Stryker 955 V2 Woes

[Greg T]

Well, my hot 955 v2 is going in for surgery. Was talking as usual and working fine until it wasn't. Power dropped out, very low. About 35 pep full bore and about 10 W AM carrier. I know it wasn't my fault, as even tho it has the huge finals, I never run the AM more than a 10W carrier and never run SSB over 50 pep. Also have two 2" fans running all the time mounted to the heatsink. So, something just went fishy. I filled out the RMA form and submitted all the appropriate files, including the replacement radio letter I got the first time. We'll see what happens.

 

[Eldorado828]

I remember they did you a mosfet swap.

It's those mosfets, they haven't done ranger much good either. The IRFZ24N or ranger rebadges them as rt1 just haven't had much success in the longevity department.

Just my opinion but I'd have them go back with 520's as they seem to work well in all the others that share that main pcb.

 

[Greg T]

I remember they did you a mosfet swap.

It's those mosfets, they haven't done ranger much good either. The IRFZ24N or ranger rebadges them as rt1 just haven't had much success in the longevity department.

Just my opinion but I'd have them go back with 520's as they seem to work well in all the others that share that main pcb.

I'm sure I'll get an update when they figure it out. They'd better not give me any shit about it being modified. But, one would think those mosfets would be fine just loafing.

 

[Prof. Base]

Well that sucks. Hope they figure it out.

 

[9C1Driver]

I remember they did you a mosfet swap.

It's those mosfets, they haven't done ranger much good either. The IRFZ24N or ranger rebadges them as rt1 just haven't had much success in the longevity department.

Just my opinion but I'd have them go back with 520's as they seem to work well in all the others that share that main pcb.

I agree. Most of the time a radio does not need excessive mods to sound and work good. Greg I hope you can get it fixed. I remember when you first posted about this new radio you got and the final swap/mods that were done. I had hopes that it would last. I hope the mods don't void your warranty.

 

[Greg T]

I agree. Most of the time a radio does not need excessive mods to sound and work good. Greg I hope you can get it fixed. I remember when you first posted about this new radio you got and the final swap/mods that were done. I had hopes that it would last. I hope the mods don't void your warranty.

They will have a lawsuit if they won't honor it. I didn't ask for any mods. Shawn offered me a radio with bigger finals to replace my first warranty claim. My guess is that they didn't have any radios in stock so he pulled one from another dealer to ship to me. That radio is as I received it from Stryker.

 

[9C1Driver]

Oh I see, I thought you bought it from a shop that did a mod package to it. I'm sure they will take care of it then. Years ago Jim at Key CB in Warren,IN was the warranty repair shop for Stryker. It's some place else now since Key cb is closed. He was messing with and testing 955's a year before they came out back then. The good recent old days.

 

[Onelasttime]

Well non-rf mosfets suck for making rf and are not tolerant of anything. As they get hot they creep all over the place with power output, with stability, and their swr's change under load really really quickly under load as freq. and temp climbs.

The trick is turning the power down to 1/3 what the factory rated them at. Keeping them cool and not getting too long winded.

I have considered looking at the schematic for the old bipolar 2SC1969 Magnum's and redoing my Yeticom Optima MkIII with bipolars since I do mave 1 matched pair of 1969's and 1 matched pair of 2166's purchased from rfparts a decade ago.

non-rf mosfets in rf amplifier circuits are nothing but trouble and not at all reliable! They are like fools gold! Not a single radio or amplifier that uses them for rf multiplication has any reliability or durability and I doubt they ever will!!!

 

[Onelasttime]

Terrible you are having all these issues. I apologize for giving you hard time before. I thought you modified the radio with larger finals for more power. I am sorry.

I will say this though. I heavily modified my RCI2950. I never modified it for more power. As I upgraded components I kept the power output at factory levels. My goal was to gain enhanced durability and stability.

