Hello
I have come into possession of an old Realistic TRC-1001 CB radio. Now, before I say anymore, I confess I have had no prior interest in the world of CB radio but after getting my hands on the radio I couldn't resist but fulfill my curiosity about the radio and a few others I have too. Now I have the Realistic TRC-1001 working, first with 10 AA batteries, which it takes and then with a 12v Power Adapter, which is the recommended Voltage for the device as printed. Now I know little about the subject of CB radios and am really only satisfying my curiosity here but I noticed the radio performed better with the 10 batteries than it did off the 12v DC adapter, ( I was able to hear clearer and further).
Now I assume this is due to 10 AA batteries equally 15Volts compared to the 12v from the DC Adapter. Does anyone have experience with this old piece of hardware and do you know if this is the case and whether it would be possible to run the Radio from a 15V DC Adapter? I'm not much of an electrician either. Would this kill it?
I really have no knowledge here and I am purely speculating this hence why I write here. I have found myself intrigued by the world of amateur radio very quickly.
Thank you
An old Realistic TRC-1001 in the hands of a noob
Thank you for your response.stampman wrote:hi and welcome
it could simply be that the power supply you are using is creating interference which is blocking some of the weaker signals
Is power supply interference an issue that could be fixed as easily as putting a ferrite bead on the power cable or is there specialised equipment needed for the job?
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SiriusHardware
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OK, I know this is a twelve year old thread. I've just put a new set of batteries in my own TRC-1001 and I went looking for evidence of other survivors and found this thread among others.
So the answer to the OP's question was that they should not have been using 10 x AA Alkalines in the set because, as they rightly observed these batteries are 1.5 volts each and could even be a little higher when new giving a supply voltage of 16V or more - that is dangerously close to the supply voltage limit of some of the components used in the set.
Having owned mine from new I can tell you that they came with 2 x dummy AA batteries which were just connected straight through from the positive stud to the flat negative end, and what you were supposed to do, if you wanted to use Zinc-Carbon or Alkaline batteries, was fit the two dummy batteries and only 8 x dry cell AA batteries for a total of 8 x 1.5V = 12V.
You only fit 10 batteries if you are using Nicad or NiMH rechargeable batteries because they are 1.2V per cell, so (10 x 1.2) = 12V. However, the use of rechargeable batteries in these nowadays is a bit of a minefield because most of the higher capacity NiMH batteries - say 2000mAH or more - are slightly too large in diameter to fit down inside the tubes in the battery boxes in these. They won't go in, they just jam, and if you did force them in you'd have a hell of a job getting them back out. You'll have better luck finding rechargeable batteries which fit easily if you limit your choice to ones which are around 1600mAH or less, because it seems to be the modern high capacity ones which are generally slightly 'thicker' and cause problems in these sets.
I have however found that all Alkaline batteries of all makes that I have tried fit freely and easily in the set, but as said earlier you should really buy a pair of straight-through dummy batteries to use with them, and don't forget to take the batteries out and bag them separately whenever the set is stored out of use because you don't want to get it out one day and find it has been ruined by leaking batteries.
So the answer to the OP's question was that they should not have been using 10 x AA Alkalines in the set because, as they rightly observed these batteries are 1.5 volts each and could even be a little higher when new giving a supply voltage of 16V or more - that is dangerously close to the supply voltage limit of some of the components used in the set.
Having owned mine from new I can tell you that they came with 2 x dummy AA batteries which were just connected straight through from the positive stud to the flat negative end, and what you were supposed to do, if you wanted to use Zinc-Carbon or Alkaline batteries, was fit the two dummy batteries and only 8 x dry cell AA batteries for a total of 8 x 1.5V = 12V.
You only fit 10 batteries if you are using Nicad or NiMH rechargeable batteries because they are 1.2V per cell, so (10 x 1.2) = 12V. However, the use of rechargeable batteries in these nowadays is a bit of a minefield because most of the higher capacity NiMH batteries - say 2000mAH or more - are slightly too large in diameter to fit down inside the tubes in the battery boxes in these. They won't go in, they just jam, and if you did force them in you'd have a hell of a job getting them back out. You'll have better luck finding rechargeable batteries which fit easily if you limit your choice to ones which are around 1600mAH or less, because it seems to be the modern high capacity ones which are generally slightly 'thicker' and cause problems in these sets.
I have however found that all Alkaline batteries of all makes that I have tried fit freely and easily in the set, but as said earlier you should really buy a pair of straight-through dummy batteries to use with them, and don't forget to take the batteries out and bag them separately whenever the set is stored out of use because you don't want to get it out one day and find it has been ruined by leaking batteries.
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SiriusHardware
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- Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2026 5:00 pm
Just to follow this up, I've just found some modern / currently available (as of June 2026) AA NiMH batteries which are an easy fit into the battery tubes on my TRC-1001.
They are GP 'Recyko' AA size NiMH batteries with a capacity of 1300mAH, and you can get them from this UK supplier and probably many other places as well (Hope it's OK to post this link).
https://cpc.farnell.com/gp-batteries/gp ... dp/BT07132
Now you are probably thinking that 1300mAH isn't a very high mAH rating these days when you can typically buy them, even in the same brand / model range as the above batteries, with mAH ratings of well over 2000mAH to 2500mAH and even higher, but therein lies the problem - the greater the mAH rating, the larger the diameter of the batteries tends to be. So you are less likely to have problems getting NiMH batteries which fit if you stick to lower mAH capacity batteries.
To put this in perspective, at the time of my heaviest usage of this set back when it was new in 1981 and for a few years after that, I was using Realistic 600mAH 'Enercell' Nicad batteries which kept the radio working for about 10 years or more and I don't remember the low mAH capacity causing any particular problems during that time.
They are GP 'Recyko' AA size NiMH batteries with a capacity of 1300mAH, and you can get them from this UK supplier and probably many other places as well (Hope it's OK to post this link).
https://cpc.farnell.com/gp-batteries/gp ... dp/BT07132
Now you are probably thinking that 1300mAH isn't a very high mAH rating these days when you can typically buy them, even in the same brand / model range as the above batteries, with mAH ratings of well over 2000mAH to 2500mAH and even higher, but therein lies the problem - the greater the mAH rating, the larger the diameter of the batteries tends to be. So you are less likely to have problems getting NiMH batteries which fit if you stick to lower mAH capacity batteries.
To put this in perspective, at the time of my heaviest usage of this set back when it was new in 1981 and for a few years after that, I was using Realistic 600mAH 'Enercell' Nicad batteries which kept the radio working for about 10 years or more and I don't remember the low mAH capacity causing any particular problems during that time.
