President Ronald vs Cobra 25

[TexasTalker]

I'm debating on a President Ronald or Cobra 25 with mosfet final. The tech says he can get both to be clean and spectrualy pure. The Cobra 25 will have about 30 pep and the Ronald will have about 45 pep. The Ronald has alot more features. But I'm wondering what would be a good choice to put behind a small amp for the Jeep. I have 108" whip, LMR 400uf and almost perfect SWR and ohm on the MFJ analyzer.

I can pick up the Ronald for $135 shipped and I already have the stuff to convert it but the Cobra 25 will run $170 shipped with a variable and mosfet final. I have been told that the Cobra will be cleaner but I think maybe that's profit talking. Supposedly the Ronald has no adjustments.

Decisions. What ya think?

 

[binrat]

No decision, buy both.

 

[TexasTalker]

No decision, buy both.

I would if I had use for both, but I can only have one......

 

[StrangeBrew]

.... I'm wondering what would be a good choice to put behind a small amp for the Jeep. ....

.... Supposedly the Ronald has no adjustments. ....

How small is a "small" amp?

It shouldn't be a problem turning a 25 down to run most small amps, if it's true that the Ronald has no adjustments then at 45 watts PEP your small amp will have to be fairly large. I'm thinking that to some extent your choice of amps will dictate what radio you'll need.

 

[TexasTalker]

By no adjustments I mean no internal adjustments for a golden screwdriver. It has variable power from 1 watt to 13 watts from the factory.

The amp will be most likely a 2 pill. That's what I use in my home as the driver for my base station. Maybe a 1x4. Depends on how much I wanna piss off my local guys this week (wink wink)

 

[543_Dallas]

I'd go with the cobra 25 or a uniden 68xl. The last cobra 29 I bought was made in 2016 and the quality was disappointing. I'm satisfied with my 2013 29 chrome. For that reason I would probably buy an older one. No way I'd spend $170 on a cobra 25.

All I've ever done to the 25 or 29 is install a variable and peak it out. Theyre better off without mosfets or a lot of mods. The hot rod radios with mosfets always seemed to make amplifiers do strange things. Keep it simple and let the amp do the work.

Your tech is full of bull or has low standards about what a clean radio is. If you turn the carrier down and its still swinging to 30 watts it isn't clean. My 29s weren't clean either but they work well. Clean seems to be the new sales pitch everyone uses but they're just telling people what they want to hear.

 

[TexasTalker]

I found a pretty clean Cobra 29 locally. Lady is cleaning out her passed husband's truck. So I picked it up for a decent price. It's a 2011 model. No idea yet what kind of hackery has been done to it. But I agree, $170 for a C25 is crazy. I don't wanna bash techs, especially the local who actually has a scope and spectrum analyzer, but if I was to sell that radio, I would NEVER get my money back out of it. On eBay they go for average of $60 and that's a mint condition c25.

 

[Handy Andy]

You want to buy this thing?


Lets put this in perspective,

It's about the size of a Cobra 19 Plus ...
BARELY 5 X 7 X 2 inches - and that rounding up...

Cobra 25 - Looks like this...


Its' easily 7 X 9 X 3 - so you got more real estate to work your fingers in.

Ronald - bless his heart, is smaller than the Cobra 25 - so if space is an issue - along with it comes the ability to control and use the knobs and buttons and switches...If you have Fat fingers or shaky hands - you're in trouble with the smaller sizes.

Ronald has "F" or FUNCTION Menu - you can go to 12 to 10 meters - but why post this in a CB forum if all you wanted is a CB?

One you have to spend time "shifting thru functions" to get what you want - the other has Volume On/Off and all the features and a Mic level - Dynamike - control.

So you can go everywhere in AM or even FM mode in Ronalds' package - but the Cobra only has AM and analog operation - simple straightforward compared to Menu featured radio like Ronald and it's extra frequencies but small compact VERY confined and limited analog control ability - Vol Sq and Channel with handset channel - but entire radio face - 70 ~ 80% of front panel of radio is display.

Seriously?

Cobra - it's proven itself more over than Ronald - (sorry to the family) but you make the final choice...

:+> Andy <+:

 

[TexasTalker]

Size is a huge concern. Most power in a small area. But I hardly ever used anything other than volume and channel.

The benefit of the Ronald would be a "high power radio" and compact size. A few guys in the Jeep club run them and over the Cobra 19 they love them. They can now talk to the group before entering town, which is nice.

 

[TexasTalker]

I also like the classic looks of the Cobra.

