Grant XL frequency mod

dc6468 · Post by **dc6468** » Tuesday 30th Jan 2007, 3:41

I have an older Uniden Grant XL made in the Philipenes that I would like to do a channel mod on. How is this done and what is the channel map?

thanks for any help[/list]

popcorn501 · Post by **popcorn501** » Thursday 1st Feb 2007, 13:20

Is it a regular Grant or a Grant dx?If it is a regular Grant what chip does it have?

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Thursday 1st Feb 2007, 21:48

All Grant have a MB8719 PLL chip, so just search the net for MB8719 How to add more channels or some think like this.

Rick.

dc6468 · Post by **dc6468** » Friday 2nd Feb 2007, 4:57

No, its an XL not a DX. Thanks for the info, I will look around on the web for this mod. I just thought I'd ask on this forum in case someone had that mod or had done it.

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Friday 2nd Feb 2007, 6:10

Your Grant should have a MB8719 PLL this is really common and will find lots of web site with the information you need. Do not just look at it as a Grant XL but as chassis which uses the MB8719. Try www.cbtricks.com

Rick.

dc6468 · Post by **dc6468** » Friday 2nd Feb 2007, 8:32

OK, thanks for the reply

carl · Post by **carl** » Monday 5th Feb 2007, 12:10

this is from my grant xl, should be pretty easy for you to follow. i used the brt/dim and hi/low switches. the other 2 wires are from the cb/pa for my A-down channels.

Find the MB8719 PLL chip. Wire a SPST switch from pin 10 to ground. Wire another SPST switch from pin 11 to pin 12

dc6468 · Post by **dc6468** » Friday 9th Feb 2007, 13:34

OK thanks for the info, sorry I have not replied sooner I was out of town for a few days.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDefpom · Post by **The Defpom** » Monday 12th Feb 2007, 12:39

Dont forget that many of these mods are also on this site ! look in the modifications section...

dc6468 · Post by **dc6468** » Tuesday 13th Feb 2007, 10:57

Thanks for all the help. There is a lot of stuff out there about this radio. This Grant is a great rig and I want to see what I can do to it so far as expansion and peaking.

Thanks again,
Dave

Frequency · Post by **Frequency** » Wednesday 28th Feb 2007, 14:53

I agree with them, the grant you own has a MB8719 chip.

______________________
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3ew29 · Post by **3ew29** » Friday 25th May 2007, 11:50

The MB8719 chip has been out for 25 years now and on all the mod sites all of them are still using the on-off-on switch to make the 10k/c jump. Why not upgrade a little bit and put a common NPN transistor on the pin so that it Automatically selects the OPPOSITE of the binary code that is on the pin at the time. This way a simple on-off switch can be used or the other half of the on-off-on switch can be used to select 41-44 which are normally missing. I am sure most people who play with mods can look up on the web about how to use a transistor as an INVERTOR. By doing this there is usually a small schematic of the transistor shown as well . Come out of the old days you will learn to do a lot more than you thought you were capable of.
My thoughts on Carls Mod
The pic shown of Carl's mods shows the Green & Pink wire as the 10k/c jump. Carl is wasting the CB/PA switch. He should have the Pin 10 pin on the Up position and the 11-12 pins on the Down position. Put the Ch 41-44 switch on the Hi/Lo and 10k/c invertor on the Brite/Dim and he would NOT miss any channels at all from 26.815 to 28.000Mhz. An even better idea would be to remove and tape inside the rig the one of the front panel pots that is very rarely used such as the squelch and replace that with a 4 position rotary switch wired to activate the mods. With the original knob on the 5P switch the radio looks standard. This would mean NO panel switches have had their wiring removed and if at anytime you wish to remove the mods they can be done and the rig made standard in less than 10 minutes and will NEVER look like it has ever been modded. How do I know this...WEll I have been modifying the 8719 chassis with the 5P switch for 20 years now.
Rick 3ew29

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Tuesday 29th May 2007, 1:46

If you wish to obtain a good frequency coverage then change the MB8719 for a MC145106 this if a common conversion in the UK.

Rick.

