Well, I received a new General HP40W from DTB and got around to installing it last night. So far so good, it gets good reports on air. I installed this in a 2012 Chevy 2500HD 6.0L, and as far as I can tell...the radio hasn't made any impact on the truck's operation. My main concern was RFI and the resulting interference with the truck's electronics.
I need to move the grounding point (pretty sure its the ground, got a tad of alternator whine that I didn't have before but I'm also tied into the power and ground differently than with the previous radio), but the receive seems fairly quiet and sensitive. When there is no background RFI (e.g. power lines), you can run the receive wide open, and there is barely a hiss. I did have DTB install his Schottky diode upgrade, so I don't know about the before/after.
I haven't put a watt meter on it, but DTB indicated he set low for 7 watts and high around 20, with forward swing on high around 95-100 watts. I got good reports this morning, regardless of whether I was running echo /no echo, or my RK56 versus the stock Ranger SRA198. I will probably run the Ranger microphone as my RK56 is nearly 15 years old, and has been through many radios and cars in that time.
My only one single complaint about the radio is the talkback...it sounds scratchy for lack of a better term (regardless of microphone used)? Again, every on air report came back "crystal clear", so its likely the internal speaker. I have an external I will probably hook up, see if that makes a difference. That makes setting the echo up (which I haven't had echo in a long time, so that might be the problem more so) difficult.
The only other thing I could complain about is the power wire, and not because its got a different plug or because its heavy wire...they install the plug on one end and fuses on both lead at the other end. This makes it impossible to fish the wires around a car interior. I ended up cutting the fuses off, running the wire where I wanted, then soldering the fuse holders back on. May be a problem for some, may not be a problem for others...for me, there was no getting the lead through the firewall grommet without cutting one or the other end off.
To finish the install, I just need to get the power leads hooked up through a relay (or possibly relays to ensure enough load carrying capacity) that's controlled by the ignition, maybe put a watt meter on it, and verify the SWR didn't change significantly (it was 1:1, so I figure it will still be 1:1 since nothing about the antenna changed).
I need to move the grounding point (pretty sure its the ground, got a tad of alternator whine that I didn't have before but I'm also tied into the power and ground differently than with the previous radio), but the receive seems fairly quiet and sensitive. When there is no background RFI (e.g. power lines), you can run the receive wide open, and there is barely a hiss. I did have DTB install his Schottky diode upgrade, so I don't know about the before/after.
I haven't put a watt meter on it, but DTB indicated he set low for 7 watts and high around 20, with forward swing on high around 95-100 watts. I got good reports this morning, regardless of whether I was running echo /no echo, or my RK56 versus the stock Ranger SRA198. I will probably run the Ranger microphone as my RK56 is nearly 15 years old, and has been through many radios and cars in that time.
My only one single complaint about the radio is the talkback...it sounds scratchy for lack of a better term (regardless of microphone used)? Again, every on air report came back "crystal clear", so its likely the internal speaker. I have an external I will probably hook up, see if that makes a difference. That makes setting the echo up (which I haven't had echo in a long time, so that might be the problem more so) difficult.
The only other thing I could complain about is the power wire, and not because its got a different plug or because its heavy wire...they install the plug on one end and fuses on both lead at the other end. This makes it impossible to fish the wires around a car interior. I ended up cutting the fuses off, running the wire where I wanted, then soldering the fuse holders back on. May be a problem for some, may not be a problem for others...for me, there was no getting the lead through the firewall grommet without cutting one or the other end off.
To finish the install, I just need to get the power leads hooked up through a relay (or possibly relays to ensure enough load carrying capacity) that's controlled by the ignition, maybe put a watt meter on it, and verify the SWR didn't change significantly (it was 1:1, so I figure it will still be 1:1 since nothing about the antenna changed).
