Sonic GT-868

Sonic GT868 (Great)

The Sonic GT-868 is the same design/board as the Fidelity 1000 and other 868’s made by Great. They had a reputation for being ‘bleedover boxes’ back in the day and probably were but, thankfully (depending on how you look at it), the days of channel congestion are long gone.

The set in my collection was in a very sorry state on receipt and may yet end up being a scrap set. The main problem with it is that at some stage in its life, some numpty has screwed a long bolt into the side, presumably to attach a bracket, and destroyed one of the Toko inductor cans on the main board (in the TX section) inside. The PA/CB switch was also broken and the rig silent. I replaced the switch with one from a Midland scrap set, removed the broken can, cleaned all the controls and sorted a couple of dry joints and the rig now works on RX very well indeed – it is surprisingly sensitive in fact.

However, if there is any hope for the TX stage, I need to find a replacement inductor, perhaps from another scrap set. Could be a long wait! Until then it will sit on my shelf until something comes along. If anyone has a Toko can (I think it’s 7mm) from an 868 or one with this marking, please let me know!