uniden ekl mods and thoughts

[weatherman49]

I have heard, been reading and looking around for the best price on a pc68 elite I am planning on diong the ekl component mods my thought about the uniden and cobra sister radios are this for the price of the radio the price of the parts to mod it and the performance gain it is definatly worth it from what i have read on this forum everyone has had good luck with these mods and have seen upwards of 50w and with good transmission quality my only regret is that these radios are not as easy to expand as the old grants and 148 sisters some one out there has to know how but just wont share the knowledge! I have read that its not possible to expand them (anything is possible if you try) but they sell a kit to do it! if there is a kit why hasent someone dissected it and shared the info? if someone knows the secret I will be happy to keep it LOL if not maybe I'll buy the kit and dissect it myself and share it with the world!!!

I would like to make this a poll and ask everyones oppinion about the uniden chassis radios and the mods available

and if any info on expansion is floating about let me know

 

[bushwacker]

there are 2 ways to get "extra" channels out of a cb radio-- first way and its what your refering to with the cobra 148 is by changing programing on the pll or modifying it-- this is the common way to do it on cb radios with modifiable plls
The second way is how you have to do it with radios with unmodifiable plls in them like your uniden 68--- that its by changing mixing xtals-- this is basically what is done with"expo" kits and such-- the kit is basically 3 xtals-- one for regular cb fres, one for high freqs nd the other for low freqs-- a switch switches the voltage from on x tal to another
Its the same idea of taking out your 10,240 xtal in your uniden and putting in a slightly higher or lower value xtal-- its will give you differnt freqs
At this point in the game... xtals are not as easy to get as they used to be in the old days and this is why some guys just prefer to get the kits that come with the xtals-- all you have to do is find 2 xtals one thats 455kh higher the origonal and one thats lower-- but if I have something thats close i'll put it in and see what it mixes up
Anyhow on your radio thats what you have to do.... find xtals to change with your 10.240 xtal and mount them on a board with a switch to switch voltage between one and another
No big secret... just xtals are a pain in the butt to find and most of the time you have to order them.... in alot of cases an expo kit is cheaper-- thats why people just go with a kit-- its sometimes cheaper and a less pain in the butt to just order a kit than build one
So theres not really a mod to do it like on cobra 148's or other radios with modifiable plls-- the pll in your radio is not modifiable so you have to go to the xtal for channels

Take care
Hope it helped

 

[bushwacker]

Oh.... and for the ekl mods.. you can get a good amoutn of power with a 1969 and 2314 driver--coupling caps in the right place and some of this and that to the mod circuit

the ekl mod is goos with a good amount of power available IF you volt the predriver and add the modulation into this point-- very easy mod-- just cut a trace and a jumper-- thats what seems to make the big difference in the ekl mod... other wise your just a few watts over a 1969 mod-- that volt will bring the power up to what the transistor spec say it can do-- the transistors need alot of drive
If you want extra channels and god power, you might be better off with a Stryker, Northpoint, Connex or other big power AM exports-- but we all do what we can and sometimes a modded cobra 25 might seem cooler than a radio that you just went a bought that will do all that-- like its more cool to have a uniden 68 thats has the extra channels and big power than if you just bought a radio that can do all of it out of the box-- alot of people prefer the modded radio better-- but we all do what we can
If money is tight.. you might want to check out something like a Galaxy 959 that you can put in dual finals and just mod for extra channels... and then you will have a freq counter to show where you are plus sideband
Just a thought

 

[weatherman49]

Thanx Bushwacker and your analogy of the modded 68 is spot on I just like it cause when ya tell some one out there you have a barefoot uniden and smackin the heads as we used to call it they have a hard time believin it so I show them you cant tell its been done from the outside so they have no idea whats goin on inside! and it makes them mad cause they just spent big dough for the new cobra 200 and my little uniden will out talk it as for the xtal mod I have enough old junk eletronic stuff layin around I just might find what I need thanks for the info and dont get mad when I come bustin through the air with my 68

O'h and somethin I learned real early don't let out the magic smoke!!! LOL

 

[bushwacker]

I hear ya.... I'm one of those people that prefer a modded radio insted of buying one that will do everything I want
i enjoy spending the time doing this stuff..... I like the radios that are modded different than what the average person does-- something about a radio with a real cool different mod done to it that makes it cooler or more interesting that a stock radio that will do the same thing

 

[DTB Radio]

I'll throw in my 2 cents.

The EKL mods in my opinion are fantastic. They show alot more modulation audio than the 1969 mods ever did in my experience. I've been seeing max peaks of anywhere from 50 to 65 or so watts, with sustained levels anywhere from 30 to 40 or more. I don't care for the predriver mod because it adds too much distortion to the signal, and it overmodulates very quickly.

As for the extra channels, the PC68 and Cobra 25 do NOT change crystals - they use forced signal injection in the mixer circuit. The kit install basically disconnects the original mix signal and injects its own signal. This gets you either uppers or lowers, but not both. The receiver must be modified to allow the extras to pass through, usually with a 100pf cap across a couple coils, and it ends up receiving alot of extra bleedover.