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A board is a board right?

seekyou

New Member
Apr 30, 2015
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Hi Folks
At one time I was an out and out Ham radio operator and never even thought about going on the CB let alone buying one. I am now an out and out convert! I love em! In the UK we are really restricted over here with both channels and legal radios that meet the required regs etc. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is that so many radios share the same board/chassis/controls etc! recently I have been looking at the wonderful Galaxy range that obviously aren’t available over here. But when I look at the service manual, the board looks quite like the board of my Magnum s9 ( On 10m) with same components and controls in a slightly different layout! So what REALLY makes them different..The way they are set up? The quality of the components. Also I've just seen a lovely advert of a Galaxy DX99V ..hang on a minute that case is the same as my magnum s9 with controls moved around?
Fascinating stuff! I know this probably doesn’t come as a surprise to all of you but as someone who takes the lid off a radio as soon as I get it, I find in intriguing!
I cant help thinking there is a factory with some boards and some different cases and they put them together and bring out a "All new" improved Radio. Or am I missing something?

I would love to see a compiled list of boards that share the same radio/chassis or the other way round! IS there a list like this? I would really love to see it!

Good listening and DX!

Pete
 

They basically used to fall into two camps in the UK, a variant on the Uniden or a variant on the Cybernet design. Many of the newer SMD ones are just variants of the Anytone - same shit, different sticker on the front panel.

New CB radio sales worldwide are so low it isn't worth manufacturers each developing their own individual boards so they tend to use the same basic board and just add their own tweaks to them.

You're right about the components though, quality between different boards can be a factor.
 
Galaxy radios aren't top of the line IMO. There are many better radios that use better components and don't drift like Galaxy radios are know to do on SSB. Good AM radios, but I just don't think they stand up to some of the other exports out there on SSB. JMO. Im sure some may disagree.
 
The design of a radio board is part science, part art. You can't just use a computer program to lay out the board and get a good result. You need years of experience to design a good product. Back in 1997, one of the VP for Cobra told the FCC there were only 2 companies that can build a good SSB CB radio. Uniden and Ranger. The magnum S9 was built by a manufacturer called Goodwill in China. They copied the Galaxy radio exactly, including the boards, and Galaxy sued them. The original lawsuit was settled with Goodwill agreeing, among other things, not to build a radio with a big, square meter. That's why the S9 meter is round, and the boards are almost identical because Goodwill didn't have the experience to design their own boards at that time.
 
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The design of a radio board is part science, part art. You can't just use a computer program to lay out the board and get a good result. You need years of experience to design a good product. Back in 1997, one of the VP for Cobra told the FCC there were only 2 companies that can build a good SSB CB radio. Uniden and Ranger. The magnum S9 was built by a manufacturer called Goodwill in China. They copied the Galaxy radio exactly, including the boards, and Galaxy sued them. The original lawsuit was settled with Goodwill agreeing, among other things, not to build a radio with a big, square meter. That's why the S9 meter is round, and the boards are almost identical because Goodwill didn't have the experience to design their own boards at that time.

That's really interesting! The S9 suits my needs...Nice Receiver with excellent RF gain range and good Transmit audio etc. So....if I was to import /use one of the Galaxys presumably its not likely to be any better?
 
The actual board used on a Magnum is different than used by most mfrs.
The fibreglass used for Magnum radios is a top shelf material - for one.

The circuit design was borrowed from the early SuperStar 360FM chassis; the EPT3600-xxx series design. However, Magnum used a CPU instead of the same PLL circuit as the SS360FM/3600 and this made it far more freq stable than the Galaxy design use of the 3600 chassis. Ranger also used this same circuit board design, but used a CPU approach to the RCI-2950/70. Another stable radio because of using a CPU instead of a PLL to synthesize freq.

But other Galaxy radios that might use the 3600 chassis have been anything else - than being stable . . .
 
The actual board used on a Magnum is different than used by most mfrs.
The fibreglass used for Magnum radios is a top shelf material - for one.

The circuit design was borrowed from the early SuperStar 360FM chassis; the EPT3600-xxx series design. However, Magnum used a CPU instead of the same PLL circuit as the SS360FM/3600 and this made it far more freq stable than the Galaxy design use of the 3600 chassis. Ranger also used this same circuit board design, but used a CPU approach to the RCI-2950/70. Another stable radio because of using a CPU instead of a PLL to synthesize freq.

But other Galaxy radios that might use the 3600 chassis have been anything else - than being stable . . .

Thanks Rob and others..quite an eye opener! Have really been temped by the Galaxy Range...Mainly because of the great looking Analogue Meter! But...I think Im going to stick to my S9..At least for the time being...Mind you that meter does look nice......
 

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