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Uniden 980 SSB

I may try it. Will see if I go the amp route. If I do go that direction, I would be likely to more mild than wild. I don't think it would be necessary for me to go with a big linear. I just wanna know I can get out there if I get into a bind in a place like the logging/offroad trails in Colorado. I know there have been enough postings that I could finds out which pots to go after, I would just be concerned that I go too far one way or the other. Like I said, I have pretty limited equipment. If someone here would like to educate me, I welcome any good information. Tx guys.
 
Shade Tree just don't get crazy, you'd be surprised how much difference 150 watts make over a stock radio. Too many guys go with huge amps, have audio or power issues, sounds crummy, have to run huge wiring things like that. I have seen too many guys run Texas Star 667's or amps in the area and yea the signal is kicking but the audio sounds horrible just because it isn't done correct or just not a good match. Radio is all about speech so we can hear each other not a signal that bends my needle with crummy audio. Just My 2 Cents
 
Trucker442, I'll take your 2 cents and double it. I feel the same way about it. No sense in being heard if all you're doing is annoying the crap outta folks and smoking your equipment. That's why I'd wanna educate myself on the "how to" process first and be certain I was getting the right advice before I went fiddling around with a new radio. I have a grumpy ol' radio guy in the area that is basically trying to get out of the business and is selling some of his old stock cheep. Gonna grab a 102" whip from him to help my cause on the highway and locally anyhow. I may decide to still go with a small linear tho for when I'm in remote areas. It would give me a small piece of mind knowing I had the ability to reach someone who might otherwise be just a few miles out of my range with a stock unit.
 
Tx and yes I've seen that road map before. I've had radio's before but never considered tweaking them one direction or another until I started wheeling and camping in some remote areas with a kid in tow (funny how getting older with others to look out for changes perspective a bit). I just wanna make sure that if I do make changes to the radio internally that I'm fallowing a correct procedure. I assume that if I had my little swr meter inline while making adjustments I could see if I were turning things down/up the correct way when the mic is keyed. Yes, I am trying to learn what I can, so don't bash me for being a dummy:whistle:
 
Shade Tree just don't get crazy, you'd be surprised how much difference 150 watts make over a stock radio. Too many guys go with huge amps, have audio or power issues, sounds crummy, have to run huge wiring things like that. I have seen too many guys run Texas Star 667's or amps in the area and yea the signal is kicking but the audio sounds horrible just because it isn't done correct or just not a good match. Radio is all about speech so we can hear each other not a signal that bends my needle with crummy audio. Just My 2 Cents
Hes right. The greatest increase in s-units for the least $ comes from the 1st 100 watts.
 
I may try it. Will see if I go the amp route. If I do go that direction, I would be likely to more mild than wild. I don't think it would be necessary for me to go with a big linear. I just wanna know I can get out there if I get into a bind in a place like the logging/offroad trails in Colorado. I know there have been enough postings that I could finds out which pots to go after, I would just be concerned that I go too far one way or the other. Like I said, I have pretty limited equipment. If someone here would like to educate me, I welcome any good information. Tx guys.

ya a big amp usually can be more issues...especially in mobiles these days.
well you,ll definately need to know the pot numbers write them down on paper
next if your swr meter just reads swr only it WONT be able to help ya tuning at all
your best bet would be to go to that guy tring to get out of radio and see if he has
a POWER METER that reads PEAK POWER or PEP. next a 50ohm dummmy load never
use your everyday antenna.last is some plastic tip screw drivers i got mine from copper.com
but you might find them at homedepot or lowes. DONT use metal ones. now for tuning
1/hook up dummyload where your antenna would normally go [this is your antenna for now]
2/ hook up jumper from back of cb to trans/xmit side of meter, dummy load will need its own jumper too which will go on the antenna side of the power meter
3/ tune ssb pot for 10 watts
4/tune am for 1-2 watts
5/tune amc or audio for full
with these they work like a volume knob one way will take ya down other way will
take ya up.so watching the power meter is important, this will take a couple tries
to see what way you need to go
6/once all done hookup your antenna in the back up into the antenna side of power meter
and get some checks with the amp my watt numbers are ballbark figures were i start
if ya get reports like ya sound muffled with amp on in any mode then youll need
to lower your ouput a little more.
7/a clear clean sound with a slight increase in audio is what u want
 
Tx HotRod and everyone who has been willing to chime in. It really is a great and easy to use to use radio. For all of the functions the Uniden 980 has built into the unit, it performs all of them well. I'm just weighing my options here to get the best out of the 980 while keeping it relatively mild so as not to splatter all over the air waves.
 
Yes I ordered mine also today, got from Walmart for $146.43 minus a 10% discount.
Just hope that I crank up the power when I get it. Thinking about adding the KlL-203
amp. Would like to find out if I would get much better power with it, and is it safe to use it with the radio.
 
Yes I ordered mine also today, got from Walmart for $146.43 minus a 10% discount.
Just hope that I crank up the power when I get it. Thinking about adding the KlL-203
amp. Would like to find out if I would get much better power with it, and is it safe to use it with the radio.

Giving an amp the right input power is far more important than just trying to give it all that is possible out of the radio. This amp - IIRC - likes 1 1/2w deakkey/unmodulated power inputted. The benefits are a longer amp life, better overall transmitted audio clarity, and not bleeding 10 channels over in either direction. Nice radio; fair amp. If you want more 'powa'; then get a bigger amp. Same rules apply . . .
KL203 Amplifier
 

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    One of the few times my tiny station gets heard on 6m!:D
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