This is the President Jackson which, at first glance, looks like many of the other CB radio products from the President (Uniden) corporation. Upon closer inspection though, several interesting features become apparent. This radio is one of the many so-called "Export" radios, which first hit the U.S. shores in the early 1980's. Export radios were designed to be used in CB markets outside of the U.S.. Consequently, this radio had features above and beyond the "normal" domestic CB. It should come as no surprise to learn that these export radios were not legal for use in the U.S., but that didn't seem to slow the supply chain all that much, as demand was very high for these products. The biggest features which set an export radio apart from a domestic radio were amount of channels, power output, and modes. A user could buy an export radio for not much more than a standard domestic radio, and it already did the things than many people hacked up their standard radios to do. Since export radios were already designed to do these things, they ended up working much better than a modified standard CB. In this respect the President Jackson did not disappoint. The Jackson came equipped with 5 bands of 45 channels (the regular 40 + the "RC" channels) which added up to a total of 226 channels. It was also equipped with a dual range clarifier, which could move +/- 5 Khz. Power output was a healthy 25 watts on SSB (Easily raised to 40-50 watts), and an adjustable AM/FM carrier power which could operate properly to about 12 watts. In addition to the usual AM and SSB modes, this radio also contained the FM (Frequency Modulation) mode as well. Besides these extra capabilities, the radio had the usual standard features of Volume, Squelch, R.F. Gain, and Mic Gain. A multi-function S/RF/Modulation meter is also standard. Switches for ANL/NB, a +10Khz up feature, and a Roger Beep round out the list of switchable functions. The Jackson also came in two different faceplate styles. The older units had a brushed aluminum panel, while newer units, like the one pictured, had a black faceplate.
You would think that with all the standard features that this rig had, that there would be no need for further modifications. But I was never one to resist the chance to experiment. It would seem that this radio had much more to give in both frequencies and power. The PLL in this radio was the highly capable Motorola MC145106. With a total frequency range of 511 10 Khz channels, there was a lot of room to play in. The Jackson had a small plug-in diode matrix board which set the ranges of all the channel "bands". By changing the diodes, you could shift the operating range further down or up. The radio modded well for 10 meter use and quite a few hams used them there. Power output could be raised by simply adjusting the ALC control, and was capable of 40+ watts of peak power. The final transistor of the radio is the now discontinued MRF477, so be careful if you own one as there are no direct replacements for it.
Receiver performance was good, and the Uniden designed noise blanker circuit was very effective at suppressing pulse noise. Adjacent channel rejection was good as well. The only sore spot was a tendency to overload on very strong signals. This was easily rectified by a resistor change in the AGC circuit. Transmitter performance was good as well. It screamed on SSB, where the extra power was noticeable. Modulation was good on AM as well, although having a low level modulator meant that forward "swing" was not strong. The radio mated well with a D-104 base mic, or the mobile D-104M version.
I picked up my Jackson at a hamfest in 1984 after selling my Midland 77-882. I used the radio for about 3 or 4 years before selling it and upgrading to a Uniden HR-2510. I used the radio extensively on FM as our channel group had moved to 26.675 at the time to escape high skip levels. During that time, I added an additional down band and I designed a noise gate squelch circuit for improved squelch performance as use of the squelch was absolutely necessary on F.M. and the simple carrier squelches found on most CB's tended to pop open at any little burst of noise. Performance wise, I give this radio about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 as it performed well, and had great capability.