Jim wrote:
Thanks for all the replies.

The chassis is very professionally done. The wiring is not so well
done. The filter cap wiring on the transmitter socket divider is a
joke. Thus the idea of a kit seems reasonable. There is only one
crystal socket. So the Knight Kit seems to be out. Family issues are
keeping me from more work on the rig right now, So I'll have to just
wait see what else is posted here, for a while before trying to draw a
schematic

I really am impressed by those that want to help, plus I've learned
some things.


Thankjs again.

Jim



Jim,

I suggest you post pictures in alt.binaries.pictures.radio, and post a
pointer here, so that viewers can see what we're talking about.

William

(Filter noise from my address for direct replies)

For general information on "first CBs:"

The September or October, 1958, edition of Radio and Television
News magazine (available then at most newsstands) carried the
news of the opening of Class C and D Citizens Band service. The
month was probably October since the news was on one page of
"latest news" which went to [printer's] bed the very last.

The March, 1959, issue of Radio and Television News carried an
article by Don Stoner as a how-to-build CB voice transceiver
with full plans, parts, etc. That issue was popular in the
southern California aerospace community at the time with many
attempting to build it but few succeeding in getting a working
unit. Don Stoner was one of the frequent authors in the popular
magazines of the time, would later team with Pierre Goral to
form SGC [Stoner-Goral Company] in the Seattle area. Both are
SK but SGC lives on.

A number of copy-cat kits went on the market soon after, most
being variations of Stoner's article. My own experiment was
a converter for an AM radio as a receiver, similar to Stoner's
"Q-Fiver" other-magazine article on an HF converter for a WWII
surplus ARC-5 Command Set LF receiver. While that succeeded
for me, the transmitter part didn't work well, a result of my
ignorance in low-power RF design for AM stages at the time.
Several months later I bought an E.F.Johnson Viking Messenger
CB transceiver and used that in an aluminimum-body Austin-
Healey sports car (ideal ground plane for mobile).

Since the FCC did not specify type-acceptance per se on CB
transmitters until years later, nor directly say that "home-
built" transceivers could not be used, the first two years
of "11m" CB was an open field to play in and there were many
variations. In that shake-out time, general design of first
transceivers was a single-conversion superhet receiver with
crystal-controlled LO, a 3rd-overtone crystal oscillator to
a plate-modulated power amplifier for the transmitter, AM
from using the receiver's audio output stage as modulator.
AM was generally "down-modulation" with carrier going from
about 1.4 times quiet CW level to zero, more a result of
tube stage saving and low-level drive to the PA. It was one
pair of crystals per channel, the expensive part of
operation; surplus quartz crystals from WWII were available
from many small shops at the time so it was not a great
barrier. Mobile operation required the old "vibrator"
supply, always a troublesome thing for any mobile equipment
needing HV from before WWII until after. Power-transistor
multivibrator switching supply substitutes for vibrator
supplies was not good due to (generally) horrendous spikes
and RF hash generated by early power transistors and diodes
with insufficient switching times. Still, it was a fun time
of experimentation for thousands of home-brewers then.

Frequency synthesizers for "all-channel" operation didn't
appear in quantity until designs went solid-state. A few
tube designs used "channel-bank" mixing of two crystal
controlled oscillators to cut the number of crystals needed,
an architecture carried on when CB went to 40 channels in
1977. In the 1960s the lower-cost off-shore-made CBs hit
the market and were a hit with truckers on the interstates;
the FCC tossed in the type-acceptance rule and that pretty
much reduced the CB home-brewing projects.

Although the FCC required licensing of 11m CB in the beginning,
there was never any associated test and the "license" was a
pro-forma Third-Class Restricted Radiotelephone type, similar
to what was required of private pilots using civil aviation
radios. Through some oversight, the FCC assigned license
call-signs with a prefix of "11W," this got them in trouble
with the ITU and international agreements. For a brief period
CB licenses were issued with "K" prefixes before regulations
removed the need for licensing.

For illustrations of early CB, go to www.retrocom.com, a large
website of stories and pictures of CBs.

73, Len AF6AY

AF6AY wrote:
Although the FCC required licensing of 11m CB in the beginning,
there was never any associated test and the "license" was a
pro-forma Third-Class Restricted Radiotelephone type, similar
to what was required of private pilots using civil aviation
radios. Through some oversight, the FCC assigned license
call-signs with a prefix of "11W," this got them in trouble
with the ITU and international agreements. For a brief period
CB licenses were issued with "K" prefixes before regulations
removed the need for licensing.

Were them "CB callbooks? Does anyone have them? I had a CB license in
the "K" era (circa 1979). and have long since lost it. I would like
to look up my call.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

Were them "CB callbooks? Does anyone have them? I had a CB license in
the "K" era (circa 1979). and have long since lost it. I would like
to look up my call.

Geoff.

I don't recall any "CB callbooks." Doesn't mean they don't
exist... :-)

73, Len AF6AY