Older CB radios

Anything made before all
The factories moved to China is worth checking out .

look on the back and see where it was made .
Japan Philippines Vietnam
Anything is better than the recent stuff made from chinesium

 

Lafayette is a good radio if it was made before ‘75.

I have a few johnson 323a, it is one of the best radios I ever had for receive.

 

I collect vintage Lafayette Tube Radios, they are great radios. These days its hard to find someone that works on them, but they are out there. If you're on Facebook, you can contact David Lee, he works on vintage tube radios...Good luck... Dan

 

If a Cobra 29 which costs $100 or less can reach out 30 miles you would be hard pressed to achieve greater results with an antique radio for less money. Chances are pretty good you will spend more and get less performance. Antique radios require maintenance and labor isn't free.

 

I had a 23 channel Johnson I bought when I was a kid in the ‘70’s that may have been the best radio I’ve ever owned. Send or receive I never found anything that would touch it out of the box. I had that radio in my trucks until it finally blew up in ‘85 or ‘86. I replaced it with a Cobra 25. Got lucky with that one too. That radio still works, only been opened once I can remember for a repair, and it crushes the new 29’s.

 

They were the best mobile CB radios ever made. I still own a 123A and a 123B. They still work, but the capacitors do need to be replaced.

 

Just amazing radios. A decent antenna on them, on the lower channels you’d get almost the same truck to truck range as some of the SSB sets would do in the same area. A lot of guys had them because the VHF sets for industrial roads in a lot of trucks were Johnson radios. Drivers would get a screaming deal on a CB from whoever supplied those. They were pretty common in the bush and up north, but I can’t remember the last time I saw one now.