Why All The Concern About "Swing?"

[CollinsMan]

Yep, as long as I show 90-100 percent modulation on peaks on my monitor 'scope I'm happy. I do run a Heil HC-5 element into a speech processor before feeding it into my Uniden Grant, though. I can run 125 percent asymmetical, but the audio gets nasty sounding at that point. So, I just run it lower most of the time.

Sir Mix-A-Lot is Prime Minister - Cool! I didn't know that! Maybe he'll be back on 6 when conditions improve. He had a really nice station back in the 80s, and I'll bet it is even better now!

 

[CollinsMan]

Linearone,

I definitely feel your pain - just about every time I hear a S9...

 

[Switch Kit]

I honestly wouldn't know about right ? but certainly good enough for you L-1 and that's all that really matters in the end. Most radios swinging like that , the audio tends to be off the scales from the get go. RK-56 or 636 will work top notch in those situations everytime. But there are some goonies that will put power mic's on radios like that and totally sound like shit ! It's not a perfect world from the get go , but it can be made to sound very nice all the same. Guys don't have to sound like shit , they just need to know how to run the radios they have to there best advantages or get the damned thing tuned to a 4 to 1 ratio and leave well enough alone and use all the power mic's they want to then.

 

[lords]

Linearone,

I definitely feel your pain - just about every time I hear a S9...

lol

you know what? I am like half tempted to sell my soul and buy one and, get this, NOT dk 1/4 watt. I bet if properly setup with a 10 watt dk and whatever output that gets me I bet it would be loud and clear... I just bet.. Magnum always had some heavy hitters as far as watts and loudness. The delta force for example has the worst most unselective reciever that hears your fuelinjectors, ac, blower motor, xm radio, streetlights fuel pump, ch. 19 when you are on 2 ...but it can dk 1-10 watts and will swing 50w. It is out of control loud so put a noise cancelling mic on it and it sounds superb! just cant use a power mic on it. I can it with a telex turner rk56 and people though it was a d104 hand held. it was so clear and loud.. ... they got the tx right but not the rx.....

your right on the delta force i sold that pos..lol--moded the hell out of it purple lites and all..
reason why no power mic on it is cos its an amped system already...I even did a clear up kit for receive and it still sucked
now on the other hand the S9 when topgun is clicked on
it can still dead key 10 and swing 50 now when topgun is off it can vary on watts like 1 swinging 10 or 2 swinging 13 and so on
its a nice unit and receive is awesome...only thing the damm radio needs is a swr setup but the warning lite when turned on does it job
on the S9 i run the 636l because the board is amped in the echo and the mod center for volume besides the mic gain

 

[King Mudduck]

Let me chime in on this.

The swing thing has come from CB shops wanting to make a buck off of truckers who did not know any better. I have wasted many dollars on BS mods like this only to have people tell me that the radios are distorted and sound like shat! I still remember the 3300 hp that i had done by a local CB shop ( Triple R in Conover ) He did what he calls a super super mod in which involves a Motorola final, swing kit that he says will make any export do 100 watts with a 2 watt key. It sounded so bad that no one with in 2 miles could not understand a damn thing i said. I had to stop on TN and have every thing removed and then put back to stock with a mild peak and tune. The kicker is i spent $125.00 for 30 Min's of work and about $5.00 in parts!!

 

[lords]

Let me chime in on this.

The swing thing has come from CB shops wanting to make a buck off of truckers who did not know any better. I have wasted many dollars on BS mods like this only to have people tell me that the radios are distorted and sound like shat! I still remember the 3300 hp that i had done by a local CB shop ( Triple R in Conover ) He did what he calls a super super mod in which involves a Motorola final, swing kit that he says will make any export do 100 watts with a 2 watt key. It sounded so bad that no one with in 2 miles could not understand a damn thing i said. I had to stop on TN and have every thing removed and then put back to stock with a mild peak and tune. The kicker is i spent $125.00 for 30 Min's of work and about $5.00 in parts!!

The swing thing has come from CB shops wanting to make a buck off of truckers who did not know any better.


wow are you in the dust WRONG......
you know if you don't clip them and just add a diode or resistor in the right spot you don't overmod or splater...
O'well
peace

 

[King Mudduck]

Anytime you clip this or mod that more than likely you will be over modulated. Of course you can turn the VR adjustment all the way up and do the same ( almost ) thing but i can tell you from first hand experience that this swing shit is nothing but to get your money. If it was not then any CB shop would tell you that it is the wrong thing to do to any radio and that you don't need to do this or that to have a clean strong radio!

