Anyone ever use one of these? A local shop sells them and the guy swears they are better than a cobra 29, but I'm just not buying it with the tiny size.
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President Bill any opinions?
- Thread starter DaleH1985
- Start date
Of course they say that. They want to sell you one!
"Better" in what way??
That's like walking into a fishing tackle shop and asking how the fishing has been. It is always GREAT!
They want to sell you a bunch of stuff!
Maybe that's why they used his name...Because the radio is so small!!
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Maybe that's why they used his name...Because the radio is so small!!
Does it come with a bent antenna?
Despite the name and the size, I have a President Bill FCC radio and find it to be a decent radio...for what it is. I got it on Amazon a few weeks ago when they were selling for $90 shipped.
While I am a sideband operator, the small footprint of the AM-only Bill was really interesting to me. I own a couple of Midland Micro Mobile GMRS radios, and they are about the same size, and for tight installations (no, I’m not talking about cigars here, so no pun intended), these radios are perfect. Imagine having a CB radio AND a GMRS radio in your vehicle, that take up less room than the smallest Cobra or Uniden CB radio.
The Bill is a decent radio, when you factor in the size and purpose of this radio. To my understanding, there are no internal adjustments on the board for increasing modulation or power, and there are no modifications to expand channels, but it is a 4 watt AM CB that fits in the palm of your hand. (The Euro version of the Bill does have wideband coverage and AM/FM, and I believe can have a higher power output setting, but haven’t seen that offered in the states by anyone, and of course, it won’t be offered through the usual vendors due to it’s non-compliance with FCC regulations).
It is well built, and the small speaker actually provides good audio with a spec’ed audio output of 2.5 watts max. The supplied electret mic sounds ok, as it is the same as all President mics. I would definitely use a Road Devil or Astatic D-104M6B if this was my only radio, but the stock mic is reasonable. The new President radios have selectable mic settings for electret or dynamic mics.
I would say the audio is a tad light, but I am not used to running a 4 watt radio with a stock mic. I will say that is it good enough if you just need a small radio with the occassional TX, and why I mentioned using a different mic if you want more audio. I did see a video from Bell’sCB where he shows modulation swinging 20 watts PEP out of the box with the stock mic, so you can’t really ask for more than that from this little radio.
If you are an off-roader or just want a tiny CB in the car for traveling, it is great. I am testing it in a spare vehicle with the magmount President New York antenna, and the receive is really good for this tiny radio and small antenna. I am hearing local traffic within a reasonable range for the small NY antenna, and of course, the band has been open recently, and I hear everyone on the bowl.
This combo will eventually go into my wife’s car, for when we travel. I can stow the radio and antenna, and deploy them in a minute, since I won’t make a permanent install in her 2019 Impala. But the construction is typical modern-day President Electronics...well made, good slide-out mount, and decent stock mic with up/dn buttons. It’s not a skip-shootin’ machine, but if you need a decent, tiny CB radio, this is it.
Now if they made it with SSB...I would have one in each vehicle.
While I am a sideband operator, the small footprint of the AM-only Bill was really interesting to me. I own a couple of Midland Micro Mobile GMRS radios, and they are about the same size, and for tight installations (no, I’m not talking about cigars here, so no pun intended), these radios are perfect. Imagine having a CB radio AND a GMRS radio in your vehicle, that take up less room than the smallest Cobra or Uniden CB radio.
The Bill is a decent radio, when you factor in the size and purpose of this radio. To my understanding, there are no internal adjustments on the board for increasing modulation or power, and there are no modifications to expand channels, but it is a 4 watt AM CB that fits in the palm of your hand. (The Euro version of the Bill does have wideband coverage and AM/FM, and I believe can have a higher power output setting, but haven’t seen that offered in the states by anyone, and of course, it won’t be offered through the usual vendors due to it’s non-compliance with FCC regulations).
It is well built, and the small speaker actually provides good audio with a spec’ed audio output of 2.5 watts max. The supplied electret mic sounds ok, as it is the same as all President mics. I would definitely use a Road Devil or Astatic D-104M6B if this was my only radio, but the stock mic is reasonable. The new President radios have selectable mic settings for electret or dynamic mics.
I would say the audio is a tad light, but I am not used to running a 4 watt radio with a stock mic. I will say that is it good enough if you just need a small radio with the occassional TX, and why I mentioned using a different mic if you want more audio. I did see a video from Bell’sCB where he shows modulation swinging 20 watts PEP out of the box with the stock mic, so you can’t really ask for more than that from this little radio.
If you are an off-roader or just want a tiny CB in the car for traveling, it is great. I am testing it in a spare vehicle with the magmount President New York antenna, and the receive is really good for this tiny radio and small antenna. I am hearing local traffic within a reasonable range for the small NY antenna, and of course, the band has been open recently, and I hear everyone on the bowl.
This combo will eventually go into my wife’s car, for when we travel. I can stow the radio and antenna, and deploy them in a minute, since I won’t make a permanent install in her 2019 Impala. But the construction is typical modern-day President Electronics...well made, good slide-out mount, and decent stock mic with up/dn buttons. It’s not a skip-shootin’ machine, but if you need a decent, tiny CB radio, this is it.
Now if they made it with SSB...I would have one in each vehicle.
It would be awfully small for using in a base situation. It is very close to the size of an old internal 3.5" floppy drive but not as deep as I recall. I think that would be tedious to work with for longer periods of time.
Changing mic would be problematic as don't you change channels with the up/down buttons on the mic?
The mic has up/dn channel buttons, but the front channel display of the radio is pressed either on the top or bottom of the display, to change channels as well, so it can be done at the radio.
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