President-Dwight-D-07

President Dwight D. CB Radio with an 858 PLL

 Jumped in on a buy it now President Dwight D. CB Radio on ebay [HERE]!

President-Dwight-D-04Specifically asked the seller to pack the front of the radio facia to be well padded to avoid damage – but his response was “our packer will know what to do” – Yeah RiiiiiGGHHTT!

Extremely lucky to get it with no broken knobs or front damage with a few loose foam beads between the cardboard carton and facia!

President-Dwight-D-05Photo’s looked like a President Madison with an 858 PLL and I did not think to confirm it was SSB on those 40 + Channels! Although it does have extras, not sure why on an AM CB?  Probably could easily put on Australian Marine Channels which would have purpose.

So… what to do with it?

I could leave AS IS – standard 40Ch AM & FM (modified in it) – Maybe fit Frequency Counter Display & 240VAC PC P/S replacing 110VAC US P/S

Or rip the guts out of it like others I have done and…

Build in 240VAC Mini PC Power Supply for 12V DC &FREQUENCY Counter in Place of CLOCK (Mech)

Insert Mobile SSB HF CB Radio I have spare – PC122 / Ferris 5000/ SBE 587 / 

Insert Mobile FM UHF CB Radio – Sawtron 880 /otherRewire Mobiles to front panel knobs & Twin Meters.

What would you do??  

Considering I have now cleaned it up a bit and pulled the covers off to see the PCB was pretty much covered in dusty fibres which I cleaned out and used circuit board cleaner to finish the job. As it has a 110VAC transformer std, I used my Variac to check if it works after doing some basic electrical checks for shorts etc.

Powers on with receive on AC & also 12VDC with only the SWR meter lamp out.

The lamp is a standard small bayonet socket type so replaced with an on hand similar lamp from my spare CPI WM 1000 Meters. I will replace all these lamps with LEDS sometime soon. But now it looks like it should with only the clock not working.

President-Dwight-D-06

Powered up on 12VDC and screwed in my Dummy load to test the TX as RX is working OK when my test antenna ( a two foot long mobile top loaded whip on the metal roof ) is connected. As it is only 75 Ohms cable for RX on my SDR for 27 MHz has not much gain but surprising what it can hear at times!

So testing with the supplied Hand Mic. shows a solid near full scale swing on the power meter dead key, and wind up the Mic. Gain to full, it modulates full scale on the second SWR/MOD meter. Did not listen to output audio but suspect it will be OK when I find an AM station in Melbourne to give me a radio report.

So after this I am having SECOND THOUGHTS! LOL! 

Maybe I should just keep it in standard condition as possibly a companion AM set to my STONER PRO 40 SSB ONLY CB radio Base Station. They would look good together!

President-Dwight-D-Stoner-Pro-40-01s

Well its now 01/01/2022 so I am thinking if I should get this on the FM DX calling channel 26.805?

But I will probably put it on Marine and monitor emergency channel locally as many boats operating nearby.

More soon maybe….

Author: AX005

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