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Ranger TR-296 opinions.. (148 GTL clone)

CB590

W9WDX Member
Jun 29, 2016
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Trenton Nj
www.590dx.com
I have an option to grab a new in box one for $250. I know it's $80 over when they were out new..

The seller put up lots of pics and it's purty..

I wanted a 148 and this is as close as I can get and feel comfy knowing it's literally new and unmolested.. the last 148 I bought for $125 fried on hooking up which aggravated me.. I did get refund from seller.

The 296 also has the frequency counter plug on the back, so I may later add one without hacking it up..

I would like anyone whom may own one or knows of performance please chime in..


Screenshot_20180821-225953.png Screenshot_20180821-230007.png
 

I think you will keep starting threads until someone says it is a good deal.

Like I said I wanted a classic type radio. If I could find a non-china / non-soundtracker prestine 148 for under $175 I would buy it..

I can get an XL Uniden that just was recapped for $170.. but that's another story.
 
Look,s like a nice radio, and as for starting a thread that's what this forum is for, sharing info and discussion,s of radio.
 
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I had aligned one of these for a friend/local operator a few years ago. It was decently stable and was a fair performer. Didn't have the same quality of parts as the original Uniden built 148 GTL; but it wasn't crummy either.

Note that it has a connector on the back to add an external freq counter; a plus if you hack the radio for xtra freqs. Not something I'd recommend at all to do.

As far as the asking price for it, I think it is waaay too much. True, it is is fairly new condition; but it isn't new either. 10-15 years old maybe? Worth more like ~$100 - maybe? Rather find an older Uniden built 148 GTL and recap and recondition the chassis for less than the asking price of this piece - JMHO . . .
 
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Looks like it's got the "gold knob" treatment.

When I had dealt with those, I hated the feel of the knobs, kinda loose and easily "twisty" - lot of them came back with shafts, one "stuck" to the other in the concentric - turning both - you can see that in the photos above - long shaft versus recessed taper knob.

You may get a pretty-looking radio - just not a pretty-good performing radio - lobbing shafts were a bane to fix and they soon ran out of parts - even getting older knob kits from the Dynascan era-style offered some better clearance less binding...

It's your money...
 
I currently have one and think its an excellent radio...nice rcv on it...very quiet but hears very well...
 
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I have the tr296F which is like the 148F freq counter version. mine works great and the knobs are just fine on it. bought it one night on ebay as untested for 60.00 and free shipping. all I had to do was clean the controls and the radio had never been tuned other than from the factory. it even still had the plastic film on the front of the radio. even came in the box.
got to love the late night buys. some time you get them at a very low price.
bought a like new AT6666 in the box for 100.00 with free shipping and it was like new. it came from a radio guy that had past away and a neighbor was selling stuff for the wife.
 
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Stay away from the China 148 they are junk with a lot of problems. The 980 is a better radio. I have owned every radio that we have talked about here. Including the TR 296

I saw a video of a 6666 with low DK of 2w and high of 12w using knob.. but the guys meter at 2w low only showed a 3 1/2w pep which made no sense..
 
The only real way you would know, is to buy it and open it up and look for L9 and what has been silkscreened onto the PLL chip.

If L9 has a 100 ohm resistor - you have a true Diamond in the Rough - meaning it can work well with a little TLC, or it can wind up burning down the table - reverting back to whence it came - a lump of coal...

If L9 is just that - L 9 nothing else and it (PLL) says RCI - 8719 -heed the date code. Anything with 06 or later was under the RCI blanket of radios and they sourced their own parts - like what they do now.

So if todays quality level is acceptable - that's fine, but you'll pay for issues if they crop up. (Silver solder is one due to the Pb - Free compliance stuff)

Earlier ones, you have to go thru Dynascan as for the parts are more than likely from them, than RCI.
 
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I bought the Uniden 980 from eBay for the low price of $75.00 through Amazon.
Fantastic deal with a credit card offer. I did not test it at all hooked it up in the wife's car right before we went on a trip. I keyed up and no one answered, after ten tries I gave up trying to talk on the radio.
When I got home it went straight to the test bench. Hooked it all up to power meter, 50 ohm test load, and oscilloscope. Keyed up and had a nice solid carrier. When I started modulating it was really screwed up and over modulating like you would not believe.
Got into the menus and found the mike gain and turned it way down. Then it hit me, this radio was not brand new as stated. It had been opened and hacked. The modulation limiter had been de-soldered. I was not a happy camper.
It pisses me off when some body takes a radio that is perfectly good right out of the box and turns it into a splatter box. It still is setting on the work bench waiting for to come back. I think some knuckle head opened it up and started trying to find the secret of the universe by jacking this radio up.
 

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