"The Dick Tracy wrist radio may no longer be a dream"
A quote from a 1976 CB Radio Magazine ad introducing the "Pocket Comm" model XB-100A Miniature Pocket Transceiver.

Units Tested:
Serial Numbers 213159 and 213164
Date of manufacture: Oct and Nov. 1976

Last year I was reading through the August 1976 issue of CB Magazine when I came across an ad for a rather unusually small handheld CB transceiver. It is called the "Pocket Comm" advertised as a pocket CB. It was manufactured for JS&A by Mega Corporation. JS&A was Americas largest supplier of space age products and Mega was a leading manufacturer of innovative personal communications systems according to the full page ad.
I knew that I just had to have one, or two. Sure enough a year later I finally found a pair from a gentleman in Maryland. Included was the original boxes and manuals. These units are 100 mW, two channel crystal controlled with channel 14 supplied. They measure 5 3/4" long, less than 1" at the thickest point, and 1 3/4" wide. About the size of a long modern day pager! Remarkable small size considering 1976 technology and weighs in at approx 5 ounces. These units feature a "beep Tone Paging System" which is really no more then a 1000Hz tone that is activated by the push of a small button on the front while transmitting to alert the listener on the other end. Additional features are A/B channel selector, low battery indicator, large red PTT (Push to talk) button, thumbwheel volume and squelch, and a 40 inch telescoping antenna. You are probably wondering how in the heck do these small units get their power. As it turns out, they each run on two small 1.5 volt alkalines. The manual indicates a 2.4 volt nominal operating voltage with a 2.2 volt low voltage cutoff. I felt lucky to find suitable batteries from Radio Shack called "Alkaline Enercell" stock# 23-023 ($1.99 for two).

Once my wife and I found the batteries, we went home to try these baby's out. With batteries installed, it
was time to power these units up and check them out. CLICK CLICK CLICK...what? Hummmm, no static, no nothing! Long story short, after probably 20 plus years of these units sitting around with no use, these little guys needed some attention. My wife quickly
lost interest and left the room but was drawn back a few minutes later by the sound of off and on spraying and came into the radio room just in time to see the fog and my squinting eyes from the massive flooding of contact cleaner used to clean the thumbwheel controls.
After the fog cleared and I regained clear vision, the units were both fully operational. Now that my wife regained confidence in me and my toys, she suggested that she go to town...shopping, and we could test the units along the way. Smart Women! She
carefully operated with the antenna out the window of her car and we managed to talk about one block before losing contact with each other. I then switched to the base radio of the day, A Pace 1000B base station and continued our testing for an additional 6 blocks where she parked for her first stop. At that point, the S-3 signals from South American skip were starting to cover her up but she did report hearing me loud and clear; well, as loud and clear as a micro sized speaker will allow. By the way, I really wanted to install a 47uf capacitor across the little speaker terminals to reduce the high pitched hiss and keep a
lower tone but upon inspection, I noted that the speaker is also the microphone. This may explain why the audio quality both receiving and transmitting is fairly poor but usable. My wife suggested that we make several similar tests while she goes shopping to baseline the duration of battery life on the Pocket Comms. I am happy to report that we do not have
sufficient data to support how long the batteries last in these units.

We came to the conclusion that by todays standards, these small CB transceivers are probably not real practical but do infact work for short range comms. I can only imagine that in 1976 these units were quite popular due to the very small size, and found many uses. It appears that these units were first introduced around 1975 but the 1976 ad I have shows them selling for $39.95 each or two for $79.90.

In closing I must mention the rather complete user manual. It starts out with a description, then offers operating instructions with good side notes. I was particularly surprised to see a complete schematic diagram and a board layout diagram, plus a rather
comprehensive list of technical specifications. Additionally, it includes a commonly asked Questions and Answers section as well. WOW! How many modern day radio manuals include all of this?

These small radios found a home here at the Mojave Desert Mini Museum of retro radios and are a welcome addition. Perhaps someday I can use multiple Pocket Comms for the staff at my dream museum of vintage retro radios. OK, I awoke from my dream now.

Thanks to my wonderful wife Pamela (Retro Chick) for helping me evaluate these nifty units. A very special thanks to Woody and his efforts on maintaining a very top quality CB website that brings back the good ol days of radio.

Respectfully submitted,

Todd A. Evans (Harmonicat) KDM 6659
Mojave Desert California
Channels 9 and 19 AM
Channels 16 and 37 LSB