Well folks, my Stryker SR-497 HPC arrived a few days ago.
This radio has certainly raised my eyebrows on more that one occasion so far. I thought I would share a few photos as well as some info that may help anyone who may have questions about this unit.
One of the first things that led me to the purchase of this radio was the simplicity of the controls. All of the pot switches are double and combined with a well thought out companion control.
Pretty basic!
I'm also a fan of large, easy to read meters. (The eyes certainly aren't seeing as clearly these days)
The mic wiring is labeled right on the face plate.
Although I do fined it rather crowded to thread the mic nut on.
The color button allows you a choice of seven different colors as well as dimming and TX meter colors. Even the channel digits correspond with your preferred choice.
The inside of this radio will most likely pose difficulty to the amateur do it yourselfer!
With the exception of the tuning coils. The capacitors and the VR pots, the surface mount components are not going to be easy without the proper soldering equipment, along will soldering skills.
One nice feature about the board is that all of the VR pots are clearly labeled as to their adjustments.
Alignment info on this radio is very scarce as of now.
The good news is..... This thing is pretty much blowing smoke, right out of the box. (More on that later)
Tired of thin foil traces that seperate from the board with only one or two desolderings??
Me too! I don't think that will be the case here. (If you find the courage to start altering this board)
Again... Pretty plain and simple layout.
The radio comes fitted with 4 mosfets that truly live up to there output capabilities.
They are also completely shielded so there should be any unwanted RF floating around the board.
The heat seems to be managed very affectively with the 1/4in thick aluminum heatsink on the inside, and a very generous finned sink on the outside.
The radio also features a fully automatic fan, blowing directly on the finals every time the key is dropped.
It also cycles after shutdown and I must say......you cannot here this fan running.
This particular radio came out of the box, went to the bench and was put thru some tests, just to see how well the factory did their part.
I was NOT disappointed.
Low power was set at 3w and high power was at 60w.
Frequency was spot on and the conversion is a 3 second snap. (Lift JP104 off of its single post, and slide it back down over the double posts. DONE!
I carefully marked the VR pots with a fine tipped pen just for caution and this is what I found.
Modulation was already maxed even tho the pot had more travel. The slightest touch caused the mod to flat top instantly on high power with the mic gain turned up full.
Of course I had my eye on the high output pot, but I soon remembered, this wasn't the purpose here.
Max pep from a 60 watt dead key was just over 110 watts.
I know there are guys thinking that the percentage is way off from the 4:1 here.
Those guys are correct. My only thinking is this radio would most likely drive virtually any amp out there with this range of setting.
Anyways...... I had to try the high power pot! I just had to!
Moving the pot the thickness of my reference mark yielded 130w pep.
Looking at the modulation on the scope still showed no sign of clipping or flat topping.
I'm sure that VR has quite a few more watts hiding behind it. (Just guessing, I'd say probably pushing close to 200.
Even tho heat was never an issue for me, as I kept a close eye on it, remember.....4 mosfets at 25w ea = 100 SAFE watts.
I left mine at the 130 mark and set my dead key at 30.
It would be nice to have the alignment info, just to see what else may be hiding in this unit. But for now, I'm very pleased with all aspects of the radio. Just as it came to me. YMMV.
So there ya have it my friends.
Just a little insight to share along with some photos that may help someone at one point or another.
I'll post the thumbs at the bottom here so they will be easy access to anyone who needs.
Stryker was also kind enough to include a full scale schematic as well as a full scale board layout in the box also.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Joel
This radio has certainly raised my eyebrows on more that one occasion so far. I thought I would share a few photos as well as some info that may help anyone who may have questions about this unit.
One of the first things that led me to the purchase of this radio was the simplicity of the controls. All of the pot switches are double and combined with a well thought out companion control.
Pretty basic!
I'm also a fan of large, easy to read meters. (The eyes certainly aren't seeing as clearly these days)
The mic wiring is labeled right on the face plate.
Although I do fined it rather crowded to thread the mic nut on.
The color button allows you a choice of seven different colors as well as dimming and TX meter colors. Even the channel digits correspond with your preferred choice.
The inside of this radio will most likely pose difficulty to the amateur do it yourselfer!
With the exception of the tuning coils. The capacitors and the VR pots, the surface mount components are not going to be easy without the proper soldering equipment, along will soldering skills.
One nice feature about the board is that all of the VR pots are clearly labeled as to their adjustments.
Alignment info on this radio is very scarce as of now.
The good news is..... This thing is pretty much blowing smoke, right out of the box. (More on that later)
Tired of thin foil traces that seperate from the board with only one or two desolderings??
Me too! I don't think that will be the case here. (If you find the courage to start altering this board)
Again... Pretty plain and simple layout.
The radio comes fitted with 4 mosfets that truly live up to there output capabilities.
They are also completely shielded so there should be any unwanted RF floating around the board.
The heat seems to be managed very affectively with the 1/4in thick aluminum heatsink on the inside, and a very generous finned sink on the outside.
The radio also features a fully automatic fan, blowing directly on the finals every time the key is dropped.
It also cycles after shutdown and I must say......you cannot here this fan running.
This particular radio came out of the box, went to the bench and was put thru some tests, just to see how well the factory did their part.
I was NOT disappointed.
Low power was set at 3w and high power was at 60w.
Frequency was spot on and the conversion is a 3 second snap. (Lift JP104 off of its single post, and slide it back down over the double posts. DONE!
I carefully marked the VR pots with a fine tipped pen just for caution and this is what I found.
Modulation was already maxed even tho the pot had more travel. The slightest touch caused the mod to flat top instantly on high power with the mic gain turned up full.
Of course I had my eye on the high output pot, but I soon remembered, this wasn't the purpose here.
Max pep from a 60 watt dead key was just over 110 watts.
I know there are guys thinking that the percentage is way off from the 4:1 here.
Those guys are correct. My only thinking is this radio would most likely drive virtually any amp out there with this range of setting.
Anyways...... I had to try the high power pot! I just had to!
Moving the pot the thickness of my reference mark yielded 130w pep.
Looking at the modulation on the scope still showed no sign of clipping or flat topping.
I'm sure that VR has quite a few more watts hiding behind it. (Just guessing, I'd say probably pushing close to 200.
Even tho heat was never an issue for me, as I kept a close eye on it, remember.....4 mosfets at 25w ea = 100 SAFE watts.
I left mine at the 130 mark and set my dead key at 30.
It would be nice to have the alignment info, just to see what else may be hiding in this unit. But for now, I'm very pleased with all aspects of the radio. Just as it came to me. YMMV.
So there ya have it my friends.
Just a little insight to share along with some photos that may help someone at one point or another.
I'll post the thumbs at the bottom here so they will be easy access to anyone who needs.
Stryker was also kind enough to include a full scale schematic as well as a full scale board layout in the box also.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Joel
