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President Richard stock mic substitute

Back to serious: What antennas?
Believe it or not the stock kw antennas checked in at a flat 1 swr on 27.205 so they'll get me by until I get some upgrades. I ran cophase on the previous t800 with 4' Francis for 7 years that I drove that truck and I was impressed. Had great rx and tx alike although many told me it would never work. Now on this one the whole set up is different so I'll have to experiment. I know I tx much further than I can rx I've found that out. I'm thinking a pair of browning br-28 antennas, I've read great reviews on them and especially in this same truck. It's just making time to work on it without sacrificing too much time with my family when the truck is parked.
 
Believe it or not the stock kw antennas checked in at a flat 1 swr on 27.205 so they'll get me by until I get some upgrades. I ran cophase on the previous t800 with 4' Francis for 7 years that I drove that truck and I was impressed. Had great rx and tx alike although many told me it would never work. Now on this one the whole set up is different so I'll have to experiment. I know I tx much further than I can rx I've found that out. I'm thinking a pair of browning br-28 antennas, I've read great reviews on them and especially in this same truck. It's just making time to work on it without sacrificing too much time with my family when the truck is parked.

At 63” tall for those, a pair of 5’ Skipshooters are cheap to try as well.

7’ is what I used from same mount height. I had the 7’ on Hustler QDs for when getting under some racks. Took two seconds to pop them off or on.

The 6’ is what I’d WANT today on a T880 to try as likely best practical height.

.
 
Okay, I asked about your opinion on a thread (“In Search of . . “)
the

Palomar SL-41 Electret Microphone

and — as not everyone has one —
it wasn’t an improvement over the stock piece for this radio?

I was reading the review on the Euro distributor Avera-Distributing website this morning that made it sound “comparable” to both Astatic powered mikes

Review is titled, Testing the Palomar SL-41.


.
 
Okay, I asked about your opinion on a thread (“In Search of . . “)
the

Palomar SL-41 Electret Microphone

and — as not everyone has one —
it wasn’t an improvement over the stock piece for this radio?

I was reading the review on the Euro distributor Avera-Distributing website this morning that made it sound “comparable” to both Astatic powered mikes

Review is titled, Testing the Palomar SL-41.


.

I haven't even tried it on the president because the astatic showed really good results. The lack in audio is a result of the radios limitations on this one. I kind of reserved the sl41 for the galaxy for when I put it back up on the air, like I mentioned I kind of hoard radio equipment haha. Good thing Walmart doesn't stock these items or I'd be the guy cleaning the shelves of radios/accessories that I don't really need but that's for a corona thread.
 
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Okay, I asked about your opinion on a thread (“In Search of . . “)
the

Palomar SL-41 Electret Microphone

and — as not everyone has one —
it wasn’t an improvement over the stock piece for this radio?

I was reading the review on the Euro distributor Avera-Distributing website this morning that made it sound “comparable” to both Astatic powered mikes

Review is titled, Testing the Palomar SL-41.


.
But I do have intentions of getting out the sl41 and eventually trying it on the president after I get all the other bugs worked out. Right now I suddenly developed an swr issue out of nowhere.... I went years driving t800's with no swr issues at all and the 880 doesn't play well. Pulled the antennas and mounts Friday night to clean them all up and check for any shorts. I'll be putting them back on in the morning and see what results are
 
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Hello fellas, checking back in and sure hope all of you gents are staying healthy.

After a couple of months with the president Richard I think I'm going to move on to something else. It's a neat little radio but on the performance side it just isn't my kind of animal. Too much Ranger in my trucker blood I guess because for an AM only rig Richard is a tird as mudfoot says.
Next up I'm thinking of just building my own.
I really appreciate you gentlemen for all you input in getting it in the air, it's always pleasant when so many with loads of knowledge help out a less knowledgeable guy as myself.
Once I get the next radio installed the president will go on down the road, I'm sure it'll suit someone else well but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
It's just not AM material I'm used to, SSB is a whole other game but no ssb in my rig because that all happens in the shack
 
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I was thinking of you & your radio today as I hit D/FW traffic inbound on IH30 today. Not a coincidence you posted.

There’s a nice Galaxy 86V up for sale at present.

I gave a set of 7’ Firestik antennas to a friend of mine. An SRA-198 microphone, also, as his advice has been worth far more. We both live in Fort Worth, but met up in Indiana by chance.

Turned a new box-stock 29 LTD into a real talker in his Kenworth 680 after ditching the factory antennas. Now has ears worthy of the name. (Pulls a 53’).

But it lacks real punch.
(An SSB radio is on his list).

.
 
This is by no means a technical answer just a practical observation. On the President Andy a standard stock dynamic mic sounds a lot better than the President stock mic. The President stock mic produces a tinny sound with my voice. I do not know if the Andy shares any similarity in the audio section. If you have a standard Superstar coffin style mic I have always had success with those when the fancy mics do not work well. I have a natural tendency to overthink things at times.
 
Hi there!

With great interest i am following this thread and would like to tell my experience. The shown modification of fm modulation works greatly at Pres Richard (tested with various pre-amp mics like old Stabo Optimike M, Densei EC-2018 and so on). Very loud modulation without clipping/oversteering, very nice!

Special thx to @snippits75 and @Handy Andy for this good advice! Big respect! And of course @Eldorado828 for the latest video!

