Let me start off by saying this is not a rant regarding anyone just wanted to vent about my situation.
I ordered a Superstar 158 from Sparkys shack on 2/06/09 and received it on 2/13/09 the shipping was as promised and they even threw in a free external speaker very cool. I got the radio hooked up in my truck and started checking my match, it was 1.3 on the meter which was a touch lower that the previous radio was reading when I removed it. I was happy and started talking to some locals looking for some feedback.
First thing I noticed is, I wasn't hearing any Rodger beep thru the talk back, it has been a while since I had a radio with Rodger beep and in all honesty I could not remember if I should have been hearing it anyway. I adjusted the echo to my liking and could hear a definite change when I turned the Rodger beep on then off on the radio, no beep just a deference in they way it unkeyed. I got a radio check and asked if they could here a beep, the first report was no beep and then another operator came on and said it sounded like it had a very slight chip and the end of the transmission but no real beep.
Well even though the Rodger beep was acting up I was getting positive reports on the radio, audio sounded great. At this point I gave a buddy a call and asked him to fire up his radio and give me a check, he lives probably 15 miles away as the crow flies and I figured this would be a good test. His report was radio sounded very good however no Rodger beep, we talked for approx 10 mins and in this time frame believe it or not I slowly started getting a beep, I could hear it thru the talk back and my friend confirmed it, after a few minutes it was a very solid beep and now it looked like everything was functioning properly.
I had to leave town so I shut the radio off. A few days later I was back in town and had my brother over so we decided that we would play with the radio a little, I drove my truck a few miles down the road and he talked to me on my base station to see how the radio sounded and again no Rodger beep. We talked for a few minutes and once again the beep slowly started to work. I drove back home and had my brother switch places with me, I wanted to hear how my new mobile sounded. He drove about 8 miles down the road and we started talking.
At first it sounded great very clean audio just enough echo and a nice beep then it happened. I just started hearing a dead key no audio I thought my brother was playing around with me till he called me from his cell and asked why I was not responding.
At this point the Radio will key up but there is NO AUDIO in fact it goes to full power no swing on the needle. Needless to say I am pretty bummed out I called Al (AKA) Sparky the next morning and he told me to send it back and they would look it over. Now I have to wait another 2 weeks to see what the out come will be, man does this suck.
I ordered a Superstar 158 from Sparkys shack on 2/06/09 and received it on 2/13/09 the shipping was as promised and they even threw in a free external speaker very cool. I got the radio hooked up in my truck and started checking my match, it was 1.3 on the meter which was a touch lower that the previous radio was reading when I removed it. I was happy and started talking to some locals looking for some feedback.
First thing I noticed is, I wasn't hearing any Rodger beep thru the talk back, it has been a while since I had a radio with Rodger beep and in all honesty I could not remember if I should have been hearing it anyway. I adjusted the echo to my liking and could hear a definite change when I turned the Rodger beep on then off on the radio, no beep just a deference in they way it unkeyed. I got a radio check and asked if they could here a beep, the first report was no beep and then another operator came on and said it sounded like it had a very slight chip and the end of the transmission but no real beep.
Well even though the Rodger beep was acting up I was getting positive reports on the radio, audio sounded great. At this point I gave a buddy a call and asked him to fire up his radio and give me a check, he lives probably 15 miles away as the crow flies and I figured this would be a good test. His report was radio sounded very good however no Rodger beep, we talked for approx 10 mins and in this time frame believe it or not I slowly started getting a beep, I could hear it thru the talk back and my friend confirmed it, after a few minutes it was a very solid beep and now it looked like everything was functioning properly.
I had to leave town so I shut the radio off. A few days later I was back in town and had my brother over so we decided that we would play with the radio a little, I drove my truck a few miles down the road and he talked to me on my base station to see how the radio sounded and again no Rodger beep. We talked for a few minutes and once again the beep slowly started to work. I drove back home and had my brother switch places with me, I wanted to hear how my new mobile sounded. He drove about 8 miles down the road and we started talking.
At first it sounded great very clean audio just enough echo and a nice beep then it happened. I just started hearing a dead key no audio I thought my brother was playing around with me till he called me from his cell and asked why I was not responding.
At this point the Radio will key up but there is NO AUDIO in fact it goes to full power no swing on the needle. Needless to say I am pretty bummed out I called Al (AKA) Sparky the next morning and he told me to send it back and they would look it over. Now I have to wait another 2 weeks to see what the out come will be, man does this suck.
Also when the radio was working it sounded great that alone eases my mind. Thanks for the comments.