Optima gets my vote
Tired radio? Heh! That coming from someone with an avatar such as yours! Those style radios never get tired because they can be serviced unlike all of the present day radios with SMT, "no user serviceable parts inside" designed to be tossed away, along with having a poor MTBF spec.I wouldn't want one. That's the reason for my $25 limit. I ain't got time to form a romantic attachment on an old tired radio
Its not a personal insult --- it was a satirical comparison to that tired looking mug shot guy you have for an avatar. If I remember correctly you recently had another picture of a sketchy looking, jail-bird resembling face for your avatar. Who's next on your list .... Danny Trejo? Don't break the tradition! http://lh6.ggpht.com/-oSYFfp0ajPk/U...achete-danny-trejo-black-and-white-amboom.jpgWhy the personal insult?
The 3300 had a couple of issues but the 3500 didn't. It was race ready right out of the box... designed to compete directly against Icom/Kenwood and priced lower, to seal the deal with potential buyers. The 3500 didn't need upgrades other than a simple jumper to the PLL for freq. expansion (called soft freq. expansion). Modulation didn't need tweaked nor did the rf out. To compare the 3300/3500 to an HR2510 or HR2600 is apples to oranges... a stock ClearCom radio still tops even a modified President.Audio Shockwave wrote:
The AR 3300/3500 radios are just as old as the HR 2510 series of radio, and suffer the same age related problems, as well as parts availability problems because Clear Channel is no longer around.
When the 3300 first came out, it had problems just like new radios today.
They suffered from signal overload, low audio on FM mode and warble problems on TX.
As far as I know bobs is the only qualified person to work on them, and add the upgrades needed to make them a better radio.
They were a good radio at the time, but it is built on 1980`s work.
As for SMD used into todays radios it is not rocket science to work on, you just need the proper tools and learn the technique.
The Kenwood/Yaesu radios are in a totally different class.