Ols School v's newer equipment.

Hello Everyone, this is my first post so please be patient and apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I am coming back to CB after many years off the air, and would like some information with regard to rigs.

I am sure many people prefer old school equipment such as the rigs that I am used to, such as Audioline's, Rotels's, and Maxcoms.

I have spoken with a few people who swear that old school rigs are the best, but at the same time I am tempted by a new rig. I know technology moves on and technically a new rig will be better.

What is likely to perform better? I know that there is some nostalgia about using older equipment and that I fully appreciate but at the same time I am not stuck in the past.

I am half tenpted to buy something like a Uniden 200, and half tempted to buy a new Multi-standard set.

Opinions welcome.

Believe it or not some of the older radios are better built than some of the modern radios.
Simon has reviewed quite a lot of modern radios on this forum so hopefully this should give you an insight to some of them.
I bought an albrecht ae 6890 after looking at the review that simon had done on this forum and i'm very happy with it. I carried out a simple mod on the radio so that it is possible to rx/tx from 25615 to 28000 mhz(off the top of my head) which is also a bonus!!!
It all really depends on what you are after just local chit chat or maybe a spot of dx,for which your needs will change probably to a multi mode rado

Cheers Mof000, I was hoping to do a bit of chit chat and the odd bit of DX on the local hills.
I have a Midland 77-104 that I can use for chit chat but it is quite old and tired now.

If your interested in doing the dx side of things do you wish to stick to fm or use am/ssb ?

Not sure I would use the AM/SSB for transmit due to the legal aspects, but I suppose it would be nice to have just in case, and for listening of course.

As you are well aware am/ssb is illegal in the uk although there are plenty of of people who use these modes and have done for years with no repercussions!!!
Being a foundation licence holder i don't want to promote illegal activity on the cb bands but you would be one of many and if i'm honest is's where i started from!!!!
This obviously wouldn't stop you from rxing any qso's on these frequencies to keep you above the law!!!!!

Do you use Freecycle? I have several bits of radio sitting around that I have acquired for free via Freecycle. I several old FM CB's that one day I will get around to converting to 10 meters, a couple of SWR meters which I have used to convert old ATU's to 50 Ohm input with & on one occasion around 6 carrier bags of amateur equipment that included some very expensive brass Morse keys, some valve equipment schematics & a couple of power supplies.
One question that may be worth asking yourself before spending money, is what is your local activity like? & would a cheap toe in the water first be worth a consideration?

There are a few people on air in my location although things are a lot quieter than they were a few years ago. I live around 1 mile from my parents house and as we have a baby on the way soon it would be ideal to keep in touch with them.

I will take a look on freecycle. I am quite handy at repairing things, so I can probably fix up some non working rigs if need be.

All of the equipment I have was in full working order, although one did need some switch cleaner on the squelch

Well today I picked this up. It is virtually mint, unmolested and it worked perfectly when connected to by brothers aerial.

All I need to do now is sort myself an Aerial and I will be on air, although it might be a few weeks as I move house soon.

What do you reckon?

Great stuff, well done. I had a Homebase CB when I first started out and was a good way to keep wires to a minimum. Think it was a Realistic 3000. Look at all that space u have in there, will be easy to fix :-)

I would recommend an Antron 99 for a homebase antenna. A mid range antenna which won't snap at the first bit of wind...

The last time I was on air a few years back I had an Antron 99, but I have long since sold it.
Unfortunately where I am moving I may not be allowed to put up an outdoor aerial, so I may have to make one to fit in the attic. I have had good results in the past with full quaterwave lengths of wire.

I paid £31 for the Audioline by the way.

A friend of mine had a Realistic home base many years ago I cannot remember which one it was but it was a UK 27/81 set.

nice rig the audioline .

If you are going to use wire in the attic, it may pay to think, can I get away with an outside wire?.
All any antenna is, is a length of radiating metal & the Anton 99 is a half wave length of wire shunt fed inside a hollow tube which performs about as well as any half wave of wire, fed via a quarter wave of loading coil where a short length of coax is used to phase the antenna into a 50 ohm match.
The short length of coax is the shunt feed, this is used to match a three quarter wave length of wire (that's what a quarter of a wave length of very thin loading coil, plus a half wave of radiating element is,) into 50 ohms as by nature it should be 75 ohms.

Cheers Guys.

I will have to wait until I move in to see what I can get away with antenna wise. I know I won't be able to fix anything to the house as it is private rented.

I have been thinking of using an old fishing rod and some wires to make a Quaterwave ground plane antenna. A blank bit of fibreglass stuck on something will look quite discreet and should work ok.

In the meantime I am thinking of buying a Danita 3000 multi for a spot of White horse hill DX-ing.

On the Subject of Antron 99's..A few years back I changed from a 1/2 wave silver rod to an Antron 99 and the Antron 99 definitely performed better, by around 1 S point on recieve. Either I had a Good Antron or a Poor Silver rod.

hi i like the antron 99 very good antenna. and very easy to put up and not that noticable