I think that if people would turn the rf output power down to 12 O'Clock or lower a lot of these issues could be prevented. Maybe "prevented" is the wrong word but it could prolong their life. No one drives their car or truck around at redline.

Less built in power and more bipolar external amps even HG's as I understand it can live a longer life than non-rf mosfets in rf amplifier use. This assumes though that the person running the external amp is not going to run a splatter box into it or over drive it or over volt it! I know I am wasting my breath telling people on this sight not to buy the 10M Export Radio with 100, 200, 400, 600 watts of power built in with cheap mosfets for use on CB but I am saying it again any ways!

None of these radio's have enough heat sink to actually get rid of the heat them make at factory levels and they are even worse once "technicians" get into them and start cranking them up them up to stupid levels like "11" aka Spinal Tap level. It is then in the hands of the owner to know that they should run them with the RF power knob set no higher than 12 O'Clock especially on AM.

Once you get to 100 watts nothing else really mattes until you get to what 500w or 600 watts??? So 140w or 150w is just stupid to no end at that point. It would be like taking an engine to 7000rpms if it has nothing else to give past 5400rpms it is an exercise in stupidity at that point. This is not aimed at anyone person either.

We see nothing but issues out of these "export radio's" especialy once they have been "tuned up" past OEM specified power output. This is nothing new but it is insanely common once bipolars went away and the mosfet's came to town! Even from the factory often the bias is not set right on these!

 

[Greg T]

Terrible you are having all these issues. I apologize for giving you hard time before. I thought you modified the radio with larger finals for more power. I am sorry.

I will say this though. I heavily modified my RCI2950. I never modified it for more power. As I upgraded components I kept the power output at factory levels. My goal was to gain enhanced durability and stability.

I think that if people would turn the rf output power down to 12 O'Clock or lower a lot of these issues could be prevented. Maybe "prevented" is the wrong word but it could prolong their life. No one drives their car or truck around at redline.

Less built in power and more bipolar external amps even HG's as I understand it can live a longer life than non-rf mosfets in rf amplifier use. This assumes though that the person running the external amp is not going to run a splatter box into it or over drive it or over volt it! I know I am wasting my breath telling people on this sight not to buy the 10M Export Radio with 100, 200, 400, 600 watts of power built in with cheap mosfets for use on CB but I am saying it again any ways!

None of these radio's have enough heat sink to actually get rid of the heat them make at factory levels and they are even worse once "technicians" get into them and start cranking them up them up to stupid levels like "11" aka Spinal Tap level. It is then in the hands of the owner to know that they should run them with the RF power knob set no higher than 12 O'Clock especially on AM.

Once you get to 100 watts nothing else really mattes until you get to what 500w or 600 watts??? So 140w or 150w is just stupid to no end at that point. It would be like taking an engine to 7000rpms if it has nothing else to give past 5400rpms it is an exercise in stupidity at that point. This is not aimed at anyone person either.

We see nothing but issues out of these "export radio's" especialy once they have been "tuned up" past OEM specified power output. This is nothing new but it is insanely common once bipolars went away and the mosfet's came to town! Even from the factory often the bias is not set right on these!

No harm done. My skin is thicker than that!! LOL .. But, here is how the radio is set up. I always set my radios for max output and modulation on the inside so I have the ability to control everything from the face. This method has served me well since I learned how in the 60s. On the Stryker, I had dual fans mounted on the HS that ran 100%, and even though the radio was capable of about 150W pep, I never ran over 40W. My AM carrier was set at about 8w, I think. If I needed more I would flip the amp on. I ALWAYS kept it at 40W so I could just flip the amp on without readjusting everything. Never beat it up, overheated, etc. In fact, I always received accolades for having and extremely good sounding station. No distortion, always clean, crisp and intelligible. As I said earlier, I was talking, it was working, then the power just dropped off. In fact, I tested AM and there was no carrier, no output until I modulated. I could get 8 or 10 W carrier IF I cranked the
RF power all the way up. I knew right there something popped.