radio or person tuning it....whats more important ?

[Butcher318]

Psycho, I had a clipped General Lee several years ago. I ran it into a regulated AB Joker 2 pill. In less then a week while sitting on various parking lots I set 3 burglar alarms off and the police showed up each time. The radio was checked and looked like crap on a scope. Had the limiter replaced and the radio aligned, guess what, no more police and the on air reports from locals was loud sharper audio. Clipped radio's have loud blarring audio, if thats what you consider the best sounding local radio then your all set. Export radio's are like anything electronic, they are "ballparked" in during assembly. Yes, I suppose a simple conversion will do if you want average or an ok sounding radio.

By the way, the local guy that aligned and tuned my radio spent spent just over an hour on it. Obviously you have never bother to check the alignment procedures that you speak of on the web. There is not a radio tech out there that could go through the full alignment procedures for say an RCI 2950 in 10 minutes, thats not possible. I could however "tune" your 148 in 10 minutes with a pliers and screwdriver. If thats what you want to call it.

 

[psycho]

thats funny i have paperwork on 2 of my radios that were out of alignment right out of the box.[/b]BUT i am not into the keydown thing!!! :roll: :roll:


this is why they have techs!!

If I had 2 radios that were out of alignment right out of the box then they would have been exchanged for a couple of new ones. I have bought a couple dozen new radios over my lifetime and they all were on frequency.....or maybe I had a frequency counter and didn't have to rely on a "tech's" word.

 

[bob85]

If I had 2 radios that were out of alignment right out of the box then they would have been exchanged for a couple of new ones. I have bought a couple dozen new radios over my lifetime and they all were on frequency.....or maybe I had a frequency counter and didn't have to rely on a "tech's" word.

12 cb's all on frequency

if you ever buy a new cb thats on frequency when you get it home and warmed up in your own environment it IS pure luck and very very unlikely,
your tech more than likely wont like me saying it because its how they pay the bills but it is the truth and anybody with a good counter can see for themself,
few cb techs even own/use a good calibrated ovened frequency counter to start with,
counters without ovens aint worth a dime as far as accuracy goes unless you use an external accurate frequency standard,
you cannot take your cb to your tech and have him put it on frequency in 10 minutes then take it home/put it in the mobile and expect it to be perfect,
yes its nice to come away from your techs with that warm fuzzy feeling that your radio is spot on frequency but it is not the reality of how radios work,

all cb's and hf sets drift up and down all the time your using them, ovened radios move faster and far less after warmup,

the people that make them dont have the time or inclination to try replicating your operating conditions and dial the radio as close as is practicable,

claiming you had a dozen radios all on frequency cb or hf from new is about as truthfull as claiming you own the moon and typical of the bollocks you talk :roll:
youre freedom of speech on here just helps to confuse and impede other members from learning the truth,
you do have some entertainment value with your crazy cb bs, you could maybe get your own section but please leave the tech stuff to those that know wtf they are talking about so we can all learn something factual and usefull.

 

[Switch Kit]

If I had 2 radios that were out of alignment right out of the box then they would have been exchanged for a couple of new ones. I have bought a couple dozen new radios over my lifetime and they all were on frequency.....or maybe I had a frequency counter and didn't have to rely on a "tech's" word.

12 cb's all on frequency

if you ever buy a new cb thats on frequency when you get it home and warmed up in your own environment it IS pure luck and very very unlikely,
your tech more than likely wont like me saying it because its how they pay the bills but it is the truth and anybody with a good counter can see for themself,
few cb techs even own/use a good calibrated ovened frequency counter to start with,
counters without ovens aint worth a dime as far as accuracy goes unless you use an external accurate frequency standard,
you cannot take your cb to your tech and have him put it on frequency in 10 minutes then take it home/put it in the mobile and expect it to be perfect,
yes its nice to come away from your techs with that warm fuzzy feeling that your radio is spot on frequency but it is not the reality of how radios work,

all cb's and hf sets drift up and down all the time your using them, ovened radios move faster and far less after warmup,

the people that make them dont have the time or inclination to try replicating your operating conditions and dial the radio as close as is practicable,

claiming you had a dozen radios all on frequency cb or hf from new is about as truthfull as claiming you own the moon and typical of the bollocks you talk :roll:
youre freedom of speech on here just helps to confuse and impede other members from learning the truth,
you do have some entertainment value with your crazy cb bs, you could maybe get your own section but please leave the tech stuff to those that know wtf they are talking about so we can all learn something factual and usefull.

