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Tax refund dreams RCI 69FFB4 or RCI 2970N4 ?
- Thread starter CB590
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If that's the case there is absolutely no way I would run an amp in the radio. I'm sure you could find room for an external amp, and there is no logical reason not to run a divorced setup.
My issue is height allowance and a tree i can't trim back to go with the Imax 2000.. (mobile park hoa)
Absolute waste of money spending that kind of cash on those type of rigs.
I would go with an external amp, four 2879's inside the case of the radio seems like trouble to me.
For sure all of that Heat will be the death of the radio in short time. A failure is just a key down away & all that money will be long gone. The design of those High Power rigs have serious issues & you are far better off with a separate radio & amplifier combination. That combination will last & the high power radio will be a puff of smoke in no time & you will have a heavy paper weight & a lot of regrets. Those rigs are a whole lot of Hype but in reality a terrible investment.
SIX-SHOOTER
Are you wanting to just run this on the Cb band?
My view is a
External Amp preferred because heat is a enemy of all electronics.
More heat in the chassis of the radio is just more wear and tear. More temp swings introduces more drift problems.
Do you have enough power supply to run 4 2879 in a amp or will you need more power supply?
All things to think about.
If Cb is you goal and you have a good working 148 and a good working 2 2879 amp already , your money would best be spent on your antenna system.
But if you are totally stuck with the A 99 I understand that.
Sell the 350 and put that money into a 4 2879 amp , If you have a big enough power supply to run it...... If you don't.....
Then it is more money on a power supply.
Personally I would not throw down that kind of money on one of those radios....just to much heat for a small package.
Look at the heat sink on a TS 500 and then the heat sink on the bottom of the radios in question. Now if you had room to put up a yagi you would see results that would put a smile on. Your face.
I hate it when money is burning holes in my pockets too.
If you just have to have one of the 2, I would pick the 2970. The 6900 chassis is a know drifter for SSB work.
If you just have to.
One more thing to add confusion. If Dx on the Cb band is what you are chasing when the band is open often you do not need 400 watts to talk 1/2 way around the world.
I would keep thinking about it a bit.
73
Jeff
My view is a
External Amp preferred because heat is a enemy of all electronics.
More heat in the chassis of the radio is just more wear and tear. More temp swings introduces more drift problems.
Do you have enough power supply to run 4 2879 in a amp or will you need more power supply?
All things to think about.
If Cb is you goal and you have a good working 148 and a good working 2 2879 amp already , your money would best be spent on your antenna system.
But if you are totally stuck with the A 99 I understand that.
Sell the 350 and put that money into a 4 2879 amp , If you have a big enough power supply to run it...... If you don't.....
Then it is more money on a power supply.
Personally I would not throw down that kind of money on one of those radios....just to much heat for a small package.
Look at the heat sink on a TS 500 and then the heat sink on the bottom of the radios in question. Now if you had room to put up a yagi you would see results that would put a smile on. Your face.
I hate it when money is burning holes in my pockets too.
If you just have to have one of the 2, I would pick the 2970. The 6900 chassis is a know drifter for SSB work.
If you just have to.
One more thing to add confusion. If Dx on the Cb band is what you are chasing when the band is open often you do not need 400 watts to talk 1/2 way around the world.
I would keep thinking about it a bit.
73
Jeff
PA770,
You're in somewhat of a tough spot. being in a MHP means that your neighbors are all right next to you, and there is a good chance that more than a few of them have sub-par electrical systems and cheap surround sound systems and the like.
adding an amplifier to your setup might be a recipe for disaster!
I'm not talking about splatterboxes, or harmonics that can be cleaned up with a low pass filter, i am talking about straight up RF overload, and unless you have been running the same amount of power without issue, then you have no idea what is going to happen when you make the jump from 20 watts to 200 watts or more.
Normally, when issues like this pop up, the standard advice is to get your antenna higher in the air and move it further from the offended neighbor's property.
It sounds like neither of those options will be open to you because of the restrictions and proximity.
Your best bet would be to borrow an amp from someone for a week or so, and see what kind of trouble you cause with it.
If your antenna is visible to your neighbors and no one knocks on your door after a solid week of talking on it, then you might be in the clear.
my concern is that you'll end up with an amp that you'll be forced to sell and take a loss on it.
trust me, i am just like all other CB heads and love to add to my station, but your money might be better spent on a nice used amateur radio that will put out a VERY clean 100 watts on SSB, and a 20 watt carrier on AM. the great thing about this is that if you are overloading someone's electronics, you can lower the power to the point where it doesn't mess with them.
the added bonus to this option is that you have also purchased a shortwave radio and can now listen to international broadcasters and hams all over the world.
you can't get in trouble for listening!
you can get a yaesu FT-847 or something similar for around 400 bucks.
as far as bang for the buck goes, raising your antenna another 20 feet in the air from wherever it is now is going to make a big difference in your transmit and receive.
