need the best sounding mobile

[lilradiojon]

starting off, this will be going into a 2001 f-250 7.3l diesel truck. crew cb short bed. i currently run a stryker 497hpc into a wilson 5k drilled in the roof. i need something with a more "clear" sound. lately the locals and my hunt club members say it makes me sound like crap. previously i had a general lee, ran that into a davemade 2 pill and had decent reports but didn't have the "punch" for the locals. and back in the day i had a superstar 121 with an echo 2018 mic, mod limiter clipped and going into a palomar tx400. the ss so far has been the best sounding. i had countless people tell me to super glue it and leave it alone but my needy self wanted to try new things.... anyways i want something GREAT. no more half doing it, whats the BEST/CLEAREST sounding radio out there. yes i need low channels. and this being a hunting truck don't want to get away from the wilson so simply need a radio decision made for me.

i still have my palomar 400, a firecracker 200 , and a davemade 1x4 (want to use it) what should i do????

[Deleted User 14541]

Have you tried turning the mic gain down? Any radio can sound clean if it's tuned properly. It should sound crystal clear a few feet or a few miles away.

A cobra 29 done right (if you want punch and clarity) and the 1x4 Davemade will rock and roll. You can get a lescomm board and have the upper and lower channels. If you stay with an export radio have it tuned by the factory service manual specs. No high power super tunes, clipped limiters or other hacks.

[1206FL]

Have you checked your vswr lately? What is the swr (vswr) like. Also like 543 stated, have you also tried to turn the mic gain back as you speak to some of your locals? If you want to use the Dave made 1x4, make sure that your vswr is good and that you use a single final radio again like 543 stated, something like a cobra 29 or uniden 880. If your audio is distorted or crunchy could be a sign of bad vswr with that radio or you have the mic gain set too high. Turn all the extra stuff off like echo, an anything else that may increase audio. Set mic gain to 1/4 and start there. The Stryker 497 is a high powered radio isn't it? Thought I saw the specs showing about 100 watts. 80-100 watts should be plenty of power to talk a few miles. Check your antenna setup out and make sure all is good. Connectors, coax for any pinches or cuts, and the antenna itself for water intrusion or something else. Those radios shouldn't sound bad from the ones I've heard anyway. Hope you get it resolved. Could be the radio, but there are a lot of variables. Maybe one of your friends with a decent radio setup can record your audio for you so you can hear first hand what you sound like. And don't go by the talkback as it isn't how you may truly sound on air. Again hope you get it fixed, and if you do plan to use the Dave made DON'T USE it with the 497HPC. You will most likely see smoke from the amp if you do or will blow the driver in the amp up. If you want to use the Dave made have the driver section disabled and run it as a straight 4 pill with the Stryker if you get the audio issues resolved that is and want to keep the radio and use the amp. Have a good one.

[MDYoungblood]

The Stryker 497HPC is a decent sounding radio unless someone was inside it and messed with the modulation pot, and if your running it into any of the mentioned amps no wonder it sounds bad, it has way too much drive for any of them. Like said, have the radio tuned up, check the antenna's SWR, and if you want to run an amp get one the will handle the radio's wattage.

3's

Greg

[jessejamesdallas]

Radio that I got the best reports on, where everyone was always complimenting me on just how good it sounded, was a Stryker 440 used with a Texas Star 500V...Would have kept that radio, but the thing was like having a 30" TV set in the front seat at night it was so bright...Had to keep a baseball cap in the truck so I could cover it up at night because it was so bright...even on the dim settings...

IMO as for as export radios go...You can't beat a General Lee...Nothing wrong with the Ranger Mirage 36HP either (basically a General Lee with a few extra's)

[lilradiojon]

my goal was to find a stryker 440, every one i have ever heard sounds amazing. but yes i had my local shop mess with this radio and at one time i had great reports, but over the past year i cant keep the dials in the right spot sounding somewhat decent for long enough to talk. so im ready for something new. yes i know not to drive any of my amps with this radio. preferably i want to step down to a single final super clean and clear sounding radio. my swr is below 1.3 and i have gone through and grounded my entire truck following a guide from online. making sure not to make a loop blah blah blah, y'all know the deal. as far as im concerned i have everything set up as good as i can get it on my budget at this point.

last night i sat and talked to 4 different people, 3 were locals on base stations and one was a truck driver alll at different distances. i played with my mic gain in every position possible and tried about 6 different micas. found it best with an astatic 636 an mic gain less than a quarter and my variable power set about 2/3 and i still had to hold the mic about 15" away while talking to get it sounding "pretty decent"

im ready to get a radio that i don't have to constantly touch every time i speak to sound mediocre.

