I just got this back yesterday. As you can see the vfo box mounted to the bottom side of the radio. The audio, receive have been modded and the clarifier opened it now has more places to talk. The 6 digit freak counter also follows the clarifier and displays the frequencies when the vfo is turned off and you use the stock rotary dial.
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148GTL MOD Picture
- Thread starter hammer0630
- Start date
i recently did a very similar install of one of these for someone.
while it is a cool kit, and i have to give props to the guy who designs and builds them; there are a few issues with it that im not very fond of.
the first one is the most minor, and its something that the builder probably wouldnt have noticed unless he was the one installing the unit, but i do want to point it out in order to help future installers of these kits.
this may have just been on the one that i got, but the hole for the little button on the front was off center of the button to the point that when you tightened the bolts to hold it to the radio case, it pulled the button over enough to keep it engaged.
i had to take it apart and file the hole larger. (trying to enlarge a hole in plexiglass is risky as it can easily crack)
the next issue is that the "VFO" knob on the unit, which is really an encoder, does not have any real detents to it. i imagine the designer did this on purpose in order to give it a VFO-like feel, but you will find out real quick that there is a maximum speed this thing can change freqs at, and its much slower than your hand can turn that knob.
what ends up happening is that it takes a few trys to "zero in" on the freq you want. you'll pass it, go back too far, and then get there.
IMO he should have used an encoder that has detents that you can feel, giving it more of a "channelized" feel. this would make it much easier for the end user to move from freq to freq.
i'd be very interested to hear hammer's opinion on this after he uses it for a while.
the last issue is the actual mounting of the PC board inside the radio.
the designer had a good idea as far as making it easy to install for the average user, but the board itself covers up the VCO coil and L20 making it impossible to tweak the VCO so that it will cover the new range of freqs while the board is in place.
you end up having to pull the board, make a guesstimate tweak on the VCO coil, put the board back in place, and then see if it worked.
i'll explain a bit further.
to install this board, you first remove the PLL chip (8719), and solder two 9 pin SIP sockets in place of it.
the board itself has long pins on the bottom of it that plug into those sockets.
this means that the board must be in place for the radio to function.
with the board in place, L19 (VCO) and L20 are covered by it.
to me, the smarter way would have been to include two small angle brackets on the board just like they do with echo boards so that you could mount the board to the chassis of the radio, and have wires going to a plug that would plug in to the sockets where the PLL used to be.
this way you could have the unit plugged in, but still move it out of the way to do your final tuning adjustments.
like i said, i like the unit, but these are the things i would like to see addressed in future revisions if there are any.
lastly, i have a question for hammer.
does your receive mute when you are spinning the VFO knob?
or can you hear each channel as you are tuning quickly past them?
LC
while it is a cool kit, and i have to give props to the guy who designs and builds them; there are a few issues with it that im not very fond of.
the first one is the most minor, and its something that the builder probably wouldnt have noticed unless he was the one installing the unit, but i do want to point it out in order to help future installers of these kits.
this may have just been on the one that i got, but the hole for the little button on the front was off center of the button to the point that when you tightened the bolts to hold it to the radio case, it pulled the button over enough to keep it engaged.
i had to take it apart and file the hole larger. (trying to enlarge a hole in plexiglass is risky as it can easily crack)
the next issue is that the "VFO" knob on the unit, which is really an encoder, does not have any real detents to it. i imagine the designer did this on purpose in order to give it a VFO-like feel, but you will find out real quick that there is a maximum speed this thing can change freqs at, and its much slower than your hand can turn that knob.
what ends up happening is that it takes a few trys to "zero in" on the freq you want. you'll pass it, go back too far, and then get there.
IMO he should have used an encoder that has detents that you can feel, giving it more of a "channelized" feel. this would make it much easier for the end user to move from freq to freq.
i'd be very interested to hear hammer's opinion on this after he uses it for a while.
the last issue is the actual mounting of the PC board inside the radio.
the designer had a good idea as far as making it easy to install for the average user, but the board itself covers up the VCO coil and L20 making it impossible to tweak the VCO so that it will cover the new range of freqs while the board is in place.
you end up having to pull the board, make a guesstimate tweak on the VCO coil, put the board back in place, and then see if it worked.
i'll explain a bit further.
to install this board, you first remove the PLL chip (8719), and solder two 9 pin SIP sockets in place of it.
the board itself has long pins on the bottom of it that plug into those sockets.
this means that the board must be in place for the radio to function.
with the board in place, L19 (VCO) and L20 are covered by it.
to me, the smarter way would have been to include two small angle brackets on the board just like they do with echo boards so that you could mount the board to the chassis of the radio, and have wires going to a plug that would plug in to the sockets where the PLL used to be.
this way you could have the unit plugged in, but still move it out of the way to do your final tuning adjustments.
like i said, i like the unit, but these are the things i would like to see addressed in future revisions if there are any.
lastly, i have a question for hammer.
does your receive mute when you are spinning the VFO knob?
or can you hear each channel as you are tuning quickly past them?
