FINE TUNE CB SHOP FOR REAL?

[rabbiporkchop]

4 finals and a driver in the at-6666.
Plenty clean at 20 watts carrier with plenty of headroom, but generates too much heat. I even have to be careful and periodically feel the heat sink at 15 watts carrier.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Looks like you are right about the finals. I've seen 20 watts clean out of it but 30 seconds makes too much heat.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

20 watts carrier? I do believe it will do that but not be clean. Lots of IMD and there is not enough headroom left to fully modulate that carrier without major distortion. The finals are too small and nothing can change that.

I'm sure it is very clean from 4 watts. 4 watts is probably where a person would set it to make a clean You tube video.....

We're talking about a pair of 13n10 finals in this radio. Some manufactures like Stryker advertise 4 finals for this chassis but only 2 are finals, the others are drivers.

Just for comparison the 2879 is a 100 watt RF transistor. The datasheet shows lowest IMD is around 60 pep that's 15 watts carrier max in AM service to be as clean as possible. Do you think 2 13n10 mosfets that sell for pocket change are equal to a 2879?

There is definitely no comparison between the mosfets and the 2879.
I'd much prefer a bipolar any day of the week. Other than that, I really dig this radio.

 

[543_Dallas]

Looks like you are right about the finals. I've seen 20 watts clean out of it but 30 seconds makes too much heat.

The carrier is probably clean but even with a superb cooling system you can't use it for proper AM. Modulated to 100% that 20 watt carrier would be 80 pep. The finals don't have enough ass to do that without some waveform distortion and mucho IMD.

What's happening here is the same old hot-rod cb tricks that have been going on for years. Some people are into that but lets call it what it is. Even if you mount them on a 16 pill heat sink with a massive blower and spend hours fine tuning the radio until it is perfect you can't overcome the limitations of the devices.

I'm not knocking the radio. The exports aren't for me but some people prefer them because of the features they have. I get it. If most HF rigs didn't suck on AM I would recommend them to the cb crowd more often.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

The carrier is probably clean but even with a superb cooling system you can't use it for proper AM. Modulated to 100% that 20 watt carrier would be 80 pep. The finals don't have enough ass to do that without some waveform distortion and mucho IMD.

What's happening here is the same old hot-rod cb tricks that have been going on for years. Some people are into that but lets call it what it is. Even if you mount them on a 16 pill heat sink with a massive blower and spend hours fine tuning the radio until it is perfect you can't overcome the limitations of the devices.

I'm not knocking the radio. The exports aren't for me but some people prefer them because of the features they have. I get it. If most HF rigs didn't suck on AM I would recommend them to the cb crowd more often.

The original finals were replaced btw.
Not sure which ones were used. Mark was having so much fun using it he forgot to check for heat. No issues on my end since the finals were replaced.
Might be 520's or 2030's

 

[Sonar]

Some people just want a loud radio like a Cobra 29 LTD with a clipped limiter.
These types of people would talk down the best work because it "wasn't loud enough", they simply didn't care about the "RF nastiness" and I think they need to be in a special class of operator, now that we are in the 21st century...

But I guess if that one neighbor from 1978 walked all over me, I'd be here in 2017 trying to cover 'mud ducks' by snippin' and clippin' everything I own. HaHa I laugh so hard, because it's the same operators in my area that are bleeding for 20+ years....
Nobody on CB around me cares, but I do and it hurts because if you can't key up and make 'em go quite, nobody will have to respect how clean your radio is.

It's a battle of brawn not brain, so in the end the big class c with a clipped limiter gets heard in DX land, and me and my 4 watts are just peeing in the wind..

I have big dreams of a monstrous antenna that could make these locals pump the brakes, all with no foot warmer. <- This is what I want, lulz.
73
-LeapFrog

Those who use class c "competition" amps are usually the same guys who call other stations 3 - 10 time consecutively. I guess to be heard. I heard a guy calling (in his loudest voice, HOW BOUT IT JAMMER JAMMER JAMMER JAMMER JAMMER JAMMER! JAMMER JAMMER JAMMER JAMMER! COME ON DOWN TO NJ? WE'RE HAVING A PARTY! God that drives me crazy! I've been doing a bit of AM DX lately but isso difficult to listen to. For me nothing is more enjoyable than SSB. I try to stay away from 38 LSb. I'll usually listen there for a bit in order to say hello to some radio acquaintances and then I am off to the free band. There's nothing like having a nice one on one qso while others wait their turn. 73. PS I'll never do that AM type lingo. I find it odd and annoying

 

[Sonar]

I'm always suspicious of YouTubers that don't allow comments. Fine tune obviously has a self serving reason for not allowing them. Getting called out on snake oil claims by people who with greater knowledge scares away the unfortunate people who will inevitably get scammed. This isn't good for fine tunes bank account.