[1206FL]

Something doesn't sound right with the radio. The uniden 880 or 980 are great radios for driving most amps and are clean and clear radios. I use a 980 with the noise cancelling Bluetooth mic made by uniden and the radio has very clean, clear audio. I use my Icom 746 with external speaker setup as my monitor radio and my 980 sounds very clean and clear. They aren't big power radios, but if you just lower the dead key and get the modulation set correct, lower power on SSB to about 8 watts on the 980, not needed on the 880 or add a fan or heat sink to one and you can use your 1x4 with it no problem. Would be a good radio to use, that or a cobra 29. Don't have any swing kits or mods done. Just have a basic tune and alignment done and either have DK set to needed level, from .5 to 2 watts or have a variable DK added. At any rate sucks to hear you are having such issues with the 497. Most say the stock mic sounds good with them. Never owned one, so I can't say. I've heard some 955hp's on SSB and they sound great. Hope you get it resolved or find a new suitable replacement. The uniden 880 and 980 can be had for about $100 or so and the Bluetooth wireless mics are under $40 now some places. Good radios for the money the uniden's are. And the wireless Bluetooth mic works very well for both mobile or base use. No wires from the mic to radio. You do have a cradle with a mic holder and the mic cord to radio but nothing from radio to mic. It's Bluetooth through the radio itself. And they have good range. Only needed mod for these I've found works well is to drill the mic hole out with a 5/16" drill bit by hand. A good sharp drill bit will cut through the plastic pretty easy even with your fingers. Anyway some food for thought. Good luck with whatever you get.

[drdx]

Are you sure that your locals aren't just messing with you? That is some really hot audio if you have to be 15 in he's away and if it is that sensitive then you surely would have a ton of road noise when moving. I know that my local crew would mess with folks and have them adjust stuff down to the point they're almost deadkeying.

Assuming they are shooting you straight it sounds like you need to get to where you have either a new clean non modified radio or get yours tuned but that is always a dice roll. And don't forget, opinions differ. I've had locals that think a crisp and clear radio sounds bad and an overmodated muffled rig sounds great because they're letting their eyes judge audio quality by staring at the meter for swing. A stock 29 or uniden as mentioned above is a good start. Get it confirmed that you are clear without the amp and then use the amp and make sure it sounds good. Don't overdrive the amp past 80-90 watts per pill on the wattage peaks so the amp is loafing. Make sure you are running enough carrier/deadkey. You want a 1:4 ratio, something like a 100 watt deadkey and 400 swing for example. Too low of a deadkey to peak and your audio will suffer. Between words you go from walking tall to walkie talkie.

Also, if the amp is introducing poor audio quality, make sure the amp is fed with nice large wire and plenty of amperage. A starved amp, as in when you use wire the same size that came with the amp for long wire runs to the battery and you're gonna starve it and possibly be muffled. I'm assuming you are powering straight from the battery and fused at both ends.

-drdx

[1206FL]

Well said and put drdx!! All of the above is great info. And didn't even think about the locals being straight shooters or not. My locals are pretty good group of gents and always seem to be helpful and not screw with each other. We may joke occasionally when someone gets on that is off freq but other than that we try to help each other. Again all good info!!

[lilradiojon]

I sure hope they werent trying to mess with me. They all seemed pretty nice and we had a fairly long conversation just seems like i had to keep re adjusting way too much. And yes ive had my hunt club guys complain about the cab noise a few times. This set up is in a diesel f250 so shes fairly noisy. I talked to a guy who was running a galaxy 959 and a xforce amp that sounded great to me, would anyone reccomend that over an cobra? Or how bout an old 178? Theres way to many options for me lol, i do have a cobra 25 on the shelf, may just add extra channels to that and see what happens

[MDYoungblood]

If cab noise seems to be the problem try a noise cancelling mic like the Ranger SRA-198, Astatic 636L, or a Astatic RD104E (power mic w/NC), all are good job at cutting out the background noise. There are others on the market too, check with the sponsors.

3's

Greg

[lilradiojon]

I have a ranger mic and i guess my voice just wasnt made for it, ive tried it on 5 different radios and never had a good report, but it sure does cut out the noise. So far my favorite is the astatic so ill pick up a noise canceling one here soon

[Deleted User 14541]

I tried one of the ranger sra198 microphones after reading good reviews but it didn't work well with my voice and radio. I think they are still a good buy but we all sound different. People I talk too immediately noticed something had changed. My audio has more punch with the old rk56. It's too bad the new road king mics are junk.