Unfortunately this simple modification (removing of this one smd resistance) doesnt work on the Pres Walker II (EU-version), although the pcb is very similar and has the same limiter circuit, as it seems to me

I haven't been able to figure out the small but crucial difference yet, but I'll work on it

Best regards
 
Last edited:
The mod is what @NZ8N was talking about - but one thing we all missed...

Recognize this...schematically...
View attachment 35589
The Red circled item is the "lag resistor"

The Richard has something similar...​

View attachment 35588

It's located here...
Blue Arrow...
View attachment 35592
It was a throwback to the old days - in the Grant and 148's there was a 1Meg resistor used in the Limiter circuit that helped (if that is the word) keep the Limiter from staying on all the time. But it worked In a coupling stage area that was NPN to PNP - so you really just couldn't tailor R127 to meet the needs of how Hot or Cold the limiter was...R131 is what others usually took out to affect on AM side, R127 affected both SSB and AM limiter actions.

R339 is a 1Meg, a 105 on the chip itself...that is the main one you have to change to obtain better gain and AMC action.

The problems are

D300 - you can't remove it, but NZ8N's dropping resistor - is needed right where it stands - but - you have the power flow arriving from the Stage just ahead of the Limiter - which can put a lot of current thru the part and with the shunt installed at the limiter - it can fail and you may or may not be able to talk again because the limiter got cooked at the same time. That was one of the main quirks about the repair - we have had only one return but the Boss kept us in the loop and warned us about the Q313 Solder Blob problem as he called it.

So to reduce that current - if you use the 1K - it will not hold up well - but if you use TWO of them - it will - you use the 1K (just one) at NZ8N mod spot, and place 1K over the top of the 1 Meg resistor (105 R339) just line it right up top of the 1 Meg and tack solder both sides. You don't anything else. You've brought the limiter action down and you even have some limiter action still but allows you to attain 80+ watts (as shown on MFJ meter in Smokin Joe's shop...) if the thing can really attain it.

The D300 is a fail-safe device - one-way valve - but the Q313 and EDIT (308) Q312 (Limiter) clamp so hard - its' for that reason so it (the Fail safe) doesn't engage that fail-safe mode, the radio can go into that mode if it gets too hot or shutdown - but you didn't hear this from me ok? I get yelled at otherwise...
I am not a proponent of removing or disabling the AMC circuit, as that is the leading reason there is so much hash, trash, splash and bleed over on the air.

'Twere me, I would modify the timing so it releases faster, such as this:View attachment 35201

Adding a 4.7k (to 1k) from the base of Q313 to ground (Emitter leg) will (should) increase the release speed and decrease the "hold time" of the circuit.
View attachment 35202
Adding a resistor between the red circles (trace for the Base of Q313) to the green circle (Ground trace), (if you have a chip resistor), or if you use a non Surface Mount resistor, the red circles on one side of the resistor to any part of the large green trace above that, after scraping the green coating away to expose the copper trace underneath, should do the job.
Well with time on my hands and hopefully feeling up to it in another days or two, I'm feeling brave enough to venture off into this once again!

I'm reading through your posts attentively and thoroughly.

I think I can, I think I can!
 
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The mod is what @NZ8N was talking about - but one thing we all missed...

Recognize this...schematically...
View attachment 35589
The Red circled item is the "lag resistor"

The Richard has something similar...​

View attachment 35588

It's located here...
Blue Arrow...
View attachment 35592
It was a throwback to the old days - in the Grant and 148's there was a 1Meg resistor used in the Limiter circuit that helped (if that is the word) keep the Limiter from staying on all the time. But it worked In a coupling stage area that was NPN to PNP - so you really just couldn't tailor R127 to meet the needs of how Hot or Cold the limiter was...R131 is what others usually took out to affect on AM side, R127 affected both SSB and AM limiter actions.

R339 is a 1Meg, a 105 on the chip itself...that is the main one you have to change to obtain better gain and AMC action.

The problems are

D300 - you can't remove it, but NZ8N's dropping resistor - is needed right where it stands - but - you have the power flow arriving from the Stage just ahead of the Limiter - which can put a lot of current thru the part and with the shunt installed at the limiter - it can fail and you may or may not be able to talk again because the limiter got cooked at the same time. That was one of the main quirks about the repair - we have had only one return but the Boss kept us in the loop and warned us about the Q313 Solder Blob problem as he called it.

So to reduce that current - if you use the 1K - it will not hold up well - but if you use TWO of them - it will - you use the 1K (just one) at NZ8N mod spot, and place 1K over the top of the 1 Meg resistor (105 R339) just line it right up top of the 1 Meg and tack solder both sides. You don't anything else. You've brought the limiter action down and you even have some limiter action still but allows you to attain 80+ watts (as shown on MFJ meter in Smokin Joe's shop...) if the thing can really attain it.

The D300 is a fail-safe device - one-way valve - but the Q313 and EDIT (308) Q312 (Limiter) clamp so hard - its' for that reason so it (the Fail safe) doesn't engage that fail-safe mode, the radio can go into that mode if it gets too hot or shutdown - but you didn't hear this from me ok? I get yelled at otherwise...

Andy, I think I'm going to give this a try with 1/8 watt through hole resistors and see how it does. If it does well, I'll order some surface mount to clean up the mod.

These resistors are tiny, I believe they are 0402? I'll look for an assortment with both 0402 and 0603.
 
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