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Hope for the "Financially Challenged"

J

JJim

Member
Jul 2, 2005
29
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www.yoursaftnet.com
Just thought I would add a little inspirational 2 cents here.
If you are somewhat like me, and not inundated with "disposal cash" then you can understand frustration when it comes to your radio and your equipment. We are constantly striving for the "perfect" radio (whatever that is) and constantly making changes, additions, tweaks, etc. Well, here is what I did for my mobile unit.
Remember, I am extremely financially challenged, but still have the desire for a monster radio (even though I cant afford a full tank of gas let alone a "Super Bowl" radio.)
I went to eBay, purchased a Cobra 18RV radio for $10.00 (brand new in the box.. factory refurbished), went to Walcott radios on the web and bought a $17.00 echo mic (copy of a DM-452), went to a friend and bought a Shooting Star 225 amp. for $30.00, went to my Father's house and unearthed an old "Original" K-40 antenna that I purchased in 1978-1979.
I put all of this equipment together, played around for about 2 hours trying to get the SWR down to 1.1:1 without the amp, and 1.4:1 with the amp. The wattages I am getting are:
No Amp = 4 watts swinging to 7
Lo Amp = 70 watts swinging to about 85
Med Amp = 80 watts swinging to 100-105
High Amp = 125 watts swinging to 150

Now, I spent a total of $57.00 on this radio, amp, mic, and antenna. So far, I think that I have keyed the mic and transmitted maybe 3 times without getting, at least, 1 trucker asking me what kind of system I am running. When I tell them, they laugh and ask... "Really, what kind of radio is that? A Connex, RCI, Magnum?"
The only reason I even added this post is to show everybody in the same boat as me, that there is hope for a good radio without going out and spending everything you have. You can acheive a good strong signal, a nice long distance, and a nice quality of sound on a very low budget. I did it!

Thanks for your time........ we now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

73's
-Jim
 

Thats cool! I am in the same position you are dont have alot of money and want a good sounding radio! I am glad to hear your happy with your setup! CB stands for "constantly buying" and then "constantly broke"
 
Great job!

Your story reminds me of one time I put up a quarter wave sloper for 160m and the other half of the antenna was the 50 ft tower it was mounted on. It was my first time on 160 meters, I was running 100 watts. I got great signel reports, and when I told the old hard asses that have been on the band for years my power and antenna all of a sudden my sign went down in the dirt and they could not hear me and the told me I needed 1500 watts and a half wave dipole up 120 feet. LOL
 
Great post. it illustrates what I've been telling my customers for years, that you don't need a ton of money to get a big radio sound. Hopefully you wont make the mistake of letting someone try to tune your rig by clipping the limiter or sticking in a mod kit, or anything silly like that. It sounds like you've got a solid setup just like it is.
 
hope for the finicially challenged

Thats great cause im broke to. :LOL: I have a friend who is a glass installer and big into radios and is always giving me radios that some body does not want,we are always giving each other stuff that we dont need or use anymore. free is always good.
 
I don't want to rain on your parade but without that amp, I doubt the trucker would be inquiring about you possibly running a Connex, Magnum, RCI, etc. ... unless he happens to be parked in a loading dock a couple blocks away.
 
Right on-- 4 watts swinging to 7 isn't too bad-- might want to drop the carrier a bit if you want better audio-- watch how hot the amp is getting
On another note, I'm glad you posted this--I've also said the same thing for years-- the important thing is to just do what you can to get on the air-- dipoles work great for base antennas--- used equiptment is cool-- alot of the older radios out there are built solid-- lots of used equiptment available
You actually ended up putting together a REAL good mobile for the price-- real nice job and I'm glad you posted this

Do what you can to get on the air, thats the main thing-- talk with the locals or start a call channel-- keep cb alive

Nice job with the mobile
 
Like Bushwacker said, with that amplifier 4 watts dead key in is too much. You might spend just alittle and have the radio tuned with a lower dead key. Watt meters will vary so i'm sure your doing fine.


" nope.4 watts is just right for 100% mod. " This would only be true if he was seeing 16 watts peak power which he is probably not. The dead key still has to come down to save the amp.
 
4 watts swing to 7 isn't the best-- its not too bad though-- might be a bit of back swing-- I would'nt really want to raise the swing to 8 just yet, it would be better to at least drop the carrier to half the swing and see how it goes to try to get away from the backswing
You more than likly could run that much but most guys don't want to baby sit the amp-- try to get the carrier at least 1/2 the swing so you have a better chance of being 100%mod
Everybody drives their amps different-- alot of amps can handle 4 watts swing to 7-- you will get the same amount of heat running lower carrier with high swing-- the more constant heat (carrier) the less swing-- just with more swing you get pulses of heat
You should really try to get that carrier to at least 1/2 the swing-- just don't raise the swing until you see how hot the thing is running if you have a solid carrier
I don't want to get into a swing verses carrier debate
I think it will take 4 swing to 7, but if you want that audio drop er down
The transistors are rated at 4 watts and alot of guys running fm throw in more
Regardless, like Butcher mentioned-- drop the carrier , drive it with swing and you don't have to baby sit the amp and increase drive in small increments
Its up to you-- maul verses swing-- I don't want to get into the debate-- both ways are good
 

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