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View Full Version : hi all new member from nh



lyle
09-22-2016, 06:45 AM
hello all, new member from nh.been lurking a little bit for a while and joined 2 days ago. i have not been on the air for about 20 years and just set up a base last weekend(man is it dead out there) at least in my neck of the woods. i guess thats it for now i am in the market for a new radio i hope you all can help me make up my mind about the one to get. hope all is well with you all and your familys

doughboy
09-22-2016, 11:05 AM
welcome to the site lyle

222DBFL
09-22-2016, 09:57 PM
What radios you looking at? Do you use SSB and AM? If so, there are quite a few choices. these are some new radios that seem to do well and get a lot of good remarks. The Uniden 980
Stryker 955HP
RCI 2950dx3, 2970dx models as well.
Anytone 6666
Magnum 1
There are several models that use the same boards. Keep this in mind as well. Look at the features more than anything. You want a radio that is going to be stable on SSB and have good audio and be clean while doing it!! All this while still retaining the AM side of things. Being good audio, being clean on a scope as well, and having a good receiver. There are other factors like whether or not you want a bunch of bells and whistles, or you want just a good radio. And it depends on how much you want to spend. For the money, the uniden 980 is a great radio, but it doesn't put out much power. They made sure
I'm sure there are many more that they are FCC compliant out of the box! Also the only other bad thing about them is the final is kind of weak. It doesn't like to be pushed. Having a good tech or if you know some about radios and have the proper equipment to lower the bias voltage, or lower the power on the radio on SSB, for AM, just lower the dead key to about 2-3 watts max, depending on if you are going to run an amp, maybe lower and set modulation to about 95%-100%. A good 1:4 ratio like 2 watts swinging to 8 watts works well. Also I have found that if you don't use the internal speaker, remove it. This helps with cooking a little as well. Some holes at the back of the radio would make it perfect for good air flow. I do know from experience that by lowering the dead key to 3 watts and swinging to about 8-10 watts pep, and ha I feel turned ssb power back to about 8 watts pep, that the radio stays cooler at the final and over all. And I can run most of the amps I have with the dead key set where it is. Some amps take more or less dead key to get the proper carrier to swing ratio. I use this radio every once in a while with a magnaforce 350hd or a TNT 600hd, both have toshiba 2879's. Anyways, back to the radio, they are pretty well dead on frequency out of the box, and for about $110 shipped, you can have an AM/SSB radio that is rock solid on SSB and that produces clean, clear audio on both AM and SSB with the right mic. I like the way the RF Limited 2018 extreme sounds as well as the wireless mic they sell. Just have to open the mic hole some on the wireless one. But those 2 mics seem to work pretty good with the uniden 980, the RF Limited 2018 extreme sounds good on most any radio I use it on to be honest. Anyways. After that the other radios I listed can get a little expensive, up into the $3-$500 range after a conversion on some of them and a tune and alignment. Have the radio's power set back a few watts instead of having them increase the power. Going from 40 watts to 60 watts isn't going to do anything!! Same from 60 to 80 watts. You get the picture. Better to have a cool running radio and one that is clean on an oscilloscope!! JMHO's. Like I asked at the beginning, what mode or modes of operation you like best, AM, SSB, both, or just one or the other more. If you say more on the SSB side, you may want to look into an HF or HAM radio. Look for a good used one or even a new one. Heck they are out there for just about $500 new these days. And they will most all beat the pants off an export or CB radio on SSB. Not so much AM, but they aren't really made for that either. Just some more food for thought. Good luck finding a new radio and take your time and research. You don't want to be mad you spent a bunch and don't like the radio!! Hope some of this helps and have a great day!!

mark_Hughey
09-26-2016, 07:00 PM
Welcome to the site

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