Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffahart
Thanks, I'll post what I get here. I'm going to tack a CB onto my charging system and battery upgrade.
Thanks again!
j
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23 channel might be period correct, but I doubt if the Temporal Police are gonna get on your case if you get a 40 channel rig. The more channels, the more options to talk to folks.
As for Fluid State [tubes] vs Solid State [transistors] -- the first transistor radio came out in 1954 but they were spendy at first. The prices came down in the early'60s, and teenagers hadda have 'em. That's AM broadcast radio, Top 40 I mean. CB makers followed the industry.
My first Mobile CB rig was a Johnson Messenger I ['Whiteface''] in my '61 Mercedes 190 sedan, about 1969. Solid state rigs were out by then, but I was a kid in Jr College with not much money. I also used a Messenger One for a base station. The mobile got stolen -- bastards smashed a driver's side window and ripped it out. The model one had slots for 5 channels, only. You had to pick what freqs you wanted to use. My older brother then gave me his Messenger Two ["Blackface''] and I used it in the Merc. [The Messenger Two had slots for 10 crystals.] They were bulky ~9x10x18 inches deep, and real heavy, got hot when up and running, and a square-wave DC inverter buzzed constantly, but Boy Howdy, when you had it on you were really broadcasting! They did not sound tinny like the transistor sets. For a barefoot rig they were dynamite. [That's because they were built before the FCC got more particular and specified a transmitter in that class could not exceed 5 watts total, and 3-3.5 watts final output. Earlier, the Johnson company built their tube-type Messengers to deliver 5 watts solid output.] I still have a Whiteface and Blackface, but it would take an expert to restore them now. Channel selector won't turn on one. I also have a Messenger 4175 solid state 40 channel, I used in my '67 K/10 Suburban between 1993-98. I ran a Realistic TRC-421 in my '68 C/10 Stepside from 1978 til the mid '90s when I got a cellphone. The antenna mount, cable and Mic clip are still there, waiting to get hooked up again.
If enough of us put CBs in our trucks, that'll be something.