Courier Centurion PLL 40 help please!

[BiggieJ]

Hi Guys/Gals

Picked up a Courier Centurion PLL 40 today for 5$. Prob don't work. Has no mic.

Was wondering if you guys could help me out with all pertinent info?

Schematic, mod pots and cans locations, channel mods and any other info you might be kind enough to toss my way.

Oh yeah... what the hell do I do with this phono mic port? Never had one before, so for sure I need a diagram to wire it to say... a 4 pin cobra mic.

Thanks a ton for your help guys and have a great day and weekend,
John

[Grinder74]

Check cbtricks.com

[sonoma]

I was just at cbtricks and they only have a pic of the radio nothing else. it shows to be in a Sams 290 book if any one has it. I do not.there is some info in the old secret cb books on cbtricks for channel mods.

you might do a google search to see what you can find. a guy on another forum had one of these a while back and had to buy a sams book to get the info.

[BiggieJ]

Thanks guys...

Thanks guys

Secret CB has power pot and modulation diode. That's all I've found so far.

This radio is in Sams CB-290. Does anyone have that Sams and can scan the
PLL40 pages for me? I'm missing 290.

Thanks a ton,
John

[pabxone]

CBTricks has the circuit diagram for the Courier Centurion 40D

There are 2 different SAM's manuals CB288 & CB290, One is for the Centurion PLL40 and the other is for the Centurion 40D.

I "think" the only real difference is one has the LED display and the other has the back lit dial.

The Pearce Simpson Simba SSB/2 is pretty much the same radio in the base format.

Documentation on the Courier Spartan PLL , Fanon Fanfare 350D and Pearce Simpson Cheetah SSB/2 should be enough to work from but being all mobiles there won't be any power supply information in them.

The microphone wiring for the 1/4 phono plug is simple and straight forward - It's in both the Turner & Astatic mic wiring manual that can be Googled and downloaded.

Another classic 1970's base station worth repairing and getting back on the air - More so as it is the less common 40 channel version - Well worth 10+ times the $5 you paid for it.

[BiggieJ]

Thanks for the info pabxone...

However if you would be kind enough to indulge me, I would like you to talk to me a bit more about the mic.

Following is a quick page I uploaded so you can see what I need.

[Please login or register to view this link]

Thank you
John

[MDYoungblood]

The PLL40's were the radios that hadn't been shipped before the 23 to 40 channel change over in 1977, they made the type acceptance by the FCC, the Pearce Simpson Simba radio was the same circuitry but didn't make the acceptance because of the lack of modulation limiting. The Centurion 40D went into production after old stock sold off sporting the new led channel readout and it used the famous 858PLL chip.

3's

Greg

[BiggieJ]

Thanks a lot for the info MDYoungblood...

Can anyone help me with the mic issue in my last post?

Thanks,
John

[MDYoungblood]

You will need a stereo phone plug, the tip would be the audio, the ring (next section from the tip) is TX, and the sleeve is the ground. I can do a little better if you tell me what mic you are going to use.

3's

Greg

[pabxone]

Thanks for the info pabxone...

However if you would be kind enough to indulge me, I would like you to talk to me a bit more about the mic.

Following is a quick page I uploaded so you can see what I need.

[Please login or register to view this link]

Thank you
John

John,

Shouldn't be too hard but you will need to do a little detective work with a multimeter to solve it.

On the picture in the link you sent :-

A is the Transmit connection
B is the Common or ground connection
C - The other pin that you haven't marked is the Audio connection

The colors on the Cobra mike you have are anyones guess - often there is no color standards so it's best to work it out another way.

Easiest way is to take off the old mike plug and strip back the microphone cord.

There should be one wire that has a copper or silver braid wrapped around the outside of it .
The wire INSIDE the braid will be your Audio and goes to pin C
The Braid is Common/ Ground for the Audio and goes to pin B

You now need to work out the Transmit wire - Hopefully there are only another 2 wires left in the cord (There could be more?)

"Normally" the Transmit wire is RED but it can be BLACK or just about any other color you could think of.

