A CB Radio Test Gone Awry

Posted by: MartinFocazio

A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/04/22 02:06 AM

In late April this year, I stopped at a yard sale, and there I found a Cobra CB radio, in great condition, forlornly sitting on a table full of junk. Inexplicably, since I have no interest in CB radio, I asked "How much?" and the person said, "A dollar. It works."

So I bought it. And it sat in my shed. I didn't have an antenna or anything for it. Then, in late July, I stopped at a Flea Market, and there was a nice new-in-packaging magnet-mount mobile CB radio antenna sitting on a table full of junk. "How much?" I asked, "10 Bucks" the person replied. "Too much." I said and put it down. "Fifty Cents" the person said. So I went home with an antenna.

Now, the radio and antenna sat on a different table full of junk all summer, waiting for me to order an SWR meter and some cable. I already have a nice 12VDC power supply and wanted to test it by my shed with the antenna stuck to a big hunk of sheet metal ground plane first.

Finally, in late September, I remembered to order the SWR meter and some related short cables and adapters. They arrived late last week.

And THIS EVENING I finally went out to the shed, set everything up, and I turned the power switch on the CB Radio on, and it immediately burst into flames. Sigh. Electrolytic capacitors do not age gracefully.

It got tossed out the door quickly, nothing but the radio was hurt.
I think maybe I'll just buy a new radio for $40.
Posted by: Phaedrus

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/04/22 08:37 AM

At least you provided us with a chuckle! grin
Posted by: chaosmagnet

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/04/22 02:03 PM

We know the smoke is magic, because when the smoke gets out the magic stops.

I can receive CB radio with some of my ham gear, but I don't own a CB transmitter. As the Designated Comms Guy for my family, my CERT, and my friend group, I've been thinking about whether that's something I should fix.
Posted by: Michael2

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/04/22 04:01 PM

There's a lot of support in local (San Francisco East Bay) CERT groups for the use of GMRS radios. The group in Berkeley even has a good GMRS repeater set up.

There is also an area amateur radio ARES-RACES group that has been around for 30 years, too. Actually, a lot of support for 460 MHz GMRS comes from local hams, who look favorably on GMRS as a good entry to radio for those unable or uninterested in passing a license exam. This contrasts with the traditional view that regards 11 meter (26 MHz) CB as a cesspool. I don't know if it's gotten better in recent years, but I don't think there's as much activity any more.

The Berkeley CERT (GMRS) radio group was initially set up by local amateur radio operators. Many of us hold both types of licenses.

See Berkeley neighbors seek to widen grassroots emergency radio system
Posted by: M_a_x

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/04/22 04:34 PM

It´s rarely a good thing to loose equipment.
On the bright side you were there and could take action when the radio had the thermal runaway.
Posted by: haertig

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/04/22 05:39 PM

Originally Posted By: MartinFocazio
In late April this year, I stopped at a yard sale...

You have a knack for telling a good story. You hooked me, then made me laugh. Sorry you lost the radio, but at least the loss probably didn't put you in dire financial straits (at least I hope it didn't...)
Posted by: UncleGoo

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/05/22 12:22 AM

"That's a good price for a CB. Is it 'hot'?"

"No, not yet."
Posted by: Jeanette_Isabelle

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/05/22 01:13 AM

Not quite the same since my situation was my fault, but your story reminds me of a $5 garage sale computer that was smoking. It had a non-working hard drive. I unscrewed the hard drive from the case but did not disconnect its cables, and I placed it on top of the power supply unit. I turned the computer back on to run a test, and either the power supply or the hard drive started smoking. Not knowing and not wanting to know if I had fried the power supply, I threw the whole computer away.

Jeanette Isabelle
Posted by: chaosmagnet

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/05/22 01:31 AM

I think it’s the first time you shout, “Fire!” that makes you an IT professional.
Posted by: M_a_x

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/05/22 07:16 AM

I barely missed my opportunity due the eagerness of our admin/maintenace crew. They regularly cleaned the dust out of our machines.
I had a computer that I used for automated software tests. It ran the CPU at 95% most of the time and got more load occassionally. The CPU housing showed signs of serious thermal damage when it finally got retired.
Posted by: Eugene

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/05/22 07:32 PM

Back in the mid 90's I worked for a small company that installed and supported e911 and computer aided dispatch systems. They used dumb terminals for speed. One night when I was the on-call tech a small psap in a fire department station pages me for a dumb terminal. When I got there to replace it the dispatcher said smoke was coming out so he tossed it out the back door. He said he was temped to tone out the fire department

"Department #12345 respond to a fire call at...
your station"

smile
Posted by: MartinFocazio

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/06/22 02:07 PM

We had a fire call at our own station a few years ago.

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/car-fire-department-bucks/

That center column between the bay doors was holding up the whole roof, and it took a LONG time to get it all fixed.
Posted by: chaosmagnet

Re: A CB Radio Test Gone Awry - 10/06/22 04:27 PM

Many years ago as an IT consultant, I was at a customer fire station when a smoke alarm went off and they toned out their own location. I was invited to step outside while they put out a small attic fire. The station’s fire and ambulance crews were out on a car crash with injuries. The Chief (whom I knew well) was beside himself with frustration. The firefighters from the other station worked manfully to contain their glee while the Chief was looking.

None of the gear I was there to work on was affected. This municipality was a customer for at least a decade and I NEVER heard the end of it from the firefighters.