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Chime in if you own a Modern President CB Radio AM or SSB
- Thread starter Onelasttime
- Start date
McKinley 2017 model has SSB
Works well with KL203 amp when turned down to 1 1/4 w drive..
Only issue is factory mic when less than about 30' F for long periods.. channel changes when you key just the ptt.
Fixed. Installed Astatic 636..
Works well with KL203 amp when turned down to 1 1/4 w drive..
Only issue is factory mic when less than about 30' F for long periods.. channel changes when you key just the ptt.
Fixed. Installed Astatic 636..
I had a President Grant II last year. It was a full featured lower powered radio that I hoped was a keeper. Only odd thing that was a deal breaker in the end was the audio had an odd sound to it on SSB. It was like it was over processed or something, better then half the locals I talk to did not care for it. Had to get rid of it.
I own the President Lincoln II V3 and the President McKinley SSB - after a year of use the President McKinley has impressed me thoroughly. Always on frequency, easy to operate, great display. I prefer using it even over the Lincoln which I also like a lot.
If an export version of the McKinley came out with 10-12 meters and it had the same performance I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat.
If an export version of the McKinley came out with 10-12 meters and it had the same performance I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat.
I have a Lincoln 2. It's a feature packed radio in a small footprint. I get great remarks on sideband about the nice sound it produces. I even had some truckers on AM tell that really like the audio..very clean,clear and loud.
My problem is with receive. Strong signals are overpowering and even if I am on 38lsb, when someone nearby keys up from just about any AM CB frequency it sounds like lighting static in my receive. AM receive is not that bad.
I will probably keep the radio for now and see if I can find someone who can remedy the receive problem.
My problem is with receive. Strong signals are overpowering and even if I am on 38lsb, when someone nearby keys up from just about any AM CB frequency it sounds like lighting static in my receive. AM receive is not that bad.
I will probably keep the radio for now and see if I can find someone who can remedy the receive problem.
I have a old President Lincoln for 1998 and I have the opposite problem. I love the radio overall but receive has always been lack luster on weak signals and the Squelch is so not linear that is is almost useless. The squelch is either too weak to do anything or your squelching S-9+ signals. The noise blanker also is average at best
I have a Lincoln II (ver. 3, bought in 2014), a Lincoln II +, and a pair of Grant II radios.
I think they are decent for a modern day radio of this price point.
For my needs (ragchewing with a couple of friends on 10 or 11m), they work, and sound good over the air.
Between the Lincoln II and the Grant II, I think the Lincoln II is a better radio, and obviously more usable on 10m, but for an 11m radio, the Grant II is as good as any other modern day CB (probably slightly better). Of course, since it has FM capability and the various EU modes, it is not sold in the US for the CB service. I imagine the McKinley is practically the same radio.
I also have an old President HR-2510, and the Lincoln II is pretty comparable overall, but has a much better NB/ANL circuit than the 2510.
I think they are decent for a modern day radio of this price point.
For my needs (ragchewing with a couple of friends on 10 or 11m), they work, and sound good over the air.
Between the Lincoln II and the Grant II, I think the Lincoln II is a better radio, and obviously more usable on 10m, but for an 11m radio, the Grant II is as good as any other modern day CB (probably slightly better). Of course, since it has FM capability and the various EU modes, it is not sold in the US for the CB service. I imagine the McKinley is practically the same radio.
I also have an old President HR-2510, and the Lincoln II is pretty comparable overall, but has a much better NB/ANL circuit than the 2510.
I suspected that President Owners are not well represented on this site.
I was thinking that modern President radio's especially actual FCC type accepted CB radio's would not appeal to most on this site.
I know I have ZERO desire to own anything they make today in an actual CB.
In order to get my money in a radio it would have to have the best SSB and AM audio of any radio ever made for CB. It would have to have new features not offered on other radio's like built in EQ, DSP, selectable tighter notch filter, eSSB built in, rf clipping, compression, noise gate, downward expander, phantom power, XLR and 1/4 inch phono jack for input audio etc....The days of just slapping echo on the unit is not enough that is what 30 year old idea? If that is the best they can do they should just consider leaving the market place!
