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emperor ts-5010
- Thread starter Se7en
- Start date
I had one briefly and then swapped it out for a President George. I can't remember exactly what it was that turned me off about it but it may have had something to do with build quality. It just didn't appear to be built to last, especially in a truck environment.
With a decent amplified mic you will have respectable AM audio, If you want blaring audio like a Connex or Stryker look elsewhere.the Emperor 5010/Shogun is a great SSB radio though,it was designed to compete with the President Lincoln and performs better IMHO.
Personally I'd rather run my Emperor instead of my George.
IMO
A friend of mine runs a 5010 as his main rig. Bought it about 20yrs ago,
stored for about 15yrs, and within the last year has pulled it back out, only
to have it work as good as it did new. I think the radio performs flawlessly.
It's a single final radio, but all the better for running a 2 pill with!:thumbupMy
only complaints with the radio are 1) the recieve audio. It's a bit digitalized.
Not as clear as most. 2) the channel knob is in need of updating. It skips
over channels a little too easily for my liking. It's probably only fair for a
radio that has survived as long as it has though. As for modulation, he was
running a 2018 XTREME mic and it made it louder, but even with the stock
mic audio was always very clear and plenty loud enough. I've been trying to
get ahold of one, but when they pop up, collectors alike send the prices way
above what I'm willing to pay for one without being able to test it first.
A friend of mine runs a 5010 as his main rig. Bought it about 20yrs ago,
stored for about 15yrs, and within the last year has pulled it back out, only
to have it work as good as it did new. I think the radio performs flawlessly.
It's a single final radio, but all the better for running a 2 pill with!:thumbupMy
only complaints with the radio are 1) the recieve audio. It's a bit digitalized.
Not as clear as most. 2) the channel knob is in need of updating. It skips
over channels a little too easily for my liking. It's probably only fair for a
radio that has survived as long as it has though. As for modulation, he was
running a 2018 XTREME mic and it made it louder, but even with the stock
mic audio was always very clear and plenty loud enough. I've been trying to
get ahold of one, but when they pop up, collectors alike send the prices way
above what I'm willing to pay for one without being able to test it first.
i know i like mine. no there not am audio monsters but there more
of a ssb radio. 300.00 is probaly more than i pay for even if i seen it
work up close. 100.00-150.00 sounds about right for me.imho
they rank up there with the lincolns,hr2510, hr2600
of a ssb radio. 300.00 is probaly more than i pay for even if i seen it
work up close. 100.00-150.00 sounds about right for me.imho
they rank up there with the lincolns,hr2510, hr2600
Ok functionally it might as well be a HR2510 or Lincoln from an end user stand point. Internally they are not built as well or I should say they used cheaper parts then President used on the HR2510,2600 and Lincoln line. I am going from memory and only worked on one so take that into account and when I did I was no longer an electronic repair apprentice but was in Flight School and did it as a favor. I want to say it is a single board inside instead of dual boards like the Lincoln and I think it is a single sided board not through hole double sided mil-spec design like the Lincoln's boards. They added some things that where missing from the HR2510 that people liked in latter units like the Lincoln........If I recall right they still did not have the audio of a cybernet chasis on AM but had better AM audio then the HR2510. SSB was rock steady and fantastic.......
Years ago when working on the friend of a friends unit I talked to a Tech that did a lot of work with these this has to be back in like 1993-1996 or so......He told meover the phone that they where not built as well intenraly as the Lincoln and Uniden line but that they where a better match to the main buyer of export radio's ie non-ham's!!! The cheaper board design and cheaper parts meant a lower price too. Keep in mind that when HRO brought the RCI 2950 to market they sold for like $495 and the HR2510,2600 where close to that price but the Shoguns and Alan 9001 came in at a much cheaper price point.IN fact the shop I was working at gave me a discounted price. I had to get 4 or 5 2950's pre-sold and they would sell the next one to us for like $349 or something so I technically got mine bellow the retail price that HRO sold them at RCI 2950's that is. In fact I got one of the last President Lincolns sold in the USA and it was $348 and by then Copper had the RCI 2950 down to bargain basement price close to it's current 2950DX $248 price.
I own a President Lincoln and love it.....The only thing that has happened to it is that the front glass fell off in -30F Winter Weather and I had to Super Glue it back on.
As to age if the caps do not dry out then no reason why sitting would affect it. Long periods of no use tend to let the electrolytic caps dry out. You turn one one key it up and pop........Happens all the time to old electronics usually not a big deal to fix.
I would buy one in a made minute if it was not insanely priced. $150 for one in 99% like new condition would be my cut off because it might still need to be recapped even if everything else is great. Parts are getting harder to find etc........Lately Lincolns,HR2510 and the like in what I would call beat up shape meaning they look like someone pulled them out of a logging truck have been going for well over $250 online and I think that is just too much when you can get a new 2950DX for $248...........For $300 it would have to be int he box, in plastic with the screen film still attached and the power coardsealed in the plastic bag, ie NOS!!!
