New Superstar SS88HL (Galaxy DX88HL)

[Recon]

A little nostalgia and kind of cool but nah.... They were cool in their time but we didn't have what we have today. Especially for that kind of money. They drift like a sailboat and really old school technology.

I'm sure they'll have a following though

So.......what is the issue with Galaxy's reputation of "drifting" radios? Is there a fix to stop drifting and if there is, why not fix it.

 

[Truck]

So.......what is the issue with Galaxy's reputation of "drifting" radios? Is there a fix to stop drifting and if there is, why not fix it.

its been a age old issue. too many factors to get deep into it but unlocking the clarifier does help, and changing out x2 does help some. But Ranger wouldnt fix something that isnt in current production. all galaxy33 thru 99, connex etc all do it.
Ok, its way past 4pm. Im outta here and off for family time 73 thx Val!

 

[Truck]

FYI Guys, i tried to bring back a dual final base (2517) but Ranger wouldnt even listen. sorry

 

[Recon]

its been a age old issue. too many factors to get deep into it but unlocking the clarifier does help, and changing out x2 does help some. But Ranger wouldnt fix something that isnt in current production. all galaxy33 thru 99, connex etc all do it.
Ok, its way past 4pm. Im outta here and off for family time 73 thx Val!

Thank you for the explanation. I'll keep my 955 HPC+.

 

[2RT307]

So.......what is the issue with Galaxy's reputation of "drifting" radios? Is there a fix to stop drifting and if there is, why not fix it.

Mine didn't really drift, they would just constantly be off frequency. Radios were tuned properly and used in my house, so temps were always low 70's. One day, dead on... next day, sitting on 27.383.8 instead of 385. Next day, 27.387. Tx freq would be different from Rx freq... drove me up the wall. Radio tech told me it was cheap components in the rig. I finally gave up and traded a 2547 and 959 off to a guy that liked to play on AM. They were both great for that.
NEVER had that issue with Uniden Grant, Cobra 2000 or 139XLR bases. Magnum rigs (OmegaForce S45, 257HP also held frequency, although they were sensitive to cold temps. Once warmed up they were solid.

73,
Brett

 

[Recon]

its been a age old issue. too many factors to get deep into it but unlocking the clarifier does help, and changing out x2 does help some. But Ranger wouldnt fix something that isnt in current production. all galaxy33 thru 99, connex etc all do it.
Ok, its way past 4pm. Im outta here and off for family time 73 thx Val!

Why wouldn't Galaxy correct / address the drifting issue with the new 200 radios prior to you purchasing them?

 

[Recon]

Mine didn't really drift, they would just constantly be off frequency. Radios were tuned properly and used in my house, so temps were always low 70's. One day, dead on... next day, sitting on 27.383.8 instead of 385. Next day, 27.387. Tx freq would be different from Rx freq... drove me up the wall. Radio tech told me it was cheap components in the rig. I finally gave up and traded a 2547 and 959 off to a guy that liked to play on AM. They were both great for that.
NEVER had that issue with Uniden Grant, Cobra 2000 or 139XLR bases. Magnum rigs (OmegaForce S45, 257HP also held frequency, although they were sensitive to cold temps. Once warmed up they were solid.

73,
Brett

Galaxy offers Truck's to buy 200 radios knowing that Galaxy radios drift. So, more or less, Galaxy sells a product with a known defect which could have been corrected. The customer (understandably) has to pay Truck's to convert it to 11 meters, plus pay another fee to have the radio modified to try to correct the drifting.

 

[AudioShockwav]

Galaxy offers Truck's to buy 200 radios knowing that Galaxy radios drift. So, more or less, Galaxy sells a product with a known defect which could have been corrected. The customer (understandably) has to pay Truck's to convert it to 11 meters, plus pay another fee to have the radio modified to try to correct the drifting.

Well, it's a well known problem that countless hours of time have been burned trying to make better., I think anyone lusting after this radio is mostly aware of that .

Truck, agree it's a gamble, getting Ranger to handle warranty may be your best move in this.
When you say they supply the boards with no caps, are you having to repopulate the boards yourself?


73
Jeff

 

[nomadradio]

what is the issue with Galaxy's reputation of "drifting" radios?

