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Where in the world is... HardDrive?

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TheRealPorkchop

Certified Sith Pimp
Aug 25, 2015
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So Sunday afternoon I was sitting in the shop and thumbing the channels on the ole CB.

Stopped on 19, naturally, cause I is a truck driving steering wheel holder. And who did my ears hear...the pay attention guy!

He was pretty clear, signal wasn’t super strong and booming but I had absolutely no trouble hearing him. He said he was in New Mexico, about 20 miles north of the border.

So is that where his shop is at? I thought he was traveling in his Griswold Truckster towing a mobile CB repair command unit.

I then lost interest pretty quick because all I could picture was Tommy Chong talking on a CB. Found Jesse James and the gang on 40 in Cabot Arkansas and chatted with him for a few minutes.

It was definitely skip. A barefoot Connex and an A99 @ 50ft didn’t do it any other way.

Where have you heard Tommy at?
 

Come on now, am I the only one to hear Ching Chong? I feel like Neal Patrick Harris in Harold and Kuhmar Go To White Castle when he saw himself ride off on the unicorn.

Are you paying attention?
 
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E9FDFAD9-09F1-44A6-ACB0-094FD48DE018.jpeg

I’m now in a different truck (579 Peterbilt) with a lesser radio rig. Until a few months ago i was in one (Cascadia) where I’d gone through all the steps (several times) and was well-sorted thus hearing HardDrive wasn’t a problem when skip was rolling.

Clean & Mean IS a fair description.

Some of his conversations I could hear both sides, others, not. There werent many others out in Radio Land doing the same at that level of audio quality.

Yeah, I make fun of “the cult in New Mexico”, but that’s due to his poor judgment about using Facebook. Calls his character into question. His videos need a script. Clean things up.

It seems like being a CB tech who “advertises” in one fashion or another sets ones self up for being mugged every time one leaves the house. Good or bad. Not everyone likes rough & tumble.

If he’s making a living and happy with it — and his customers — he’s sticking his neck out on behalf of truck drivers. Who aren’t interested and/or don’t have the “mind” to want to learn about radio. “What works?” is enough (Despite the difficulty). Spending a few bucks that — over a years time — results in not only time-saving, but (more importantly) morale is seen as worthwhile.

The amount of money I see displayed on dashboards (XM radio, Tablet GPS, top-end phones, THEN the accessories that go with them) shows drivers have a vested interest in information while on the move.

If one could put all drivers into traditional large cars, most aggravations would disappear. Literally. Establish a template and best parts, tools, supplies list. Break it down into a series of projects.

When one is out on the Plains there is a large percentage of these. As CB “ought to be”.

But these aren’t projects for after work or on weekends for most company drivers. I get home once per month (by choice), so it “might” get fitted in at the end of the ten hour rest break. And something else has to give way to do it. (I don’t take 34-Re-sets, but run on ReCapitulation hours. No days off on road).

Believe me, it’s hard enough to convince a company of taking time to fix wearing items on the truck. The margins are thin in this business. “Is the truck moving?” is all that matters. (Extrapolate, boys).

I’ve had this new radio the last three weeks. Factory was 3’ Fiberglas which didn’t extend above fairing. I replaced with one 5’ (13’7”) on back of sleeper. 53’ dry van. Until yesterday when I went through Oklahoma City trying to set controls was a dead-end. I had “Rattlesnake” and his crowd give what I knew were informed comments. (Thanks).

Yes: I should bypass factory power and coax. A given. Same for antenna type and location. I’ll get to it.

But just to set Mike Gain (RK-56) was the big change. And due to their fixed locations as I crossed at something of a right angle (known distance) I was able to set the West Mountain DSP speaker Volume & Filtration Levels against the Uniden 885 RF Gain & Squelch to a “best” set of adjustments.

I point this out because one can be in a metro area and ask for help AND EVERY RESPONSE IS THAT “ITS GOOD”. When it isn’t. (Now, I “know”).

Analogies abound to other pursuits or duties. CB is no exception. Men are interested or they aren’t. Feel confident about tackling something that may violate company policy, and living with the consequences.

To his credit I understand that Sherman “may” give extensive advice. That works when followed. (If he makes a buck, so what?)

Good luck in finding that advice for the truck driver. Anywhere. (It may be out there, but it’s not easy to find trustworthy help).

I look forward to having the radio rig quality of the OP. Whether or not I care about long-distance conversations, it’s the right goal, IMO.

Hear Sherman and/or one of his rigs shipped off to the wilderness and it can cause wallets to open up (is the point here).

Justifiably

.
 
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He tends to go to the Hi-Fi end of the power spectrum so naturally their wallets and pocketbooks open up - when the customer has had enough - is when the rest of us will have to start to worry. What's next?

It's always an upwards spiral - but the moral spirals just as quickly downwards to offset into the mediocre...
 
