Top CB radio manufacturer

[KG4CGC]

Yaesu.

[N8YX]

Yaesu.

And this is precisely where I was going.

The FT-101, FR/FL-101, FT-201, FT-901 (European version) rigs merely required a crystal be plugged into a waiting socket on their XTAL assembly PCBs in the AUX spot or swapped for an existing one; usually the 10C or 10D spot. The U.S. version of the 901 required a good bit more work to get it up and running on 11 (or any other frequency range, for that matter) via the AUX position on the band switch.

And...the FT-301. In its analog guise, that rig could also be converted with a crystal addition or swap. -D variants required the same modification to the counter assembly that was necessary on the 901 for correct 27MHz frequency readout.

Why did Yaesu stop with the practice? Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall as the boom dwindled. Perhaps they didn't stop at all...the neato FT-726R apparently came from the factory ready to transceive the entire 26-30MHz range if fitted with the optional HF band module. Of course, no AM...but it didn't really matter to the crowd which bought the rigs for their SSB capabilities.

That flexibility which enabled easy conversion of many of Yaesu's mid-70s to mid-80s HF rigs works to the WARC aficionado's advantage: I've modified a good many of the different models of the period to cover at least two of the WARC bands at a time in addition to the "normal" HF allocations.

I'm very partial to my CPI stuff, like the Royce and SBE rigs ( LCB8, LCBS4, 8 ) and would love to lay my hands on an original Colt Excalibur or a TRS Challenger 1400...but there sure were a lot of Fox Tangos on the air here 'back in the day'.