Has directly to do with the wide tuning range of the clarifier control. You'll find that a stock Uniden-made SSB radio with a stock clarifier covers around 3 kHz end-to-end. These radios exhibit far less drift than the RCI-made (cough) 10-meter radios like a Galaxy. The "coarse" clarifier on those will tune between 15 and 20 kHz end-to-end. It's not a direct proportion, but a radio with ten times the clarifier tuning range will typically drift ten times as much as the legal 40-channel radio. More or less.

But it's a proportion that a tricked-out Cobra 2000 or 142 will exhibit once you 'stretch' that radio's clarifier tuning range. It will drift at least ten time as much as it did stock.

It would probably be possible to provide the wide clarifier range with high stability, but it would be expensive. An expensive feature that doesn't make the radio sell any better gets thrown overboard before the assembly line fires up.

The RCI-made Galaxy 40-channel radios have the same wide-range clarifier circuit, but with only the "fine" control built in. They tend to drift more than the Cobra/President/Midland 40-channel designs. Marginal sideband performance has been with us since the first "double sideband" radios of the mid-1960s. If that feature isn't judged to be important by the marketing department, they won't spend money to improve it. But it has to be there on the front panel to make the radio sell at all. Kind of a "bait and switch" feature.

73

 

[Recon]

Has directly to do with the wide tuning range of the clarifier control. You'll find that a stock Uniden-made SSB radio with a stock clarifier covers around 3 kHz end-to-end. These radios exhibit far less drift than the RCI-made (cough) 10-meter radios like a Galaxy. The "coarse" clarifier on those will tune between 15 and 20 kHz end-to-end. It's not a direct proportion, but a radio with ten times the clarifier tuning range will typically drift ten times as much as the legal 40-channel radio. More or less.

But it's a proportion that a tricked-out Cobra 2000 or 142 will exhibit once you 'stretch' that radio's clarifier tuning range. It will drift at least ten time as much as it did stock.

It would probably be possible to provide the wide clarifier range with high stability, but it would be expensive. An expensive feature that doesn't make the radio sell any better gets thrown overboard before the assembly line fires up.

The RCI-made Galaxy 40-channel radios have the same wide-range clarifier circuit, but with only the "fine" control built in. They tend to drift more than the Cobra/President/Midland 40-channel designs. Marginal sideband performance has been with us since the first "double sideband" radios of the mid-1960s. If that feature isn't judged to be important by the marketing department, they won't spend money to improve it. But it has to be there on the front panel to make the radio sell at all. Kind of a "bait and switch" feature.

73

Sounds like a logical explanation.
Unlocking the clarifier is sort of a "trick of the trade" to attempt to compensate for drifting and off-frequency? I like my original, factory set 2002 Grant XL and my new, factory set 955HPC+. Just "plug and play"!

 

[Recon]

Sounds like a logical explanation.
Unlocking the clarifier is sort of a "trick of the trade" to attempt to compensate for drifting and off-frequency? I like my original, factory set 2002 Grant XL and my new, factory set 955HPC+. Just "plug and play"!

I sent an email question to a reputable CB Sales and Repair shop asking what needs to be done to correct the drifting on a Galaxy

 

[Recon]

I sent an email question to a reputable CB Sales and Repair shop asking what needs to be done to correct the drifting on a Galaxy

Has directly to do with the wide tuning range of the clarifier control. You'll find that a stock Uniden-made SSB radio with a stock clarifier covers around 3 kHz end-to-end. These radios exhibit far less drift than the RCI-made (cough) 10-meter radios like a Galaxy. The "coarse" clarifier on those will tune between 15 and 20 kHz end-to-end. It's not a direct proportion, but a radio with ten times the clarifier tuning range will typically drift ten times as much as the legal 40-channel radio. More or less.

But it's a proportion that a tricked-out Cobra 2000 or 142 will exhibit once you 'stretch' that radio's clarifier tuning range. It will drift at least ten time as much as it did stock.

It would probably be possible to provide the wide clarifier range with high stability, but it would be expensive. An expensive feature that doesn't make the radio sell any better gets thrown overboard before the assembly line fires up.

The RCI-made Galaxy 40-channel radios have the same wide-range clarifier circuit, but with only the "fine" control built in. They tend to drift more than the Cobra/President/Midland 40-channel designs. Marginal sideband performance has been with us since the first "double sideband" radios of the mid-1960s. If that feature isn't judged to be important by the marketing department, they won't spend money to improve it. But it has to be there on the front panel to make the radio sell at all. Kind of a "bait and switch" feature.