 

[Loyal Servant]

I'm always suspicious of YouTubers that don't allow comments. Fine tune obviously has a self serving reason for not allowing them. Getting called out on snake oil claims by people who with greater knowledge scares away the unfortunate people who will inevitably get scammed. This isn't good for fine tunes bank account.

Anyone that does radio on YouTube tends to get trolled hard by the minions and loyalists of whoever doesn't like the message.

Just look at a few channels.... I do know that several have to cull their comments regularly.
I have seen some nasty attacks deleted within a few hours of being put up.

 

[357]

I just checked out the latest YouTube clip from fine tune CB shop and was wondering if this guy's for real? He starts off by saying (not verbatim) that he's not making the clip of a brand new Stryker 955 in order to school other tecs, and if anyone else knows how to correct an internet problem with some out of the box 955's their selling you something they can't do. He's outright claiming he's the only one on planet Earth who can do whatever it is that needs to be done to fix this so called issue.
IS HE DELUSIONAL, OR TRULY A ONE OF A KIND GENIUS? I would assume delusional. But being I know nothing about the way transceivers work and obviously how to repair them I'm baffled at his claim. But claiming to be the only one who can perform this repair seems delusional. At least to me

seriously, forget cb radios.
Get a HF rig and call it a day.

I just bought a late 756 pro III...cb's are now nothing to me, lol

 

[Sonar]

Anyone that does radio on YouTube tends to get trolled hard by the minions and loyalists of whoever doesn't like the message.

Just look at a few channels.... I do know that several have to cull their comments regularly.
I have seen some nasty attacks deleted within a few hours of being put up.

I get your point. But imo those aren't trolls. Their people who know these particular YouTube posting "technicians" are snake oil salesman. Those snake oil technicians got tired of getting called out by people with real knowledge. And ceased accepting comments. Hell check out mikesradiorepair on YouTube. 1000's of comments. And although somebody might make a suggestion to him no one ever to my knowledge has trolled him. Why not? Because he's not selling a fantasy. There is an obvious reason for that. It's called integrity, honesty and an obvious understanding of those watching the videos that Mike actually nose his trade. Mark and people like him don't truly posses any real technical knowledge and true understanding of radio theroy. There's so many guys who verbalize in ways that easily confuse and impress those of us who have little to no knowledge about radio repair. For most of us a guy throws out big terms and theories and right away we're impressed so we think they know what they're doing. Unfortunately they don't. I'm glad that I myself found a true technician before watching one of Mark's videos. I could have easily been one of his victims. Those guys simply don't accept comments because they know the people leaving them are constantly calling them out on their expertise or lack thereof. That hurts the pocket and that's why they don't accept comments. And that's the only reason. 73

 

[jon666]

i don't care what techs say they can do. i think they are drama queens on youtube. i do my own tech work. and don't feel the need to be one of them.

 

[Sonar]

i don't care what techs say they can do. i think they are drama queens on youtube. i do my own tech work. and don't feel the need to be one of them.

For every one person who has the knowledge to repair their own equipment there are 3x more who can't. It's terrific that you have the knowledge to do your own repair but I can't. Just because someone chooses to share their knowledge via YouTube doesn't necessarily make them a queen. If surgeons were as scarce as good radio technicians are I'm sure you wouldn't be calling one who teaches another via a YouTube video how to remove a cancerous lump from a loved ones body, a queen. Some of them are as you state, Queens. But there are YouTube radio technicians out there who not only know what they're doing but truly enjoyed passing their knowledge along to others. Mark isn't one of them.

 

[Loyal Servant]

Mark isn't one of them.

Mark or Mike?
Who is Mark? The guy the thread is ultimately about?

 

[Sonar]

Mark or Mike?
Who is Mark? The guy the thread is ultimately about?

Yes. I should have said fine tune CB shop As I feel uncomfortable calling him by his first name. I didn't even know his name was Mark until I posted the op.73

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Just for the record, Mark is the only one who seems to think this has any relevance and all of his detractors seemed to think this has no relevance. In all actuality, it's not really about Mark it's all about basic physics. There seems to be a disagreement about whether the laws of physics apply to 27 megahertz or not. Apparently Mark is the only one that thinks so.
Here's another guy that seems to know his stuff.
http://www.emrcorp.com/uploads/8954...7376b2The fifty ohm enigma_w logo_4-01-11.pdf


When the laws of physics are on your side and everyone is calling you an idiot because they misunderstand the laws of physics, it's very easy to see how Mark would have a cocky attitude.