Fine Tune CB

[222DBFL]

Amen. I too have been able to talk consistenly on 11m SSB for 80 miles in all directions with 360 watts. And NOBOBDY tuned my fucking radio!!!! All this BS about my tech is better than yours is getting stupid!! So Mark does good work. So do some other techs as well. To come here and say that because someone posts shit on YouTube they are the best and there is just no one else alive that can do what he is doing is a big ass crock pot of SHIT!! You can eat that shit all day if you like!
All this YouTube shit is just that, shit! Like said, if you can find more than just 2 fucking radios that "Mark" has worked on that will talk 80 miles or 135 miles 365/7 days a week, I wouldn't brag so much. I mean if 2 radios is a total sum of all the work we are speaking of here, then come the fuck on man, what kind of true realization is this. Hmmm. He works on radios all day but only 2 of the thousands he may have worked on will talk 135 miles a day all day every day.
Let's just cut all the shit and call this what it is. A propaganda thread to start shit!! A fucking troll thread that no matter how you answer the question, it doesn't matter, your tech Mark is just the best there is. So I say this to you, go suck some more lollipop and eat the BS stew!!
But don't come here and try to just be a GD shithead!! I mean no body has a chance per what you say the way Mark's abilities are with radios!! So why even argue!! You obviously know who's the best! But leave the I'll find a fucking answer to any question you ask me shit when you can't fix a GD radio yourself!!! That is unless you owe something to Mark or Mark has some bad shizz on you LOL!!
Can we please get this fucking thread over with!!
IDK about others here, but I am about sick of hearing one way conversations that obviously can't be won by any tech on earth!! Mark is the God of radios and don't you forget it LOL!!!

 

[unit_399]

Couldn't have said it better myself.
- 399

 

[Robb]

I would only add that there is no real substitute for distance but to use the best antenna you can put up as high as and safely as you can. Next to that, amps aren't so important. Effective radiated power means efficiency; not brute force power.

What one should look for in a tech is experience, fair pricing, and honest reputation. What one should look for in a radio is a clean signal w/o BS mods and stupid hype - JMHO . . .

 

[rabbiporkchop]

There is a lot of info missing here.

1. Whose radio are you talking to, Marks? He runs a 32 pill amp and a Maco 5/8 antenna last I seen.

2. Are you saying anyone with Marks tuned radios can talk to each other 135 miles without external power?

3. Is that 2 base stations or 2 mobiles or combination of can do that anytime of the day or year?

4. Are beam antennas or any other type of DB gain and/or directional antennas being used?

5. Groundwave or skywave?

With big power on groundwave, I have heard that (100+ mile stations) many times before even with big power mobiles even on channel 19.
However, when conditions are unfavorable which they have been on the upper bands lately with the exception of sporadic E layer propagation, that means ground wave will be easier to copy with less atmospheric noise and from other skip stations.

If it is very short skywave, then power is irrelevant and any radio new out of the box can do that.

1. Whose radio are you talking to, Marks? He runs a 32 pill amp and a Maco 5/8 antenna last I seen.

65 miles both ways from a Volvo 770 with short antennas to Marks Base (Maco v 5/8) with a mountain between us.
Me running Magnum s9 into fatboy straight 6.

Me running Magnum s9 into Palomar 400 peaking at 360 watts into Wilson 5k roof mount 80 miles to stock cobra 29 in Peterbilt 379 with factory antennas. (found out 2 days later from the guy with the cobra. Repeated many times and verified by phone call.

135 miles from Carlisle PA to Pittston PA by one of Marks customers with large tube amp into 5/8 groundplane to stock cobra 29 in mobile.

132 miles from one of Marks customers @ Tijuana border on I10k vertical with large tube amp to Los Angeles base station with similar vertical every time he keys up.




2. Are you saying anyone with Marks tuned radios can talk to each other 135 miles without external power?

totally ridiculous although bad techs wouldn't have a clue what to do with 50,000 watts to achieve that.

3. Is that 2 base stations or 2 mobiles or combination of can do that anytime of the day or year?

details above

4. Are beam antennas or any other type of DB gain and/or directional antennas being used?

co-phased homemade antennas on Volvo 770 allowed me to talk to and hear Marks base from up to 65 miles with a mountain between us. repeated every trip to west coast.

from Amarillo texas to Oklahoma state line Mark was always heard by his mobile customers 100 miles to the east running 32 pill into v5/8 vertical.

5. Groundwave or skywave?

Done at will regardless of mother nature and repeated any time.