I know you said that it's not possible, but i had to put it out there anyway.
good luck!
LC
You're in somewhat of a tough spot. being in a MHP means that your neighbors are all right next to you, and there is a good chance that more than a few of them have sub-par electrical systems and cheap surround sound systems and the like.
adding an amplifier to your setup might be a recipe for disaster!
I'm not talking about splatterboxes, or harmonics that can be cleaned up with a low pass filter, i am talking about straight up RF overload, and unless you have been running the same amount of power without issue, then you have no idea what is going to happen when you make the jump from 20 watts to 200 watts or more.
Normally, when issues like this pop up, the standard advice is to get your antenna higher in the air and move it further from the offended neighbor's property.
It sounds like neither of those options will be open to you because of the restrictions and proximity.
Your best bet would be to borrow an amp from someone for a week or so, and see what kind of trouble you cause with it.
If your antenna is visible to your neighbors and no one knocks on your door after a solid week of talking on it, then you might be in the clear.
my concern is that you'll end up with an amp that you'll be forced to sell and take a loss on it.
trust me, i am just like all other CB heads and love to add to my station, but your money might be better spent on a nice used amateur radio that will put out a VERY clean 100 watts on SSB, and a 20 watt carrier on AM. the great thing about this is that if you are overloading someone's electronics, you can lower the power to the point where it doesn't mess with them.
the added bonus to this option is that you have also purchased a shortwave radio and can now listen to international broadcasters and hams all over the world.
you can't get in trouble for listening!
you can get a yaesu FT-847 or something similar for around 400 bucks.
as far as bang for the buck goes, raising your antenna another 20 feet in the air from wherever it is now is going to make a big difference in your transmit and receive.
I know you said that it's not possible, but i had to put it out there anyway.
good luck!
LC
Have had General ticket for 3 years now.. been running 100w and with in tree for same amount of time on my Alinco DXSR-8T. No issues with that.
Been running the TS350 on the A99 for about 6 months. My neighbor on the antenna side thinks the A99 is a TV antenna of some type.. I didn't correct him..
Thankful everyone in here is on satellite or cable TV..
I'm still not sure what my TS350 is pushing, getting watt meter to check with the Cobra 148 in line on Sunday to get a wattage..
If I could cut these few branches back I could go higher with the A99 by another 5-10'.. instead of the limited 35' at tip it is now at.. 16' of mast and 17' of antenna..
well that is good news.
i forgot that you already had a TS350 and had been using it.
stay FAR away from that POS 69FFB4.
15 pounds of crap in a 5 pound box, and way too touchy.
the ones ive worked on have been pains in the ol @$$.
the 2970 is a good enough radio, but it really isn't very 'CBish' and if you already have a ham radio, then you are going to want your CB to look like a CB.
your TS350 will put out a solid 250 watts with about 20 watts PEP of drive.
if you step up to an inbuilt 4 pill amp with one of the above radios, you could see 500 watts, but most of the time i've seen less than that out of them unless they were clipped and snipped.
that means that you'll be roughly doubling your power, which equates to a 3db gain.
that is 1/2 an S-unit in someone's receive.
how much you are willing to pay for that extra 1/2 S-unit is up to you.
my suggestion would be to get something like the Galaxy 99v2 and have it set up to run that TS350.
LC
i forgot that you already had a TS350 and had been using it.
stay FAR away from that POS 69FFB4.
15 pounds of crap in a 5 pound box, and way too touchy.
the ones ive worked on have been pains in the ol @$$.
the 2970 is a good enough radio, but it really isn't very 'CBish' and if you already have a ham radio, then you are going to want your CB to look like a CB.
your TS350 will put out a solid 250 watts with about 20 watts PEP of drive.
if you step up to an inbuilt 4 pill amp with one of the above radios, you could see 500 watts, but most of the time i've seen less than that out of them unless they were clipped and snipped.
that means that you'll be roughly doubling your power, which equates to a 3db gain.
that is 1/2 an S-unit in someone's receive.
how much you are willing to pay for that extra 1/2 S-unit is up to you.
my suggestion would be to get something like the Galaxy 99v2 and have it set up to run that TS350.
LC
N4 more frequency stability on SSB. BTW don't give it to a Golden screwdriver CB hack that works out of a.... oh nevermind.
Well if your decision has you parting with the Amp let me know ,especially if it's a Toshiba pill box. I can't find a clean older 350 with the older switch banks to save my life. I do not like the newer rinky dink switch banks let alone the dei's. Anyhow, back to your topic, hope I didn't deviate too far
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