Welcome to the second installment of “Salvaging old CB’s for QRP Parts”! In part 1 of this series, we described how we found a bin of CB radios and accessories at an estate sale some time back. The first radio we salvaged for parts was a Pace CB 145. The radio was disassembled to see what could be used for QRP, and found some great parts.
One thing I am particularly glad that I saved from that radio was the one I was least jazzed about: all of the random wires! I’ve already been able to put them to good use in a project to help a friend with some LED lighting. I’ll bet the engineers at Pace never thought their wiring would go into projects using technologies that didn’t even exist 45 or 50 years ago! But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?
Let’s dig in and see what gems await us in this next teardown!
One Down, Two to Go
With the first CB teardown out of the way, it’s time to do the next. This CB is a Johnson Messenger 123A. It too is a high quality radio from the mid 1970’s. Check out this ad from 1975:
Note the MSRP: $159. That’s about $750 in 2020, when adjusted for inflation. That’s a lot of money. Is it a lot of radio? At first glance, I thought not. When you look at the radio, you find that the microphone is hard wired rather than being the typical 4 pin connector. But, there’s a reason for that, as I found.
The Method
As usual, I have a few things in mind when tearing down any device. I mentioned them in Part 1, and I’ll reiterate them here:
- Disassemble in a logical order
- Don’t break anything out of impatience
- Be patient (see #2)
- Save all the parts
- Look for value in unexpected areas
- Respect quality
The Teardown
Rather than write long paragraphs about taking it apart, check out each image below and its narrative caption.
What a gorgeous looking vintage rig It would be a shame if something were to happen to it… This model only accepts Johnson brand voltage. All other brands of voltage will burn your everything down and ruin your life. Immediately you can see one of the most distinct features in that the crystals are arranged directly on the rotary switch. What an interesting layout! 
I did not expect a blue PCB. This is what $750 in 1975 money got you. I’m fairly certain that the speaker spent time in a radio room. On the Titanic. When removing the front panel, I ran into a snag. It wouldn’t come off! Rather than force it and break something, I examined it carefully and found the meter overlapping the channel dial. I removed the meter, and that solved the problem. Patience pays off. Front panel off… The chassis is used as a heat sink for the PA audio amplifier so you can yell “gitter dun! to your buddies who don’t have a CB from the comfort of your Jeep, all without blowing up the PA.
