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Who does quality radio alignment?
- Thread starter groundwire
- Start date
Seeing the radio is in excellent shape, cosmetically, I would recommend that you re-cap the radio before your alignment. It definitely looks like a keeper but those electrolytics will need to be replaced due to age of the radio. As far as using simple things for your alignment, as suggested by another forum member...I would pass. To align a radio properly will take calibrated equipment. If you use equipment that is not calibrated, your radio will not be aligned accurately. Best of luck finding someone close to your location to do the job properly. '73's
Due to age alone I agree with a recap then alignment.
I had a tough time on the west coast finding a good tech in fact I never did in the 10 years I was there.
Unfortunately anymore people treat good tech names like theyre big time dope dealers and I have to be honest im that way too. Shipping is ALWAYS a gamble.
Reduce the gambling odds favorably. HARBOR FREIGHT.
Model 3800 for radio + speaker
Model 2800 for radio alone (gear included originally plus spare fuses, etc).
The permanent home of any radio owned.
Label radio case with data:
1). Owner (contact data)
2). Radio + serial
Label on radio same.
Latch & zip tie
This goes into overpack.
Insure.
.
Loosecanon does good work and a member here and in the western us
I can put a rig on freq with a SDR receiver and a 1k tone from my phone. The SDR is calibrated to the WWV. It sounds hackish but works very well.
Want to verify the 1k tone? Put the rig in AM mode and transmit. The peak in each side band should be exactly 1k from the carrier.
Want to verify the 1k tone? Put the rig in AM mode and transmit. The peak in each side band should be exactly 1k from the carrier.
Be interesting to see if you can align the tx on ssb with an SDR dongle.
Be pretty cool if it was spot-on.
Save people a ton of money getting their own radios aligned using a cheap SDR dongle!
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You still have to know how to run test proceedures.
With a cb set that's sensitive to temp changes it's best to DIY. If your shack is always the same temp you can really get one dialed in. Leave the radio on all night, align it the next morning, go mow the lawn, touch up the alignment, go have lunch, come back and recheck it.
That’s the way I put my old uniden 8719 chassis radios on frequency. And it works good enough. If I get an old radio that the clarifier is still Unmodified,I like to leave it that way. I have yet to buy an old radio, that I didn’t have to tweak the clarifier a lil bit on, I’m by no means an expert, or probably even worthy to give advice lol, but on a 148 gtl it’s not that hard to do a diy alignment of centering up the clarifier at 12 o’clock, and putting it on frequency imo. All of mine that I have messed with, it was an improvement. Now I don’t have people constantly telling me I’m off frequency. When I start a qso with someone, one of the first things they usually say is your radio sounds good it’s on frequency.
Not that somebody telling you that your on frequency really means all that much, because there radio might not have aligned using perfectly calibrated equipment. But when everyone you talk to says your off frequency then you know you have a problem.
I did not think this would be necessary but apparently I was wrong. I got a message from someone that thinks all I have to do is answer emails and phone calls all day and not do any bench work. In the future, if anyone wishes to send work to me try to exercise at least 10 or 15 hrs of patience, if you can't do that then by all means don't waste my time. Nobody in this business is more attentive to the needs of my customers but tonight sitting in the middle of a city that is destroying everything that isn't surrounded by electrically charged fencing I'm not very receptive to such nonsense. I repair and or restore between 35 and 40 radios a month and if any of you suggests that's F**KING around then you clearly never did any radio repairs in your entire life. Sorry, I'm done now.