Just posting on my review of the new RCI-29 base radio.
Two of my local friends joined together and bought 2 of the RCI-29 bases from Anderson Radio Supply located in SC. They had to place a pre-order about 3 weeks ago for the radios.
Well, the radios finally arrived at their homes. One guy immediately hooked his up, checked his SWR (I've taught all these operators around here to always check that SWR before starting a rag chew conversation) which was great, let the radio warm up for 15 minutes then keyed up and started rag chewing.
To be honest, the 29s have superb audio in that it's crystal clear at any power level and still plenty loud.
Now with the issue:
My friend talked on his brand new RCI-29 yesterday for about 5 hours, then the output went out. He turned it off, waited for 15 minutes, turned it back on, only outputs 2w at most now. Everything else still works great, just the output is shot.
My other friend hooked his up today, didn't even get to talk on his. He keyed up and got nothing on output.
My guess on the first one is the factory has the bias above 4.10v on the driver/finals, causing them to run hot and shut down, or the regulator is shot or the driver or a final is shot.
My guess on the second one is manufacturer defect. They sent them both back for repairs.
I told them to stick with old school if they want my alignment or work, cause I don't do surface mount radios, and older radios do just as good if not better after a complete recap and proper alignment.
My advice on the RCI-29 base:
Give it time to flow through the radio community before purchasing one, give others time to find out all the issues/bugs first.
Two of my local friends joined together and bought 2 of the RCI-29 bases from Anderson Radio Supply located in SC. They had to place a pre-order about 3 weeks ago for the radios.
Well, the radios finally arrived at their homes. One guy immediately hooked his up, checked his SWR (I've taught all these operators around here to always check that SWR before starting a rag chew conversation) which was great, let the radio warm up for 15 minutes then keyed up and started rag chewing.
To be honest, the 29s have superb audio in that it's crystal clear at any power level and still plenty loud.
Now with the issue:
My friend talked on his brand new RCI-29 yesterday for about 5 hours, then the output went out. He turned it off, waited for 15 minutes, turned it back on, only outputs 2w at most now. Everything else still works great, just the output is shot.
My other friend hooked his up today, didn't even get to talk on his. He keyed up and got nothing on output.
My guess on the first one is the factory has the bias above 4.10v on the driver/finals, causing them to run hot and shut down, or the regulator is shot or the driver or a final is shot.
My guess on the second one is manufacturer defect. They sent them both back for repairs.
I told them to stick with old school if they want my alignment or work, cause I don't do surface mount radios, and older radios do just as good if not better after a complete recap and proper alignment.
My advice on the RCI-29 base:
Give it time to flow through the radio community before purchasing one, give others time to find out all the issues/bugs first.
