Realistic TRC-1007, a quick first look

 I have had the radio now for a couple of days, it arrived quicker than expected and well ahead of the dummy batteries which have not shown up as yet (despite being sent via Amazon Prime) meaning to get the voltage required I've had to fit 10 normal AA batteries with two of them insulated by tape to remove them from the circuit and a wire to jump the last in-circuit battery to the negative terminal, the batteries in the radio are two of the 10 Duracell batteries that were in it on delivery taped over to remove them from circuit and 8 Kodak batteries from Poundland, the radio indeed has an intact telescopic and seems to transmit and receive fine.

After filming the attached video I found out when this radio dates from, if I have read the date code correctly it is from September 1987, making this radio 33 years old and aside from a crack in the housing it is in very good order.

With the non-standard external antenna connector I cannot get even a rough power measurement off it because I need an adaptor and I will have to call Knights on Monday to see if they have any in, though they list them on their website as limited stock it is best I check ahead.

On Wednesday I hope to put up the boomerang antenna, connect it up to the President Grant II and go up to the Downholme viewing point with the Realistic and the modern Intek and Midland handhelds I also own which will be tested on both the supplied rubber duck antennas and the Albrecht CL27 with the Realistic using its own telescopic which is longer than the CL27, which will be filmed and uploaded to YouTube

In the mean time though here is the video on this radio not long after it arrived

73 de M0WNU/26CT730

Classic 80s CB on its way... but will it work?

I placed a bid on a "seems to work" but being sold as "spares or repairs" Realistic TRC-1007 27/81 spec CB handheld, and surprisingly won it as the only bidder, this would be the second Tandy/Realistic product I would own after the scanner which needs work and maybe the switches cleaning.

I do have a soft spot for the older radio gear as well as the modern radios you can get today, and if this handheld needs work I can refer to Richard Shireby at UK CB radio servicing on YouTube as he has done this radio and has a service manual for it.

With the seller having tested this and suggesting that it seems to work, it should be a good project if there are any faults, the telescopic antenna appeared intact from the photos on ebay, however I will find out in a few days, and as will you guys as this radio will be featured on the YouTube channel at some point not long after it arrives.

This will either be the third working handheld or the second non-worker depending on actual condition as I have a broken Intek H-520 Plus that I may be able to repair if I can get a scrap one in the future.

I will post an update when the radio arrives, to err on the side of caution I have some dummy batteries (which were sold in a kit from Amazon) which will arrive ahead of the radio, testing the radio for TX power is not immediately possible because the Realistic handhelds appear to use a phono or Motorola connector (unsure which it is) but I will be setting up something to test the radio from high ground.

73 de M0WNU/26CT730

Handheld CB tests

I thought now would be a good time to test out both my handheld CBs ahead of time, the Midland 42 held charge nicely and transmits in both power settings no problem whatsoever, the radio with the power problem is, of course, the Intek H-520 Plus.

Firstly when I found the Intek it was pretty much dead, connecting the charger was the only way to get it working, removing the charger and keying up at 4 watts immediately after plugging the charger in resulted in the inevitable low battery alert and the TX cut out, same at 1 watt, however it lasted about a minute longer at 100mW, to be expected as the batteries were very low charge and are well due a replacement, and I suspect the charger supplied with the radio is absolutely dire and once I replace the batteries I will be charging them out of the radio with a charger rather than in the radio, I initially was going to swap the batteries out with Eneloop batteries however after doing some digging I found 7DayShop do 2900mAh AA batteries for a good price (Eneloop batteries only go up to 2500mAh, same as the Energizer batteries already in the radio), the good thing is that both radios key up fine.

The Grant II is subject to tests next and these handhelds will be used as part of those tests as well, for both AM and FM modulation, for SSB I will have to tune my RTL-SDR to the appropriate frequency I use to do the test as my handheld CBs can only demodulate AM and FM, however I am satisfied the CB HTs are both working as they ought to be.

These tests are required as a prerequisite of setting up internal comms for myself and guest(s) at the National Hamfest, once the H-520 batteries are replaced then I can focus on running more tests.

73 de 26CT730/2E0EIJ