Recent content by BC Coyote

DX is booming up here today ! Best conditions in quite a while....... So much for all the predictions of geomagnetic storms and radio blackouts !

These days "Made in America" really means "Assembled in America from Chinese parts". Not just for radios, but for almost all consumer goods. The problem is, say for example an American company wanted to build an American CB radio from American parts. They would quickly run into a big...

Very common problem with Ranger products. Remember, Galaxy and Connex are just Ranger radios wearing different clothes...... Try tapping the circuit board with something non-conductive and see if you can find a spot where the audio cuts in and out. That will give you an idea where to start...

When you say it's transmitting good, do you mean it is transmitting with audio still? Or is it just transmitting a dead carrier ? Does it have a mic like a Cobra radio where there is no receive audio when the mic isn't plugged in ? If so it could be a mic wiring problem.....

local electrical noise & other local types of RFI can almost always be dealt with by using an MFJ-1026, or similar phase-cancelling device. Pretty much impossible to reduce lightning or atmospheric noise though.......... I have the MFJ unit and it will easily take 9 S units of power line...

No. Band pass filter is for stopping harmonics above a certain frequency from being radiated by the antenna system. Or for only letting a certain range of frequencies be received and/or transmitted. Lightning crashes are very very very wideband, covering from longwave way up into VHF, so...

Yup. It will be another mediocre radio using the name of a classic. Yawn........ I predict anemic, FCC approved power output, 40 channels, and an outrageous price point. Maybe they'll throw in a failing display like the 980 for good measure.

She's not quite dead yet folks ! Just made two contacts in Utah with decent signal strength, and I'm hearing some Colorado and California in there at weak levels as well.... So some conditions are still out there !

I've noticed that when dealing with skip that stations fade on horizontal as they get louder on vertical, and vice versa....... which seems to indicate that signals become more circular in polarization as they travel from transmitter to receiver.

The Q6 encoder needs to be upgraded. My Q5N2 encoder skips channels as well (though not as much as the Q6's). Would also be great if they could improve the receive audio on sideband. And please please please can they add a 5 KHz step like the Q5N2 has ???? Such a royal pain getting to the...

Nice ! Looks like it comes stock with CTCSS as well, rather than it being an add-on like the original 6666. More functions are available on the front panel too, instead of deep in the menus. Any idea what the mic button just to the right of squelch is for ? I wonder if they have fixed the...

Think conditions are bad now ? Just wait a few days......it's going to get worse ! X4.5 solar flare and associated CME this morning. Due to hit Earth on the 8th. There have also been several smaller flares in the last couple days, including three others that made it into the 'X' rating...

Just a heads up, Texas Ranger, that you are responding to a 13 year old thread ! The OP was last seen here 10 years ago.........

Mexico booming in here now. Little bit of the Gulf Coast of Texas and some Florida coming through as well..... not great conditions, but at least there's something going on ! Seems to always be dead in the morning these days, but around noon it picks up and skip stays in until late evening...

Nothing happening out here on the west side........it will probably get better later though as that seems to be the pattern lately !