I have an old Philippine made Uniden 76XL and it works great. Are they worth aligning and "Peaking and Tuning", even by someone who knows what they're doing or, is it still just an old radio that really won't perform that much better after having it done.
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PC 76XL
- Thread starter Groundhog KSS-2012
- Start date
If it ain't broke, what are you trying to fix?
The idea of "better" won't mean much without knowing what it does already. That radio model was the Cobra 29 LTD that should have been. Came from the Philippines factory that made the older Cobra 29LTD and 148GTL famous. After that, Cobra quit using Uniden and hired low bidders to build those models.
A factory-new radio will benefit from having the modulation limit turned up. If that's already been done to yours, no need to do it again.
Receiver adjustments call for a source of a steady weak signal. The "peak" in receiver adjustments can be harder to see unless the signal level is steady and low. Turn off the ANL. Unplug the antenna. Turn on the radio. Now connect the antenna. If you hear a big increase in the noise level, there is little to gain by tweaking the receiver's adjustments. And if you don't hear the noise level increase, the radio might benefit from being aligned. Or maybe the antenna is handicapped.
Transmit adjustments? If you have a wattmeter, the reading on it will suggest whether the transmitter is performing like it should. Tweaking the transmitter for a small (under 50%) boost in power may seem satisfying, but it won't increase your range nearly as much as the meter reading at your end would make it seem. Until you double the transmit power, nobody will be able to see the before-and-after difference. The S-meter on a distant receiver behaves in a far different way from your wattmeter.
What can and can't be improved all depends on your starting point.
73
The idea of "better" won't mean much without knowing what it does already. That radio model was the Cobra 29 LTD that should have been. Came from the Philippines factory that made the older Cobra 29LTD and 148GTL famous. After that, Cobra quit using Uniden and hired low bidders to build those models.
A factory-new radio will benefit from having the modulation limit turned up. If that's already been done to yours, no need to do it again.
Receiver adjustments call for a source of a steady weak signal. The "peak" in receiver adjustments can be harder to see unless the signal level is steady and low. Turn off the ANL. Unplug the antenna. Turn on the radio. Now connect the antenna. If you hear a big increase in the noise level, there is little to gain by tweaking the receiver's adjustments. And if you don't hear the noise level increase, the radio might benefit from being aligned. Or maybe the antenna is handicapped.
Transmit adjustments? If you have a wattmeter, the reading on it will suggest whether the transmitter is performing like it should. Tweaking the transmitter for a small (under 50%) boost in power may seem satisfying, but it won't increase your range nearly as much as the meter reading at your end would make it seem. Until you double the transmit power, nobody will be able to see the before-and-after difference. The S-meter on a distant receiver behaves in a far different way from your wattmeter.
What can and can't be improved all depends on your starting point.
73