73

I sent an email question to a reputable CB Sales and Repair shop asking what needs to be done to correct the drifting on Galaxy radios. Their reply was; "buy a Stryker or Anytone".

 

[AudioShockwav]

I sent an email question to a reputable CB Sales and Repair shop asking what needs to be done to correct the drifting on Galaxy radios. Their reply was; "buy a Stryker or Anytone".

The Galaxy radios were 85% built for the AM market, more specifically over the road drivers.
The Big Rigs series of radios is a good example.
I bought one of the first 6900f25 radios by ranger (they build Galaxy) and after a year of use the claifier was worn out, literally.
Twisting it around to get the zeros and following others because of the drift actually wore the carbon track out on the control running it mobile because of temperature changes.
People have tried, Robb for one had several threads trying to stabilize them as well as others.
Better spec parts, crystal heaters....
When the CPU controled radios started showing up (2950/70) it was much better, but these radios didn't appeal as much to over the road drivers that wanted to just switch the channel selector and talk.
The very first 2510 I picked up was because a driver bought it and hated the underline cursor/step/frequency control, did not even use it for a day......

And regardless of the drifting, galaxy became the go to for the ' professional driver's' just not so much the SSB users .
The customer wants what they want, and if it's selling and making money, well.
When Bill Good was still alive, Mr Peng and some factory ' engineers ' visited him in So Cal, suggestions were made to improve these radios that fell on deaf ears because they didn't feel it was worth the effort.


73
Jeff

 

[nomadradio]

There is a way to stabilize a RCI-made base radio. An old friend was the local TV/VCR guru 25 years ago. He took the PTC thermistor from a dead 8mm camcorder to use as a crystal heater. In the camcorder it served to keep the spinning drum warm enough to prevent moisture condensing on its shiny surface. The colder it got, the more current it would pull. Since the resistance would rise with increasing temperature it would reach a stable temperature and stay there, warm enough to keep the drum dry in high-humidity surroundings. Rick glued one to the PLL offset crystal in his Saturn. A 5-Volt regulator tapped off the power supply. That radio didn't switch off the AC power, only the DC from the power supply to the radio. This kept the PTC powered all the time. As the inside of the radio would heat up, the PTC would pull less current and remain at the same temperature. I bugged him for a part number or some way to ID the part, but he never did research it. Bought a couple of them from DigiKey a few years back. The specs don't tell you what temperature it will maintain. Figured I'd play with the voltage feeding it and find out. Never got around to trying it. I've been using bench radios with a 2950 board in them for quite a while now. They have been stable enough I don't need to. Probably wouldn't help a mobile radio unless you made sure the PTC always had power. And a base that turns off the AC power wouldn't work with this trick.

Just because it's possible doesn't make it practical.

73

 

[Cable Guy]

There is a way to stabilize a RCI-made base radio. An old friend was the local TV/VCR guru 25 years ago. He took the PTC thermistor from a dead 8mm camcorder to use as a crystal heater. In the camcorder it served to keep the spinning drum warm enough to prevent moisture condensing on its shiny surface. The colder it got, the more current it would pull. Since the resistance would rise with increasing temperature it would reach a stable temperature and stay there, warm enough to keep the drum dry in high-humidity surroundings. Rick glued one to the PLL offset crystal in his Saturn. A 5-Volt regulator tapped off the power supply. That radio didn't switch off the AC power, only the DC from the power supply to the radio. This kept the PTC powered all the time. As the inside of the radio would heat up, the PTC would pull less current and remain at the same temperature. I bugged him for a part number or some way to ID the part, but he never did research it. Bought a couple of them from DigiKey a few years back. The specs don't tell you what temperature it will maintain. Figured I'd play with the voltage feeding it and find out. Never got around to trying it. I've been using bench radios with a 2950 board in them for quite a while now. They have been stable enough I don't need to. Probably wouldn't help a mobile radio unless you made sure the PTC always had power. And a base that turns off the AC power wouldn't work with this trick.

Just because it's possible doesn't make it practical.

73

I am intrigued, and I have an old camcorder somewhere. Once upon a time, if I found an old camcorder for nothing, I would rob it of the the mini crt eyepiece. If I remember correctly, they mostly took a composite video input and 5 volts DC to operate. I used those for many projects, including a portable, battery powered spot monitor for CCTV cameras and for configuring head-less devices.