Suggestions on who to tune my Galaxy 98VHP

[BooDaddy]

Guys, I really hate to revive this thread, but I wanted to post here cause im pretty darned stoked...

I put the radio on the bench tonight.... and tuned it. DANG did that make a difference.

I used this for my reference:
http://cbtricks.com/radios/galaxy/dx98vhp/dx98vhp_trans_adj.htm

I skipped the first 3 sections for now about adjusting oscillators and bias and such, as I dont yet have a freq counter...I am assuming those are pretty good from factory.

I did however do the rest mentioned in that link. I adjusted the RF amp chain slowly till i peaked the meter (advance till lost power then back to peak) on each of the 4 pots.
Then I set the Max power carrier at 65watts and min carrier at 10 watts.

Then I set the AMC... I dont have a tone generator yet, and my computer isnt in the garage, so I couldnt do a 1kHz tone, but I did the ole whistle and AUDIO... (I know... but its all i had).

On high power, I got a 65watt carrier and my Dosy 4002-PSW shown a 190 when on the 200 watt setting and it looked like it was showing about a 210 when on the 2000 watt settting.
By the time I was done, I had my AMC pot maxed out, so I am not getting a perfect 4:1, and i dont really trust the mod meter on the dosy.
It looks as if I am getting about a 3.4:1 for modulation.

HEres the odd thing.... when I had the radio on low power, i would get a 10 watt carrier, but it would swing to 150 whem modulated.

I noticed the talkback is ALOT louder know, and it is actually usuable!! Before the tune, the talkback was hard to hear at even the max level setting.

Any suggestions, and does this all sound right?

 

[freecell]

65W is too much carrier.

 

[4600turbo]

like the old saying goes, ""If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit"....

http://www.firecommunications.com/trdbase/2sc2879.pdf

Personal experience with freecell. [deleted]

Way to go freecell, brilliant. I've been dazzled.

LOL he set his radio up just about the way I explained it. when I mentioned cbtricks.com.

all excepted the 10 watts on low. Personally I think your would enjoy your radio at 25watts a lot more, because you will find that 10watts to 150watts swing is quite of bit of modulation and it may sound a bit distorted. The swing will not come down much lower, because there is no separate adjustment you can do for low and high modulation other than setting the modulation for high or for the low.

I would set the modulation on high to read 100%. Then leave low where ever it will falls.

Just like you have experienced. 10watts dk to 150watts swing, but I wouldn't run it at 10watts dk.

If your going to use this radio as a base station I agree with most of the techs on this forum. You should run a clean station, so you won't have any problems with your neighbors.

But if your on a mobile. Well, your constantly on the move and disturbing the neighbors won't be that much of a problem. A Class C amp is the way to go for "AM operation only".
I'm a supporter of Class C amps because I know how they sound and get out. Much better than any T/S I've ever owned.

When going down the road even a 4 watt radio bleeds over.

Don't be dazzled by the brilliance of freecell. Most of his rhetoric baffles and dazzles you but it doesn't amount to much when your radio sounds like... well you know. "Bullshit"


For the Moderators: This post isn't any worst than calling my advice "stupid".

 

[BooDaddy]

Well honestly I set my radio to CBtricks.com because it is a good source of info. Now, I am planning to run the radio at about 6 watts carrier on low once i get my TS next month. I realize now, that 65x4=260 which is way to high. The safe level would be 220PEP max on the 98VHP, which would equarte to a 55w carrier.

The radio does good and doesnt get hot even on long keys now though. I am going to do some more fine tuning, once i get a freq counter and tone generator. I also need a better dummy load... I cant use my dummy load with this radio... its only good to about 100 watts..

I am looking at a nice 1.5Kw dummy load on ebay.. its a heathkit. I plan on pickuing up a a freq counter and tone generator before i install the TS.

Freecel has given me a lot of good info. He isnt all dazzle, he has posted alot of real info and spec sheets.

 

[4600turbo]

Well honestly I set my radio to CBtricks.com because it is a good source of info. Now, I am planning to run the radio at about 6 watts carrier on low once i get my TS next month. I realize now, that 65x4=260 which is way to high. The safe level would be 220PEP max on the 98VHP, which would equarte to a 55w carrier.

The radio does good and doesnt get hot even on long keys now though. I am going to do some more fine tuning, once i get a freq counter and tone generator. I also need a better dummy load... I cant use my dummy load with this radio... its only good to about 100 watts..

I am looking at a nice 1.5Kw dummy load on ebay.. its a heathkit. I plan on pickuing up a a freq counter and tone generator before i install the TS.