You can not sell me the same old stuff because I own the old stuff and continue to buy old stuff over new stuff. I often pay as much for a old radio as I would for a new radio. So why should I take a chance on a unmodifiable radio that does not do anything better than my Cybernet, Cobra, Uniden, Sear SSB radio's? Even when looking at Black Box Radio's they need to make a better case for themselves since their is plenty of Chinese competition today!
On top of that in the next 10 years as huge chunks of Baby Boomers start to die off all the things they consumed and collected will begin to show up in HUGE number's. So premium guitars, tube amps, radio's, premium rare rifles, and the like will begin to flood the market until it is super saturated and the prices start to come down! Any company that makes anything that has been over consumed by Baby Boomer's will lose their shirt if they do not find a way to make themselves relevant. That means new products with really useful features, great QC, better designs and parts at a price point lower or equal too all the gear that will start to saturate the market.
Few people think this far ahead but I always think this far ahead and further.
I suspect a lot of companies will rather go out of business than have to face a volatile saturated market. For a while these cat's where buying up everything they could. They had good jobs and the economy was great. Prices where still reasonable for things built with lots of USA supplied materials and labor!
My problem with President today is that all of their gear today is junk compared to what they used to build. If you can not use quality parts and build a serviceable radio than it needs more features which are easy to do today.
When ever I look to see what is on the market to buy I almost always want to vomit. It is would as if the auto industry was stuck in the 1980-1990 and just kept churning out the same old garbage.
In the next 10 years Ebay is going to slowly start heating up again!
I was thinking that modern President radio's especially actual FCC type accepted CB radio's would not appeal to most on this site.
I know I have ZERO desire to own anything they make today in an actual CB.
In order to get my money in a radio it would have to have the best SSB and AM audio of any radio ever made for CB. It would have to have new features not offered on other radio's like built in EQ, DSP, selectable tighter notch filter, eSSB built in, rf clipping, compression, noise gate, downward expander, phantom power, XLR and 1/4 inch phono jack for input audio etc....The days of just slapping echo on the unit is not enough that is what 30 year old idea? If that is the best they can do they should just consider leaving the market place!
You can not sell me the same old stuff because I own the old stuff and continue to buy old stuff over new stuff. I often pay as much for a old radio as I would for a new radio. So why should I take a chance on a unmodifiable radio that does not do anything better than my Cybernet, Cobra, Uniden, Sear SSB radio's? Even when looking at Black Box Radio's they need to make a better case for themselves since their is plenty of Chinese competition today!
On top of that in the next 10 years as huge chunks of Baby Boomers start to die off all the things they consumed and collected will begin to show up in HUGE number's. So premium guitars, tube amps, radio's, premium rare rifles, and the like will begin to flood the market until it is super saturated and the prices start to come down! Any company that makes anything that has been over consumed by Baby Boomer's will lose their shirt if they do not find a way to make themselves relevant. That means new products with really useful features, great QC, better designs and parts at a price point lower or equal too all the gear that will start to saturate the market.
Few people think this far ahead but I always think this far ahead and further.
I suspect a lot of companies will rather go out of business than have to face a volatile saturated market. For a while these cat's where buying up everything they could. They had good jobs and the economy was great. Prices where still reasonable for things built with lots of USA supplied materials and labor!
My problem with President today is that all of their gear today is junk compared to what they used to build. If you can not use quality parts and build a serviceable radio than it needs more features which are easy to do today.
When ever I look to see what is on the market to buy I almost always want to vomit. It is would as if the auto industry was stuck in the 1980-1990 and just kept churning out the same old garbage.
In the next 10 years Ebay is going to slowly start heating up again!
Sorry that I have to agree. I would have loved a new Lincoln II or Grant II as a normal drive around radio..or for the work truck. But after being screwed with George, I'm a little more careful.
Do not get me wrong nothing wrong with President compared to Cobra and Uniden the problem is that saying that does not bode well if you look at Uniden and Cobra today!
COmputer's, laptops, phones, car's etc.....Everything has gotten better in a good many ways but not the CB radio hobby.
I own a lot of records and reels but that does not mean I do not like MP3 players, CD's and streaming.
You would think they were targeting people that were stupid or slow or something. These same people that buy CB's also own and use laptops, cell phones, computer's, ATM's etc....
Imagine if computer software, memory, storage or processing power had stayed as it was in say 1993!