Nothing against you Bob or Psycho , some are very much perfectionist in this hobby and some are not and that's perfectly fine with me. To a degree ,I often understand where Psycho comes from with his beliefs well at the same time I can understand where Bob is coming from with his facts as well as others. The right ways and the wrong ways of doing things are what they are , but 99% of the time both ways will work and get the job done , yes , one way is better then the other but it really doesn't change a thing. Folks around here whom don't have a problem wit hthe wrong ways have a way of opening themselves up to getting the right ways and why right in your face. Your not alone Psycho , it's either rocket science /Enstines theroy or it isn't. Yes ,I've had dozens of radios on freq when I got them , were they perfect ? I honestly doubt it , were they good enough and could get the job done ? Yes ! If you challange perfection with ballpark run of the mill wrong way idea's and actions we will basically lose every time somebody feels the need to explain why. You go Psycho ,if it works for you as well as others ,that's OK dude ,but as you always are challanged with your own personal beliefs you just keep on keep'in on.I personally think you understand a lot from reading your posts over time , you simply like what you like no matter what the rules and regulations say and as I said ,that's OK . IM personally not into perfection myself Psycho and just try not to fight what is right to very often because theres really no way of winning compared to what is wrong. If there was nothing wrong in the first place , these guys wouldn't have jobs to go to or they wouldn't be able to debate what was right and why. What goes around comes around. In the end , I can only hope we are all having fun with whatever it is we are doing right or wrong concerning these amps and radios we use. Your either a perfectionist or not. Peace

 

[W5LZ]

Both are important. If you start with junk, you end up with junk, unless you do a lot of work to it. You can 'improve' almost everything to some extent. The question is, is it worth it, really? Sorry, in most cases it isn't. Usually, if it is worth the effort of 'improving', you had junk to start with, sort of. There's gust a couple of 'grades' of CB radios, not much difference between any of them. Why? 'Cuz of the standards set by the regulating body controlling their use and sales. Face it, a CB radio is made for people who have no experience/knowledge of how they work or are best used, 'dumbed down' to the max. Considering the 'size' of the CB market, and considering the percentage of those in that market that ~really~ know what all that stuff does/is supposed to do, why would any manufacturer go to a lot of trouble to make a high quality product? That's affordable! Don't hold your breath.
'Who' works on your radio is just exactly like who works on your car/boat/plane/toilet. Ever look at the diplomas when you go to a doctor's office? Can't say I know what they are telling me in most cases, but if they ain't there, I ain't staying, you know? Education and experience count for a lot, especially the education. 'Eduction' is also gained by experience. Making mistakes is not exactly the best way of learning anything, too costly for everyone involved. I'm sure there are very good 'mechanics' who don't have a 'formal' education in fixing whatever they are working on. But there are limits to that 'good' in that respect, back to the costly thingy. Not sure I wanna contribute to that 'education'. I expect good work to not be cheap, in any way you want to think of that. I don't mind paying for good work. I don't much care for dealing with very 'picky' or particular workers, but I certainly will if they do good work. That's what makes most of them good, right?
How do you find a good technician? Good question! Same way you find a good car/boat/plane mechanic. (If you know a fool-proof way of doing that I wish you'd tell me! ).
- 'Doc

 

[Switch Kit]

Good post Doc . The wonderful thing about cb radio in so many ways for me is that "I don't talk to machines , I talk to people" and If I sounded that bad or my attitude was that of a mean disrespectful idiot , folks wouldn't be doing much talking to me in the first place and it wouldn't matter much to them how I sounded. I believe that most cb'ers wouldn't know what a truely picture perfect tuned radio would sound like in the first place , there ear holes are trained to hear what they hear and I would bet to say that most are far from perfect but if they heard a really bad one , they could tell. :? Some one said something about Cobra 150s and 200s , they came out and they had bugs in them , just like many others before them , Windows comes to mind :?(although not a radio) both these radios have gotten better over the years for what they are and in the beginning the company would fix them whatever the problems were. It's just not one person and or radio guru who came up with these fixes for these radios , it was a group of them over a period of time and the folks that bought them and used them. I certainly couldn't put one person alone on a pedestal for the upgrades on those radios. Same goes for many a Magnum/Galaxy/Ranger radio over the years. I still ,no matter what,take my hat off to Cobra for finally coming out with these radios. Especially the 200 GTL . Some times we just have to be the ginny pigs in the beginning. But like I said before , if your the perfectionist type ? Some things don't stand a chance with you's but if there's a will there can sometimes be a way. Patients and tolerance can go a long way at times. Peace

