I've made a lot of 10m ssb contacts on a galaxy 95t. The trucker radios work and most people won't suspect a thing as long as it's on freq and hasn't been super tuned by some cb shop. Let the older ones warm up until the freq stabilizes before you start talking.
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Magnum 1 unusable on 10M
- Thread starter PA241TwistedCopper
- Start date
Don't bother. There are those who will never accept that there are radios out there not branded Kenwood, Icom, or Yaesu that are actually legal and decent radios.
I know MANY hams that talk on the newer Ranger radios and also on Magnum, Anytone, and Lincoln as well. I myself have used my RCI 2950 on 12 through 10 and made contacts into Europe on 10M amd South America on 12M. All with it being opened up for 11M.
My Magnum 1 will be made right. It's for my mobile. I have a nice Yaesu all band all mode for a base and I have worked all continents with it.
Radios today have changed dramatically. While many can still be modified for 11M, they're viable, LEGAL radios that pit out clean signals.
Thanks to those who provided useful info (those links), and to those who just wanted to whine and moan about "exports", well... You're wasting your time. These radios are very popular among technician license holders because they're an affordable entry to amateur radio. Many, like myself, upgrade classes and radios.
If you talk on 10M or enjoy chasing dx on 10M, you've probably already talked to me on my RCI, which I hear many compliments about. It's clean and sounds awesome because it is run within specs. When I upgraded I moved it to my mobile. The issue I had with it is extreme weather changes made for long temperature adjustment and I got the Magnum 1 to replace it for it's TCXO and the SSB stability that goes with it. I'll undo the truck stop hacker's work and restore it to the good radio it is.
I have what I need, so thanks again.
Go ahead you old farts... Flame away.... But you're wrong.
I know MANY hams that talk on the newer Ranger radios and also on Magnum, Anytone, and Lincoln as well. I myself have used my RCI 2950 on 12 through 10 and made contacts into Europe on 10M amd South America on 12M. All with it being opened up for 11M.
My Magnum 1 will be made right. It's for my mobile. I have a nice Yaesu all band all mode for a base and I have worked all continents with it.
Radios today have changed dramatically. While many can still be modified for 11M, they're viable, LEGAL radios that pit out clean signals.
Thanks to those who provided useful info (those links), and to those who just wanted to whine and moan about "exports", well... You're wasting your time. These radios are very popular among technician license holders because they're an affordable entry to amateur radio. Many, like myself, upgrade classes and radios.
If you talk on 10M or enjoy chasing dx on 10M, you've probably already talked to me on my RCI, which I hear many compliments about. It's clean and sounds awesome because it is run within specs. When I upgraded I moved it to my mobile. The issue I had with it is extreme weather changes made for long temperature adjustment and I got the Magnum 1 to replace it for it's TCXO and the SSB stability that goes with it. I'll undo the truck stop hacker's work and restore it to the good radio it is.
I have what I need, so thanks again.
Go ahead you old farts... Flame away.... But you're wrong.
I am sure their plenty of these radios on 10. I myself have an RS HTX-10 for playing around on 10. Good luck with it is and I hope you can get it working right. for myself, I will keep the Icom 706 I have in the car but I don't 10 or 12 all that often.
I'm not an export fan. I would advise against buying one for amateur use...I don't even like them for cb but if you have one I won't fault you for using it.
I don't chase a lot of dx. When 10m is open it seems to be mostly contesters from South America. You might find me on 29.000 am if the band is open. I try not to ingest too much ssb.
I have a Magnum 1, too. Mine is stock except opening it up with the jumper resistor. However, I am still interested in hearing how you got it working well again, so please let us know when you do.
OK just a note about the highlighted text above. I actually have owned and used Icom, Yeasu, and Kenwood radios and YES I do have a Ranger 2950DX. All of them including the 2950DX sound good on the air HOWEVER the 2950DX does not have what I would call a clean signal. Most equate a clean signal as to how it sounds to the ear but there is another aspect to just what a clean signal is and that is spurious emissions such as harmonics, IMD, and spurs that you do NOT hear but can see on a spectrum analyzer or in some cases when tuning a different part of the band. The 2950DX is NOT nearly as spectrally clean as the Icom, Yaesu, or Kenwood even if it sounds just fine on the air thus it does not put out what would be generally called a clean signal. This is not just conjecture BTW but something that I have determined myself over the years using a spectrum analyzer and my knowledge is based on my 22 years servicing commercial broadcast transmitters where both audio quality and spectral purity was an issue that demanded good knowledge to obtain. Not bitching about the exports mind you but rather just mentioning that what you hear is not always the entire picture.
With more and more people having panadapters and sdr it's harder to get away with with the ugly signal. Someone will notice and let you know. That's not a bad thing though. I would want to know about before I parked 3kc away from someone and pissed them off.
Even the guys running bonafied ham rigs that push their amps too hard, maybe don't tune up properly or bang on the alc have issues. When running lsb they don't realize how much energy they have going into the upper side band or vice versa. This is imd caused by their equipment or poor operating practices. They assume they have a clean signal because they have a new radio and amp from the ham radio store. Then the pissing match begins when they park exactly 3kc under someone else. It's always the other guys fault.
