I remember Coax Kid from Left Coast Radio, Richard I think.
Man that's a old memory.
He was the last shop that sold the Texas Star Turbo Mod Two Thirds Kilowatt here on the west coast.
73
Jeff
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COBRA 148F GTL $600???
- Thread starter Se7en
- Start date
Man that's a old memory.
He was the last shop that sold the Texas Star Turbo Mod Two Thirds Kilowatt here on the west coast.
73
Jeff
I must have one of the few Cobra 200's that has worked great since day one. I've heard a lot of them went up in flames but guess I got one of the good ones, since never had an issue with it.
More like one of the later ones.
The very-first production run used two 2SC2290 transistors for the final amplifier. Trouble is, they were soldered to the circuit board before bolting them to the heat sink.
There was a clearance or spacer-height problem that caused the transistors to be suspended above a 1/8-inch gap between the 'foot' of the transistors and the heat sink surface. Tightening the transistors' mount screws to the indicated torque would not draw them all the way down to the heat-sink surface. They would remain suspended just above it.
Somewhere I have a pic that shows the undisturbed blob of white heat-conducting paste where the transistor was just removed.
Naturally, all the radios built this way went "POOF!" before the mike was keyed the first few times.
Naturally this caused a hit to their warranty-coverage expenses and got corrected the next production run. Later radios had no such "infancy poof" problem.
But the, ah, "five minute" version of that radio model is not an urban legend. But it applied only to that one batch of them.
Unless, of course, you reach inside and crank up the gate bias on the driver transistor. Bad juju.
73
Mines been in my truck and working since about 2007 or so. The face is totally discolored now though.
I bought one new years ago from Earls Electronics..Lousy recieve and ok transmit. I didn't like it. But it looks great on my shelf to this day.
I think by now most of us are accustomed to all the stupid people on ebay who pay anything for nothing. If they want to spend $500 or more on a used cb radio more power to em, they are dumb. Im over it already. But, i will never forgive those a$$ holes for driving the market prices up to ridiculous levels.