Potted history for Superstar 360FM + Cobra 148 GTL-DX

[Mark]

As per subject really.. Please can someone provide a brief history of
these two radios. I'm particularly interested in discriminating between
all the different revisions and versions that there have been over the
years. Details of slight cosmetic changes would also be useful.

I notice some have a centre/front top case screw - others don't, some
have bright face-plates, others are more brushed and dull, some SS360's
have a after-market(?) face-plate with a 27/81 stamp etc etc.

As much detail as possible please..

If you're up to it - how about adding a dedicated and authoritative
section in the Wikipedia??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB_Radio_UK

Many thanks!
Mark.

[cubwolf]

Well i will impart what i know about them.
The are 2 versions of the 360 FM and the 148 GTL DX that i have seen on the
uk.
The early models use the PC879 Chassis with a MB8719 PLL Chip. These have 3
sets of crystals to get the 3 blocks of 40. They also have funny little
bleep that dies of at the end?
The later ones use the PB010 PCB and usually have a serial number on the
back that starts 1300.
These radios use the MC145106 PLL chip and a couple of 4008 binary adder ics
to get the 3 blocks.
In my opinion this is the better of the 2 radios as it has a lot better
audio on FM and is really easy to expand for more channels using a few
diodes.

The Superstars with the cb/27 stamp were all modified by a company in the UK
and when imported/sold only worked on the UK 40 FM. At the time it was
illegal to even import anything that worked elswhere but they could be
imported and sold legally like this.I think they came with instructions on
how to convert them to work everywhere else. I seem to recall that some had
a little jack plug that you plugged into the cw socket and the rig magically
worked on ssb etc. The law that allowed this was soon changed after rigs
like the Superstar and Nato 2000 etc made an appearance.You could also by
Ham International rigs that were imported as 40 channel and they would put
the wires back on in the UK :-)
Dave

[mikeFNB]

yep and the nato 2000 board you just swappd the 10k DIL resistor chip 180deg
and everything came back./
can't remember it being just as smple as the cw plug on the 1300 series, i
think that was the end result of the mod.
i certainly did several of these, but again, i don't think it was the same
co. that modded them all....

the ham int ones wern't just wires, i seem to recall it being a chip or two
as well, but that might just have been opto switches or alike.
god it's been a few years.

mike

Post by cubwolf
Well i will impart what i know about them.
The are 2 versions of the 360 FM and the 148 GTL DX that i have seen on
the uk.
The early models use the PC879 Chassis with a MB8719 PLL Chip. These have
3 sets of crystals to get the 3 blocks of 40. They also have funny little
bleep that dies of at the end?
The later ones use the PB010 PCB and usually have a serial number on the
back that starts 1300.
These radios use the MC145106 PLL chip and a couple of 4008 binary adder
ics to get the 3 blocks.
In my opinion this is the better of the 2 radios as it has a lot better
audio on FM and is really easy to expand for more channels using a few
diodes.
The Superstars with the cb/27 stamp were all modified by a company in the
UK and when imported/sold only worked on the UK 40 FM. At the time it was
illegal to even import anything that worked elswhere but they could be
imported and sold legally like this.I think they came with instructions on
how to convert them to work everywhere else. I seem to recall that some
had a little jack plug that you plugged into the cw socket and the rig
magically worked on ssb etc. The law that allowed this was soon changed
after rigs like the Superstar and Nato 2000 etc made an appearance.You
could also by Ham International rigs that were imported as 40 channel and
they would put the wires back on in the UK :-)
Dave

Post by Mark
If you're up to it - how about adding a dedicated and authoritative
section in the Wikipedia??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB_Radio_UK

Wow! I started that Wiki about 2 years ago! It looks very different to my
first entry. Some bugger removed all the frequency VS channel allocation
charts though......

Post by Mark
As per subject really.. Please can someone provide a brief history of
these two radios. I'm particularly interested in discriminating between
all the different revisions and versions that there have been over the
years. Details of slight cosmetic changes would also be useful.

The Superstar 360 came in 2 guises that I know of.
If the serial number began with 03 then it was known as a 'zero three'
chassis. This had an MB8719 and had three bands - FCC mid 26.965 - 27.405.
FCC high - 27.415 - 27.855 and a weird high band running from 28.500 -
28.940Mhz. It also had a 'squeak' as a roger bleep.
I saw my first 03 chassis 360 in summer 1980.

The chassis with a serial no. beginning with 13 is a 'one three' chassis
with an MC145106 - I've seen versions with FCC Lo, FCC Mid and FCC High, and
versions with FCC Mid, FCC High and FCC Hihi (27.855 - 28.305). Both these
versions look the same on the PCB. Seems the same as a Cobra 148GTL-DX.


I'll bet others have seen other variants - any takers anyone?

73

F1LBY