This is very long winded, but should be a fun read, but it should be informative to a newbie, and a lot less expensive than living it, like I did.
Cobra 25 scenario, $100.00 (Wal-Mart…5 powerful, maximum legal watts, oh yeah baby!)
Here we go: add $20.00, for a "peak and tune", after I discovered I wasn't “getting out”. (cool, now at least I’m on the right map, well sorta)
I discovered that the receive was fairly poor. Then, I spent another $20.00 for a "better" peak and tune, to a tech that had 2 screwdrivers (now at least I can hear who I'm talking to)
My little Cobra 25 was still kinda "sleepy" on output power. There went another $50.00 for a "power mic" (much better TX sound)
$200.00 spent, but it’s still a 40 channel Cobra.
It's much better than the original 40 channel walkie-talkie, but let’s not go there (too embarrassing).
Next step:
While driving, I passed near one of the guys I work with, and I noticed he was talking on a radio. I turned on the little Cobra 25 (ch 19), and while I was nearby, I could hear a little bleed-over, but I couldn't get him to come in clearly, or answer me.
I questioned him about it at work…and this was my introduction to “upper and lower channels”… Look out now, this is where it can get really expensive…really fast
He had an extra radio with the "fancy channels", it was a Galaxy “Sirius” that he let me try for a while. I was hooked.
It was kinda cool up on a “special” channel. (sidenote: you don't want a Galaxy “Sirius”)
I spent $80.00 buying it from him. It was noisy on receive and only did about 15 watts. I then decided to try my hand at amplifiers. Discount warehouse…KLV-200, $50.00 nice starter amp, especially for the price, but it is definitely not a competition class monster.
But the Galaxy Sirius did not hear very well, and did not push the amp like it should…there went another $20.00 for the first "peak and tune" (local shop) on the Sirius, and only a minor improvement
...but I wanted more, there went another $50.00 to a supposedly better shop, that turned up the receive so much, that the radio freaks out if anyone keys up with more than 3 watts within 300 feet.
Whew! There went a frustrating total of $150.00 on an aggravating, noisy little radio, that nobody knows much of anything about. Already, I could’ve had a pretty nice used radio…but I’m not done spending yet…
OK, I priced shopped, researched and fell in love with an RCI 2950 DX! A very nice machine, but I went about it the hard way, again.
Its selling price with tax at a discount warehouse, in Louisville, Kentucky, was $275.00. But you need a "peak and tune" I learned, plus a "mod" to get the regular 40 CB channels. That put me at $300.00.
I'll skip the cost of microphones, and antenna’s because even with a good radio, you have to do that.
Now I’m doing 20 watts, and my buddies were impressed with the fantastically clear audio, and this one drives the little KLV-200 amp to 110 watts or so. Yeah baby!
Now it's me and the RCI 2950DX doing 20 watts with a whistle.
Next, I was surfing, and reading around about my new radio, and found report after report, saying this radio can do over 35 watts. Hmmm, how can this be?
I went back to the imitation technician at the bargain warehouse, in Louisville Kentucky, from which I bought the 2950 DX, he checked the radio as OK, pretty much called me an idiot (that’s arguable to some), and sent me out the door.
Sidenote:(There was a Galaxy DX-73V just before the 2950DX, but it was a dud,
and I happened to pick the second of two Galaxy radios that even a Galaxy radio representative, said he would avoid! I had to pay a $60 restocking fee to get out of the Galaxy 73V. The imitation tech, at the discount warehouse, could not get it to freak out on his bench, like it was in my truck, but I’m glad I got out of it now.
That totals $360.00 for the "new radio" round.
I wanted my beautiful RCI 2950 DX to be doing all that it could be. I ended up at a roadside CB shop not far from home, and inquired about better radio performance. He had a price board up that listed export radios as "his specialty". The 2950DX was on the preferred list! $50.00!
He said the radio should do way over 30 watts! Of course I couldn't’t resist.
He made a show of talking up his work, as he made soldering iron smoke pour out of my beautiful radio
, while throwing parts from inside the radio onto the floor, and over his shoulder He was putting in a "modulation / swing kit". He showed me one of the very tiny surface mount resistors, that he removed from the 2950DX, and put it in my hand. He mentioned that he had removed some of the "limiting parts" to let the monster in it run wild.
As he whistled into the mic on his bench, the lights on the front of the radio would dim a bit. My electrical experience told me that some fairly serious current draw was happening.
OK, now I’m doing about 35 watts, and the KLV-200 pushes about 150 watts now because this dual final monster is knocking on its door harder.