Freecel has given me a lot of good info. He isnt all dazzle, he has posted alot of real info and spec sheets.

Where do you think I got all the info. on your radio and mine, and the info I gave you was The same. All except for the 10 watts low dk. From personal experience with the radio It sound better at 25 watts low dk.

I own a 98vhp that does 600watts. I set it up.

Yes freecell does know how to dazzle you with all his information overload but when it comes down to it and your radio sound poor. Then all that information is moot.

It's all right, I don't mind being chastised on this forum for the way I set my radios up. I don't cut limiters and I set the radio to sound the best according to what I like. Not way some cb shop tech that thinks It would sound soooo clean this way and if you ever heard my radio you would agree; It's a great sounding radio.

Honestly, CBTRICKS.com is a great site with a lot of information. Even a layman can use effectively.

Good luck with your setup.




Still the original owner of the biggest Galaxy Radio in the World!

 

[freecell]

"....10watts dk to 150watts swing."

which represents a 15:1 peak-to-carrier ratio, pure amplitude distortion.
that's not an am signal, it's double sideband with suppressed carrier, not
to mention the fact that 150W is overly excessive drive for 4 or 8X
2SC2879's. an am signal modulated to just at or under 100% mod index
contains no more than a total of 6db. in both upper and lower sidebands
combined. if the carrier level is 10W then 10 + 3db. = 20W and an
additional 3db. = 40W or a peak-to-carrier ratio of 4:1, period.

 

[Switch Kit]

Well turbo , I hear where your coming from dude , I've been dirty all my life , it works for what it is. Freecell KNOWS what he's talking about here. And just over the last few years or so , IM learning just what clean well alighned signals are all about , THEY WORK ! and they work better then I ever personally had the knowledge to know about , these guys that know can either get deep into explaining it or keep it simple for the simple minded like myself , The guys that know , tend to have a better then thou attitude about it (it's just there ways I suppose ? ) but not all of them. I've learned that clean talks further then dirty , it's hard for me to explain , but I've heard it ,over and over again . I know a dude that talks on a Grant XL on AM , the radio is perfectly alighned and tuned NO POWER ! He uses a Sigma 4 antenna with LMR 400 (about 30 ft of it from antenna to radio) and this thing is on a 20 foot push up , thats it ! I here this dude 30 miles away with a 2 S-unit carrier with what I would say ,more like a 7-S-Units of clean audio !! that's also through foothills and the big city .

I've learned about dirt in and dirt out and that it's just a waste of a good thing (power going the wrong way) , (to a degree anyway) that's what I meant by saying I understand where your coming from Turbo. IM a cap and resistor guy from way back , I just like the so called dirty performance I get out of them , and those fake numbers I get to read on the meters (don't tell nobody ) they are what they are and I will still call them as I see them. My bad , I suppose. IM just old school cb radio. You can blame it on the rain if you want to.

Hard to teach an old dog new tricks , BUT ! This clean stuff really works well and better then I ever knew it would ! (oops ! I think I said that already) but common sence tells me , why would I want to waste my power on other channels when I could be using all that I can on the given frequancy that IM on the clean way ? You know trubo , that old saying if your not bleeding 10 channels both ways your not getting out ! , OK OK OK ALREADY !! If they only knew the truth , you would think they all would want to change there dirty ways huh ? NOPE ! for some odd reason , it just doesn't seem to work that way. Go figure ?

How come I like caps and resistors and NPC
mods ? because they make me louder and they swing the amps really nice like , auh yes ! those wonderful peppy numbers on the meters :drool: and then you somehow found out it's all a lie after years and years of all those lies ! What's a guy to do ? Well ? in so many cases , as well as my own , nothing . If it has worked for me this long it will continue to work for me even longer. Dont' get me wrong here Turbo , I've ran clean radios in my time , IM more so dirty , when it comes to amps in my mobiles. Although I've gotten a better understanding of all of this. Guy's like Freecell pretty much know what there talking about.Attitudes or not. This is just one time where going against the grain of the truth just doesn't seem to bother me that much. But IM guilty all the same of living and operating a lie ......so to speak.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it worked like shit (although it does in many minds) then I would truly feel the need to fix it , but IM of the old
adage that .......if it works , don't fix it.