Groundwave assuming

 

[fourstringburn]

1. Whose radio are you talking to, Marks? He runs a 32 pill amp and a Maco 5/8 antenna last I seen.

65 miles both ways from a Volvo 770 with short antennas to Marks Base (Maco v 5/8) with a mountain between us.
Me running Magnum s9 into fatboy straight 6.

Me running Magnum s9 into Palomar 400 peaking at 360 watts into Wilson 5k roof mount 80 miles to stock cobra 29 in Peterbilt 379 with factory antennas. (found out 2 days later from the guy with the cobra. Repeated many times and verified by phone call.

135 miles from Carlisle PA to Pittston PA by one of Marks customers with large tube amp into 5/8 groundplane to stock cobra 29 in mobile.

132 miles from one of Marks customers @ Tijuana border on I10k vertical with large tube amp to Los Angeles base station with similar vertical every time he keys up.




2. Are you saying anyone with Marks tuned radios can talk to each other 135 miles without external power?

totally ridiculous although bad techs wouldn't have a clue what to do with 50,000 watts to achieve that.

3. Is that 2 base stations or 2 mobiles or combination of can do that anytime of the day or year?

details above

4. Are beam antennas or any other type of DB gain and/or directional antennas being used?

co-phased homemade antennas on Volvo 770 allowed me to talk to and hear Marks base from up to 65 miles with a mountain between us. repeated every trip to west coast.

from Amarillo texas to Oklahoma state line Mark was always heard by his mobile customers 100 miles to the east running 32 pill into v5/8 vertical.

5. Groundwave or skywave?

Done at will regardless of mother nature and repeated any time.

Groundwave assuming

Well I see it's what I suspected. It's due to stations running big power and obvious more efficient antennas than even the best mobile antenna could hope to be. I have made plenty of contacts like that myself when I ran big radios in my trucks and so have thousands of others.

The single truck to truck contact you made was obviously one way since a stock Cobra radio most likely will never get out 80 miles on ground wave except maybe on a 12,000 ft. mountain top. Again that's a reflection on your mobile station with power behind it.

None of this is a reflection on how good Mark's radio tunes are since just about anyone can make the same contacts with the same antennas and power and nothing more than a stock cobra out of the box.

The only difference would be a stock Cobra has the AMC turned down to keep it under FCC spec's along with a thin sounding stock mic so the modulation would be kind of wimpy sounding compared to that big radio sound people are looking for.

I'm not knocking Mark for the work he does because he seems knowledgeable and experienced in CB work, I'm just putting it into perspective about comparing and evaluating someones CB tuning work based off the radio contacts they made.

 

[fourstringburn]

I would only add that there is no real substitute for distance but the best antenna you can put up as high as and safely as you can. Next to that, amps aren't so important. Effective radiated power means efficiency; not brute force power. What one should look for in a tech is experience, fair pricing, and honest reputation. What one should look for in a radio is a clean signal w/o BS mods and stupid hype - JMHO . . .

Well you said something I can agree with...100%

 

[loosecannon]

I think this is about the most ridiculous thread i have come across in a while. LOL

Rabbiporkchop, i'm not going to call BS on the myriad claims you have made in this thread because i was not there, and even though i have strong opinions and ideas as to the "why's" of your experiences; i see no point in debating you on your experiences.

I will say though, that attributing these occurrences to the way a certain tech tunes a radio is 100% grade AAA ridiculousness, and your tech, if he is as smart and experienced as you say he is, knows this for sure.

Please, by all means ask him to make a youtube video or forum post where he associates your experiences with his work, and claims that his particular mods and tuning methods are the things that made the difference.

I would LOVE to see his response to you if you ask him to make these claims.

again, i don't doubt what you experienced, but i seriously doubt that your tech will back you up on your claims that it was his work that caused them.

I have watched a couple of his videos and he does seem like a smart guy. Too smart to support wild claims made by a customer.

Oh and please don't cop out by stating that he is too busy, or doesn't care about what we say about him and blah blah blah.

If you are a good customer of his, then he will respond to your email or text.
If you stand by what you have claimed, then you should have no problem posting that response here.
LC

 

[DRay]

Mark is a meticulous tech, ( I like his work) although he can not and will NEVER be able to defy physics. His work/tuneups cannot defy physics, either. Some of the claims on this thread regarding the guaranteed distance 24/7 on 11m unconditionally- is laughable. If there was a BS meter here- it would have went off the scale and exploded in a fiery blaze. Thanks for the entertainment.

 

[543_Dallas]

1. Whose radio are you talking to, Marks? He runs a 32 pill amp and a Maco 5/8 antenna last I seen.

65 miles both ways from a Volvo 770 with short antennas to Marks Base (Maco v 5/8) with a mountain between us.
Me running Magnum s9 into fatboy straight 6.