3ew29 · Post by **3ew29** » Tuesday 29th May 2007, 4:04

Hello Rick
I am located in Melbourne Australia and 99% of all operators here only require the channels/frequencies between 27.405 and 27.995Mhz when the rig is modified in this chassis, or in fact, any other chassis for that matter.
With a couple of other mods to broadband both the tx and rx the rig handles the range quite well.
I have never done the mc145106 mod in this or any other chassis, so I do not know what is involved, so therefore I cannot comment about it. Those that require the xtra channels are SSB users as the AM users are always around ch 5-6 talking to the world there.
Anyway! other than expanding the channels beyond the 28.00Mhz mark I can see little use in the effort to change the PLL to mc145106 when the mb8719 will cover what everyone needs. I find that the operators who want the 10m band usually go and buy a ham rig because they are one. It comes down to cost in the end.
Why pay for the mods on a "plain Jane" CB when you can by a fully blown ham rig for about $200-250.00 like an FT101 or similar rig that has the 100w+ output and most of the ham bands.
I have found that it is pretty hard to convince a user to pay over $AU100.00 for mods.
They normally go for the ham rig then because the rig with 25-32mhz always costs more anyway.
regards
Rick 3ew29

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Tuesday 29th May 2007, 5:24

For DXing in Europe it is quit common to use frequency from 25.615 to 27.855(11 Meters) or even 28.305(10 meters) one radio which is now common is the Ranger SS158EDX. As for ham radios they have problems with bandwidth as such frequency range as the bandpass filter are not tuned for such a frequency range and other problem is portable and power requirements. I personal like to run QRP and over the years have had a chat with most country's on SSB with 12 watts or less mobile.

Rick. (Euro Radio Co).

jonindiana · Post by **jonindiana** » Tuesday 19th Jun 2007, 8:03

Can you post the info on using the MC145106?

Rick wrote:If you wish to obtain a good frequency coverage then
change the MB8719 for a MC145106 this if a common conversion in the UK.

Rick.

3ew29 · Post by **3ew29** » Tuesday 19th Jun 2007, 9:04

Hello Rick
You make the statement that ham rigs have problems with frequency coverage across the 26-28Mhz band when they are modified.
You specified that the BandPass Filter is not tuned to cover this frequency range.
You will have to be more specific to convince, not only me, but millions of other hams as well as 10's of 1000's of Pirate Operators [they are not CBers] out there who are using a modified ham rig on these frequencies.
I personally have used a modified ham rig on these frequencies since 1968, and have never had any problems with the many, many rigs I have used over the years. In the 60-70's and even the early 80's the Receiver in these rigs was not a pinch on the modded CB rig for sensitivity but I still made contacts.
Now times have changed. I have made many comparisons with a late model Ham rig and a modded 10mtr rig and find that the Ham rig outperforms the modded 10mtr rig "on air". On the test bench they are about equal [on those freq's] but we do not chat to the the test bench..well I don't..so maybe you better have another look at your statement.
Also do not forget...a poor little CB or 10Mtr rig will always be that, and not a broadcast station, no matter how much you do to it.
You say problems with Portable and Power requirements....I can see no problem at all for the enthusiast operator. There is NO problem carrying a Generator or 4el Yagi plus all cables and other items to make the rig work and get that contact, to a block of land somewhere for the weekend. It is FUN and that is what it is about..FUN. When the FUN has gone 'tis best to leave and look for another hobby.
These days Economics plays a big part too...'tis always better to buy a better rig than spend and keep on spending money on something that will never justify the money or effort for such a small improvement, as a lot of people seem to do.
Take Care and Good DXing
Rick 3wew29 Australia

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDefpom · Post by **The Defpom** » Tuesday 19th Jun 2007, 10:46

One radio that jumps to mind is the HR2510 or Lincoln, they lose performance below about 27MHz, and need some very careful tuning of the TX bandpass filter (and possibly even some component changes in the RF section in extreme cases) in order to improve the situation, however, the retuning causes a loss of performance in the 29MHz region.

In this case the TX bandpass filter is a bit too narrow to cover the full 26-30MHz range, RX is not as badly effected, to the point where I do not worry about retuning its bandpass filter.

Over here we use 26.330-26.770 for the CB band, so the retuning makes a big difference to how the radio does.

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