Well, I've had a chance to put it through a few tests. I'm not going to put up pics because they're already up on CBTricks. I'll try to focus my first review on some of the neat features found in this radio that may not have been covered by others yet.
As everyone has already commented, this radio has excellent audio and power. It looks like they may tend to need aligned after conversion (like all exports) to get their full potential. Mine is doing about 65 watts on the Bird 43P. Initially it was a bit low, but just an alignment after conversion fixed it up. I would make sure that whoever you purchase it from knows the alignment procedure.
The receive is excellent compared to other CBs/Exports on the market, although not quite as good as my Grant LT. Initially, it seems to have a higher noise floor than the Grant, but I haven't been able to give a fair comparison to overall sensitivity. I'm told that it's just really expensive to get the higher quality crystals in China necessary to match something like a Grant LT these days. If you know what you're looking at, you'll notice that along with the FETs, high Q coils are used in the front end, with a neat protection circuit to prevent overload from nearby high power transmissions. This type of circuit can be added to other radios after market, but if there are those that come with it from the factory, I'm not aware of them. I'm really very pleased with the reception compared to the other exports on the market.
The meter light turns red on transmit, and flashes red at an SWR of 3:1 or worse. Apparrently the radio has an SWR protection circuit to cut back the power if it doesn't like the load. I may have to test that out one of these days 8) For all the folks that like to clip the limiter, or better yet, cut any traces involved in the limiter circuitry, There's also a nifty circuit built to clamp the modulation in the event that folks are bent on clipping the limiter or cutting traces involved in the limiter circuitry.
The talkback is a real audio circuit, not just a resistor between the PA output and the speaker. As a result, you can turn the talkback all the way up with no squeal. The built in echo board and roger beeps also work great. One thing that everyone will appreciate is that the pinout on the mic plug on the radio is actually labeled in case you want to wire a different mic. The audio really is good, even with the stock mic. I've been running it for a week with the stock mic and don't plan on even bothering to change it. All the locals that have heard it (and the truckers, too) really like the way it sounds
Overall, I'm really impressed with this radio for an AM radio. While the faceplate resembles some Magnum radios, anyone who says that this radio is a Magnum clone simply doesn't know what they're looking at inside. I really can't wait to see what they come up with for a SSB radio.
Moleculo
As everyone has already commented, this radio has excellent audio and power. It looks like they may tend to need aligned after conversion (like all exports) to get their full potential. Mine is doing about 65 watts on the Bird 43P. Initially it was a bit low, but just an alignment after conversion fixed it up. I would make sure that whoever you purchase it from knows the alignment procedure.
The receive is excellent compared to other CBs/Exports on the market, although not quite as good as my Grant LT. Initially, it seems to have a higher noise floor than the Grant, but I haven't been able to give a fair comparison to overall sensitivity. I'm told that it's just really expensive to get the higher quality crystals in China necessary to match something like a Grant LT these days. If you know what you're looking at, you'll notice that along with the FETs, high Q coils are used in the front end, with a neat protection circuit to prevent overload from nearby high power transmissions. This type of circuit can be added to other radios after market, but if there are those that come with it from the factory, I'm not aware of them. I'm really very pleased with the reception compared to the other exports on the market.
The meter light turns red on transmit, and flashes red at an SWR of 3:1 or worse. Apparrently the radio has an SWR protection circuit to cut back the power if it doesn't like the load. I may have to test that out one of these days 8) For all the folks that like to clip the limiter, or better yet, cut any traces involved in the limiter circuitry, There's also a nifty circuit built to clamp the modulation in the event that folks are bent on clipping the limiter or cutting traces involved in the limiter circuitry.
The talkback is a real audio circuit, not just a resistor between the PA output and the speaker. As a result, you can turn the talkback all the way up with no squeal. The built in echo board and roger beeps also work great. One thing that everyone will appreciate is that the pinout on the mic plug on the radio is actually labeled in case you want to wire a different mic. The audio really is good, even with the stock mic. I've been running it for a week with the stock mic and don't plan on even bothering to change it. All the locals that have heard it (and the truckers, too) really like the way it sounds
Overall, I'm really impressed with this radio for an AM radio. While the faceplate resembles some Magnum radios, anyone who says that this radio is a Magnum clone simply doesn't know what they're looking at inside. I really can't wait to see what they come up with for a SSB radio.
Moleculo