 

[4600turbo]

Well turbo , I hear where your coming from dude , I've been dirty all my life , it works for what it is. Freecell KNOWS what he's talking about here. And just over the last few years or so , IM learning just what clean well alighned signals are all about , THEY WORK ! and they work better then I ever personally had the knowledge to know about , these guys that know can either get deep into explaining it or keep it simple for the simple minded like myself , The guys that know , tend to have a better then thou attitude about it (it's just there ways I suppose ? ) but not all of them. I've learned that clean talks further then dirty , it's hard for me to explain , but I've heard it ,over and over again . I know a dude that talks on a Grant XL on AM , the radio is perfectly alighned and tuned NO POWER ! He uses a Sigma 4 antenna with LMR 400 (about 30 ft of it from antenna to radio) and this thing is on a 20 foot push up , thats it ! I here this dude 30 miles away with a 2 S-unit carrier with what I would say ,more like a 7-S-Units of clean audio !! that's also through foothills and the big city .

I've learned about dirt in and dirt out and that it's just a waste of a good thing (power going the wrong way) , (to a degree anyway) that's what I meant by saying I understand where your coming from Turbo. IM a cap and resistor guy from way back , I just like the so called dirty performance I get out of them , and those fake numbers I get to read on the meters (don't tell nobody ) they are what they are and I will still call them as I see them. My bad , I suppose. IM just old school cb radio. You can blame it on the rain if you want to.

Hard to teach an old dog new tricks , BUT ! This clean stuff really works well and better then I ever knew it would ! (oops ! I think I said that already) but common sence tells me , why would I want to waste my power on other channels when I could be using all that I can on the given frequancy that IM on the clean way ? You know trubo , that old saying if your not bleeding 10 channels both ways your not getting out ! , OK OK OK ALREADY !! If they only knew the truth , you would think they all would want to change there dirty ways huh ? NOPE ! for some odd reason , it just doesn't seem to work that way. Go figure ?

How come I like caps and resistors and NPC
mods ? because they make me louder and they swing the amps really nice like , auh yes ! those wonderful peppy numbers on the meters :drool: and then you somehow found out it's all a lie after years and years of all those lies ! What's a guy to do ? Well ? in so many cases , as well as my own , nothing . If it has worked for me this long it will continue to work for me even longer. Dont' get me wrong here Turbo , I've ran clean radios in my time , IM more so dirty , when it comes to amps in my mobiles. Although I've gotten a better understanding of all of this. Guy's like Freecell pretty much know what there talking about.Attitudes or not. This is just one time where going against the grain of the truth just doesn't seem to bother me that much. But IM guilty all the same of living and operating a lie ......so to speak.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it worked like shit (although it does in many minds) then I would truly feel the need to fix it , but IM of the old
adage that .......if it works , don't fix it.[/QUOTE







Nicely put Switch Kit. I'm not against clean as far as a clean signal meaning less bleedover , and having all your signal on frequency, but I do like a loud sounding radio that gets out. If that means that I have to get an amp that might not be as clean persay. Then so be it. I've had many Texas Star amps. They do a good job for the type of amp it is and they sound good if you set your radio input for those amp properly. like 2-4 watts input for most of the Texas Star amps. The DX1600 for what it is can take more input than most Texas Stars. If it's the one I'm think of. It's the one without the driver. You need more input to drive it correctly ; not 4 watts.

I've been down the road to the chop shops and had them cut limiters and put swing kits in many of my radios, and I do agree with a lot of freecells advice. I just don't see wasting a good radio by turning it down so much that you couldn't use it without the amp you just tuned it for. If you want a clean setup with a Texas Star amp. by a radio that you don't have to turn down so much, or buy and amp that will work with your radio. Plain and simple.

I know Class C amps get a bad rap, because they're splatter boxes but they perform better than the AB in a lot of ways. They don't require as much amps to get the same performance and you can drive them harder and they sound good. Not clean, they splatter all over the place,and if your in a mobile it not much of problem , but if you can hear them 15 to 20 miles farther than a clean amp what would you do. :0 It's just fun.

I have nothing against Texas Stars, clean radios,clean amps, but freecell well...[personal experience deleted.] Well...let just say he's brilliant,dazzling and baffling all at the same time, but the holier than thou attitude has got to go for gawd sakes. It's a CB radio not broadcast station. Have fun with it, and if you can get a loud clean signal go for it, but if not Dirty is the way to go.

 

[freecell]

"I just don't see wasting a good radio by turning it down so much that you couldn't use it without the amp you just tuned it for."

don't buy a radio with a transmitter that produces over 5 times more power output than it takes to drive the amp you've selected and don't worry about it. 200W is enough drive to produce rated power (100WPEP) from each of 40X2SC2879's. that's 200W in for 4000W out. the DX1600 uses 8 of them. which part of that don't you get?

 

[BooDaddy]

You also got to remember Turbo, I dont plan on running the amp all the time. So Im not really "wasting" my radio.