Me running Magnum s9 into Palomar 400 peaking at 360 watts into Wilson 5k roof mount 80 miles to stock cobra 29 in Peterbilt 379 with factory antennas. (found out 2 days later from the guy with the cobra. Repeated many times and verified by phone call.

135 miles from Carlisle PA to Pittston PA by one of Marks customers with large tube amp into 5/8 groundplane to stock cobra 29 in mobile.

132 miles from one of Marks customers @ Tijuana border on I10k vertical with large tube amp to Los Angeles base station with similar vertical every time he keys up.




2. Are you saying anyone with Marks tuned radios can talk to each other 135 miles without external power?

totally ridiculous although bad techs wouldn't have a clue what to do with 50,000 watts to achieve that.

3. Is that 2 base stations or 2 mobiles or combination of can do that anytime of the day or year?

details above

4. Are beam antennas or any other type of DB gain and/or directional antennas being used?

co-phased homemade antennas on Volvo 770 allowed me to talk to and hear Marks base from up to 65 miles with a mountain between us. repeated every trip to west coast.

from Amarillo texas to Oklahoma state line Mark was always heard by his mobile customers 100 miles to the east running 32 pill into v5/8 vertical.

5. Groundwave or skywave?

Done at will regardless of mother nature and repeated any time.

Groundwave assuming

Thats great. So what about the pinched off carrier at the 4 minute mark? Am I seeing things or are we just pretending that didn't happen?

 

[Tallman]

I smell an entire truck load of B.S. on the claims made. First of all why waste your band width by modulating all the way up to five kHz? The human voice in normal speech won't get that high. Or is he modifying the modulation for CASTRATA bats? (Nipped Gonads) I listen to radios coming in from all over on SSB and the BW is only 2.5kHz and they sound GOOD.
I call BS on the 135 miles unless they are both on mountain tops and running 2 kw or more on 10 element beams.

 

[Tallman]

The number of times he has moved his shop is a big honkin' red flag to me.
But this is America, and you're free to pick whichever tech you like. Even if he moves every 6 months to a year. Caveat emptor.
Brett

I wonder if he is moving to stay one step in front of ANGRY CUSTOMERS whose radios blew up? or One step in front of the FCC?

 

[jon666]

I wonder if he is moving to stay one step in front of ANGRY CUSTOMERS whose radios blew up? or One step in front of the FCC?

wow soon this will be a locked thread. i dont give a shit. who is better. a tune is a tune. its not rocket science.

 

[Robb]

wow soon this will be a locked thread. i dont give a shit. who is better. a tune is a tune. its not rocket science.

I'd agree that it is not quite rocket science, but it also doesn't mean that just anyone with the gear is an immediate authority of tuning up radios. To some degree, experience can play a major part too. For example, Snake has gear but doesn't always tune them up right, as I've personally set two of his radios straight. Doesn't mean I'm an authority either - I'm not. Think that is where this thread has headed and served to point out and why it is still valid. One would think that having all of the gear means the job is done competently; but certainly not a given . . .

 

[543_Dallas]

How about the ability to Faithfully reproduce the hissing sound (5300 hertz) at the end of the letter s to distinguish it from the letter f?
I don't know anyone else capable of doing this type of work.

In just going to quote this again to confirm you are ignoring my question and just didn't forget about me.

I'm going to take your silence as a sign that were just going to pretend the negative peaks from a Fine Tune cee bee never hit baseline when he speaks into the mic around the 4 minute mark.

His stuff seems to work perfectly with a tone generator but not when you actually talk on the radio. ??????

I've taken measures to make sure my wideband transmitter doesn't do this. Mark needs to get his head in the game.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

I smell an entire truck load of B.S. on the claims made. First of all why waste your band width by modulating all the way up to five kHz? The human voice in normal speech won't get that high. Or is he modifying the modulation for CASTRATA bats? (Nipped Gonads) I listen to radios coming in from all over on SSB and the BW is only 2.5kHz and they sound GOOD.
I call BS on the 135 miles unless they are both on mountain tops and running 2 kw or more on 10 element beams.

Apparently you aren't well versed in acoustics. There's a little app that you can download to your smartphone to show you what frequency every sound generates.
The the hissing sound at the end of the letter s is approximately 5300 Hertz. That sound is the only thing that differentiates the letter s from the letter f. I'm sure you can imagine the confusion when someone ask you to repeat yourself because they were unable to interpret what you said based on your limited frequency response and the inability to differentiate between those two letters.

Keep in mind vocal cords are not used to make that sound so the frequency is the same regardless of whether it's spoken by a 2 year old child or a 50 year old man