High/Low pwr switch

[jonathan]

I was in a C.B. store the other day and the tech was telling a radio owner about what pwr. setting to operate on for best results. He said for louder audio run on low, Will be louder but less pwr. Then said for better recieve run on high but, audio won't be as loud. It sounded a little crazy what he was trying to explain. It just didn't seem right.
This is what I thought about the pwr. switch. The manual on my Connex said that the low pwr. setting was used for a lower dead key and transmit to run a little extra; high for if you didn't want to. That explanaition is a condensed but, hopefully I got the point across. Can someone help explain better and clearer. It just doesn't seem like the tech knew what he was talking about. Then again I am no jedi C.B. tech. Heck, I have enough trouble trying to find the on/off switch.

 

[KC2OST]

With your average cb hack shop mods this is what you get:

LOW POWER = Low carrier and lots of swing for a very overmodulated
signal that doesn't transmit very far but sounds "loud/blaring".

HIGH POWER = A very high carrier that is beyond spec and a under modulated signal
that transmit further and sounds crummy.

 

[DTB Radio]

Your explanation is right, low is for running heat or just local (couple miles) chatter, and high is for max output from the radio. It has nothing to do with receive. There shouldn't be any difference in audio from low to high if everything is tuned correctly. Many newer exports are going to FET's, which makes it harder to get just the right AMC setting on low power.

 

[TonyV225]

Dave is right on the money but who knows with some of these road side CB or chop shops Ive seen stranger things result from there work so recieve dropping on Hi power would be a new one but it also wouldnt really surprise me

 

[jonathan]

That makes a lot of sense. It's always good to learn something new.

 

[citizenoftheband]

This is the perfect topic I can find that fits my question. (True or False) On most every radio(cb) I have ever owned the low power never has the total (PEP) that high does. I am ok with this but I hear local techs all the time tell me that they can get the PEP on low or high almost identical is the True or False?

 

[lords]

true A swing kit installed in the radio can give you 1-whatever Watt the radio can handle to a full Max output swing
most I do not including exports can DK 1watt and swing 20 or DK 6 watts and swing 20 ...Just and Example...

 

[citizenoftheband]

Yea I guess without the swing kit my Superstar is going to just swing 10 watts less on low than on high power cause i need to turn the power down for my amp. Had it on 4 watts(low) and 8(high) and the swing was pretty close but when I turned it down to 2.5(low) and 5(high) my low lost swing 10 watts that is, lol.Thanks for the info.

 

[DTB Radio]

This is the perfect topic I can find that fits my question. (True or False) On most every radio(cb) I have ever owned the low power never has the total (PEP) that high does. I am ok with this but I hear local techs all the time tell me that they can get the PEP on low or high almost identical is the True or False?

It is possible in most radios to do this, but it will hurt over-all performance by making the audio very distorted, and will also cause tremendous bleedover on other channels. If you've been reading this forum for very long, I'm sure you've seen the 4:1 ratio mentioned. Thats the approximate PEP-to-carrier ratio that gives optimum performance. that ratio can be pushed a bit in many cases to as much as 6:1 without too much problem. Example: 2 watts key, 8 watts PEP is 4:1. @ watts key, 12 pep is 6:1. 6:1 is getting a bit distorted, but isn't bad in most cases.

 

[lords]

This is the perfect topic I can find that fits my question. (True or False) On most every radio(cb) I have ever owned the low power never has the total (PEP) that high does. I am ok with this but I hear local techs all the time tell me that they can get the PEP on low or high almost identical is the True or False?

It is possible in most radios to do this, but it will hurt over-all performance by making the audio very distorted, and will also cause tremendous bleedover on other channels. If you've been reading this forum for very long, I'm sure you've seen the 4:1 ratio mentioned. Thats the approximate PEP-to-carrier ratio that gives optimum performance. that ratio can be pushed a bit in many cases to as much as 6:1 without too much problem. Example: 2 watts key, 8 watts PEP is 4:1. @ watts key, 12 pep is 6:1. 6:1 is getting a bit distorted, but isn't bad in most cases.

yep you are 100% right about this but he wanted the info so it was said

 

[citizenoftheband]

wow thanks for the info guys. I have read the solid state amp section and I thought the 4 to 1 applied well there. Never in my wildest would I have figured that with the radios too.

 

[Switch Kit]

IM starting to sense the politically correctness here , IM 10 to 1 and going strong into my fire box , for many years now , NC mic / TRB-1 Echo board set to my liking ...distorted huh ? I've heard it to many times to say that would be a total out and out lie !! I sound damned good !! pat pat pat 8) now bleed over might be another thing ? but even then , it's very minamal at that ,even a perfectly tuned radio and amp will have minamal bleedover depending on how close you are to somebody else.IM still having fun all the same and I surely don't have a dozen or so other operators out there wanting to take me down for any dirty deeds done dirt cheap. 8) Auh yes ....my favorite last words ......I don't talk to machines , I talk to people. Peace .......but I do tend to understand the theroy of radio realativity from time to time. some might even reffer to it as PARROTED DRIBBLE !! Can you relate ? ...I just couldn't resist ........I honestly don't care what your doing , as long as your having fun.