LC
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Yes you can easily spin the rotary dial faster than the unit can follow but once you realize this it then becomes second nature. It is very critical between one frequency to another as it takes very little movement to go from one freek to another. I don't have any detents in my rotary dial and my thinking is if it did it would have to line up with the frequency and the detent which could be a problem. Also it shows different frequencies while in motion which at first can cause confusion as it momentarily seats itself. I don't see this used in a mobile environment very to user friendly. The mounting screws are so small that I could not manipulate them with my fingers and you have to be aware not to over tighten. If you are going to use this in a mobile environment you would probably want to use some loc tite so not to worry about them loosening. Many years ago I had a Digi-Scan 400 hooked up to my 148GTL and that was designed much better but they are nearly impossible to find any more. As far as adjusting the internals and alignment that's where my radio tech knows.. He has endless patience and has seemed to get this right. The positive points with this vfo or what ever it's called lol is you always know what frequency you are on and that alone is at least $50.00. It is sequential and does not miss a channel and is pretty cool that it also works when turned off. And by a push of a button you can use your radio as back to stock and are not dependant on the vfo's rotary dial.
lets be clear that it is not a VFO in the traditional sense.
the steps are still 10khz, and the chip is programmed to add in the A channels and all the out of band channels are in order.
hammer, it would be no problem for the designer to use an encoder with detents.
its all just digital info and he would just program the chip to use a different encoder.
here is a link for anyone that wants to know what an encoder is/ does:
Rotary encoder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
also hammer, does your radio mute the receive when you are spinning the encoder?
LC
the steps are still 10khz, and the chip is programmed to add in the A channels and all the out of band channels are in order.
hammer, it would be no problem for the designer to use an encoder with detents.
its all just digital info and he would just program the chip to use a different encoder.
here is a link for anyone that wants to know what an encoder is/ does:
Rotary encoder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
also hammer, does your radio mute the receive when you are spinning the encoder?
LC
I don't think you can call it "muting" when changing freaks rather that when trolling between freaks there is a no sound spot in between so when you change channels kind of rapid you just don't hear anything . Changing them slowly you can hear the intermittent sounds.
the one that i just did is now for sale. if anyone is interested, just PM me.
its a malaysian 148gtl from the 90's, it has this freq kit in it, a blue channel display, blue meter lights, a 10 turn clarifier that goes 6khz down and 6khz up from center, the schottky diode receive mod, and a full alignment.
the deadkey is set at about 2 watts or so IIRC.
it is a very nice radio if i do say so myself. let me know and ill put you in touch with the seller. very trustworthy guy.
MODS-if this is not appropriate to put here, just let me know. didnt want to put it in the for sale section since im not the actual seller.
LC
its a malaysian 148gtl from the 90's, it has this freq kit in it, a blue channel display, blue meter lights, a 10 turn clarifier that goes 6khz down and 6khz up from center, the schottky diode receive mod, and a full alignment.
the deadkey is set at about 2 watts or so IIRC.
it is a very nice radio if i do say so myself. let me know and ill put you in touch with the seller. very trustworthy guy.
MODS-if this is not appropriate to put here, just let me know. didnt want to put it in the for sale section since im not the actual seller.
LC
I think that overall for the 148GTL this is pretty cool. Since their is no frequency counter on a 148GTL and I have never owned a separate frequency counter does a in-line counter only read out the frequency when you transmit? If so this is much better since you do not have to key up the mic to know where you are. My Galaxy 959DX has a counter so when I added some toggles to it it was great because you know where you are with out a road map and do not have to key up to read the counter. I was on the radio the other night talking with my friends when we had a cb'er giving one of my friends dead keys and we went to 15A lower side and me and my old 148 could go everywhere basically right there with their ten meter radio's and completely lost our nuisance. I just wanted to add that this 959DX has been modified in about every way and is hard to tell the difference now between the 148GTL. The DX 959 is going to be installed in my Tacoma with 120 watts of help replacing my 29LTD Classic. I have 2 trucks outfitted with radio's and are seriously thinking about a channel mod for one of them as they are pretty good radio's and I don't use SSB in my mobiles.
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