HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Equipment => Topic started by: Fansome on May 20, 2018, 0230 UTC
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I've been considering getting a CB radio. Any recommendations on a brand would be appreciated; it looks like $100 ought to be the ballpark price.
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Unless you want an "export" rig, I'd try for an older cobra 148 (or its siblings, the Washingtons and Grants and the rest of the off brands using the exact same board), speaks ssb and has very good performance overall. At that price range you may find a Uniden 2510, great rig but wider ssb filtering.
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It depend what you want to do with the CB. Do you just want to talk to local traffic on AM, or do you want to do the side-band thing as well and get a bit more distance? Out of the box, the best bang for the buck in AM USA legal CB today would be the Uniden Pro520. Better than 90% MOD out of the box, ANL/NB switchable, RF Gain control, great ears on RX'ing, you can't go wrong, and for about $50.00, or less. In CB side-band, an older Uniden Grant, or a non-Chinese Cobra 148GTL. About $100.00 used for them, but see if they've been butchered, or not. I've heard that the Galaxy and Connex radios have a tendency to drift off FREQ in SSB. They sound great in AM though. Next, are you going base, or mobile? The preceding rigs mentioned are mobiles, but work as base rigs as well.
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Jeez Alfy, what's next, SDR's?
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Watch your mouth!
Jeez Alfy, what's next, SDR's?
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Fansome: I presume you are in the USA? Here in Australia 27MHz CB radio died a slow death years ago, don't think anyone over here sells 27MHz gear anymore.
Secondhand sets turn up at amateur radio meets and field days in the flea markets, new gear non existent unless you import it.
There were some legendary base stations in the good old days: Galaxy, Cobra, Pearce Simpson, President, Tram Diamond, Kraco etc to just name a few, probably collectors items these days!
Superstar out of Taiwan made a good copy of the Cobra sets and were illegal in most countries due to their "multi channels" which exceeded the standard 27MHz 40 channel allocation in most countries.
Few voices are heard on 27MHz in Australia these days, most gave the hobby away, went to amateur radio or migrated to the 80 channel UHF system.
Good luck, it's great band when the DX is running... ;)
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Anything by UNIDEN. The modern copies look ok buy forget anything Cybernet, popular but pants!
Str.
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Good luck finding a decent export radio (or even 40 channel SSB radio) for $100. If you plan on just doing AM stuff then you're in luck.
I say go with an older Cobra 29 that hasn't been hacked by the infamous golden screwdriver. Most brand new ones use surface mount technology.
If you're just planning on doing the 40 channel AM thing, the Cobra 29 and Uniden 78 are great radios. If you're really on a budget, get yourself a Uniden 520XL. Great little "Jeep radio" and can fit in nearly in mobile installation situation you could think of. As ThaDood mentioned, another big question is are you doing base or mobile? If you go mobile and get the Uniden 520XL, get yourself a power mic like the Astatic M6B (or at least an aftermarket microphone, the Astatic 636L works really well with really any CB on the market today).
I run a Galaxy DX 959 with modifications and an Astatic 636L as my primary AM/SSB mobile rig, with an older-generation Superstar 3900 as the backup. The Galaxy rigs can be drifty on SSB but once it warms up its fine. Same can be said for the Superstar 3900 family of radios. Those are both going to run you closer to $200 than $100 though. For AM only I use a Uniden 520XL or a Cobra 29XLR (generally with the Astatic M6B amplified mic).
So short answer: Get a Uniden PRO-520XL with an aftermarket microphone and a high quality antenna.
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"Good CB radio"
Isn't that a contradiction in terms?
:P
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Now, now... We should be concentrating on getting Al a good deal on a wideband Chinese linear amp. One without a lot of filtering so he's able to transmit from DC to daylight with that transceiver. Why heck, he could finally get his Ham ticket with a set-up like that.
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Now, now... We should be concentrating on getting Al a good deal on a wideband Chinese linear amp. One without a lot of filtering so he's able to transmit from DC to daylight with that transceiver. Why heck, he could finally get his Ham ticket with a set-up like that.
Seconded. One of the obvious clones of the RM Italy CB amplifiers
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Motion passed!
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Cobra 148 if you are considering SSB. I would save up the extra $80 or $90 and get one new (the list price seems to be around $189 at least at first search), unless you are certain that the used one you are looking at hasn't been tricked, which may or may not be a good thing.
For AM CB only, the others' suggestions are good. Cobra made a good product. Uniden made Cobra for a while (maybe still do?).
I don't know anything about the Superstar or Galaxy radios but I remember a lot of guys talking on them during the late 80's / early 90's.
My Uniden PC122 ran hot and didn't last long. The Cobra still works years later.
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Any updates Fansome? Please tell me you went with the Galaxy DX-99V2 with the FLAMETHROWER SKYWALKER SKIPTALKER SUPER TUNE upgrade