 

[Handy Andy]

But again, that small size, I cannot vouch for how the Jeep will treat it. But in Trackers or Semis, the Single PLANE - aka one board - no riser card - radios survive far better with all the bouncing and slamming the world does to your equipment. Cobra 25's and 29's have fared better than say a Midland 77-115. Uniden as well, single plane boards with less edge risers like the 68 or 78 series fare better than the 520's which have edge card connections. The 520/510/505 rely too heavily on the front panel to chassis screw-thru hole mountings - to support the edge riser assembly that contains the controls. A good tug on the Mike cord, and the panel is toast.

Any riser card or edge soldered board radios - just can't take on the abuse like how Discrete Control front panel plates soldered-wires directly to the main PCB can do.

I just don't want you to spend $140 or so on a radio only to find out, that the thing can't live with you and your lifestyle with your Jeep at the same time.

Only time will tell.

Regards!
Have Fun anyways!
:+> Andy <+:

 

[543_Dallas]

I found a pretty clean Cobra 29 locally. Lady is cleaning out her passed husband's truck. So I picked it up for a decent price. It's a 2011 model. No idea yet what kind of hackery has been done to it. But I agree, $170 for a C25 is crazy. I don't wanna bash techs, especially the local who actually has a scope and spectrum analyzer, but if I was to sell that radio, I would NEVER get my money back out of it. On eBay they go for average of $60 and that's a mint condition c25.

Good deal on the 29. Hopefully its a good one. I wouldn't worry too much about being clean if youre going to put a 30 watt radio into a 1x4.

With all the guys on YouTube these days I fear the techs that show off their spectrum analyzers the most. Hard to pay for that kind of equipment doing honest cb work.

 

[TexasTalker]

Good deal on the 29. Hopefully its a good one. I wouldn't worry too much about being clean if youre going to put a 30 watt radio into a 1x4.

With all the guys on YouTube these days I fear the techs that show off their spectrum analyzers the most. Hard to pay for that kind of equipment doing honest cb work.

One guy bragged on YouTube that he has over $20k tide up into his bench. I was impressed, went to his place, and the roof was literally leaking. It was a hole in the wall. Had him "fix" my radio. He "got all the power onto the right channel" and it looked good on the scope, and his analyzer. When I got it installed everyone said I sounded weak and distant. I didn't have a meter, sold it to a guy that had a bird. He said the modulation was horrible and would bearly move his peak meter. I trusted him, so gave him a refund. Guy sent it back to the "YouTube tech" and he said "cleanest radio I have seen".

Point is, yeah looks good on a scope and stuff but I got walked all over. That's even on my base station.

We will see how good the used 25 turns out to be, if it works and gets good reports and it doesn't bleed, heck who cares. Wife told me hell no to paying $170 for a Cobra 25. She said a few dollars more I can get a two pill from any amp builder I wanted. I tell ya what, BBI amps look pretty!!!!

What was funny that a hacked out, meter baited Cobra 29 out talked my "tuned and pure" Galaxy 99v. I was running the best of everything I could, the Cobra 29 with swing kit and meter baited was running a broken, then resoldered and paint stick and duct taped together broken in half firestick. This dude walked all over me constantly.

 

[TexasTalker]

But if your not willing to explain clearly and zoom in to the settings, then I feel your shady or hiding something.

"Pay attention" hell I did pay attention but your only showing us half the formula to a complex math problem. Good example is his coax lenght videos.

But not to be bashing on that guy, the guy I went to actually zooms in and explains things, thus why I went to him, but I wasn't impressed.

I wish I never walked YouTube. I ran a "hacked up" Cobra 29 for years with a palomar amp. Had a blast and always got contacts. But then again, I only talk AM no SSB. Too much work.

 

[Onelasttime]

I'm debating on a President Ronald or Cobra 25 with mosfet final. The tech says he can get both to be clean and spectrualy pure. The Cobra 25 will have about 30 pep and the Ronald will have about 45 pep. The Ronald has alot more features. But I'm wondering what would be a good choice to put behind a small amp for the Jeep. I have 108" whip, LMR 400uf and almost perfect SWR and ohm on the MFJ analyzer.

I can pick up the Ronald for $135 shipped and I already have the stuff to convert it but the Cobra 25 will run $170 shipped with a variable and mosfet final. I have been told that the Cobra will be cleaner but I think maybe that's profit talking. Supposedly the Ronald has no adjustments.

Decisions. What ya think?

Only one guy says "Specturaly pure" so it must be Smokin Joe. Don't both of those radio's come with MOSFETs from the factory? I think it is stupid to convert any radio to MOSFETs since they are not very efficient ie so they generate a lot more heat and they are not very durable unless they are RF Fet's like NXP's LDMOS transistors or some other RF specific fet.

Nothing you have a tech do to either of those radio's even compete with a single transistor bjt amp. I have no experience with the President product so I would bias towards the Cobra 25.