alpgha 10 mini am 500

[oldslowchevy]

has anyone had a chance to play around with this radio? i like the small size and alot of the features though the radio is no power house by any means.

i bought one saturday afternoon and installed with zero mods done to it and wouldn't you know mine is defective so i will be taking it back in the morning.

it is squeling so bad no one can make out a single word i say. it is dead keying 25 watts, the radio is only rated for 10 watts max.

just the way my luck rolls. hopefully all will be taken care of in the morning.

when an if i get this thing going i will give a full review of the little guy.

 

[Wire Weasel]

With a name like "alpgha 10 mini am 500" - You know, you know it has to be good.....it has to be good. {Sang to the Smuckers Jelly theme}

Jelly?! Jelly ?? !! "It's Polaner All Fruit! You shithead !! " Quote from Polaner All Fruit TV ad

 

[oldslowchevy]

lol...oops..... my spelling does need some work, sorry about that.


alpha 10 mini am 500 is what i meant to write.



oh great nowi have that "jingle" stuck in my head..... what a way to start the day... lol

 

[AudioShockwav]

As long as the vendor you got it from will honor the warranty you should be ok, Care to let us know what the price range was?
Not a bad looking little radio, and the small size is nice in today's jam packed cars, not everyone has room for a big radio.



Cb Magazine online did a review on that radio.

73
Jeff

 

[oldslowchevy]

i paid $120 out the door which is about the going price. the biggest problem is none of the alphas have a warranty i have found out since buying this radio. the shop i bought it from opens at 9 am so i will be going back there in i few minutes. i am a local customer, so hopefully they will make it right for me. i should know shortly though.

 

[Mudfoot]

Not a bad looking little rig.

 

[AudioShockwav]

For a guy that just wants a very small am radio, you can stuff it in one of the little cubby holes in the new cars....try that with a cobra 29...stupid compact cars.

73
Jeff

 

[Mudfoot]

I picked up a 2005 Dodge Neon SXT couple weeks ago.

I was shocked to find that I will be able to mount a 2950 chassis just below the center console.

Plus, it has a plastic tank with easy to pull fuel pump that I can choke if need be.

Whouda thunk.

 

[desync0]

I've got one in my Jeep, stuffs nicely between the console and passenger seat.

It doesn't have a noise blanker circuit, so I get lot's of alternator whine, and power line interference. Puts out about 8watts on a truck stop swr/power meter, been told it has a nice sound, but could definitely use a new mic as the audio is low despite a strong signal.

 

[oldslowchevy]

well, it was a bad one, it smoked on there bench as they keyed it up to see what it was doing, and it did it's very best impresstion of puff the majic dragon.

good news is they are getting me a brand new one, i should have it on wednesday. really they will have it tomarrow but i 6 pm - 6 am tonight and on tuesday i work 6 pm till midnight, so i wont be able to pick it up to wednesday. at that point i will do a review of it off an on for a while in stock form and as mods are done.

how long should i run this this stock to "break it in" i am thinking a month...

 

[Mudfoot]

I'd have them bench test it before giving it to you if they will. Sounds like a decent shop.

Wednesday is a holiday, they gonna be open?

Good luck with it.

 

[oldslowchevy]

update:

went back to the shop and just picked up a new radio. they did find out that the issue was something in the mic. and this radio is a 6 pin and all i have is 4 pin mics. i did have the choice mine radio that i bought at first or a brand new one....... i took the new. on their meter it is doing 8 watts dead key and swings to 16. this radio is 100% stock.... for now. i have to go to work in a few minutes so i will update this thread as time moves on.

 

[oldslowchevy]

update #2

ok i opened up the covers only to have a peak so i can see where the mod done in this video is at ( Alpha 10 mini tune-up - YouTube )
ummmmm wow.... there are some very time things in here........ very very very tiny. but i did locate the spot for the mod. though i will not be doing this mod for a few weeks.

thing i do not like about the radio....

1. the mic.... ugg... tiny, about half the size of a road king rk56 mic.... maybe i bit smaller. and the tone has alot to be diesired for.

2. there is no noise blanker on the radio..... this is a MOBLE radio....... an there is no noise blanker........ really?

so thanks to this board i did make this filter ( http://www.worldwidedx.com/home-brew/31492-building-simple-alternator-whine-ignition-filter.html ) and when it cools off later i will then install this and report back on how it works. i did make it to the specs here.

3. the wood grin face plate..... it is ok. i just don't have a car with wood trim.


now let's get to the good stuff.

now keeping in mind today is july 4th and not many of my friends are on the radio today, just a handful at best. that said.....

things i like.....

1. the mic.... yeah i know i just told you i hate thing.... but i do like having the channel and auto squelch buttons on the mic..... kinda handy really.

2 buttons are back lit and is very nice at night, makes the hunting and pecking alot easier.

3. the receive on this thing is awesome. much better then most radios i have owned.

4. the price.... $115..... :wub:

5. the size. i drive a ford escort......space is not your friend in an escort..... this radio fits very nice with out cutting and hacking the car for it to make it fit. the radio is the same height and width of my unien pc 68 xl but only half the depth.

6. built in heat sink, so it should handle the heat fairly well. time will tell though.

the 2 mods i plan on doing in the up coming weeks are

1. drop the dead key/modulaton as done in the video above.

2. debating on tring to at the very least mount the channel buttons that are on the stock mic into an astatic 636. :drool:

that is all i have for now. happy 4th everyone.

 

[oldslowchevy]

update #2


ok i have been using this radio for a few days now and i will now post my findings if any of you have questions after this just ask and i will respond as soon as i can...


ok the recieve on this little radio really is out standing, i have heard stations way way out there 25+ plus miles, i do not run a linear so i can not make it back to them though. but due to the high carrier watts (10) and low swing (to 15) watts i have been able to talk 15-16 miles to a base (i am moblie) putting 1-4 db on them.

i bought this radio thinking that down the road with in the next year i will get my ham ticket. well.... a fool and his money is soon parted.... if i have read things right with a tech class i would only be aloud to talk on 10 meter ssb, not am, not fm. this radio is am/fm only. so in that reguard it will useless to me. this is not a fault with the radio but a fault of my own.

audio reports...

within 4-5 miles i peg most people meter out (high carrier) with alot of modutaion.

within 5-8 miles report very wildly from pegging them out to barely giving them 2 db, audio seems to get muffled in this range and i find myself repeting myself often.

within 8-12 miles i mange to give most people some sort of signal but audio is in most cases low, muffled, garbbled, but most people are able to make out what i am saying.... for the most part.

beyond 12 miles..... it is a crap shoot at best. moblie to mobile.... yeah..... that ain't happening without power. moblie to base depends mostly on the height of there antenna.

i live in the smokey mountain of east tennessee, if i lived in the flat lands i am sure i could almost reach out twice as far but i have no way to prove this.

this radio is still 100% stock, i will be dropping the dead key in about 2 two weeks.

oh by the way modutaion on this radio according to my meter is between 70-80%... so i have to assume the muffled audio has to be the crappy stock mic.

if you have question or comments feel free to ask.