Buying a new Cobra 148 GTL? What to expect?

[443]

What's it like inside the new 148GTL's? Like say if I just went to a random truck stop or a online place like Copper, H&Y etc and purchased a brand new 148gtl, what's the inside like? Can anything be done with it other than use it in stock form?

Sold all my HF gear years ago, looking for a budget CB/HF rig now, doesn't have to be fancy, owned Ranger RCI-2950 (original models) and Galaxy 99V's before. Something less fancy is more appealing to me at this point just to talk on from time to time on the base station setup here at my shop.

 

[Robb]

If you look around at a few online CB shops, you will find refurbished Galaxy 959's. Better radio than the new Cobra 148GTL. Better TX and RX audio, better modulation, freq counter, large S-RF meter. The new Cobra 148 will cost more than a refurbed 959. So for the amount of money spent, I would get the 959, save some money over the Cobra cost, and have a better radio.

 

[this_is_nascar]

Looks like you're interested in a straight 40-channel AM radio with SSB. That being the case, I'd like to recommend the Galaxy DX-979 instead. It's smaller and will perform a bit better. It has the Starlit display, which makes it nice at night.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

the new front mic cobra 148's drift badly on ssb every one that ive herd sounds like crap on ssb and none of us could . i would steer clear of them . get a galaxy pr rci . or better yet get a old school side mic cobra 148/146 or a uniden grant .

 

[443]

Hmm. I still want to know WHAT is inside the new 148GTL.... I wonder if the drifting on SSB is just a voltage regulator circuit problem... If so could be fixed with lower tolerance resistors/caps or better regulator IC perhaps.... It's so cheap, it's hard to pass up, $129 new...

I have access to an old side mic 148gtl, probably a 90's model. In what I think is decent condition, but I wanted a NEW radio, not an old worn out junker. Had plenty of those in the past, last radio I got NEW was a Galaxy DX 99V and it was an okay radio, but it drifted on SSB, was not a good SSB radio, GREAT AM radio though. My all time fav was my old RCI 2950, but not interested in going that route again, want to play with something new, I sold my 2 RCI 2950's to a friend and he would sell one back to me no problem, just not interested in messing with them at the moment, always an option though.

So can anyone tell me what board (like board numbers/brand) is in the new 148GTL? Also what board is in the 959? Can the 959 be modded for channel expansion? Can the new 148?

Info please, looking for something to play around with, doesn't have to be easy. I own a company that repairs certain electronic items and have nice equipment/skills/parts and basically just bored, want something NEW to play around with, but not a $300-$400 radio, looking to stay under $200 New for this experiment as a starting point.

 

[443]

Good info in this thread I see.

http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-band-cb-radios/35646-new-cobra-148-gtl.html

As I suspected the warble or drift problem can be overcome with some better components. I would think the drift issue could be resolved with only a few NPO cap swaps though, just the smaller value caps, since any change in those would throw the capacitance way off, should be only necessary to change those, and re-align if necessary. The warble problems are from crap regulator setups, there are beefier regulator IC's and also the best option as DR DX said is to create your own regulated source seperate from the rest of the radios circuits so you don't have any other current draw on the device (Reg IC) causing voltage dips.

Anyway, I may get one just to try it, and see what else can be done, if I am not happy with it overall, cannot make it do what I want, will just sell it or put it on the shelf and try something else. Like I said, just bored and wanted to experiment, we have a little group of local CB'ers in the area, AM users mostly, and every now and then I like to do a little DXing on SSB. I got a IMAX2000 for vertical and a old Maco M103 on flatside for DX.

 

[443]

I know this probably isn't going to be a popular thread since the new 148 gtl is "most hated" because of the problems it has out of the box, and it's made in China, LOL I know all about china build quality problems... not so much as design problems, but build quality/components problems...

Question though: If the voltage regulators (3 pin) are causing some pretty bad problems in these newer radios, and obviously since they been building them with those for a few years now, has anyone tried simply using dual regulators paralleled, maybe with some emitter or collector ballast resistors to balance them out in place of the single regulators? Seems a viable alternative that would require only a little "rigging"... I find the rigging is 3/4 of the fun though..... That's just me, I do understand the frustration with the thing right out of the box not working properly....

 

[443]

I ended up buying a DX959 used from a friend. It works great after modding it. It is the newer version that has a IRF520 mosfet driving a IRF520 mosfet.

I don't like how cheap the switches etc are, but for the price, what can you expect right? Looks much better in the display case at the truck stops than it feels in your hands once you start to use the radio, you notice how cheap the knobs and switches are... But it's purtty and it does work good, can't beat for the price, screw the new 148, I'll pickup an old used side mic version if I feel the need to own a 148 again...

 

[Chop]

the newer 148's ain't what they used to be. :thumbdown:

galaxy 979 or 959 or 949.

 

[443]

Yeah, so far I am liking the Galaxy DX959 okay...

I had the 99V before, so it's a little change from that, but still not bad for what I paid for it, got it up and talking nicely, now just need to get my antenna in the air...