an old unit still be serviceable and
can a CB be used effectively for emergency assistance ,or are they
primarily used for truckers to BS on?
I will have to purchase an antenna so I thought I'd get some feedback
before going to the expense and trouble of installing this thing in my
pick-up.
Is CB still used and is it worth hooking up?
Thanks----Joe C.

Joe, as they say "Google is your friend".

I just plugged in "TRC-422C" and got about 400 sites. Should give you
some useful info.

HTH

Daniel
*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2006-04-01, Joe Cougar <elcapitan25@webtv.net> wrote:

Hiya folks. I got such a good response to my battery question that I
thought I'd try and push my luck with a second,possibly OT question.
I just acquired an old but unused (still in box) CB "transceiver' . It
is a Realistic TRC-422A 40 channel model.
The manual boasts 15 transistors and It appears to be at least 25
years old.
My question is this: Would such an old unit still be serviceable and
can a CB be used effectively for emergency assistance ,or are they
primarily used for truckers to BS on?
I will have to purchase an antenna so I thought I'd get some feedback
before going to the expense and trouble of installing this thing in my
pick-up.
Is CB still used and is it worth hooking up?
Thanks----Joe C.

IIRC 25 years ago most (HF) CB was 15 Channels (or some similar number)
now it's 40 channels, and only half of the old-style channels are usable.
the others fall between the channels.

AIUI emergency services do listen to the emergency channel and you may find
that it corresponds to one of the usable channels.

Bye.
Jasen

 

[John Fields]

On Sat, 1 Apr 2006 13:59:11 -0800, elcapitan25@webtv.net (Joe
Cougar) wrote:

Hiya folks. I got such a good response to my battery question that I
thought I'd try and push my luck with a second,possibly OT question.
I just acquired an old but unused (still in box) CB "transceiver' . It
is a Realistic TRC-422A 40 channel model.
The manual boasts 15 transistors and It appears to be at least 25
years old.
My question is this: Would such an old unit still be serviceable and
can a CB be used effectively for emergency assistance ,or are they
primarily used for truckers to BS on?
I will have to purchase an antenna so I thought I'd get some feedback
before going to the expense and trouble of installing this thing in my
pick-up.
Is CB still used and is it worth hooking up?
Thanks----Joe C.

---
10-4, Good Buddy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_band_radio

--
John Fields
Professional Circuit Designer

 

[Art]

US Citizen Band Radio in the 60's initially covered up to channel 23. Some
of the very early units were single, five, and ten channel devices, mostly
crystal controlled with special crystals for each transmit and receive
frequency. <

The TRC unit you have is a PLL device capable of being used on all of the
40 current channels now in use. Pick up an antenna and a power supply, hook
it up and switch to channel 19. That channel is used a lot by commercial
truck drivers, most will assist in giving you a quick radio check.
Just do not use the 10-4 "Good Buddy" comment with them!! FYI QSL and CB
magazine copies are available in most larger libraries.
"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message

news:9dnv22durb9not7vgm3vr8h2dqi0ur1l5q@4ax.com...

On Sat, 1 Apr 2006 13:59:11 -0800, elcapitan25@webtv.net (Joe
Cougar) wrote:

Hiya folks. I got such a good response to my battery question that I
thought I'd try and push my luck with a second,possibly OT question.
I just acquired an old but unused (still in box) CB "transceiver' . It
is a Realistic TRC-422A 40 channel model.
The manual boasts 15 transistors and It appears to be at least 25
years old.
My question is this: Would such an old unit still be serviceable and
can a CB be used effectively for emergency assistance ,or are they
primarily used for truckers to BS on?
I will have to purchase an antenna so I thought I'd get some feedback
before going to the expense and trouble of installing this thing in my
pick-up.
Is CB still used and is it worth hooking up?
Thanks----Joe C.

---
10-4, Good Buddy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_band_radio

--
John Fields
Professional Circuit Designer

 

[Anthony Fremont]

"brianorion" <brianorion5@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1144015143.416070.6410@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...

Re: >However, if you're interested in actually getting a hold of
someone that

could help you, I suggest you look into Amateur Radio. It no longer
requires you to learn Morse code, plus you get to use FM and allot
more

power at a frequency that actually propagates. The antennas are
smaller
too.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
I'll look into this,thanks. However the attraction was that I got
this CB for free so thought it might be of some use.

I understand, I was just thinking that if you're interested in the
nature of communicating by radio, you might find amateur radio
interesting as well. You can talk thru satellites using amateur radio,
or maybe even communicate with the space station.

If you live any where near a major thouroughfare or in town, you should
have no trouble finding people to talk with on your CB. You should find
channel 19 to be one of the more active channels wherever you go.

I did read the article linked in a previous post and discovered
that
they went to 40 channels in 1977 to accomadate the explosion in
popularity following certain movies about truckers etc. This unused

Yeah, there was allot of that going on back then. I take it that you're
to young to recall those days first hand. ;-)

unit appears to be dated 1981. I may try it out just for fun. Thanks
-Joe Cougar (using a friands computer-hoping I didn't screw things up)

As long as you don't try to transmit with it, you can use a simple piece
of wire for a receiving antenna. Just make it 8' to 10' long (longer is
fine too) and it should work decent enough. Just don't transmit into
it. Transmitting into a poor antenna may not actually harm anything (CB
is low power and designed to be more or less idiot proof), but you don't
want to stress those old parts too much anyway.

The key to successful communications is a good antenna. Here is some
info on making your own CB antennas that you can transmit with, if
you're interested:
http://home.att.net/~wizardoz/cbmw/antenna_fabri.html

 

[brianorion]

Re:The key to successful communications is a good antenna. Here is
some
info on making your own CB antennas that you can transmit with, if
you're interested:

----------------------------------------------
Wow.Thanks,and thanks to the other guys who helped out.. This really
sounds fun and I am going to set up an antenna on the roof tomarrow. I
realize this space is for actual information but I felt like mentioning
that this is a really good group you have here and everybody was
helpful and encouraging,which (in my brief experience) is a welcome
rarity on usenet.-Thanks again-Joe