Could I adjust the peak power output and modulation without a scope?
I do have a bird watt meter for power.
I do have a bird watt meter for power.
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Galaxy 94HP adj.
- Thread starter RoadRanger
- Start date
theres a method i used years ago on AM only rigs. with another cb used as a monitor or shortwave if ya have one. using a noice canselling mike and mike gain down low id adjust to coils till max AUDIO was heard . id do this to all the tx coils.then id adjust the power/mod with the vrs. now this is by no means proper way to do it . but without proper equiment it has worked for me.i havent tried it on a ssb radio but id imagine it be the same
Can you do it? Yes. I'd say 90% of people who do peak their radios themselves do so without a scope. But there are a lot of crappy sounding radios out there so a high percentage don't do it right
Yes you can. Bird meters will work if you have the right slugs. Any decent peak reading meter will work too.
For this radio on AM, you should strive to get a deadkey at 25 watts and a peak modulation swing up to 100 watts.
Try to balance 25/100 watts with the RF power knob at or near all the way left. You may have to adjust back and forth between the high and low power pots and RF knob to achieve this. When you have 25 watts deadkey and modulation swing up to100 watts, you have achieved a 4:1 deadkey/swing ratio and you should have great audio without excessive IMD and high heat build up from too much deadkey. Make note where the RF power knob is so you know where this setting is at if the final adjustment isn't all the way left.
Hopefully the radio hasn't had the modulation limiter clipped (Q39 I believe) which is common place to do by the splattering over-modulated morons polluting the airwaves. Then you can adjust the AMC pot fully up which is fine and you still have attenuation available with the Mic gain knob.
Don't worry about trying to squeeze every watt from your radio, it makes not one bit of difference on the other end. The truth is you have to increase your wattage 4 times for the other end to see 1 signal strength difference. So the couple more extra watts you can get out of this radio will do nothing except possibly increase IMD and heat.
Also don't use a lot of deadkey either. This is what competition CBers do for bragging rights and probably because they can't communicate intelligently on the airwaves either. All high deadkey does is make your radio build up excessive heat which can lead to failure. It is like turning up the idle on your car, it won't run any faster but it will burn more fuel and get hot.
For this radio on AM, you should strive to get a deadkey at 25 watts and a peak modulation swing up to 100 watts.
Try to balance 25/100 watts with the RF power knob at or near all the way left. You may have to adjust back and forth between the high and low power pots and RF knob to achieve this. When you have 25 watts deadkey and modulation swing up to100 watts, you have achieved a 4:1 deadkey/swing ratio and you should have great audio without excessive IMD and high heat build up from too much deadkey. Make note where the RF power knob is so you know where this setting is at if the final adjustment isn't all the way left.
Hopefully the radio hasn't had the modulation limiter clipped (Q39 I believe) which is common place to do by the splattering over-modulated morons polluting the airwaves. Then you can adjust the AMC pot fully up which is fine and you still have attenuation available with the Mic gain knob.
Don't worry about trying to squeeze every watt from your radio, it makes not one bit of difference on the other end. The truth is you have to increase your wattage 4 times for the other end to see 1 signal strength difference. So the couple more extra watts you can get out of this radio will do nothing except possibly increase IMD and heat.
Also don't use a lot of deadkey either. This is what competition CBers do for bragging rights and probably because they can't communicate intelligently on the airwaves either. All high deadkey does is make your radio build up excessive heat which can lead to failure. It is like turning up the idle on your car, it won't run any faster but it will burn more fuel and get hot.
using a meter might get you close but no cigar.
for that matter just having an oscilloscope is only going to get you close but no cigar.
You can do it with just a watt meter.
But a scope tells you just what the real product is - in terms of quality. A trained monkey can tune a radio; but to use a scope and know what you are looking at is the difference between a clean signal - or a mess that you release to the airwaves that radio operators don't appreciate . . .
Come to think of it, if you can train a monkey to peak a radio, then that same monkey could be taught to use a scope too. It really isn't that hard to do.
But a scope tells you just what the real product is - in terms of quality. A trained monkey can tune a radio; but to use a scope and know what you are looking at is the difference between a clean signal - or a mess that you release to the airwaves that radio operators don't appreciate . . .
Come to think of it, if you can train a monkey to peak a radio, then that same monkey could be taught to use a scope too. It really isn't that hard to do.
