I recently came across a relic from my past... a Radio Shack TRC-232. It's a hand held 40 channel CB. It's design is much like most modern HTs.....BNC antenna, battery pack on the bottom, jack for speaker mic. They actually use this same chassis for several 10 meter HTs.

Problem is, it's been in storage for over 10 years, and the battery is completely toast. It uses a pack you fill with AAs. OF course, they leaked all over, and corroded the pack to shit. Tried to clean it up and salvage it, but it's toast. The nickle plating is gone. Tried a wire brush and tinning with solder, still no-go. On a brand new set of batteries, the 6 AAs only give me around 2 volts.

I hooked the radio itself to a 12V source, and it works. So the radio is good...just trying to find a battery pack. I don't have any real need for it at this point, but it would be nice to have working just in case, or take on the road to listen in on ch19. No need for any lectures for or against CB usage, i've heard them all. I'm just looking to get this thing back up and running.

All of the web sites that sell the aformentioned radios sell all the accessories, but no battery packs. I'm coming up completely empty. The only hit i've had so far was on ebay, and that was a single hit for a pack in asia. lol..

As you can see, the battery pack is externally beaten as well, and needs tape to hold it shut.


Powers up fine when i hold a 12v source against the radio's contacts.

The contacts on the battery back are toast. They don't make contact with the radio, and internally, they are heavily corroded. I think the odds of saving this pack are near nil. Sure, I could remove all metal parts, try to fabricate replacement parts, and hopefully make it work, but i'll still have to use tape or 550 cord to hold it together.

A new battery pack shouldn't be more than $20 or so... They do make a "car kit" for it that slides on the bottom. Includes a cigarette plug and an SO-239 type connector for an external antenna. I'd much rather have a battery back, but the car kit is an absolute last resort.

Yeah I figuard if you had it hooked to 12v already then you wouldn't have a problem with making a car adapter. I was implying that you make new contacts. It shouldn't be to hard, you could solder wires to the bottom of the radio and put a pig tail with power poles on it. then cut a hole in the top of the bat pack. it may sound out there, im just throwing out ideas.

looking at it, i dont think it would be hard to make out of wood with a router.

haha your right it is still a chicken band radio

The car route does seem like the quickest route. I have had my eyes open for a CB HT for a while for road trips. But that would be the only time I use it.

I have 2 Cherokee AH100's, neat little AM / SSB radios. I also have 1 of the Titan RPSY 201 models which has FM as well.

I bought a Midland 75-822 online for about $65.00 in order to have a handheld CB around just in case. On the subject of the Magnum 1012, it comes with a 26 inch flexible antenna that looks like it would be far more effective than the shorty 9 inch one boxed with the 75-822. Since I am considering dumping the Cobra 25 in my daily driver in favor of a 100 watt GE rangr low band 6 meter radio, the 75-822 would have to do watch duty on road trips using an external antenna.

Sometimes getting another radio like the Midland could be less expensive than trying to ressurect an oldie. I think my 822 came with a 6 cell alkaline case, an 8 cell case for AA rechargeables, and a power base with a plug for auto use.

RS

hoping to avoid that as well. Was curious if they actually worked decently as a 10M rig, or if they were one of those "export" style CBs that really aren't worth crap.

Still hard to swallow at that price, but if I were to come across a used one for around $100 or so, i'd have to grab it.