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Cheap radio comparison!
- Thread starter slowpoke1w
- Start date
I'd check Ebay or flea markets and try to come up with a used Cobra 25 or Uniden 66/68. They're going to perform better than the ones you originally mentioned.
If I had to choose from that list, however, I'd probably go with the Cobra 19. The older Uniden 510s were great, but the newer ones don't quite cut it.
If I had to choose from that list, however, I'd probably go with the Cobra 19. The older Uniden 510s were great, but the newer ones don't quite cut it.
cobra19-3 walmart at one time carried these got a modulation adjustment
inside which makes these peak out nicely
inside which makes these peak out nicely
Cobra 19 is the way you want to go. They can easily be found at Walmart for around $34 and are easier to tweak than the Midland or Uniden. They will actually rival a Cobra 29 with a good peak and tune.
Not a properly tuned Cobra 25/29. The little 19 does a decent job but lets not get carried away. Lol
atleast in my area, i find cb radios all the time at goodwill. its just an idea, but i payed 3$ for a HR2510, and 5$ for a midland 77-888, 5$ for a cobra 19 like you said.
my HR2510 was the problem child of the group, needed 2 caps replaced, but i picked up a uniden 520XL(1.50$) and its finals where burned up and had a modulation mod in-place but i dont know, it did not work. so broke it apart and used it for donor parts (i now have like 20 cap replacements for my HR2510 and its under rated 10vlt caps) for my HR2510, and plenty of IC chips crossed over, so basically, if it works and has a mic AWESOME if it doesnt work gut it and its still AWESOME, i also wheel and deal them to friends for things or services,
trader my cobra 19 and a power supply i got at goodwill (8$) works perfectly and what not, for a cobra cam 89 base station, he wanted a 40ch setup that fit on his desk way better, so it did so, then took a mic i got wired it for a cobra cam and freed the other power supply up. now my midland 77-888 is on my power supply and my HR2510 is back in the car after its first repair. need to re tighten screws again (meter problem) but perfectly great 10m
moral of the story is, you cant go wrong with buying used cb radios as long as its not some off brand pos, im going to trade my bud after i mod my uniden 510XL for that cobra 19 back. he wants something with a little more modulation.
my HR2510 was the problem child of the group, needed 2 caps replaced, but i picked up a uniden 520XL(1.50$) and its finals where burned up and had a modulation mod in-place but i dont know, it did not work. so broke it apart and used it for donor parts (i now have like 20 cap replacements for my HR2510 and its under rated 10vlt caps) for my HR2510, and plenty of IC chips crossed over, so basically, if it works and has a mic AWESOME if it doesnt work gut it and its still AWESOME, i also wheel and deal them to friends for things or services,
trader my cobra 19 and a power supply i got at goodwill (8$) works perfectly and what not, for a cobra cam 89 base station, he wanted a 40ch setup that fit on his desk way better, so it did so, then took a mic i got wired it for a cobra cam and freed the other power supply up. now my midland 77-888 is on my power supply and my HR2510 is back in the car after its first repair. need to re tighten screws again (meter problem) but perfectly great 10m
moral of the story is, you cant go wrong with buying used cb radios as long as its not some off brand pos, im going to trade my bud after i mod my uniden 510XL for that cobra 19 back. he wants something with a little more modulation.
i have run a cobra 19 as a base and got good reports on modulation, pushed an old gray amp with it also and did some good dx'ng.
however on a mobile install it did not do very well for my application as i would've liked noise limiter and blanker for that particular install.
hope this helps out.
however on a mobile install it did not do very well for my application as i would've liked noise limiter and blanker for that particular install.
hope this helps out.
I picked up a Midland 1001z on Amazon for $21, decent little radio, but thanks to its plastic casing and light shielding it picks up powerline noise badly. Good thing it has an rf-gain knob. There is a schematic floating around for it, but I'm not sure how accurate it is since adjusting the mod pot didn't seem to do anything. Unless you need the small size, I'd opt for a used Cobra 25 or 29 instead.
Old post, but my 2 cents....
Cobra 19's are housed in a cheap plastic cover, the internal speaker sounds like shit, when you kill the power to the radio it resets back to channel 1, the mic IMO felt cheap. Also there's no noise blanker. IIRC you do get a PA which IMO is useless unless you run a separate amp and a big PA horn like what the Blues Brothers had.
Uniden 510...you get a metal housing, internal speaker sounds ok (still an ext. speaker is a good idea), the radio stays on the last channel when power is removed, the mic sounds good and doesn't feel so cheap, there is a noise blanker, but there's no PA.
Cobra might offer you a VR for modulation adjustment, but folks have claimed to add a resister in with D14 for a little more drive w/o distortion.
As for RX I can't say. Would like to hear some real world reports of how well the RX is on these little rigs. So I read they're not all that good, then again how big an antenna you run dictates your ears.
IMO Uniden 510 wins.
Cobra 19's are housed in a cheap plastic cover, the internal speaker sounds like shit, when you kill the power to the radio it resets back to channel 1, the mic IMO felt cheap. Also there's no noise blanker. IIRC you do get a PA which IMO is useless unless you run a separate amp and a big PA horn like what the Blues Brothers had.
Uniden 510...you get a metal housing, internal speaker sounds ok (still an ext. speaker is a good idea), the radio stays on the last channel when power is removed, the mic sounds good and doesn't feel so cheap, there is a noise blanker, but there's no PA.
Cobra might offer you a VR for modulation adjustment, but folks have claimed to add a resister in with D14 for a little more drive w/o distortion.
As for RX I can't say. Would like to hear some real world reports of how well the RX is on these little rigs. So I read they're not all that good, then again how big an antenna you run dictates your ears.
IMO Uniden 510 wins.
I've been using a 510 XL, for about a month in my big truck, while my 148 is waiting for me to pick up at Q5 in De Forrest WI.
Seems to work very well.
Mic is physically small (2.75" L x 2" W x 1" D) but does not feel cheap.
Channel selector feels a little less positive than the one on my 148.
Speaker sounded a little tinny at first, but I'm used to it now.
Receives well.
A good bang for the 45 bucks, in a very small package.
Seems to work very well.
Mic is physically small (2.75" L x 2" W x 1" D) but does not feel cheap.
Channel selector feels a little less positive than the one on my 148.
Speaker sounded a little tinny at first, but I'm used to it now.
Receives well.
A good bang for the 45 bucks, in a very small package.
I bought a Uniden Pro 510 XL Great little radio, Tried every mic I had on it and the best mike was the stock mic.loud audio and crystal clear was the reports i was getting. All i did was open up the modulation no clipping. don't know why it didn't like other mic's. For 99.oo delivered I got the new 29 LX and packed with features. love the scan on the road, weather too.
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