I've got $410.00 in the radio so far
(It brings a tear to my eye, and if you tell the wife… I will kill you!)Now my talking buddies can hear me from many miles away, but I can barely hear them.
Yep, another shop, $25.00 more and now I can hear!
This roadside technician, also squeezed another couple of watts out… he said the other shop used the wrong size resistors, and that He "invented the method that the previous shop attempted".
I've got $435.00 in this radio now. I can talk, I can hear, but wow this thing is noisy.
It's got Constant static, and the RF gain adjustment, and Squelch adjustment are mostly useless. They act pretty much like on / off switches. I can only use the beautiful 2950 DX for brief periods of time, because the noise and static, gets on my nerves.
I trodded through this aggravation for several months, while counting this as a necessary evil, to have a "good" radio.
I gradually learned that not everyone suffers through the noise, that is so aggravating to me that it tenses up my neck.
OK, I start doing more research. All of this was done by the way, before I new about this forum. I then find out about some of big AM radios that are at the top of the heap. I ended up with a General Lee radio from ***Censored*** in Arizona. I added the SuperWackPack, and SuperReceive, plus I wanted variable talkback because I like k-nobs, and buttons. With shipping this baby put me at $350.00 but wow this thing is swwwweeeeet!
It talks louder, and receives more clearly than the chopped up RCI 2950 DX. It sounds so good, that it is commonly thought to be a base station.
It’s receive is extremely quiet, and very powerful. I can set the RF gain to a barely audible noise level, and if anyone keys up anywhere, with any kind of a decent signal, I WILL HEAR THEM! No second shop stops for this baby! One round with the SWP General Lee, with SuperReceive, and I am near the top, and for less money than I had so far in the RCI 2950 DX, that was still very aggravating to use, because the receive is so noisy. The next step would have been to dump more money into the 2950 DX to get the noise issues lined out. That would put me over $500.00 with shipping, for the original $275.00 on sale radio.
It's been a fun but very expensive learning experience. (I since sold the 2950DX for $225.00)
Now there are a lot of shops out there, and every one of them will tell you that they know what they are doing. And, every one of those shops will have at least one customer that will tell you they do good work, and I wish them well in supporting their families, but, I suggest that a person shopping for a new radio, does some serious homework in finding good equipment, that is set up by a truly great technician, that many of the big dawg’s use.
Homework is very cheap compared to the expensive route I have taken. I have had experience with only one of the really great technicians, and a great technician makes a great radio perform at its maximum potential. Radio's seldom, if ever, come out of the box at there full potential.
Learn about what you want to do, find a great technician, talk to him about what you want to do, don’t act like you know more than you really do, if he seems too busy to help you with your decision, find another great technician, but be patient, you are asking questions that he has had to answer many, many, times.
Do the antenna thing well. Do your research. Antennas function as "antenna systems". They are like speakers on a stereo, they can ruin the performance of the best equipment. In fact, they can even ruin the equipment. Even the best antenna mounted wrong, can be worse than the worst antenna mounted right.
If you want to start near the top: start your comparisons with these: Galaxy 99V, General Lee (great sound and performance), Connex 4600 turbo, RCI 2950 DX (do this one only at ***Censored***), and some of the other Connex, Ranger, Galaxy products.
Beware, asking about the best radio is often like asking about the best truck or car…many different opinions, and I can’t think of any area of life that has more mis-information, and scams than CB / Ham radio.
As far as power goes, 35 watts can sound nice, 200 watts gets you heard pretty well, and more than 300 watts is very nice,
but it uncovers electrical and RF issues that some people would prefer not to deal with. Oh, by the way, if you meet up with an HAM cop, he will tell you that CB band is limited to 5 watts. Just smile politely, tell him thanks for letting you know, and walk away. You can’t win that one, at least not with him. I am sure there are some nice HAM operators out there, but I have not yet met one that was not a stuck up snob, or a certified Q-snob.
If any of you have a wife that has trouble understanding the reason for operating a radio, This explanation worked well with my wife, she can probably understand the fun of men gathering at a local barbershop to chat, tell her that a radio is like having a 20+ mile wide barber shop!
With what I have gradually spent, I could have the General Lee pushing a DaveMade M-400…sob, sniff…
I wish the best to all those who have survived this long read. My hope is to prevent others from wandering through the forest of Big CB's, while leaving $20 bills, as bread crumbs for a path.
Ask questions on this forum. Educate yourself as to what you want to accomplish. Make a plan. There are some very helpful people here, and the moderators do not permit offending behaviour, so you can feel safe with newbie questions.
i know because i just past mine
:Peace!:
