 Picking the right radio for you..
Well that is the big question what is the right radio for you..
First thing to ask yourself is what do I want to do with my radio, do I want to talk skip or am I just wanting to have a radio that is goos enough to get the job done. Do you have big expectations for the new radio? Are you wanting to walk on most anyone that you hear? (Sure will all do) but..
What is it going to talk to get that job done?
First off a radio alone is not going to do it. You are going up against some big boys out there and even a 600 watt radio is not going to get that job done. If you have the dream to big the biggest guy out there then you might want to consider refinancing your house again to come close to getting the job done.
There some out there that have thousands in there radio equipment and you are no likely to cover them up. (Just the fact) I have personally put over 3000 watts in a truck before and that is no way the biggest out there.
Ok now that I have got you thinking lets talk about what you can do to compete at a reasonable level.
First, one of the things to look for in a radio is power with CLEAR Modulation... That's right if you have all the power in the world and you are all garbled up you will not make the grade and people will not like your set up.
Lets talk about radio power and what it means to you. You see 40-90 watts of good clean power on a well tuned good antenna will get you over most of the radio out there as a lot of people are running a lot of power to compensate for a bad antenna system. With the right setup you can be king of the hill for the most part with this kind of system. Will you be the top dog? No way but you can be in the upper crust with this setup as most don't bother to get the whole system right. Next thing to talk about is deadkey. This can make a big difference in how you get out.
Or if you are just talking and want to be clear and loud then you will want a low deadkey with a lot of swing. On the other hand if you are trying to walk on people then you will want a higher deadkey as the carrier will help you get over the other signal and then you need loud modulation to finish the deal. On most of my radios I set the deadkey at 2 for low and 5 for high, that is enough to do what needs to be done unless you are trying to walk all over your neighbor. If that is the plan then you will need a large carrier and to get that done you will need a radio that is capable of doing some serious modulation too.
This is NOT going to happen with most CB Radios, of at least for long..
Well I have been going on about big power and radio for a while now let's get to the normal radios. For most drivers out there they don't use half of the features of the radio they buy.
We all want the bells and whistles but do we need them? The answer is NO we don't but we think we do and we are lead to believe that the bigger the radio the better it is and in the old days that was true to some extent but not today. You can buy an AM radio that will give you the power of a 10 meter and will hear just as good for less that you think you can. One of the other advantages is that you don't have a space problem and you don't have to run wires tot he battery ether.
One of my favorites is the Galaxy 919 as I have said before you can see 70 watts from this little radio and it hears just as good and the Connex or Gen Lee all in a small footprint. If you like more traditional radio then look at a Cobra 29 Black Chrome, with a little work this old school radio will see 50 watts and with some work to the ALC you can make this radio hear good too. One thing about it you can't go out and buy one off the shelf that is going to do this but you can't buy a 10 meter of the shelf that will work on CB band out of the box ether.
Lets face it you are going to have to have someone do some work on the radio no mater where you buy it and this is the big dead here.. Where do you go to get the work done?
Well there are a lot of shops out there and some are very good and some are not. How do you tell where to take your radio? Well here are some things to look for.
When you go into a shop look for some equipment now I don't mean a watt meter and a soldering iron.
What I mean is look for an o-scope and signal generator with a frequency counter too.
If all you see is a watt meter then RUN as you are not going to get a first class job for that shop.
That is like going into the operating room and seeing a hacksaw and a pair of pliers there on the table. Would you want to have the doctor work on you with that kind of equipment? Same goes for your radio.
It talks equipment to set up a radio and that is the fact of it. If they don't have it then there is something wrong. Next thing to do is to ask some questions as to just what can they do to your radio and what will you see different when they are done. Are they going to cut out the modulation limiter and turn a screw or two and say there you are? If that is the case then you are not getting a good job. I could tell you how to do that in about 10 min. and you could go into business for yourself. (And some have)
Now of all you want is a clip and snip then that is fine and most of you out there right now have that in your radio no mater what you have been told. You may think your radio does a fine job and if you have never seen a good job done on one that you would not know the difference at all, but once you have on you will never want to go back to the old radio that I can guarantee it. For the most basic tune it should take about 30 min to get the radio all set up and that is not doing anything fancy at all.
Some of the radios I do take me 3 hours to set up and that is with me working solid on them. (Good things take time) So know that going into this deal. If you are short for time then wait to get your work done until you have the time to devote to it.
Ok, we are going to talk about 10 meter radios. A Lot of you think that all you have to do is to convert them and you are ready to go. Well here is something that most of you don't know is that the radios are setup for 10 meter on TX and RX both and need to be aligned for the 11 meter band.
You would be surprised at just what an improvement you will see in just a plain alignment.
The same thing goes for the 10 meter radios a low deadkey and more swing makes a better sounding radio buy far with the exception of the radios that have the amps built in them. They do require a larger deadkey to make them sound clear of you have too low of a deadkey then the radio will sound muffled and not clear. My real suggestion is to stay away from the radios that have the amps built in them as they are lot more difficult to run and maintain. I know some of you like them but from a techs point of view I don't. I would much rather have a good radio and an amp if I were going to run power.
Well I am going to cut it off here as I could go on for 2 more pages easy but I do tend to babble.
So I am going to give you my picks for what it is worth and use them or not it is up to you.
CB Radios Top pick Galaxy 919, 929, SSB 959 Cobra 29Chrome or Black Chrome or LTD
10 Meter Radios Connex 3300 HP, Gen Lee, Stryker440, Super Star 158, Galaxy 33HP
Well good luck and I hope this will help some of you when picking a good radio.
Remember that you have to have a good antenna system no mater what radio you run of it is all for not.
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