Years ago when working on the friend of a friends unit I talked to a Tech that did a lot of work with these this has to be back in like 1993-1996 or so......He told meover the phone that they where not built as well intenraly as the Lincoln and Uniden line but that they where a better match to the main buyer of export radio's ie non-ham's!!! The cheaper board design and cheaper parts meant a lower price too. Keep in mind that when HRO brought the RCI 2950 to market they sold for like $495 and the HR2510,2600 where close to that price but the Shoguns and Alan 9001 came in at a much cheaper price point.IN fact the shop I was working at gave me a discounted price. I had to get 4 or 5 2950's pre-sold and they would sell the next one to us for like $349 or something so I technically got mine bellow the retail price that HRO sold them at RCI 2950's that is. In fact I got one of the last President Lincolns sold in the USA and it was $348 and by then Copper had the RCI 2950 down to bargain basement price close to it's current 2950DX $248 price.
I own a President Lincoln and love it.....The only thing that has happened to it is that the front glass fell off in -30F Winter Weather and I had to Super Glue it back on.
As to age if the caps do not dry out then no reason why sitting would affect it. Long periods of no use tend to let the electrolytic caps dry out. You turn one one key it up and pop........Happens all the time to old electronics usually not a big deal to fix.
I would buy one in a made minute if it was not insanely priced. $150 for one in 99% like new condition would be my cut off because it might still need to be recapped even if everything else is great. Parts are getting harder to find etc........Lately Lincolns,HR2510 and the like in what I would call beat up shape meaning they look like someone pulled them out of a logging truck have been going for well over $250 online and I think that is just too much when you can get a new 2950DX for $248...........For $300 it would have to be int he box, in plastic with the screen film still attached and the power coardsealed in the plastic bag, ie NOS!!!
I have two TS5010s along with several HR2510s.... Comparing the two it seems that the 5010 is a copy of the 2510 with added features like memories, better display, no dumb Molex block! and slightly larger. Not up to par with the 2510 but it does a respectable job with very much alike performance. It is the build quality that is behind the 2510 with low performing parts and poor circuit board quality, read as cheap! 
Only one of mine works as the other was a parts rig from the getgo. The working one had lots to get it to come to life. Performance is average with low AM punch, SSB is not bad and I was told that the CW sounds a bit better than my 2510s of all things! I would never pay 300 dollars for one.... maybe three!
Best part is the lay out of the front panel and the large display and I will keep mine mostly as a collector's example!op:
73 mechanic
Only one of mine works as the other was a parts rig from the getgo. The working one had lots to get it to come to life. Performance is average with low AM punch, SSB is not bad and I was told that the CW sounds a bit better than my 2510s of all things! I would never pay 300 dollars for one.... maybe three!
Best part is the lay out of the front panel and the large display and I will keep mine mostly as a collector's example!
op:73 mechanic
Too bad about the poor board quality. None of the 2510,2600,Lincolns ever had cheap boards that is for sure. Lack of space to sork plenty of that, less then ideal user control interface yep but they had fantastic boards.
I have heard plenty of 5010's and never though they sounded bad on AM but then again I do not see where the Lincoln and the rest really sound bad on AM either. Sounding different is one thing sounding bad is another thing all together. I will say this when they first came out most people afflicted with golden screw driver syndrome avoided them because they did not have a simple to spin dial with nice easy to read 40 channel red led and also had did not have traditional needle meter display. This meant most of the ones I heard where properly aligned then left alone. So the lack of punchy AM audio was not missed since you could clearly hear and understand the user. What good is punchy audio if it sounds like the guy just returned from having dental work done and has a mouth full of cotton balls or gauze.
When I was running my 2950 from like 1990 to 1998 or 1999 I talked to a lot of people on SSB that where running TS 5010's and they always sounded great. When I was an apprentice I talked on AM in Georgia with a lot of guys on 2510's and as long as they ran a D104 or D104M6 they sounded great on AM.
It is not that I disagree that the AM audio was not up to CB radio standards only that it is over hyped as a weak point I think. The audio is clean and crisp it is just not particularly loud or punchy but does that really matter if you have a nice clean sound? I think most of the base guys that ran them ran them into TS Modulators then into Ameritron tube amps. A couple of guys ran audio compression instead of amplified mic and that worked too.
Let us keep in mind that you could buy add on voice compression units with the Ranger 3500 and 3300 in the form of the RFa-1 or RF1-a I forgot with. I have one sitting around my badroom some place in a draw still in the box.
In fact I had a 2950 with a DX100 kit that used MRF455 transistors and bolted to the chassis just like the modern RFX-75 kit on my 2950 with a Radio Shack Power Mic with the mercury battery's. I had my but handed to me by a 2510 with a MRF-477 final in it running a D104MX6B.
At the time I worked in an electronic repair facility that was the best in the area and did commercial broadcast repair and was an authorized warranty repair center for every brand of high end amateur. We even serviced civilian radar systems which where 1950's vintage military gear. So not a guy with a light bulp at a Truck Stop snipping limiter's. My point is that my beloved RCI 2950 was out talked on AM once by a HR2510. No one ever says that the RCI 2950 had poor AM audio. Power wise we should have been on equal footing. He had a base loaded magnet mount I had a nicely installed 102 SS whip.
