We were lucky enough to find one of these at a garage sale recently and boy has it brought back a lot of memories. I’ve owned many of these particular radios over the years but I haven’t owned one in a least a decade and now having one in front of me has left me impressed, again.
The Cobra 138 XLR is a large beast of a mobile – larger than most standard size CB radios such as the Cobra 148 or Galaxy 959 and it also has some weight to it as the case uses an extra bracket inside which you’ll see in my video. The styling is quite traditional but the performance is what sets this radio apart. Even 40 years after it left the factory the radio sitting on my desk has great receive and the audio reports with the stock microphone have been fantastic with people saying it sounds almost as good as my President Lincoln II which is paired with an equalizer/compressor.
We’ve also recently picked up a Cobra 139 XLR so stay tuned for that video coming shortly. Meanwhile enjoy the beauty of the 138 XLR in our video below!