President McKinley Low Power SSB

[Unit525]

Purchased a new President McKinley and it meets my needs on receive. No ignition noise or power line noise.

But the audio on SSB or the power out is low. Very stock or the settings are to low.

I tried a power mic and it’s at 2 watts talking or 8 watts on a whistle. I’m use to seeing 10 watts at least on talk with other SSB radios.

Any suggestions? Is there an AMC or ALC that will add that small extra push? I’m not looking for a power house, but it would be nice on SSB to have at least 10 or 12 watts. AM is around 3 to 4 watts, no complaints.

 

[ForestRunner98]

Here ya go! RT 202 for SSB and RT206 for AM

 

[Unit525]

Perfect, thank you. This radio is not a power house, as I can see. Not that I was expecting that, but I was able to bring up the power to a more acceptable level. Thank you for the reply.

 

[ForestRunner98]

Perfect, thank you. This radio is not a power house, as I can see. Not that I was expecting that, but I was able to bring up the power to a more acceptable level. Thank you for the reply.

Awesome! Have you noticed a difference? I did with mine.

 

[Unit525]

Yes I did. The one sad point I noticed is the mic. I have never seen a mic element hidden behind plastic.. I will tackle this later and drill a small hole. But I need to make sure to get the mic element out of the socket safely.. I can only assume its glued in there. But the audio is up and the power on SSB is up. Not like old radios that truly put out 12 watts -- I noticed the radio puts out higher power if my voice was higher pitched.. I will need to adjust this mic or find a mic that is more focused on a higher freqs, as this stock mic is just stock to me. I did try a red devil, but still low in freq per the audio. I will def need to run an amp to get the power I need.

But yes, the items listed above did work. I worked with plastic screwdrivers to make sure I was safe and treated the 2 pots with care.

 

[ForestRunner98]

The mic element comes out fairly easy. Just score around with an exacto and pull out with large tweezers. Remove the white felt, drill hole and replace the element. Leave the felt out. Also talk across the mic. It really does sound good from another radio!