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Cobra 148 GTL

Tlag77

Member
Jul 27, 2016
38
4
18
47
White Lake MI
So I found a Cobra 148 GTL on Craigslist, it looks a little beat up but the guy only wantshows 50 bucks for it, I have a local shop that has been in business for quite a while. Should I pick up the radio and have it gone over? Or should I pass ?
 

Yes, I would, provided it's either made in Taiwan or made in the Phillippines. It'll say on the back of the radio where it was made. Stay away from Malaysia and China made 148's, only buy it if it's Taiwan or a Philly. Definitely worth it to buy it and have it gone thru. Those are great radios!


~Cheers~
 
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Yes, I would, provided it's either made in Taiwan or made in the Phillippines. It'll say on the back of the radio where it was made. Stay away from Malaysia and China made 148's, only buy it if it's Taiwan or a Philly. Definitely worth it to buy it and have it gone thru. Those are great radios!


~Cheers~
Are you kidding?????? The Malaysian 148s are better than the Taiwan 148s.
Stay away from front mic 148s and all radios that have been butchered.
 
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Are you kidding?????? The Malaysian 148s are better than the Taiwan 148s.
Stay away from front mic 148s and all radios that have been butchered.

It is a side mic, unfortunately it was bought at an estate sale so the guy knows nothing about the radio. He said he put power to it and it lit up that is all he knows. He lives quite a ways away from me but he is near my mother-in-law so if he still has it in a week when I go see her I'll stop out and look at it. Hell I might even go visit this weekend.
 
Malaysia radios are junk. Taiwans are far better. I've been working on the 148 chassis for over 20+ years. The build quality and components on the Taiwans are superior to the Malaysian stuff.


Due to the ages of the Taiwan radios, they will need to be recapped. The Taiwan chassis predates the Malaysian chassis up to about 13 years, so that means the caps in the Taiwans are just that much older... they will need to be changed. Still worth it.
 
seconded on the Malaysian 148's being inferior to the Taiwan 148's.

The quality of components used went way down in Malaysia as did quality control, copper thickness of traces, and the overall quality of the board itself.

The Taiwan 148GTLs are the absolute best out there and always have been.

the ONLY reason the philippines 148's were ever touted as being the best out there was that the Taiwan radios had gotten to the age where they were exhibiting "end of life" component issues, which many confused with poor quality.

Give me any stock Taiwan 148 and after a re-cap, cleaning, and alignment it will beat all the others on specs.
LC
 

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