Sidebar Sidebar
  • You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

Wow, Just Wow...


I'm with you ButtFuzz, i call Blasfamy as it is very easy to wrap plastic around an un mounted part with a black tie wrap and say "So an so did this"

even most of the hack jobs know how to mount a board! I think someones business is going down and hes just pulling a as seen on tv style publicity stunt to increase his income.

Can't say hes a bad tech or anything but for the Bad rep on reputable Cb tech's i say SHAME ON YOU DM ( insert picture of a 1940's Father shaking his finger in disbelief)
 
The root of the problem here is the cutthroat side of the radio modification and repair business.
I dont talk a lot, but I do read a lot and you can find the same things posted about any shop out there.
One of the forums (and no, I cannot remember which one at this exact moment in time) had some really bad things posted about Dodgem's work a month or so back.
Some people swear by Radioactive's radios, others call them Radiohactive.
Same thing with Sparky's, Rolling Radios, Etc. The list goes on and on.
I have seen 3 radios done by Sparky's and they were professionally done.
I have seen 1 radio done by Sparky's that was alright, but could have been better.
Same with Rolling Radio, seen good, seen alright, but I have never seen any as bad as these pictures.
Have never actually seen a Radioactive radio, only pictures.
I do know that I grew up in business being taught that the worst thing you can ever do is badmouth your competition.
I will not trust a CB shop or Tech that badmouths their competition.
 
I have been using sparky for some time. I know many who do. It is in fact an outright lie. Dodgem is another hack who does his best to trash talk his way into the pockets of others customers. This radio may have been worked on by sparky at one point, but was hacked up afterwards. There is no way Al would do such trash work. Keep up the good work Dodgem, we all know how trustworthy the source is.
 
I think any shop can screw things up, I doubt anyone actually trying to make a living would do what "Dodgy" claims. However I will go so far as to say the one radio I got which was "Sparky Tuned" and still had his seals on it was not impressive at all, and more to the point the Audio chip was not fastened to the heatsink which caused failure.

Over site? Possibly, but coming from a professional? his negligence caused a $20+ repair....
 
Ol Sparky must be doing something right to have such fervent and dedicated techs trying to bad mouth him. As one of the previous posters said here, "I wouldn't trust any tech that badmouths another". Fair enough. Especially if it is meant to line his own pockets.

Sparky has a large group of people that go to him time and again. If that doesn't say something positive, it would be hard to find any thing else that talks louder. I bought one radio from Sparky - and bought another one used from someone that got it from Sparky. Both are xlnt radios and perform well. Sparky also stands behind his work; if anyone has a problem they can always send it back and he will make it right.

The pictures in question looked faked. Of course no one would do work like that. Let alone - Sparky. All they have done by falsely accused him. I have less trust in the person that posted those pictures...
 
i feel i must comment .

we have bought from sparkys befor and was happy with the work.but first a story.
bought a general lee from sparky brand new .apon opening it (yes i opened it up .needed to set deadkey for my amplifier)i found out something .
my brand new radio had a repair.when the conversion was done(i opened both sides to inspect)someone broke a trace on the solder side and a wire jumper was in its place .
(you convert the lee by removing about 5-6 resistors on the solder side of board)well when this was done someone broke a trace it has a wire repair in place .
i immediatly called and informed him .he was upset i opened it(well of course he was i had a complaint)
he took my number and said i,ll get right back ith you .(he also asked for the serial number)
long story short he said i never should have recieved that radio(no kidding)it was to go with a bunch other repairs to a trucking outfit that bought them at a reduced price .
how true that was is anyones guess.

i did get another new radio and sparky himself done it up for me and benched it .
and i of course cracked it open as soon as i got it .everything was good this time .loud and proud.

you know how he gets them loud n proud??

he cuts the trace going to the limiter.thats right.i looked.
i went looking to see how he done the modulation.looking for resistor changes,added parts or what have you .
nothing....so i go to the mod vr and try turning it down .it doesnt work.
well that was a red flag right there .mod vr not working .so i spin it over and sure enough the trace going to the limiter has been cut .

now thats fine for me ,its a AM radio anyway and personally i would have clipped it too,he just doesnt want you to see any clipped parts so he simply cuts the trace on the solder side .

some guys might not like this .

on a bird meter this same 50 watt peak radio would key 5 and sit there .
i had to do a ppe mod to the radio to get forward bird watts out the radio.
now after doing this mod i see 18 watts forward on the bird from any key .in average mode,not peak

this is a simple resistor and diode mod to achieve this but i guess its too much work for a tech that includes the tune in his prices .

i still buy from sparkys,this little tidbit of info doesnt bother me so much but others may not want clipped AM radios for one reason or another .

he did fully align the radio and after a ten minute warm up its dead on frequency so he did do his job in that respect and i still buy stuff from him .
my kid bought a stryker 440 and it sounds great too ,although i,m sure its just a trace cut to the limiter again.
take this with a grain of salt.this is first hand experience.
i actually do all my own radio work,and friends radio work,and some truckers radio work(you get the picture)but being his prices are right on with others who charge extra for tune and alignment we chose to buy from him and still do sometimes .
i been in radio since 1984.
i self taught myself to do radio work,build computers,and troubleshoot misc electronics by "reading books" and trial and error .

theres nothing you cant learn by reading a book and some trial and error.
 
It is possible that Dodgem received those radios just as they are shown in the pics. I've heard stories of people having an issue with one shop, so they do something like that to the radio themselves, pack it up and send it to another shop and say that Shop A was the last one in the radio. Then pictures end up on the internet and you have instant "payback".

I take everything I see on the internet with a grain of salt. The only way I know how good a shop's work is, is by sending my radio to them and then inspect it when I get it back. Second hand stuff is hard to sift through.