You need to put a Multimeter on the Ohms (Continuity range) and find a wire that makes a connection with the Braid / Common wire ONLY when the Push To Talk button is pressed - When you find that wire it goes to pin A

Hopefully that should be it ?
Some microphones use a separate wire for the common / ground wire for the Transmit / Receive switching if that is the case with the microphone you have (probably unlikely) you will need to find a pair of wires that make a connection when the PTT button is pressed and connect 1 wire to pin A and the other wire to pin B along with the braid wire also on pin B

Any spare wires left should be cut flush with the butt of the microphone cord inside the 1/4 phono plug.

[MDYoungblood]

Thanks for the info pabxone...

However if you would be kind enough to indulge me, I would like you to talk to me a bit more about the mic.

Following is a quick page I uploaded so you can see what I need.

[Please login or register to view this link]

Thank you
John

John,

Shouldn't be too hard but you will need to do a little detective work with a multimeter to solve it.

On the picture in the link you sent :-

A is the Transmit connection
B is the Common or ground connection
C - The other pin that you haven't marked is the Audio connection

The colors on the Cobra mike you have are anyones guess - often there is no color standards so it's best to work it out another way.

Easiest way is to take off the old mike plug and strip back the microphone cord.

There should be one wire that has a copper or silver braid wrapped around the outside of it .
The wire INSIDE the braid will be your Audio and goes to pin C
The Braid is Common/ Ground for the Audio and goes to pin B

You now need to work out the Transmit wire - Hopefully there are only another 2 wires left in the cord (There could be more?)

"Normally" the Transmit wire is RED but it can be BLACK or just about any other color you could think of.

You need to put a Multimeter on the Ohms (Continuity range) and find a wire that makes a connection with the Braid / Common wire ONLY when the Push To Talk button is pressed - When you find that wire it goes to pin A

Hopefully that should be it ?
Some microphones use a separate wire for the common / ground wire for the Transmit / Receive switching if that is the case with the microphone you have (probably unlikely) you will need to find a pair of wires that make a connection when the PTT button is pressed and connect 1 wire to pin A and the other wire to pin B along with the braid wire also on pin B

Any spare wires left should be cut flush with the butt of the microphone cord inside the 1/4 phono plug.

If your using an old microphone before removing the plug write down the wire color and pin number, this will help take away some of the guess work when installing the phone plug.

3's

Greg

[BiggieJ]

Awesome... thanks a ton. I'll give this info a try a little later on. Just got up (6:30am) and a bit groggy

Where's my Coffee?

Thanks again,
John

(edited by MDY)

-- Thursday, 14 April 2016, 15:37 PM --

OK pabxone...

So I pulled back the connector on this stock Cobra mic. I do not see a wire or conductor inside the shield. The shield is wired directly to pin 1 on the mic.

Here are a couple images: [Please login or register to view this link]

I got an old 148 of mine out of the closet to test the mic and it works as it should.

On the mic the shield and the red closes circuit when mic PTT button is pushed. Corresponding numbers on mic connector:

1 - Shield
2 - White
3. Red
4. Black

I tried hooking it up several different ways but no luck,

When I key the mic, the meter on the receiving radio pegs out but no audio,

This radio came from an elderly man that knows my family so if he says that it worked fine when stored, I would tend to believe him.

So the way I see it is either I don't know what the hell I'm doing trying to get the audio working or the radio has a problem. I'm
leaning toward user error


Thanks,
John

-- Thursday, 14 April 2016, 15:43 PM --

I don't know how that happened. I just clicked on "Quick Reply" and it put the post inside my last post.

Lets see if it does it this time...

-- Thursday, 14 April 2016, 15:45 PM --

Very, very sorry guys. Did not know "Quick Reply" woth put a new post inside the las entry on the page.

-- Tuesday, 19 April 2016, 17:40 PM --

Got it... thank all you guys

John

-- Tuesday, 03 May 2016, 14:53 PM --

Hi guys...

I need some tech help with a 139XLR.

I'm going find the appropriate section.

Thanks again guys,
John

[Kimosabee]

Hi.. Ladies and Guys....
New at this forum so please bear with me. I to having Courier problems with Centurion and Gladiator. Thanks for info and Biggie3 I could sent picture of stock mic or astatic power mic if you wish.