There's been a sudden upsurge lately in people emailing me and asking me for help with modifying their CB radios and taking apart their toasters. I'm going to hijack this thread and start posting emails from people. I just got this one on Facebook and it's huge and he even gives me a bunch of pictures of his progress. Here it is:
Dear Brad,
I am a viewer of your video: PLATV: How To Hijack Fast Food Drive-Thru Frequencies (
http://www.facebook.com/l/db835Qzo-XrNXiMQUgiu0PEzY_w/www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyLrus1yKvI). It was really funny, and seemed like you knew what you were doing, so I decided to try it. In your video, you basically did a tutorial of how to insert a 6.5536 mhz crystal into a Realistic TRC-207 CB Radio. I purchased both the radio and the crystal. I had an issue installing the crystal, which is why I am messaging you.
Once I unpackaged both the 6.5536 crystal and the Radio, I immediately went back to your video to watch how you installed it, because I similarly used the same exact model radio. I watched how you unscrewed the screws, and was paying very attentive detail. The first thing I noticed was this: When you unscrewed and took apart the radio, the crystal, located in the spot where you said it should have been plugged in, was missing. Here is a link to a picture of a screenshot from your video of you for the first time opening up the radio:
http://www.facebook.com/l/db835lEqmNnA2P4ZzGZaVkPrCkA/i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i418/sportzfanatic4/NoCrystalinVideo.jpgI was curious as to why the original crystal was not connected to the radio, unlike you said. I continued to watch, and then noticed an obvious video cut (just from editing the video, i understood why), but then the original crystal appeared in its place. I was wondering, "Why could that be"? I'm just curious, I am certainly not accusing you of making a non ligitament video or anything. Here is the screen-shot in your video of how it appeared to be in place:
http://www.facebook.com/l/db835-saxgg5VvR6pKKE2_3WAQw/i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i418/sportzfanatic4/Videos_Location_of_Crystal.jpgHere is a screen shot showing you inserting the new crystal into a "socket":
http://www.facebook.com/l/db835r3yc_2UXpKLqvNIDeGtZcQ/i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i418/sportzfanatic4/wherevideofitcrystal.jpgAs took the back off my radio, I looked at once to the place where you had installed this crystal, and I was surprised to find out that there was no original crystal already connected. Here is a picture I took of my radio, where the original crystal should have been:
http://www.facebook.com/l/db835v65FMLDttvRp3rgVDGim5w/i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i418/sportzfanatic4/MyRadio.jpg Now a little skeptical, I peered around for the "socket", like you described, and I found no obvious socket or port in which the wires on the end of a crystal could be fit into. There was, however, a gap between the circuit board and a strip of circuit board on the grey, outside wall of the radio, which had balls with pointy tips that stuck out on them. (mini boobies haha). I managed to wedge my crystal in between this gap, and it seemed to fit, however, I did not seem as though the wires underneath the crystal had made any type of connection. Here is another picture I took of where I fit the crystal:
http://www.facebook.com/l/db8359ivrMSRvvUSpJ_1oytr55w/i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i418/sportzfanatic4/whereifitcrystal.jpgYou also said in the video that the two CB Radios would no longer be compatible with each other once modified. Well I bought 2 crystals and 2 radios, and after installing them both, they still seemed to work, decently... So I figured they were never modified correctly anyways.
I put the radio back together, and went to McDonald's, and sat 10-20 ft away from the worker as she gave orders, trying to tap into the frequency. I cycled every single channel multiple times and never got any feedback.
I would really really really appreciate any help you can offer me. I invested about $40 into the crystals and radios, and I really need them to work!!
I have no doubt your video is legit, and all I need is help with the installation, this is not hate mail!
Thank You!!
Jared