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Chinese made newer style Cobra 148 GTl


IM no expert here but I've heard nothing but not so good things about these radios ? but !! .......I went through one not to long ago .did extra channels and it seemed to tune up nicely ,I've heard a few of them along the way and they all sounded fairly good to my ear ,I guess for one that isn't a perfectionist in his or her hobby and has to have nothing but the best ....I think these newer 148s will get the job done and at 129.00 or so for a sideband radio ,that aint to bad. They work one way or the otherbut if it were me ? I'd rather spend another 20.00 or so and get the Galaxy 949
 
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148

I tend to agree with you SK, I was hearing nothing good until recently, a friend did one up and hand it talking great and showing decent numbers on a Bird. So if you know what your doing or have a tech that does you can end up with a fairly decent radio. I just saw them on Yahoo Auctions the other day and "The Big Ole Radio Store" had them for $99.95 on a buy it now, quite a drop from their regular $129.95.
 
I have heard they drift around on freaquency but this is only what I have heard. They might be fixable but Im not sure. Ill third the motion to spend the extra money on a galaxy.
 
Well I think with some work and some tweaks the new Cobra 148's can be a serviceable radio for sure. The Taiwan Built 148's and president Grant's were the best of their kind. In my Honest Opinion.
 
148

All this time people have been saying the 148 made in the Phillipines was the best, and they aalways want more money for them. I had one made in the Phillipines and one made in Taiwan at the same time and I couldnt tell any difference in the receive. The one in the Phillipines had alot more swing but that could be because of two different techs tuning the radios.
 
Cheech said:
I have heard they drift around on freaquency but this is only what I have heard. They might be fixable but Im not sure. Ill third the motion to spend the extra money on a galaxy.
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The friend of mine that has one didnt do anything to the receive. He didnt have to it works great, it stays right on freq with no drift at all on his counter a 7 digit, I forget the name of it. Even the 148 GTLF that I had drifted some.
 
148

Cant edit so I will add to above post.

Every Galaxy I ever owned drifted too much for me, except for the 88. Ive had a 77,88,99 and a 959. IMHO I would not own another Galaxy radio, they have way to many issues with them.
Im sticking with Cobra/Uniden from now on. I have found them to be the most reliable for everyday use on the base or in the mobile.
 
The Taiwan Built 148's and president Grant's were the best of their kind. In my Honest Opinion.
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people have been saying the 148 made in the Phillipines was the best, and they aalways want more money for them. I had one made in the Phillipines and one made in Taiwan at the same time and I couldnt tell any difference in the receive. The one in the Phillipines had alot more swing but that could be because of two different techs tuning the radios.
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The Taiwan Built 148s and the President Grants are similar, but very different. This is true for the Uniden Grants of that same generation (6 knobs on left of face, Meter and Channel display and 4 buttons in middle, channel selector on right) (President Grant with 3 buttons under the meter is same as a Cobra 138XLR, has 858PLL and Totally different!)
Taiwan Built 148s are the same as Grant XL, as are the Philippines 148s and Malasian 148s. ALL Grant XLs are made in the Philippines. The Philippines get more money because they use some better parts. If you want the REAL DEAL. Just buy a Uniden Grant XL and you'll get the best of them all.

I know that was all off the subject. To get back on track.....The new 148s seem to be a bunch more stable than when they first came out. I think that Cobra has improved some parts in there. The last 148 (China) I tuned drifted all over the place, but no worse than a Galaxy or Ranger. The old China 148s were nearly untunable. They removed a voltage regulator from the design and durring keyup the thing would jump all over the place. I thought my tone generator was broken :D
 
new 148 gtl china made

Yes I run one of the new 148s made in china and it does a wonderful job, no drifting. it has a mmb8719 (not a mb8719) pll I came up with a mod I can go down to 26.815 and up to 27.765 I also get the freqs 27.415, 27.425, 27.435 and 27.445 ..I didn't have to change a crystal either...I have unlocked the clarifier . Turned up the radio it keys a 3 Watts on am and swings to 8 Watts.. ssb does 17 peak watts .I also changed a couple of resistors so now I don't need to run a power mic, I get excellent radio checks telling me I am loud and clear on am and also that I sound clean and clear on ssb. On my experience running a power mic on any radio even stock radios it always causes TVI with the neighbors, The 148 was the same way with a power mic stock before I did the mods but now I get no complaints at all. Yes I also removed the limiter transistor and maybe this would have caused problems with a power mic and I know many would have advised against it. But it works fine here I am not causing splatter ect as I have checked it with operators near me..maybe again because of no power mic? ...I also did one other mod that improved the recieve I replaced the 2SC1674 transistor with a 2SC299 it improved the receive greatly and did not amplify the noise level...I would not trade my 148 for any galaxy radio out there..All I have ever had with any galaxy is problems...I know alot of techs would advise against doing some of the mods I did to the 148 ..to each their own is what I say...maybe they just want all the business to theirselves and don't want the everyday operator to know that there is so much they can do theirselves? I don't know?
 
Glad to hear your pleased with "your" radio there Drifter ....in the end ....that's all that really matters dude, and if your getting good incoming reports from others ? and as you said ,not bothering your neighbors with any excess TVI ,that's a good thing. (-: Welcome to the WWRF
 
JustinDePolis said:
Or maybe we just have a better way to do it instead of jacking up the gain in the front end of the receiver, where there is little filtering, and already too much gain. How about lowering the gain in the front end, then raising it later down the line, this would improve sensitivity, and selectivity, and intermod rejection. (I'm not even going to go into what more gain in the front end can do to the AGC circuit, or input/output impedances, harmonic generation by that transistor, etc)
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I'm not even going to go there either except for one thing. That is exactly the response I thought I'd hear :roll:
 

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