Currently, President has not done anything to make themselves stand out from the Ocean of Chinese made radio's. When looking at President Lincoln II it does not do anything better than the 20 year old radio it replaces. I do not count echo as a meaningful improvement!
Sadly nothing get's a company attention like a drop in sales!
Talk back and echo do not get me hot and bothered! LOL Cheap flimsy encoders do not do it for me either.
Almost no one seriously into the hobby wants a true modern current production CB radio. Why? Because you can purchase so much more for your money in the form of a black box radio compared to type accepted FCC part 95 compliant CB radio's.
When you look at what you can buy for $250 or less it makes radio's like the President McKennly and Uniden BEarcat 980 look overpriced!
People need a reason to buy a companies products so far I have not seen anything to WOW me.
Shadetree Mechanic
Delaware Base Station 808
"People need a reason to buy a companies products so far I have not seen anything to WOW me."
I think the problem is that you've grown to a point in the hobby where your needs and expectations exceed the product area you're discussing.
You are no longer the target buyer which you explained at the beginning of your first post. Most of the users here are pretty serious radio people.
As someone who owned a CB radio business previously I can state the fact that - you carry/produce what will sell and make you the most money. I sold a bunch of radios but you know what my top seller was? A cheap echo microphone - it outsold every single product 10 to 1 and was my best seller and I made a huge margin on them when I bought in bulk.
Not much reason to invest in top tier components and technology when your most prominent user is still looking for a cheap echo microphone
You've outgrown the products - I don't think you can expect Ford to make a Ferrari.
I think the problem is that you've grown to a point in the hobby where your needs and expectations exceed the product area you're discussing.
You are no longer the target buyer which you explained at the beginning of your first post. Most of the users here are pretty serious radio people.
As someone who owned a CB radio business previously I can state the fact that - you carry/produce what will sell and make you the most money. I sold a bunch of radios but you know what my top seller was? A cheap echo microphone - it outsold every single product 10 to 1 and was my best seller and I made a huge margin on them when I bought in bulk.
Not much reason to invest in top tier components and technology when your most prominent user is still looking for a cheap echo microphone
You've outgrown the products - I don't think you can expect Ford to make a Ferrari.
True enough."People need a reason to buy a companies products so far I have not seen anything to WOW me."
I think the problem is that you've grown to a point in the hobby where your needs and expectations exceed the product area you're discussing.
You are no longer the target buyer which you explained at the beginning of your first post. Most of the users here are pretty serious radio people.
As someone who owned a CB radio business previously I can state the fact that - you carry/produce what will sell and make you the most money. I sold a bunch of radios but you know what my top seller was? A cheap echo microphone - it outsold every single product 10 to 1 and was my best seller and I made a huge margin on them when I bought in bulk.
Not much reason to invest in top tier components and technology when your most prominent user is still looking for a cheap echo microphone
You've outgrown the products - I don't think you can expect Ford to make a Ferrari.
My point though would be that the products have not grown at all.
I just received a 1977 Cobra 138 XLR that while used was taken care of and looks knew and function as such.
That 41 year old 40CH SSB radio does everything you want a CB radio to do better than a Uniden Bearcat 980 or President McKinley or any other AM or AM/SSB CB radio on the current market. That is really pathetic for a market. So I do not think I have grown rather the companies that build products for us have failed to grow. The only innovation we have seen in the hobby is their ability to make a board cheaper.
RF Clipping. Audio Compression, Parametric EQ, Downward Expansion, DSP those have all been around and fairly common since the 1970's and in many cases far earlier than that. So I am only for 40+ year old technology! In fact most of this stuff has been around in cheap audio casset decks for about 35 years!
In fact even MFJ for decades offered these sort of things with a 2166 IC.
Almost all of this including adding echo, and delay can be done with a single chip. These Gigantic Echo boards CB'er's use are comical they are so large. A single cheap obsolete IC can do all of the above. Tossing in capacitors and diodes off the shelf and you have a cheap but killer setup! If you want RF clipping you need a crystal imagine that a radio is full of them so one already int he system can be re-purposed if you like!
This is especially true if you want to market at Amateur Radio operators like the RCI 2950 for instance.
Just becasue I expect a CB radio to have grown with me since 1991 is not expecting much. That is fairly low standard!