early Christmas to me, early Cristmas to me, lalala

[GnG8d]

I'm no longer going to be driving as much after the 1st of the year (closing business), so I've been thinking of replacing my GL/X400 truck stop key down special with a good SSB radio. I emailed my tech about the 2970n2 and he said that he loved it! Of the radios with built in amps, this is his favorite ........ stable, reliable, no heat issues, great ssb and very respectable AM too!

I won't be home until fri/sat so he said he'd have it ready for me when I get home ........ now I've got to figure out what to buy the wife for XMas, lol.

 

[mackmobile43]

If they're as stable as their former counterparts then it should be a good rig, even for a non-peterbilt rig.

 

[GnG8d]

Yeah, I've got air bags on the dually to help smooth the ride for the horses. But in ~300,000 miles, my GL has only had two solder joints bust loose, both times on the 239 connector.

So with the 2970 having SMT and me going from 80-100,000 miles/yr to <30,000 I'm pretty confident in this radio being plenty reliable for me.

 

[hotrod]

If they're as stable as their former counterparts then it should be a good rig, even for a non-peterbilt rig.

that depends on his tech. i know of one that was pushing 300
watts. well it didnt last long.he took it in the shop and turned
down to 200 watts max on ssb now all is good.but he usually keeps
it at 150-175 just to make sure... i guess.imho i think these are
the best for ssb.

 

[GnG8d]

that depends on his tech.

Nah, he's pretty good. When he rolls his van into the truck stop in the morning, there are usually a few guys waiting for him and he stays busy all day

 

[GnG8d]

Nah, he's pretty good. When he rolls his van into the truck stop in the morning, there are usually a few guys waiting for him and he stays busy all day

Well, since nobody took the bait, I was being a little facetious. Just ribbin ya a bit there hotrod. My local dude has actually been in the same place for probably 15 maybe 20 years. His Dad once told me that he was tearing electronics apart at 5 years old and putting them back together at 10 years old, lol. He's good and very reasonable.

Mike's

 

[jazzsinger]

His Dad once told me that he was tearing electronics apart at 5 years old and putting them back together at 10 years old, lol. He's good and very reasonable.

Mike's

I'm surprised he didn't lose some of the parts in the five years between ripping things apart and putting them back together.

 

[GnG8d]

I'm surprised he didn't lose some of the parts in the five years between ripping things apart and putting them back together.

Oh I'm sure he did. His Dad was telling me about another time when he was 12 or 13, but I can't remember all the details. I remember that it had something to do with neighborhood mailboxes, small explosives and a remote control

But yeah, there is a difference, in my mind anyway, between a guy who is "into" electronics and a guy who thinks he can make a few bucks tuning radios.

 

[GnG8d]

Well, I'm home and my radio is done, I'm gonna pick it up here shortly.

He said it's doing 230 AM and 135 SSB with the stock mic, which I'll use for awhile at least (I think that's the 158 mic modded for the channel selector).

It's snowing here and my dually has fat hips and won't fit in the garage, but I'll post pics and first impressions once it's installed.

 

[hotrod]

But yeah, there is a difference, in my mind anyway, between a guy who is "into" electronics and a guy who thinks he can make a few bucks tuning radios.

i agree. my tech works on any kind style of radio cb,10 meter,hf rig.
either tube or transister.plus amps tubes or transisters. police scanners
plus tvs ,vcrs .his only downfall is he got a full time job plus a partime job
so catching him for radio work can get diffucult

 

[GnG8d]

 

[GnG8d]

Well, I've had a little time to play with this thing.

I pulled the GL/X400 and wired the 2970 to the exact same power points, but had a terrible squeal at first. With it being the holiday, I messed with it a couple evenings, pulled the covers off and tore the mic apart, but couldn't get it back into my tech for a day or so. I was temped to dig up a mic and rewire it, but didn't because the SRA-158 is a good mic and I was kinda anxious to use that mic if I could.

So after Christmas we got together and it wouldn't squeal on his bench, of coarse. I reinstalled it and still couldn't get it to squeal. I guess that we kinda settled on something, somewhere was making a bad connection in my setup. So after we talked for a bit, I headed down the road and the damn thing squealed like a pig within the first few miles.

I pulled right back in and he was waiting for me with a new RCI mic (no model number, just says RCI, but it was free and cured the squeal). So the 158 is lacking filtering, or has an extremely long cord on it which is picking up RF. I'll mess with it later.

The radio has met or exceeded all of my expectations and I get excellent reports AM and SSB. Nice power, clean and cool, excellent recieve plus it matches my interior to a "T". It's a sharp rig.

A couple things that I don't like are the back buttons or knobs, the display and the clarifier. The back knobs are stylish looking, but a little small for me. The display should show mode of operation IMO. At night, I sometimes have go to FM to find my way back to AM/USB/LSB for a little extra wear/tear on the switch. And the clarifier could have 30% or so of it's range knocked out for greater sensitivity.

Oh, and it's HEAVY. I'm needing to beef up my mount a little bit for this rig.