On the issues with traces being repaired on new radios - I have personally received brand new radios from the factory where you barely touch the solder side of the board and a solder pad fall off. I've seen ones where solder pads were missing from the factory entirely, and you look at it wondering if any of that solder is touching the trace. Some of these boards are so cheap that's it's difficult to do much of anything without causing a problem like this, no matter how careful you are. I don't worry so much about those things happening and being repaired on new radios anymore. If they would improve the quality of these boards from the factory, it wouldn't be such a problem.
 
seeing as most of these radios are made in sweathouses in asia it ain't surprising they have faults when new,more often than not the low prices reflect the build quality.

as for people cutting traces and snipping parts,in my opinion that is just hacking a radio up,those parts are put there for a reason,is it any wonder there is so many crap sounding radio's on 11m?

the only way to be certain a radio is aligned properly is to learn how to do it yourself.in most cases new radio's only need a bit of time spent on basic alignment to get the best from them,as the factories just do it within tolerances,if it needs mods done,YOU BOUGHT THE WRONG RADIO,its that simple.

seals on a radio,just gives me reason to be suspicious whoever worked on it has something to hide,and in most cases when opened it will prove exactly that.

thankfully in the uk we don't see as many dealers hacking up radio's or offering these super duper custom mods.most hacked radio's here have been done by screwdriver wizard wannabe's and so called rig docs.

if you have to diss other peoples supposed work on the internet with absolutly no proof whatsoever it was who you are accusing that actually did it,and not the lame brain who gave you it, to drum up business,i think that in itself tells its own story.

good techs don't need to advertise,word soon gets round on cb.
 
moleculo said:
I've heard stories of people having an issue with one shop, so they do something like that to the radio themselves, pack it up and send it to another shop and say that Shop A was the last one in the radio. Then pictures end up on the internet and you have instant "payback".

I take everything I see on the internet with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...

Now THAT sounds reasonable!

<ButtFuzz imagines the "arguing on the internet is pointless" picture in his mind...:)>
 
It is 110% percent fact that they came into my shop like that, I would not have gone the mile if it were not factual. It's a damn shame that some guys have to do such work like that, I assume "they" think they will never be found out?

Seriously, maybe a few radios get by and the guts never see the light of day again, but, it's really sad that specific other CB shops take advantage of guys who honestly don't have a clue.

Trust me, I am not trying to start any wars, but, for the sake of the hobby, I honestly feel you guys should know all the facts, and if possible, SEE the truth for yourselves. I have been at this repair game for a long long time fellas and I have nothing to gain faking pictures, which is far from the truth anyway, I take these pictures as the covers come the radio when the customers bring them in or mail them to me in most cases these days.

I've had my share of laughs with some of the outright crap that comes through my bench, but, there's plenty of guys out here in the country that know I would not do it unless I was trying to help others out, just trying to save someones money for them and hopefully their pride too. I have seen tons of new guys get shafted by techs who know the new guy would never have a clue anyway, and that's just sad.


moleculo said:
It is possible that Dodgem received those radios just as they are shown in the pics. I've heard stories of people having an issue with one shop, so they do something like that to the radio themselves, pack it up and send it to another shop and say that Shop A was the last one in the radio. Then pictures end up on the internet and you have instant "payback".

I take everything I see on the internet with a grain of salt. The only way I know how good a shop's work is, is by sending my radio to them and then inspect it when I get it back. Second hand stuff is hard to sift through.


On the issues with traces being repaired on new radios - I have personally received brand new radios from the factory where you barely touch the solder side of the board and a solder pad fall off. I've seen ones where solder pads were missing from the factory entirely, and you look at it wondering if any of that solder is touching the trace. Some of these boards are so cheap that's it's difficult to do much of anything without causing a problem like this, no matter how careful you are. I don't worry so much about those things happening and being repaired on new radios anymore. If they would improve the quality of these boards from the factory, it wouldn't be such a problem.
Click to expand...
 
1
Rob KI6USW said:
Ol Sparky must be doing something right to have such fervent and dedicated techs trying to bad mouth him. As one of the previous posters said here, "I wouldn't trust any tech that badmouths another". Fair enough. Especially if it is meant to line his own pockets.

This is where I have to comment as well. As far as I am concerned, you can certainly take your radios anywhere else besides to me, that's fine, in fact I can offer you a list places besides me, and it's fine on this end.

The pictures in question looked faked. Of course no one would do work like that. Let alone - Sparky. All they have done by falsely accused him. I have less trust in the person that posted those pictures...

and again, those pictures are so real, well, it's just not funny, I opened the cover and thar she be... just as it lays LOL
Click to expand...
 
Sickpuppy22 said:
I'm with you ButtFuzz, i call Blasfamy as it is very easy to wrap plastic around an un mounted part with a black tie wrap and say "So an so did this"

even most of the hack jobs know how to mount a board! I think someones business is going down and hes just pulling a as seen on tv style publicity stunt to increase his income.

Can't say hes a bad tech or anything but for the Bad rep on reputable Cb tech's i say SHAME ON YOU DM ( insert picture of a 1940's Father shaking his finger in disbelief)
Click to expand...


LOL, I love this thread by the way, anyway, I have piles of radios here that need my attention, lots of repeat customers of whom I've never met, so, please take your radio some where else, I have enough here to do LOL
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • @ BJ radionut:
  • @ Wildcat27:
    Hello I have a old school 2950 receives great on all modes and transmits great on AM but no transmit on SSB. Does anyone have any idea?
  • @ BJ radionut:
  • @ ButtFuzz:
    Good evening from Sunny Salem! What’s shaking?
  • dxBot:
    63Sprint has left the room.


      Top Bottom
      Back