 

[DTB Radio]

I have the best sounding mobile in the area and the limiter has been clipped out of my Cobra 148. Sure a know nothing can foul up a radio by turning everything he can find.....but the tune up procedures for every radio are on the web.
Putting a CB radio on an O Scope is laughable but even more humorous are people that pay $50 for a tune up consisting of an alignment. Export and CB radios are on the mark out of the box as far as alignment goes and I have a big problem with paying someone $50 for 10 minutes of "work".
There are definately radios that will sound like crap with the limiters cut but the overwhelming majority sound just fine.......that is just scare tactic propaganda. I also have a General Lee with the limiter removed and it is just as loud and clear as my 148.

Psycho here obviously knows way more than all of the engineers that ever designed, built, serviced, etc any AM radio equipment ever built. They ALL disagree with him, so he has to be right.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

heres something funny.....he has a cobra 200 and supposedly a bird meter.....
http://reviews.cnet.com/radio-tuner...essageSiteID=9&messageID=2268563&cval=2268563
this guy says "On a Bird wattmeter I am gettting 50w on low power on AM, 150 on low on SSB and a whopping 430w on high power on SSB! Almost 100 on AM on high power"

i bet his tech has diamonds and saphires and rubys and pearls in the handle of his screwdriver .

 

[Butcher318]

I bet it came that way right out of the box too, or maybe he had one of those 10 minute tune-ups.

 

[King Mudduck]

here's something funny.....he has a cobra 200 and supposedly a bird meter.....
http://reviews.cnet.com/radio-tuner...essageSiteID=9&messageID=2268563&cval=2268563
this guy says "On a Bird watt meter I am getting 50w on low power on AM, 150 on low on SSB and a whopping 430w on high power on SSB! Almost 100 on AM on high power"

i bet his tech has diamonds and sapphires and ruby's and pearls in the handle of his screwdriver .

Maybe that's a cobra rep trying to drum up a little extra business or maybe he is reading that " bird meter " after sailing with Captain Morgan a little to long

 

[King Mudduck]

Limiter clipped = loud and clear audio???

Yeah maybe 20 miles away or with the mike gain turned half way down. I always got a kick out of hearing trucker's / cber's say that there radios had so much power they had to turn the mic gain way down so people could understand them......didnt even try an argue with them, i knew it would be a wast of time :roll:

 

[DTB Radio]

Limiter clipped = loud and clear audio???

Yeah maybe 20 miles away or with the mike gain turned half way down. I always got a kick out of hearing trucker's / cber's say that there radios had so much power they had to turn the mic gain way down so people could understand them......didnt even try an argue with them, i knew it would be a wast of time :roll:

Yup, I know exactly what you mean. I have the same basic attitude to a lot of posts on radio forums where the poster is saying the same thing.


As for the 200GTL doing 450 watts, I believe it. I saw one do 600 watts on my Bird! I'm joking of course.

 

[King Mudduck]

"As for the 200GTL doing 450 watts, I believe it. I saw one do 600 watts on my Bird! I'm joking of course."

Man if your getting 600 watts out of one you must have drivers lined up for blocks with cash in hand!

 

[freecell]

disabling the AMC is not a tune up procedure.
warning someone against disabling the AMC is
not scare tactic propaganda.

a small sample of the signal is fed back to the gain
controlled audio amplifier in the early stages of the
input chain to prevent overmodulation on voice peaks
and adjacent channel interference while providing
(increased intelligibility) low levels of audio compression.

in the event that the sample exceeds the baseline
established by the variable resistor the dc control
voltage reduces the input to the gain controlled audio
amplifier. by the same process, if the sample is below
the baseline the dc control voltage is such that the
input to the gain controlled amplifier is increased and
all of this is done automatically the entire time the
transmitter is being modulated.

the circuit operates in much the same way as the
receiver AGC. low input, amplification is increased,
high input, amplification is decreased.

in the case of AMC, disabling it DECREASES the
average amplitude of the modulated waveform (bad)
relative to the PEAK levels. with the AMC active and
properly adjusted the average amplitude of the
modulated waveform (good) is noticably higher when
referenced to those same PEAK levels.

 

[bigred222]

I think i has a lot more to do with the person who tuned it.