E.F. Johnson Messenger 4145 reviews

Bought this rig at a hamfest table buy-out. This has to be one of the very last CB's that was manufactured in the USA, and one of the earliest 40CH rigs out there, vintage 1978. With a sleek design and feature that you'd expect from modest priced mid-1980's rigs, like a 5 segment LED S/RF meter. It gives you the impression of a mid-1980's rig reversed designed for a 1970's chassis. Being an EF Johnson, RF carrier = 3.2W out, a back lit Viking logo, a hardwired crystal hand mic, and a built-in speech processor. Modulation MAX OUT to about 75%, but is good and crisp. Receive sensitivity, if I had to guess, is around 1uV, and like other EF Johnson CB's I've tried, a very quiet receiver, even with the ANL switched off. Certainly not as sensitive as the Japanese counter parts, with .5uV, but adequate. Good AGC circuit as well, and can take in close stations without distortions. Squelch knob doubles as a channel display dimmer switch. You won't find many of these rigs since they were like $350.00 back then. If you are a collector of classic CB's, this rig is a 'must have'!