So I think the poor AM audio is true compared to the best of the CB radio's but again it is made too much of. Back in the day when you had at the most 2 finals in a radio even export radio's and all type approved CB's had 1 final the family of HR2510 and clones had a lot to offer. If not for RCI finally offering a radio that had 10&12 meter in one box the HR2510 and it's offspring and clones would still be relevant.
I have pestered RCI to make a 10/12/6m box since before they redesigned the RCI 2950 tot he current 2950DX design.
I think that the low initial cost and the market they appealed to was at least as much their problem as the lack of good quality control. It never works out well when you have a market full of people trying to get every little last drop of power that can be had out of a chassis. The radio's that live the longest lifes are usually the ones that live in homes that do not have "golden screwdriver's"
In college I would toss my RCI on the bench in the Electronics lab and check alignment once a year. If it was on spec. I left it alone. I was never one to constantly be re-biasing my gear trying keep power output constant with age and time. THeir is a lot to be said for not fixing what is not broke on electronics.
I have heard plenty of 5010's and never though they sounded bad on AM but then again I do not see where the Lincoln and the rest really sound bad on AM either. Sounding different is one thing sounding bad is another thing all together. I will say this when they first came out most people afflicted with golden screw driver syndrome avoided them because they did not have a simple to spin dial with nice easy to read 40 channel red led and also had did not have traditional needle meter display. This meant most of the ones I heard where properly aligned then left alone. So the lack of punchy AM audio was not missed since you could clearly hear and understand the user. What good is punchy audio if it sounds like the guy just returned from having dental work done and has a mouth full of cotton balls or gauze.
When I was running my 2950 from like 1990 to 1998 or 1999 I talked to a lot of people on SSB that where running TS 5010's and they always sounded great. When I was an apprentice I talked on AM in Georgia with a lot of guys on 2510's and as long as they ran a D104 or D104M6 they sounded great on AM.
It is not that I disagree that the AM audio was not up to CB radio standards only that it is over hyped as a weak point I think. The audio is clean and crisp it is just not particularly loud or punchy but does that really matter if you have a nice clean sound? I think most of the base guys that ran them ran them into TS Modulators then into Ameritron tube amps. A couple of guys ran audio compression instead of amplified mic and that worked too.
Let us keep in mind that you could buy add on voice compression units with the Ranger 3500 and 3300 in the form of the RFa-1 or RF1-a I forgot with. I have one sitting around my badroom some place in a draw still in the box.
In fact I had a 2950 with a DX100 kit that used MRF455 transistors and bolted to the chassis just like the modern RFX-75 kit on my 2950 with a Radio Shack Power Mic with the mercury battery's. I had my but handed to me by a 2510 with a MRF-477 final in it running a D104MX6B.
At the time I worked in an electronic repair facility that was the best in the area and did commercial broadcast repair and was an authorized warranty repair center for every brand of high end amateur. We even serviced civilian radar systems which where 1950's vintage military gear. So not a guy with a light bulp at a Truck Stop snipping limiter's. My point is that my beloved RCI 2950 was out talked on AM once by a HR2510. No one ever says that the RCI 2950 had poor AM audio. Power wise we should have been on equal footing. He had a base loaded magnet mount I had a nicely installed 102 SS whip.
So I think the poor AM audio is true compared to the best of the CB radio's but again it is made too much of. Back in the day when you had at the most 2 finals in a radio even export radio's and all type approved CB's had 1 final the family of HR2510 and clones had a lot to offer. If not for RCI finally offering a radio that had 10&12 meter in one box the HR2510 and it's offspring and clones would still be relevant.
I have pestered RCI to make a 10/12/6m box since before they redesigned the RCI 2950 tot he current 2950DX design.
I think that the low initial cost and the market they appealed to was at least as much their problem as the lack of good quality control. It never works out well when you have a market full of people trying to get every little last drop of power that can be had out of a chassis. The radio's that live the longest lifes are usually the ones that live in homes that do not have "golden screwdriver's"
In college I would toss my RCI on the bench in the Electronics lab and check alignment once a year. If it was on spec. I left it alone. I was never one to constantly be re-biasing my gear trying keep power output constant with age and time. THeir is a lot to be said for not fixing what is not broke on electronics.
i had forgotten all about this radio it looks like a good one, do any of you own one? how do you like it? what makes it unique? if its junk, why is it junk?
i starting like it more and more
is $300.00 too much for this type of radio?
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IF I WANT TO USE THIS AS BASE STATION, WHAT SIZE POWER SUPPLY WOULD I NEED? IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THE SSB USES MORE THAN THE AM AND NEEDS MORE WATTS, SO A TYPICAL 5 WATT WOULDN'T DO IT, THANKS.
You'll want a 15A supply or better for the 5010. If you're running a newer switching supply, 12.5A is plenty.
~Cheers~
~Cheers~