Even the guys running bonafied ham rigs that push their amps too hard, maybe don't tune up properly or bang on the alc have issues. When running lsb they don't realize how much energy they have going into the upper side band or vice versa. This is imd caused by their equipment or poor operating practices. They assume they have a clean signal because they have a new radio and amp from the ham radio store. Then the pissing match begins when they park exactly 3kc under someone else. It's always the other guys fault.
Home sick today so I went signal chasing.
This FB operator would have some complaints on a crowded band. He isn't nearly as bad as some. The filter width is 150 to 2850 khz. See the bleed over into the lower side band and beyond 3 khz.
His neighbor isn't doing too bad. Very little energy in the lower sideband and nothing past 3khz.
Both of them sound crystal clear.
This FB operator would have some complaints on a crowded band. He isn't nearly as bad as some. The filter width is 150 to 2850 khz. See the bleed over into the lower side band and beyond 3 khz.
His neighbor isn't doing too bad. Very little energy in the lower sideband and nothing past 3khz.
Both of them sound crystal clear.
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Most all black box radio's work in much the same way the RCI2950 has worked since it came to market. Covering 10m, 11m, and 12m should not be an issue at all. I agree with Nomad 100% they beat me to it. They are much more articulate about these things as well.
On top of that LesComm does some things I think are fairly bad form. His alignments ignore a lot of little rules of thumb. He often puts filters in that have more bandwidth than stock. His radio's tend to more birdies than they should have and no real TX/RX balance across the entire bandwidth of the radio. I will leave it at that.
It is unfortunate but most CB shop's assume the end user will be a guy named Buba Gump that is an ignorance good buddy not too demanding and only talking on 11m and freebanding mostly AM. I never understood that mentality either!?!?! This is the case of 90% of the issues on AM in terms how the radio and any associated amplifier sounds and all the noise, interference, over modulation, lack of intelligibility etc......This also often makes SSB unusable. On top of that often they leave FM alone and do not even bother to align it often leaving the FM deviation way too low.
On top of that LesComm does some things I think are fairly bad form. His alignments ignore a lot of little rules of thumb. He often puts filters in that have more bandwidth than stock. His radio's tend to more birdies than they should have and no real TX/RX balance across the entire bandwidth of the radio. I will leave it at that.
It is unfortunate but most CB shop's assume the end user will be a guy named Buba Gump that is an ignorance good buddy not too demanding and only talking on 11m and freebanding mostly AM. I never understood that mentality either!?!?! This is the case of 90% of the issues on AM in terms how the radio and any associated amplifier sounds and all the noise, interference, over modulation, lack of intelligibility etc......This also often makes SSB unusable. On top of that often they leave FM alone and do not even bother to align it often leaving the FM deviation way too low.
why not contact Magnum and see if they can help you with the problem. I have had radios like the problem you are having and a tech from their facility have helped me straighten out a few radios over the past 20 plus years I have been messing with them.
Yes, I am well aware how easily a dirty transmission can be achieved. I also understand clean audio and a clean signal are completely different. This is especially easy to do with a radio that is barely meeting criteria to be a legal radio. My 2950 is 2 years old and I had it aligned by a respectable guy with clear instructions. I have many general and extra class guys around here running waterfall display rigs and I surprised the heck out of them when I told them what I had. One guy even commented to a guy who put it down that I was cleaner than his Kenwood 530 haha.
Most guys run these radios at 110% modulation with a cranked up D104 and the results are inevitably terrible. I didn't splash and bleed with the Ranger when I used it on the base because I took the time and made adjustments and verified with others it was clean. Simply turning up the mic gain changed that dramatically.
So yeah... Most 10 meter rigs are ran like crap and bleed like sliced pigs... But not all of them. Not if they're run responsibly.
Yes, there are better radios out there. Yes, people should use them (if they can afford to). That's why I bought my Yaesu. That's why I am about to get a used Kenwood from a friend.
I am, however, going to het the Magnum 1 fixed. I will post honest results here. The guys here will be all over me unless I run it clean like I did with the RCI (Ranger). If I can't, it'll go to ebay.
Most guys run these radios at 110% modulation with a cranked up D104 and the results are inevitably terrible. I didn't splash and bleed with the Ranger when I used it on the base because I took the time and made adjustments and verified with others it was clean. Simply turning up the mic gain changed that dramatically.
So yeah... Most 10 meter rigs are ran like crap and bleed like sliced pigs... But not all of them. Not if they're run responsibly.
Yes, there are better radios out there. Yes, people should use them (if they can afford to). That's why I bought my Yaesu. That's why I am about to get a used Kenwood from a friend.
I am, however, going to het the Magnum 1 fixed. I will post honest results here. The guys here will be all over me unless I run it clean like I did with the RCI (Ranger). If I can't, it'll go to ebay.
I think a lot of radios and techs get a bad rep because of that mic gain knob.