How To Disable the ANL on the Cobra 25 LX?

[67Malibu]

Hello. It seems the new Cobra 25 LX has a full-time ANL with a switchable NB. I prefer the cleaner receive audio when a radio's ANL is disengaged. Is there a mod I can perform that will disable the full-time ANL while leaving the NB switchable?

Many thanks for your service.

 

[Inquietude]

Look for D7. It should be near the front of the board and center, just to the left of VR4. It may be underneath that new display board the LX 25's have. You should have some unused holes in the board near D7 (the ANL diode, by the way) labeled W24 and W25. If you solder in a wire to each of those holes and short them with an SPST switch it will disable the ANL. I've never seen a 25LX up close but in a YT video I saw it looks like the exact same board they've used on the 21/25 for a long time. Just double check that the traces from the two empty holes each lead directly back to either end of D7. If so, that's what you want. I did that mod to an old 21LTD by "re-purposing" the PA switch so I could hear weak signals better on quiet nights. In your case you may have to add a micro toggle switch. If it were me I'd drill a small hole somewhere in the speaker side cover. When you close the switch it just shorts out the diode and bypasses the audio around it, and voila, no ANL. And please report back your progress. Thanks and all the best.

 

[67Malibu]

Thanks, Inquietude. After I posted the question I dug out the Sam's for the 25GTL and saw that the board hadn't changed much over the years. I did exactly what you suggested in your reply, sans the toggle switch. In my experience I've never found the ANL to be much help, so I jumpered a permanent connection. Speaker audio is much improved now. NB still switchable and very effective.

All the best,
67Malibu