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He sounds clear but theres nothing hifi about what he does. I would call it good communication grade audio. My Stryker 955 had just as much bandwidth out of the box as what I see on the panadapter from hard drive's radio. I think money would be better spent experimenting with microphones because everyone has a different voice. I used a d104 hand mic with a resistor removed to lower the low frequency roll off point. It worked very well with my voice and the 955.. The stock mic had good low end response but was a little on the muddy side with my voice.


Come on now, am I the only one to hear Ching Chong? I feel like Neal Patrick Harris in Harold and Kuhmar Go To White Castle when he saw himself ride off on the unicorn.

Are you paying attention?

Dave's not here man. Are you the same guy from the old copper forum 12 or 15 years ago? I remember someone with your username, pat 00 and a few others. There's not much happening there anymore.
 
He sounds clear but theres nothing hifi about what he does. I would call it good communication grade audio. My Stryker 955 had just as much bandwidth out of the box as what I see on the panadapter from hard drive's radio. I think money would be better spent experimenting with microphones because everyone has a different voice. I used a d104 hand mic with a resistor removed to lower the low frequency roll off point. It worked very well with my voice and the 955.. The stock mic had good low end response but was a little on the muddy side with my voice.




Dave's not here man. Are you the same guy from the old copper forum 12 or 15 years ago? I remember someone with your username, pat 00 and a few others. There's not much happening there anymore.

He's got a tad more bandwith than the average radio. But I really think he's got a great sound an any of the radios he's working on.
 
.... He sounds clear but theres nothing hifi about what he does. I would call it good communication grade audio. ....

From what I've heard of him he has what I would call good ragchew audio, a step above communication grade but not into what I would call hifi territory. Credit where credit is due he sounds good.

I like the sound of a well set up hifi station but not enough to get involved with the amount of equipment some of those guys are running, I would be happy with audio similar to HardDrives if it could be done with a fairly simple setup.

Which brings us to:

.... My Stryker 955 had just as much bandwidth out of the box as what I see on the panadapter from hard drive's radio. ....

What is the audio bandwidth on an out of the box 955?
 
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He sounds clear but theres nothing hifi about what he does. I would call it good communication grade audio. My Stryker 955 had just as much bandwidth out of the box as what I see on the panadapter from hard drive's radio. I think money would be better spent experimenting with microphones because everyone has a different voice. I used a d104 hand mic with a resistor removed to lower the low frequency roll off point. It worked very well with my voice and the 955.. The stock mic had good low end response but was a little on the muddy side with my voice.




Dave's not here man. Are you the same guy from the old copper forum 12 or 15 years ago? I remember someone with your username, pat 00 and a few others. There's not much happening there anymore.

Hey its Dave, man.
 
Here's a snapshot of the 955 AM Regulator...
Stryker955AMRegulator.jpg

In a nutshell - it can handle the bandwidth - but there's several areas of tonal filtering that are needed - for quiet non-squealing feedback loop prevention stuff.

But in light of it all it's set for low-to-mid tone voice and not for a shrill D104 but that in itself doesn't mean you cant use it in this "radio", you can - it (mic's) own tonal bandpass just provides the lower end rolloff the D104's own high-tone treble range, running it thru this regulator is your upper cutoff - it'll sound just fine but just a lot of hi-cut. So many a flat mic won't do well with this - it will need some power and bandwidth behind it.

But it has the BANDWIDTH but not the bandpass due to the filtering going on in there.

Now, you folks can kid me about the "Hi-Fi" - this is what I'm talking about. There is a difference between a radios' filtering sections...and the way it can process the envelope...One is Bandpass, the other is Bandwidth.
 
Here's it's TX section - using 13N10s'...
Stryker955TXSection.jpg

So now you know why a Cobra 148 sounds one way, but a Stryker 955 sounds another - one is due to the power levels - their requirements are different - than say a higher power MOS-FET wide dynamic range (Read: Wide Bandwidth) versus a lower-power predecessor and their dynamic range bi-polar operation.

In one condition - the Driver a 2166 uses a NFB - in the Stryker - you don't have that - you can only dampen using heavy capacitance and run enough bias current to keep RF contained to the sections it needs to stay in.
 
He does one thing right when you cut thru the lies and BS:
He does not create spatter boxes.
The other BS? magic coax cables, snake oil Palomar transistors.. ignore that noise.
"barefoot" using a modified radio with a built-in amplifier is a hoot.

Whenever I have heard him he sounds average to me.
But he isn't clipping and snipping and using a good mic.

These radios are built to a price and designed to meet regulatory requirements.
Altering the audio path on one of these is trivial, if you can work on 0603 and smaller.
Covered in several videos already.
I think Mikes Radio Repair even tells you what parts and where they are in a video.
 
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