 

[W5LZ]

You can 'push'/'fudge' anything, to some extent, before it becomes noticeable or objectionable. But that doesn't mean that you are doing something 'better' than it was designed to be originally. With things dealing with sound that 'extent' is determined by your ears, and personal opinion. Lots of variation in those.
Any 'push' or 'fudging' is a compromise with something else, or is to make up for a lack of something. For all practical purposes anything over about 85% modulation is a waste of time, and introduces the possibility/probability of distortion. There are practical, aside from legal or good practice, limits. "Swing" is a very consistent means of going too far when it just isn't needed, or a good thing to do. Nothing wrong with wanting to be 'loud and proud', but after listening to some of those 'swinging' signals, why would anyone be proud of that?
Oh well...
- 'Doc

 

[lords]

most radios don't put full output and don't put full mod...
this is why they can be updated to a scope setting..
just because you add swing doesn't mean that your to over drive it

 

[CollinsMan]

I know what y'all mean about a lot of the "CB shops." I knew a guy who called himself "Radio Doctor," and operated out the back of one of the local truck stops.

A couple of years ago, the truck stop kicked him out due to some sort of business disagreement. I heard him on the radio trying to sell some of his stuff, so I drove over to his house to see what he had.

After looking over all the crap (really most of it was filthy crap) that he had, I bought a Sencore wattmeter and the two Dosy watt meters that he used to show "before/after" watt and modulation readings on radios he "tuned-up." (Hey, I figured I could clean the Dosy meters up and sell or trade them...)

So, when I got home, I cleaned the meters up and checked them. The "before" meter was turned way down(internal pots), and would show about 1 watt for every 2 watts that was put into it according to my Bird. The "after" meter was turned way up and would read about 2 watts out for every watt put into it. He had also modified this meter to show a crazy amount of swing. "What a rip off." I thought...

A few days later, I went over to this "techs" house again to ask him how to "unmod" his mods to the "after" meter. He had a big laugh, and told me that that was his $200,000 meter! :shock: , and that he had made more money ripping-off truckers with "super-mod" tune-ups that anything else he had ever done - that included CB sales, service, etc.!

He freely admitted to me that the "supermod" tune-ups generally made good radios sound like junk. (This was after he figured out that I knew a little about radios.) However, he said that this was what lots of folks wanted, and he was only too happy to oblige....

So, the moral of the story is to beware of so-called "CB Doctors" and their "supermod" tune-ups.... If you don't at least see an oscilloscope and some QUALITY test gear on their bench -RUN AWAY! Better yet, send your radios to someone like DTB who obviously takes pride in his work.

I know this is a little off the subject, but I really hate for folks to get ripped off, and thought this tale might enlighten someone to look out for the "CB Doctors."

 

[davegrantsr]

yup, S9 keying around 10 watts, swinging near 40, sounds REAL good. my delta keying 8 and swinging 30 sounds AWESOME as well. receive on my S9 is excellent-for a CB. my early delta, while a bit noisy with all that white hash, also has an ecellent receiver, thanks to chris holland. SSB xmit on the delta is 2nd to none. SSB on the S9 is a bit rough, but since i use 'other' more sophisticated equipment for SSB communications, i've yet to mess with the talkback/echo which i think is what is introducing a bit of rf hash into its xmit. anyway, would NEVER think of using the topgun equipped S9 at 1/4 watt carrier & 40 watts swing-my XL at 5 carrier & only 17 swing smokes it set that way! hey, 5 watts of dead key is 20 times that of a quarter watt no matter how you slice it

 

[King Mudduck]

The way it is....is the way it is!

 

[DTB Radio]

I still remember the 3300 hp that i had done by a local CB shop ( Triple R in Conover ) He did what he calls a super super mod in which involves a Motorola final, swing kit that he says will make any export do 100 watts with a 2 watt key. It sounded so bad that no one with in 2 miles could not understand a damn thing i said. I had to stop on TN and have every thing removed and then put back to stock with a mild peak and tune.

The kicker is i spent $125.00 for 30 Min's of work and about $5.00 in parts!!

OUCH!!!

I lost count years ago how many radio's I'd seen come through with the same kinds of problems. And I have to agree, I think the whole "swing" thing (myth, hype, BS, whatever you want to call it) was probably originally perpetrated by some shop looking to make a buck where he couldn't with actual factual knowledge and talent.

 

[smalltiredart]

Linearone,

you know what? I am like half tempted to sell my soul and buy one and, get this, NOT dk 1/4 watt. I bet if properly setup with a 10 watt dk and whatever output that gets me I bet it would be loud and clear... I just bet.. Magnum always had some heavy hitters as far as watts and loudness. The delta force for example has the worst most unselective reciever that hears your fuelinjectors, ac, blower motor, xm radio, streetlights fuel pump, ch. 19 when you are on 2 ...but it can dk 1-10 watts and will swing 50w. It is out of control loud so put a noise cancelling mic on it and it sounds superb! just cant use a power mic on it. I can it with a telex turner rk56 and people though it was a d104 hand held. it was so clear and loud.. ... they got the tx right but not the rx.....

You'd be better off just sticking to your Uniden 68. I remember you posting that you learned you lesson on that export junk long ago.

 

[Mr Clean]

I think another thing that caused the big swing thing in the 70s was sweep tubes. They didnt handle big DKs very well so why not say swing is king. I run all my stuff the same. 25 % DK of max swing. Say if running 1000 watt pep. 250 watt dk.Looks good on the meter. swings forward about 1 to 1 and a half S-units on most meters on the other end.