Midland 77-115 Weather Max III CB Review

I picked one of these up used a couple of years ago for $20 and although the performance of the radio wasn't anything special it does have multiple features not found on many other basic AM radios. In addition there is a easy channel modification for this radio and that combined with the other features might make it worth owning for some people, although that was not the case for me.

The Midland 77-115 has a channel changing knob and also up/down channel controls. It has a on/off volume knob and squelch, RF gain, mic gain, a PA switch and also switches for ANL and Local/DX.

This radio does have memory buttons which is a nice feature and also has a EMG button for channel 9 access.

I tested out one of these radios and wasn't impressed with the performance. The output isn't great and the modulation was low. Adding a power microphone helped modulation but still didn't raise into category where I would want to use it as my regular AM talking radio.

All of the functions on the radio worked fine, the ANL didn't do a whole lot to control noise levels and the digital meter didn't seem to report the same receive numbers as some of my other radios.

The positive features of this radio are that is does have the memory buttons and has weather report capabilities so you can check for storms etc.(always a nice feature for people who do a lot of driving or live in areas with rapidly changing weather).

>One other cool thing about the 77-115 is that you can do a little soldering modification and can get upper and lower channels. Many other CB radios require extensive wiring or kits and switches to add extra channels but the modification for this radio is quite simple.

Once you do the modification to switch the extra channels you use an existing button and the digital display will even put up a small marker so you can tell if you on are regular 40 , upper or lower.

Now this mod does not give you SSB capabilities - it only gives you extra channels above and below the regular 40 AM.

As for the reliability of this radio, it is questionable. I had bought one previously and it did not transmit after only a couple of days of use. I would not recommend it as a CB for a 4x4 or dump truck.

In summary this radio in my opinion is only worth owning if you want a radio with memory features, weather channels and the ability to add extra AM frequencies and don't want to pay much money. I've seen these sell on ebay used for $30 although recently I've seen a new one sell for over $90 (way too much for this radio in my opinion). The radio itself is a basic functioning CB but it's output numbers, receive sensitivity, and modulation ability were nothing to write home about. I sold the radio shortly after doing the conversion and testing. I liked the features but the performance was average to sub-par and I didn't think it was worth keeping.

CONVERSION INFO AVAILABLE ON CBTRICKS.COM
 

77-115 Frequency coverage after Conversion

3 Bands (A - B - C) 26.515 - 27.855 MHz