Midland 79-290
Frequency Expansion
240 Channel Operation
1)Put away the Golden screwdriver! No tools needed for this mod.
2)When Turning on the radio hold in the DW and channel 9 buttons.
3)To get to the 10 meter band hold in the LCR and MIC buttons.
4)To change bans press the channel 19 button.
5)Repeat this process to return to regular 40 Channel CB.
Unlocking the Clarifier
1) On the back of the clarifier pot follow the blue wire to the PCB.
2) Cut the blue wire about 1 inch from the PCB.
3) Find jp-44 and solder the blue wire to it.(its the 8vdc source)
4) Cut the resistor on the bottom of the clarifier knob.
5) Solder a wire from where the resistor was to ground on the PCB.
6) Finally jump D-40 and cut D-42.You should now have about 6Khz of slide.
Peak and Tweak
RV-7 AM Power
RV-8 SSB Power
Q-24 Audio limiter
June 12th, 2005 at 10:20 pm
I must not be doing something right because I try to get the 240 or into 10 meter band and nothing happens. I’m still stuck in AM is there something else I need to do to get this to work?
September 28th, 2005 at 12:45 pm
I believe you have to solder something on the front faceplate (solder a couple of bridges together) to get the channel expansion to work. A GOOGLE search will find all of the info you’ll need.
October 16th, 2005 at 1:21 am
HI
I OWN THE MIDLAND 79-290 AND I FOLLOWED ALL THAT THE HACKING HARWARE WEB-PAGE SAIS TO DO TO GET THE 10 METER BAND. I HOLD THE RIGHT BUTTONS WHILE TURNING ON THE MIDLAND AND FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS WITH NO CHANGE. IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES HOLDING BUTTONS AND TURNING RADIO ON AND FOLLOWING THE STEPS I AM NOT DOING?
STUMPED…
G. JONES
November 1st, 2005 at 7:12 pm
If you send me your email address I will send you the instructions for this.
jbunn@tampabay.rr.com
November 1st, 2005 at 7:17 pm
Nevermind, no need. I found the website.
http://www.geocities.com/kb8qfl/79290.html
This is the mod that is done to the faceplate. I did it to mine and it works like a charm. It also opens up the FM band.
April 12th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
contact midland on there website, you can down load ownersmanual
February 6th, 2008 at 1:15 am
79-290 Mods
Most of the mod pages on the internet have it all wrong and they all copy from each other.
This has been the case since 1999 when I purchased the first of 2 of these units. Suggested list was $200 seen as low as $170.
Most of these sites have never ever performed the mods they post up.
The correct solder bridges on the CPU board that resides in the removeable head have to be made first.
After the mod is done the the CPU has to be reset as per the instructions on the back of the head unit.
After that work is performed ONLY then will pressing the correct front buttons during power up can the expanded frequency coverage be accessed.
If the radio loses power during operation or the removable face is removed with the power on (not recommended) the CPU will reset to standard 40 channel mode.
Memory is retained by the rehargable battery that resides in the radio.
There is only one guy on the net that has the correct clarifier mod with precise details and accompanying photos of the pcb.
Mike wiring on later production radios matches that of the 4 pin cobra/uniden scheme.
The earlier radios us the Midland 4 pin scheme.
The later model radios will have “Midland V1.1″ on the microphone label.
The stock mike sounds muddy on A.M.
This radio likes the Astatic 565 teardrop style mic.
Yes you can download an “operator’s manual” from Midland but good luck trying to pry a service manual out of them.
This radio is now out of productioand no longer available through Midland.
I think they got heat from the FCC for producing it.
Anything now for sale as “new” is probably new old stock or refurbished.
This basic design radio was also for sale in Europe by Midland’s counterpart “Alan” there are other similar designs out there that share the basic board layout and use the same CPU chip.
These “Export Radios” also had FM and a “Roger Beep”.
This is apparent when looking at the backlit head unit display of the 79-290.
There is a “musical note ” symbol in the display that does not light up in any mode of operation nor is there a swicth for that type of feature.
The FM mode symbol can be seen at the far left of the display.
After the freq. mod is performed the FM part of the display will light up when changing modes (SSB back to AM) but the mode will be still be A.M..
The 79290 does not posess the components for FM transmission and reception on the board.
The panel display lamps run hot/ burn out and can possibly affect the stability of the CPU dur to the high heat.
Replacement with cooler,lowerpower and longer lasting LEDs can help alleviate this problem.
An all around great little radio that is packed with features of radios that cost twice as much.
They should re-ssue it.
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 am
HI….
I OWN THE MIDLAND 79-290 AND I FOLLOWED ALL THAT THE HACKING HARWARE WEB-PAGE SAIS TO DO TO GET THE 240 CHANNEL OR THE 10 METER BAND. I HOLD THE RIGHT BUTTONS WHILE TURNING ON THE MIDLAND AND FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS WITH NO CHANGE. IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES HOLDING BUTTONS AND TURNING RADIO ON AND FOLLOWING THE STEPS I AM NOT DOING?
THANK YOU,
HERU - INDONESIA