Yeah but most modern hf rigs sound like shit on am. A cobra 19 plus talks better .
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New President Walker radio
- Thread starter AudioShockwav
- Start date
Alinco sounds good on AM. Gave an old friend my DX-77 to use/have. He wired his old D-104 up. Sounds real nice.
One overlooked reason ham HF radios perform poorly in AM transmit has to do with the radio's ALC.
Nearly every CB has a separate circuit to sense your AM modulation level. It limits the audio level alone, without affecting the carrier.
Just about every ham HF transceiver has one limiter circuit only, the ALC used for SSB transmit. It senses the peak RF output level and turns down the entire RF signal chain to keep the radio below the limit.
In AM transmit this causes the carrier to "dive" when your voice peaks reach the RF-power peak limit. It doesn't reduce the mike gain in response to audio peaks. It reduces the transmitter's "RF Gain" instead, carrier and modulation peaks both.
Makes it touchy, and suppressing the carrier globs up the audio quality.
Never have come up with a proper AM-modulation limiter add-on for those radios. Would improve the usability on AM. Wouldn't be as touchy about peak audio level.
The HF transceivers that sound best on AM have a speech processor that remains active when selecting AM, and a "processor level" control you can set just below the radio's ALC trigger point.
73
Nearly every CB has a separate circuit to sense your AM modulation level. It limits the audio level alone, without affecting the carrier.
Just about every ham HF transceiver has one limiter circuit only, the ALC used for SSB transmit. It senses the peak RF output level and turns down the entire RF signal chain to keep the radio below the limit.
In AM transmit this causes the carrier to "dive" when your voice peaks reach the RF-power peak limit. It doesn't reduce the mike gain in response to audio peaks. It reduces the transmitter's "RF Gain" instead, carrier and modulation peaks both.
Makes it touchy, and suppressing the carrier globs up the audio quality.
Never have come up with a proper AM-modulation limiter add-on for those radios. Would improve the usability on AM. Wouldn't be as touchy about peak audio level.
The HF transceivers that sound best on AM have a speech processor that remains active when selecting AM, and a "processor level" control you can set just below the radio's ALC trigger point.
73
That's why the Ts-570 & Ts-480 work well for AM,the processor works in AM mode &
has adjustments for mic gain in and out..
The newer rigs disable the processor in AM
And most every HF transceiver made since 1980 or so.
I guess it depends on your interpretation of "newer".
73
The ts-570 were made in the late 90's the ts-480 were released in 2003-2004
even the yaesu ft-840 which appeared in the late 80's to early 90's had a functional
processor in am.
ic-718 released in 2000 had one also. probably more models that am not familiar
with also.
excuse me not using caps broke two fingers on my right hand, the one i use for the
shift key.
Reviving this old thread and bringing it back on topic, I just ordered a Walker II. I passed on Walker III to save a few bucks and because I am not interested in FM. Truth is, I was trying to decide between an Anytone 6666 and 5555n2, but settled on a Walker/KL203 combo instead. Mostly for these reasons: I prefer the Walker's display, am only interested in AM, and I have survived 50+ years without DSP in my CB's. Can make it a few more.
As Jeff noted earlier, this radio has an electric/dynamic mic option in the menu, and I will be using my Procomm power mic with it. I also chose it because the Walker is one of the few CB radios that has a RF Power adjustment knob. And it is very reasonably priced. I paid $140 on Amazon.
That's about it. Sure hope Eldorado828 doesn't see this. He'll think I've completely lost my mind. Which, come to think of it, I have.
As Jeff noted earlier, this radio has an electric/dynamic mic option in the menu, and I will be using my Procomm power mic with it. I also chose it because the Walker is one of the few CB radios that has a RF Power adjustment knob. And it is very reasonably priced. I paid $140 on Amazon.
That's about it. Sure hope Eldorado828 doesn't see this. He'll think I've completely lost my mind. Which, come to think of it, I have.
Nice radio! It should do great with the 203. Does yours have the black face or silver? I like the way the black looks on these.
Not sure. It should be here tomorrow.
The pic I used is a stock photo off the internet.
Got mine in.
Good AM CB radio.
Good looks, good ears, good audio. (Locals say it sounds great.) Am using a Procomm power mic and KL 203. And it is reasonably priced. I paid $140 on Amazon. For $10 more you can get FM on the Walker III.
Two things I really like about it: (a) The values on the "S" Meter are evenly spaced. On Cobra and many other radios, these are skewed to the right and 5, 7 and 9 are bunched closely together. (b) Dialing down the output power is a snap. Just turn the knob. This is common on 10 Meter Radios, but Cobra, Uniden and most of the other President CB's don't have this feature.
I like it.
Good AM CB radio.
Good looks, good ears, good audio. (Locals say it sounds great.) Am using a Procomm power mic and KL 203. And it is reasonably priced. I paid $140 on Amazon. For $10 more you can get FM on the Walker III.
Two things I really like about it: (a) The values on the "S" Meter are evenly spaced. On Cobra and many other radios, these are skewed to the right and 5, 7 and 9 are bunched closely together. (b) Dialing down the output power is a snap. Just turn the knob. This is common on 10 Meter Radios, but Cobra, Uniden and most of the other President CB's don't have this feature.
I like it.