look at shockwave's 1st pic in the 2nd group.....WHY does the pic on the rear of the radio show the positive & negative reversed from what it says they should be????? nothing like having to repair a brand new $350+ radio 1st time you plug it in.......
i really don't have time to inspect the schematic, and in truth, the only way to really tell is to actually have a 'hands-on' with the real mccoy. is it a replacement for the grant or is it a replacement for the jackson? the original jackson was NOT a replacement for the original grant, though president made like it was supposed to be. while the export president grant is one of the better exports ever built, it is still an export and as such is 'cheaply' broadbanded to cover a wide swath of spectrum. the 858 president grant is quite possibly a better radio all around from 26.965-27.405 mhz. the mb8719 uniden grant xl, and with the exception of the squelch-thingie, the lt, IS a better radio from 26.965-27.405 then the export grants. rcv & xmit of the 8719 uniden is 2nd to none....especially for a $150 radio. it far outperforms any other radio in its category, and at one heckuva price. it can be pretty heavily modified and still obtain fcc-approved audio, and there is no better receiver, ever. and even it can be improved. now i'm not going to knock the jackson 2's looks, it definitely looks like a grant lt on steroids. i only wish somebody had the ability to import european presidents to the US. the lincoln was more then a fair radio. the george had a ton of bells & whistles but was not really all that hot of a performer. and now this jackson.....i wouldn't mind seeing them available here to give galaxy a bit of competition. heck, i even like the few george's i've played with better then any galaxy. not looking to 'start' anything with this jackson 2 as i have never seen one. i just am trying to introduce a little food for thought into the equation. this is regarding the late model black-faced european jackson, read on.......
'whether or not the president jackson available in europe is made by uniden, i can't answer that'.
as you state bigbob, i have also heard that those available in europe are not real. but i do not know for sure.
also, the rap against the export jackson & its PB042 chassis was that it was dual conversion only on FM, & it's AM reciver was very POOR. its slightly different filtering then the export grant & export 148gtl-dx (PC999 & PB 010 chassis)
accounted for the quieter receive. it was quieter because it didn't hear, & then they filtered down the white noise. to appease those who only knew 'dual conversion' was better, they installed a single mrf477 final, to give the appearance of more output then the dual 1969 finals in the grant,(single 1969 in the cobra). it too was an attempt to cover up its shortcomings. they went with controlled carrier modulation, a cheaper alternative to the high level AM, & therefore the grant & cobra had much punchier AM audio. for SSBers, the jackson was also susceptible to front end overload & audio distortion on even mildly strong SSB signals. an AGC mod to solve that should be done. and because of the final amplifier section in the jackson using the single 477 as opposed to dual 1969's, it's ALC needs to be tweaked, as it is set, when a predetermined power level is reached, the ALC sensor causes a mic audio level reduction & therefore a decrease in power output. kinda like, why put a governor on the high output 477?
so, in truth, the jackson wasn't that great of a radio. the REAL president grant export is the radio to search out. up until recently, there was a superstar grant export available. it was a copy of the real grant export, and as such functioned the same. whether or not it was built to the same standards is not known to me.
i remember being told that president electronics group of france has no connection to uniden, but am not sure of the truth in that. as for your 1988 jackson, kilowatt, that's why it's still going strong. the silver face with the black box were the originals & the best. the all black face that still say president on the front were just made in a different factory. the all black face that say superstar (both jackson & grant) are the copies and PROBABLY still decent.'
