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RCI 2980wx questions for a Newbie

cphilip

Active Member
Sep 10, 2006
126
0
26
Clemson SC
www.cphilip.com
Anyone got some advice for setting one of these up for a real inexperienced fella like me? And any advice on things to watch for and prevent? Anyone own one of these and have some helpful feedback on its performance? Also, how accurate and useful are the built in power and SWR meters in these units? Should I trust them? Is the manual that comes with it good enough or is there some things missing from it that might be important to know?

FWIW I am having it mega tuned by Premier Electronics before shipping out. And will, initialy be setting it up to an Antron A99 and through a Antenna tuner and operating on low powers mostly in the CB bands and SSB's. Nothing too fancy nor difficult I don't think. I do have seperate SWR and Power meters to use.

My knowledge of electronics is pretty basic but perhaps a tad over many. So don't overwelm me. I prefer to fix things with Hammers! :shock: :D

TIA
 

Nice radio. I am wary of "super", or "mega" tune jobs, but hopefully Premiere knows what he's doing and does a thorough and complete tuneup of the entire radio, transmit AND RECEIVE. Make sure to tell them not to disble, clip, or otherwise render inoperable your AMC and ALC circuitry. If they do clip it, you will need to take it to another tech to fix it and tune it up properly.

The SWR and power meter on the radio should be in the ballpark, but it never hurts to have an external meter to make sure....

The manual should be adequate.

You can't go wrong with the A99, they are cheap, easy to install, and work well. You shouln't need a tuner if your antenna and feedline are installed correctly.

Any other questions, let us know.
 
2980wx, nice radio 8) , I was going to get one but went for the 2985dx instead. anyway, you will do good with that setup and hope they dont clip anything in there. your meters will be good to start off with but in time get a meter to hook up.

get your a99 up as high as possible and have fun.

ask any questions you want on here, lots of knowlage here to help you.

Roger
 
Highlander_821 said:
Nice radio. I am wary of "super", or "mega" tune jobs, but hopefully Premiere knows what he's doing and does a thorough and complete tuneup of the entire radio, transmit AND RECEIVE. Make sure to tell them not to disble, clip, or otherwise render inoperable your AMC and ALC circuitry. If they do clip it, you will need to take it to another tech to fix it and tune it up properly.

Yes... that sort of made me leary too... but some feedback here and a few other sites seemed to indicate Premier was highly thought of. And I thought I read it somewhere there that it is their policy not to clip but to upgrade and align.

And at their site they post the following specifics of their "mega tune" option (which is alignment plus upgrade of components as well, basic tune being just alignment and tune of whats there):

The Mega Tune

Our Mega Tune is designed to provide you with loud booming audio while still maintaining a clean and clear signal. If you looking to sound raspy or bleed over many channels this defiantly isn't the modification for you. Our techs have worked very hard to perfect this modification. The mega tune will not void any factory warranties, it will not damage your radio and it will not make your radio run warmer than normal. We also do not remove or disable any part of the AMC or ALC circuit. We do upgrade various parts of the audio circuit with higher wattage or better quality parts. We also do a few other modifications that make the radios wave form, when viewed on an oscilloscope more linear. This means of course you will sound as loud as possible while still maintaining maximum clarity. If you are looking for maximum performance from your radio we recommend you have us perform this modification. We also completely warranty all work performed by our service department. The mega tune will also increase your peak power. Dual final radios after being mega tuned typically put out over 40 watts and single final radios typically put out over 30 watts.


Now I would have to say that I would recomend they use a more technicaly professional name for these... but that sounds like a professional approach to me?
 
It sounds good, but I have no idea what it really means, nor do I have any idea of what test equipment they have. The RX is the most important part of any tuneup, and the proper test equipment is absolutely essential.

A dual final Galaxy doesn't need any parts changed to exceed 40 watts PEP, nor does it need NPC, PPE, "Super Swing", or any of that mumbo jumbo.

I honestly don't know if the guy can tune a radio or not, but I would like to see the words "RF signal generator", "Oscilliscope", or "service monitor" somewhere in that mission statement before I would trust the quality of the work.
 
True. Thats just one blurb from the web site. Probably designed more for the common surfer. You have to remember that this blurb is designed to communicate the general tuning level philosophy and not a specific model. It would be difficult to write a blurb that covered exact details of each particular radio. It's generic. I am sure its different for different models to some respect. Except for the basics of alignment in the tuning at least. However, admittedly that blurb smacks of marketing. A bit too truckerish. Its not uncommon to see someone emphasize an aspect of what they do to sell. Perhaps at the expense of sounding a bit more professional. But it's like sex... it sells. Sadly enough.

I have to go more on both the feedback from their customers and the interaction I had with them over the phone and through email. All the feedback is good and they answer promptly and (it seems) honestly. And they seem to have the right attitude about tuning and, from what I could tell their considered one of the best three or four vendors out there with this particular unit and at a good price. On par with the shop down in Texas (name escapes me at the moment) in tuning practices. One of the few that bothered to state their abhoration of snipping and cutting. I did discover a couple of "out of the box" issues reported with a few customers in which I noticed they came online and directly delt with the problem to the customers satisfaction. This is the sort of thing I go looking for before I decide to do business with a company. This one I could find little but good and some fairly knowledgable people recomended them. So I felt fairly confident they can provide the service. However, at this point in my learning curve, someone could snow me. So rather than try and formulate technical questions I just have to do background research. Relying on what others have asked and what I see they have been up to. Fairly good way to do it rather than trip yourself up asking questions you wouldn't know the right answers too. Most of the questions I could have asked have already been asked. And the answers were out there on this one and a couple others. So its an idication of thier level of activity and their overall competence if there is not much but good out there on them. If only I had your level of knowledge I could have more easily obtained enough information in one email exchange to not have had to do so much background checking. And could have left less to trust at that point. I suppose no matter what someone tells you... it could turn out not to be true. So best do the background as well anyway I should think.

But what the heck do I know! If it turns out a disaster I felt at lest they are not cutting anything. And so getting more done is always possible. And if your not hurting anything all your doing is taking me for a 20 buck ride. I think the risk was minimal. It's the best I could do.

Oh... let me make sure I clarify the vendor. Premiere Electronics is the actual full name of this outfit. http://www.premiere-electronics.net/index.shtml

Of course I will let you know how this is turning out. Cause I will come crying to you guys for help if it don't! :D
 

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