Once I get my DX1600, i am going to adjust my low power setting to around 6 watts or so, and possibly put in a 3db pad (whichever turns out to be better).

But, when I am not running the amp, I plan on cranking the old 98VHP to its max 200 watts and using it talk locally.

So really, I should have a pretty versatile combo. The 98 would be perfect to drive the DX1600 when I have it on low power. But I can still use the radio at full power "barefoot" without the amp.

Besides, I am a huge fan of Galaxy and I dont think I would have been happy with any other radio I just havent found a radio that has the sound of a Galaxy or the features. Just my personal preference

 

[freecell]

"I just don't see wasting a good radio by turning it down so much that you couldn't use it without the amp you just tuned it for."

and i don't see the sense in wasting a good amplifier by slamming 4 - 5+ times more drive into it than the number and type of transistors used were designed for, regardless of amplifier operating class.

 

[4600turbo]

"I just don't see wasting a good radio by turning it down so much that you couldn't use it without the amp you just tuned it for."

and i don't see the sense in wasting a good amplifier by slamming 4 - 5+ times more drive into it than the number and type of transistors used were designed for, regardless of amplifier operating class.

Exactly, buy a smaller radio. Don't waste the 98vhp on a de-tune.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

the amp should last much longer and sound better under driving that 98v radio into it then trying to get the most out of the radio and overdriving the amp . basicaly you have 2 sides of a coin here and a proponent of each side . do you want a properly driven set up or do you want just want to be loud and dont care about distortion in your signal or having folks several channels away hunting down the channel youre on to complain about you wiping out their ears ? i doubt anyone on the recieving ean could tell the difference between you dead keying 250 and modulating 1000 vs dead keying 350 watts swinging 1400 watts . the gain from wattage is not linear in amps on the recieving end . if your doing 250 to 1000 to gain one more s-unit (from power increase alone) youd have to go to dk 1000 and modulating 4000 . an big big jump in system cost but by no means a big jump on the recieving end . why prematurely kill good equipment trying to push it to the limits when the only resulting difference will be increased distortion in the signal and bleed over ?

this thread is actually a great example of why i dont like high powered radios to start with . its too expensive/difficult to add a amp to them properly without going huge...and then you gotta upgrade the 12 volt to feed it . of course you can turn the radio down (as freecell recomended) but tyou wasted the extra $100-$300 the high powered radio cost over the standard powered version . everybody likes different things though .

maybe im an butt hole , but when i am annoyed by someone bleeding on me from several channels away after several mins i will find them . if they are already fussing/cussing at someone whos said something about their crappy splatter signal ill just plug their ears with my lil 2 pill . if they dont care if others hear they get the same back from me . just because i cant key over them dont mean i cant make their big splatter box a waste . you can have 1,000,000 watts but if you cant hear who youre trying to talk to it doesnt mean a thing .

 

[4600turbo]

You also got to remember Turbo, I dont plan on running the amp all the time. So Im not really "wasting" my radio.

Once I get my DX1600, i am going to adjust my low power setting to around 6 watts or so, and possibly put in a 3db pad (whichever turns out to be better).

But, when I am not running the amp, I plan on cranking the old 98VHP to its max 200 watts and using it talk locally.

So really, I should have a pretty versatile combo. The 98 would be perfect to drive the DX1600 when I have it on low power. But I can still use the radio at full power "barefoot" without the amp.

Besides, I am a huge fan of Galaxy and I dont think I would have been happy with any other radio I just havent found a radio that has the sound of a Galaxy or the features. Just my personal preference

I'll be very surprised you can get the 98vhp down to 6watts dk and 30watts PEP on low and
the 65watts dk to 240watts on high, But good luck. I hope it works for you.


Instead of de-tuning your radio. Upgrade it to 600watts PEP. The difference you'll see with the DX1600 won't be much. that's for sure after you de-tune it to 6 watts.

What did "freecell" say it was going to do 800-850watts PEP. You wouldn't even see a 1s unit change and it would cost you less. just my humble opinion.

Plus you wouldn't even have to tune it for an amp and all the extra gear that comes along with that.


Still the original owner of the Biggest Galaxy in the World!
600watts.

 

[freecell]

" Instead of de-tuning your radio........"

3-6db. of padding* at the onboard amplifier input requires no de-tuning.

" I'll be very surprised you can get the 98vhp down to 6watts dk and 30watts PEP on low and the 65watts dk to 240watts on high."

pad switched in <5-30 w/ rf power fully ccw, pad switched out 50 - 200 w/ rf power fully cw.
piece of cake. that's just ONE way* that it can be done.