Lafayette Radio Electronics

After talking about FM radio history on

another thread - that is - the old prewar

FM band that ran from about 42 to 50 MHz -

I made a connection to something else.

That something else is Lafayette Radio Electronics.

How did it happen?

Well, the other thread concerns a memorial broadcast

about the inventor of FM radio - Major Edwin Armstrong -

and the beginnning of FM radio. 

The memorial broadcast was on WFDU in Teaneck, New Jersey on 89.1 MHz

back in the year 2005.  It also was on a special memorial station

in the prewar FM band on 42.8 MHz.  (Some other members of the

Part 15. US group put up some great info on this event.)

According to known reception reports, 61 people heard the 42.8 FM

wideband FM station memorial station in 2005. 

But what were all of these "DX listeners" using to hear the wideband

FM broadcasts in the 30 to 50 MHz public service region?

Well, a few people actually had vintage 42 to 48 MHz consumer

prewar FM radios that were still operating, even then in 2005, and

these radios worked for wideband FM, just like or similar to our

radios that use 88 to 108 MHz now.   

Some people used scanners in the narrow band mode and listened to

the 42.8 MHz programs - but of course the reception was very distorted.

And some people used really good VHF/UHF communications receivers, such

as the ICOM IC-7000. 

But - and here's the Lafayette connection: One listener heard the 42.8 MHz

station on a Lafayette Radio Electronics public service tunable receiver. 

And this receiver was a PB-50.  This receiving location was on Mount

Greylock in Massachusetts - 140 miles away from the Alpine, NJ 42.8 transmitter!

As far as everbody knows - this was the furthest receiving

station to hear the 42.8 signal!  There was probably an external antenna

used, but that old PB-50 radio sure held up!  And that's pretty good for a receiver

that was (at the time) about 35 years old or more (I think.)   I cannot find a

picture of a PB-50 anywhere on the net, but I'm

assumming it was (is) a dedicated 30 to 50 MHz tunable receiver. 

And what year was this unknown gem made?  Who knows?  Sometime in the 1960s I guess. 

I find this interesting because I own a Lafayette PF-300 tunable receiver

which covers 30 to 50, 144 to 174, and 450 to 470 MHz.  My PF-300 is

built like a tank and still works very well.  It has SO-239 jacks on the

back - one for each band.  This radio was made to connect to a roof

antenna system.  It was a serious monitor receiver - and not just a

toy.  Even all of the lights on the front panel still work.

How do most of us remember Lafayette radio on this board?  Well, I guess

from the old CB radios we owned back then - Part 15 transmitters

like the (dangerous) KT-195,  and the (really deadly) 99-1077

phono oscillator - and some cool shortwave receivers (regen and superhet.)

Carl owns a Lafayette audio generator, and

some of us have other Lafayette equipment. 

Information about Lafayette equipment is scattered around the net in

different places.  I remember Lafayette CB radios, such as the moblie

CB HB-555, and the Comstat (?) HE-20A CB base rig.  I also remember some

other CB radios, and another VHF monitor receiver, which I think was

the PB-150 (?)  Whatever that great radio was, It heard 144 to 174 MHz

and was not transistorized.  It had vacuum tubes, and I remember seeing

a nuvister (?) inside it. 

Also, a friend of mine had a Lafayette FM stereo receiver in about 1970. 

It was a great FM DX radio - much much better than anything else I

had seen at the time - except the Heathkit AR-15.

And - - Lafayette aquired KnightKit, right? - that's a whole other chapter

to the story.

One more Lafayette CB radio mystery. 

In 1966, a bunch of us on Brookcourt and Courtbrook road had Radio Shack

Space Patrol walkie talkies.  These simple 3 transistor CB walkie talkies

went nowhere.  You could shout a greater distance than these regen

CB walkie talkies could communicate.  Soon after: one of us came up

with a new idea, and I cannot figure out how he made the determination.

Which was:  (And I quote)  "ï want to get a really good CB walkie talkie.

One that can go 2 miles."  As said by Butch down the street.  (The names

have been changed to protect the people who don't have memories anymore.)

Butch and another guy Reg went to Lafayette and purchased 100 mW CB handhelds.

3 channels, channel 10 supplied.  They went on to add channels 11 and 14.

i cannot remember the model designations of these radios.  This was about 1968. 

At the same

time, I purchased a Radio Shack TRC-22, a 100 mW CB "HT" - a 2 channel radio -

which was supplied with channel 11.  I added channel 14.  (I have mentioned

this radio in the past - I'm still trying to aquire another one - mine is long gone.

Here's the thing - the Lafayette CB walkie talkies were superior to my

Radio Shack TRC-22.  Both brands were about $30.00.  My TRC-22

broke almost immediately, but the Lafayette radios kept going and

going and going.  And of course - none of these radios went 2 miles.

What a goofy "idea/goal" for that kind of rig in a crowded neighborhood 

with lots of interference from Hartford, CT, just nearby.  

Óne more thing about Lafayette walkie talkies, when these radios

went to 49 MHz in about 1979, Lafayette started making serious

nicely engineered metal cased walkie talkies for this band, with 

battery strength meters on the case, and other goodies (which

I don't remember.) 

Soon after that, Lafayette Radio went down the drain.  That's a whole

other subject.  

Anyway, I know we have touched upon this before, but does anybody

else here have info on Lafayette and it's electronics gear?  Maybe we

could eventually make a list, or something like that.  

Bruce, DOGRADIO