Wish I would of had some electronics training. I can fabricate an repair all kinds of stuff but radio circuitry is not my line. Guess I'm just a User. LOL
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Clarifier to leave locked or unlock that is the question
- Thread starter whiteastro
- Start date
A lot of these fellas on here really amaze me of their skills working on the radios.
Well, honestly?
IF you can keep the PLL signal from "offset" (that 455kHz Shift in some strips) and keep the Clarifier Xtals THE SAME and instead of using switch contacts, use Diode and Electronic switch (Galaxy does this to a certain degree) and a strong (read amp-ready) 3 amp regulator that REGULATES - then the world can speak and hear on the same frequency all day - but this is a different world nowadays, there are those that; if you don't sound (or act) like them - they simply will not answer you...
There are two threads in this thread - ones that are more than happy to tell you how their day went, and others that simply don't want to talk to you for if given the chance - they will unleash (for days it seems) the errors of everyone elses' ways and why they are where they are.
Wars have been started over less.
IF you can keep the PLL signal from "offset" (that 455kHz Shift in some strips) and keep the Clarifier Xtals THE SAME and instead of using switch contacts, use Diode and Electronic switch (Galaxy does this to a certain degree) and a strong (read amp-ready) 3 amp regulator that REGULATES - then the world can speak and hear on the same frequency all day - but this is a different world nowadays, there are those that; if you don't sound (or act) like them - they simply will not answer you...
There are two threads in this thread - ones that are more than happy to tell you how their day went, and others that simply don't want to talk to you for if given the chance - they will unleash (for days it seems) the errors of everyone elses' ways and why they are where they are.
Wars have been started over less.
Most people are good and like to be helpful. I like to live by the Golden Rule but not everyone is on the same page so you have to be flexible. LOL
Ah the SuperBase,one of my personal favorite rigs of all time.Always wanted one but never had one. I have a 2547 in my shack that was checked it b4 it was put on the air and yikes! It was ok on am but really way off on SSB,the main reason I bought it. Unlocked the clarifier and aligned it and today it's a different radio. also it needs to warm up a little b4 you start talking if ya do this it stays pretty well on frequency and doesn't drift much. Good radio with a bit of TLC. 73 Bob
since i see a lot of discussion in this thread about SSB and radio alignment, i'll just add to the conversation with a few insights gained over years of experience.
I like unlocked clarifiers that have not had their slide range increased at all.
increasing the slide range is always at the expense of temperature stability and IMO should not be done.
One thing that should always be mentioned in threads like this is that the radio will need re-alignment after doing a clarifier mod.
Frequency counters are expensive, and unless you buy a brand new lab quality counter, then you don't know whether or not it's accurate, and can make your radio worse than it was before you started the mod.
this puts frequency alignment out of the budget range of the average CB hobbyist and they are going to have to send their radio to someone who spent the money on the good equipment and knows how to use it.
bringing the radio to a local who bought a used BK counter off of ebay is probably not a good idea unless they know how to calibrate it and have the equipment to do that.
that brings me to my last point. the most important part of a SSB radio alignment is the IF alignment.
yes the PLL needs to be set to the proper frequencies, but what defines a rich sounding radio from a thin hollow sounding radio on SSB is how the IF is aligned. aligning to exactly the service manual specs is not necessarily the way to do it.
LC
I like unlocked clarifiers that have not had their slide range increased at all.
increasing the slide range is always at the expense of temperature stability and IMO should not be done.
One thing that should always be mentioned in threads like this is that the radio will need re-alignment after doing a clarifier mod.
Frequency counters are expensive, and unless you buy a brand new lab quality counter, then you don't know whether or not it's accurate, and can make your radio worse than it was before you started the mod.
this puts frequency alignment out of the budget range of the average CB hobbyist and they are going to have to send their radio to someone who spent the money on the good equipment and knows how to use it.
bringing the radio to a local who bought a used BK counter off of ebay is probably not a good idea unless they know how to calibrate it and have the equipment to do that.
that brings me to my last point. the most important part of a SSB radio alignment is the IF alignment.
yes the PLL needs to be set to the proper frequencies, but what defines a rich sounding radio from a thin hollow sounding radio on SSB is how the IF is aligned. aligning to exactly the service manual specs is not necessarily the way to do it.
LC
I like unlocked...but only if the RCV and TX frequencies are tracking correctly. Otherwise even in a 2 person QSO you will wind up chasing each other all over the place. This really needs "good alignment" on the part of all participants.
Which is very rare condition with CB rigs.
And where it becomes subjective in "acceptable results" as @loosecannon (LC) eluded too, earlier.
No truer words have been ever spoken about this...
You can spec the board to the SSB'ers delight, but you can't spec what the SSB'ers hears to the delight of everyone else...
DXman
Yes, that's 3100 degrees F. Nine yrs of hard work.
Since the year 2000, I have only used the 2970dx radio's for the base.
One radio is "open" and one is "locked", and after using both of them over the years and I would say that I do prefer the radio with the "locked" clarifier.
One radio is "open" and one is "locked", and after using both of them over the years and I would say that I do prefer the radio with the "locked" clarifier.
I forgot to add that I was talking about cb's and not the exports.
So much stupid having it adjust both RX and TX together with the one control. If you have it so your clarifier alters your TX as well as RX then when you adjust your clarifier to receive them better your TX frequency changes. So they then end up adjusting their clarifier so you sound better to them but that then changes their TX frequency so again you're adjusting your clarifier on the next over so they sound right which also changes your TX frequency, they adjust so you sound right which then alters their TX frequency, rinse and repeat until one of you hits the end stop of the clarifier control.
It's a personal preference thing.
At this point in life I like to be able to adjust both TX and RX independently.
Use the vfo to set TX and use RIT to adjust how I want to hear the other station.
That way my transmit stays in one place.
I now use radios that give me more options.
With CB radios you have to make a hardware choice that you can't just push a couple buttons and change.
73
Jeff
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