Cobra 2000 vs. Uniden Washington

[Master Chief]

Back in the mid 80's, there was a young tech here in Southern CA that had some fantastic mods for the Uniden Washington. I remember this radio being able to go real low (for the day) in frequency with a crystal change.

What was really interesting was the audio quality of the radio. I had a Cobra 2000 tuned up by Bill Good, but was always a bit envious of the audio quality of the Uniden Washington.

I moved back to CA in mid 2001 and set up a radio station. A local had a fantastic sounding station. I found out that he was running a Uniden Washington with a Turner +3 (I always ask what mic people run). Again, GREAT AUDIO!

What is it about the Uniden Washington vs. the Cobra 2000 when speaking about the audio circuit in these radios? I'm convinced that the Uniden Washington has better audio.

I know the 2000 has a better receiver, but I'm asking specifically about the audio circuit.

 

[Thestonerguy]

Back in the mid 80's, there was a young tech here in Southern CA that had some fantastic mods for the Uniden Washington. I remember this radio being able to go real low (for the day) in frequency with a crystal change.

What was really interesting was the audio quality of the radio. I had a Cobra 2000 tuned up by Bill Good, but was always a bit envious of the audio quality of the Uniden Washington.

I moved back to CA in mid 2001 and set up a radio station. A local had a fantastic sounding station. I found out that he was running a Uniden Washington with a Turner +3 (I always ask what mic people run). Again, GREAT AUDIO!

What is it about the Uniden Washington vs. the Cobra 2000 when speaking about the audio circuit in these radios? I'm convinced that the Uniden Washington has better audio.

I know the 2000 has a better receiver, but I'm asking specifically about the audio circuit.

Maybe it was the Turner Plus 3?

 

[DTB Radio]

If you look at the mic audio circuits on a schematic, there really isn't much difference. I tend to agree with Master Chief that the differences were probably in the mic, and I also think alot of it may have been in how each one was tuned.

 

[radioreddz]

i know i have both and i gotta say the washington seems to have better audio and much better on ssb. in fact the best radio i ever heard was a guy up on the free bands on ssb with a uniden washington it would put all those ham units to shame and he was using a plus 3 turner. i use an expander 500 on mine and get great reports in fact have had others talk on my radio and love the way it sounds. the cobra 2000 is excellent too but that uniden washington just gets louder and is very very clear. been using a echomax 2000 on the cobra 2000 with great results but that mic makes anything studio quality. was talking with a guy infact last friday night and he was switching between a uniden washington and rci 2980 and the washington was much cleaner in sound both were loud but the washington loud and very clear he was using a D104 night eagle on them both. yup the washington is a great talker.

 

[Master Chief]

Mics aside, and I'm sure it helps, but MOST Washingtons just sound better no matter what mic they run. Different audio chip maybe?

I was always a fan of the +3 desktop too Woody!

Thanks for the comments DTB, if anyone should know, it would be you. You are one of the FEW in the USA who actually KNOWS what he is doing.

 

[Switch Kit]

Different folks sound different on different radios as well as microphones. Cobra 2000s/148s/Grant's just have that special audio section , damned nice even out of the boxes for that matter !! they never ever needed any super tunes what so ever , just a little here and there was all they really needed to sound good !! I've heard many a mic on those radios that sounded good as well , D-104 Lollies AM (10DA heads on SSB) / Sadelta's / Turner's 2s and 3's on AM (the Sidekicks' always sounded better on SSB) and the best I ever personally heard on them was the Shure 526-T !! worked well on both AM/SSB .......I do recall hearing a few Washington's in my time and they to sounded good , I've just heard a lot more of the other style of radio. I've really only been a SSB'er for maybe a 1/4 of the time over the last 20 years , but I can say this much , the gray base Turner 3's (
30.00 shipped Ebay) got plenty of balls when it comes to AM radio !! IM no expert , just my personal experiance over the years with these radios and microphones.

 

[tecnicoloco]

Uniden Washington with UPD858 Older and MB 8719 Later Model

Hi all:
If I recall there are 2 versions of the President Washington.
One with the UPD 858 and the other with the MB 8719.
If you are talking about the one with the UPD 858,my memory tells me that this particular chasis was share with some Realistic Models like the TRC-458,457 and they have a Speech Procesor Circuit Built in.
The SP probably is the reason for the great audio,I run the TRC-458 with a slight modification to the modulation circuit and the Radio screams,also the mobile TRC-449 has this SP built in.
I get compliments on the audio from this radio time to time.


My 2 Pesos
Tecnicoloco
73's

 

[Master Chief]

Re: Uniden Washington with UPD858 Older and MB 8719 Later Mo

......there are 2 versions of the President Washington. One with the UPD 858 and the other with the MB 8719. If you are talking about the one with the UPD 858,my memory tells me that this particular chasis was share with some Realistic Models like the TRC-458,457 and they have a Speech Processor Circuit Built in.

Without straying from the thread too far, this is interesting. I was aware of the 2 versions of the Washington. The easy way to tell was by the mic connector. Bill Good used to say to get the one with the 5-pin mic! The other had a 4-pin mic.

Speach processors in the older Washington and the TRC's? Interesting!

 

[DTB Radio]

The older version used a diode clipper circuit in the mic audio path. it definitely had FAST compression reaction!! I wasn't a big fan of the over-all audio tone, but it defintiely had an extremely effective compression circuit.

 

[Highlander_821]

This isn't about the TX audio, but I was told that earlier versions had the same double conversion RX as the Cobra 2000, while later versions had just the single conversion RX that the 142 had.

True?

 

[DTB Radio]

No, the original washington had just a single IF, 7.8mhz. It had 2 IF filters, plus a number of tuned sections.

 

[wa4qql]

My Uniden Washington out-performs my Stonewall Jackson by a LOT on sideband!

714

 

[WA2SI]

IIRC, the Cobra 2000, 148GTL, Uniden/President Madison, & Grant XL all shared the same board. The Cobra 142, 146GTL, Uniden/President Washington, & AR-144 shared the same board.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[Zman]

I know i dont need a power mic on my 449!!!!

 

[nobody]

I"ve never owned a 2000 but FWIW I have a Uniden Washington, a Cobra 89XLR and a Galaxy DX949. As far as reports from the locals I've talked to on the three they seem able to tell some difference. They tell me the 89XLR sounds better. However I was using a power microphone I was given by the seller. They also stated in the past "you must be in your mobile..." with out me telling them which radio I was on. But nothing else as far as sound goes on the DX949.
As for the Washington it does well all around and gets no complaints except when I turned down the mic gain. I like all three but prefer the Washington over the rest. I like how the other stations sound on it and the lay out of the controls. BTW I don't use any amps on my radios and use regular hand held mics. I am looking to get a base microphone for it.