Upgraded my CB Setup

[grumpin]

Nice, I had a reman modified Cobra with weather. Worked great then near the end of the first year the thing just failed, I could receive but couldnt transmit. Sent it back to Florida and had it fixed by the original builder. Then another 6 months later the thing failed again this time it wouldnt even turn on. Tried to see if I could send it back the builder refused stating he has too much work and he has ceased online orders/repairs. So I tried to fix it myself with a new pot switch and it still didnt work so I upgraded to a Galaxy CB with side band.

Doesnt have the weather feature which I liked but at least it worked when I was still driving the truck. Going to see if the model is still made going to buy another one cause sitting in the sun the sun bleached the red off my scale. If not, they arent too hard I hear to swap the scale out but for the cost, I could just buy another one and get another warranty period lol.

I have a Cobra 29 WX NW ST that I got as a gift from my wife and kids years ago. It got funky on me and since it had sentimental value I sent it to Walcott for repair. It works fine, but it is what it is, which to me is 70’s to 80’s technology, made in China.

I have 2 President cb radios, an Andy, and a Bill. The Andy is ok, has a good speaker and is in my truck.

The Bill really impressed me, put it in my Xterra, with a 3 foot Firestik. Got it in and the swr set, and made a contact 5 miles away at a truck stop. He said it sounded great. What I really like about the President’s is the automatic squelch control. To get my Cobra to where I’m not getting static, I think is too squelched or not enough RF gain.

With the ASC, it’s set and I get good reception and no static. The Bill is a little thing with weather and plenty of features. Been thinking of getting another Bill to replace the Cobra in my Bronco. Only thing is the Bill has a small speaker, so I have it hooked to the aux in my stereo in the Xterra. I like it that way though.

But, the President’s are made in China too.

Edit, fix typo.

 

[ratdude747]

I have a Cobra 29 WX NW ST that I got as a gift from my wife and kids years ago. It got funky on me and since it had sentimental value I sent it to Walcott for repair. It works fine, but it is what it is, which to me is 70’s to 80’s technology, made in China.

I have 2 President cb radios, an Andy, and a Bill. The Andy is ok, has a good speaker and is in my truck.

The Bill really impressed me, put it in my Xterra, with a 3 foot Firestik. Got it in and the swr set, and made a contact 5 miles away at a truck stop. He said it sounded great. What I really like about the President’s is the automatic squelch control. To get my Cobra to where I’m not getting static, I think is too squelched or not enough RF gain.

With the ASC, it’s set and I get good reception and no static. The Bill is a little thing with weather and plenty of features. Been thinking of getting another Bill to replace the Cobra in my Bronco. Only thing is the Bill has a small speaker, so I have it hooked to the aux in my stereo in the Xterra. I like it that way though.

But, the President’s are made in China too.

Edit, fix typo.

The "old" radio (cobra 18 wx st) also had weather, albeit the obsolete kind (which was updated in the 18 wx st II, which is still a current model). Bought it for $30 NOS at a goodwill. Still have the original box. Only issues I had were the tuning resetting to channel 9 on powerup (as do most/all pushbutton/encoder tuned Cobra's), the unit picking up more ignition noise than the current unit (even with an extra filter and an isolated circuit, although I suspect my stock noise cap is toast), and somehow the mic jack getting bumped and snapping off two of the three switch/pot locknuts on the front panel (made from sintered potmetal it seems).

Looked at the president units mentioned... nah, I'd have to ditch my entire setup (since the mic also contains the channel switches) and honestly, the look is bit too modern for what I am going for (although the auto-squelch and built in USB charger are indeed handy features!).

I have $75 or so in the current unit ($40 used radio + $12 replacement Workman gauge + $10 new power harness (old one rotted) +$13 mounting bracket and knobs). With the mic (and the replacement plug) added on (radio didn't come with one) that puts me at about $100... $10 more than the president bill mentioned, but that's with an "upgraded" Astatic mic, not the "stock" mic that the president's come with. Or the same price as a new 25LTD with stock mic (which I happened to have one of from another radio not in use, but didn't really care for).

[Rusty_S85]

I have a Cobra 29 WX NW ST that I got as a gift from my wife and kids years ago. It got funky on me and since it had sentimental value I sent it to Walcott for repair. It works fine, but it is what it is, which to me is 70’s to 80’s technology, made in China.

I have 2 President cb radios, an Andy, and a Bill. The Andy is ok, has a good speaker and is in my truck.

The Bill really impressed me, put it in my Xterra, with a 3 foot Firestik. Got it in and the swr set, and made a contact 5 miles away at a truck stop. He said it sounded great. What I really like about the President’s is the automatic squelch control. To get my Cobra to where I’m not getting static, I think is too squelched or not enough RF gain.

With the ASC, it’s set and I get good reception and no static. The Bill is a little thing with weather and plenty of features. Been thinking of getting another Bill to replace the Cobra in my Bronco. Only thing is the Bill has a small speaker, so I have it hooked to the aux in my stereo in the Xterra. I like it that way though.

But, the President’s are made in China too.

Edit, fix typo.

Yep the main reason why I didnt toss mine was it was a remanufactured unit that Bells CB modified for me and I hated to toss the radio out considering the upgrades. Was thinking about sending it out one day to be fixed properly and keep it as a back up incase I have to send my Galaxy out to be fixed then I could just simply swap them out.

The Galaxy I have is nice, I also picked up a couple of OE replacement meters which I hear are not hard to replace on the Galaxy just remove the bezel pop the glue loose that holds the meter in unplug and swap the new one in. Going to do that once I finish the truck that way I wont have another meter with all the red bleached out by the sun.

[Rusty_S85]

The "old" radio (cobra 18 wx st) also had weather, albeit the obsolete kind (which was updated in the 18 wx st II, which is still a current model). Bought it for $30 NOS at a goodwill. Still have the original box. Only issues I had were the tuning resetting to channel 9 on powerup (as do most/all pushbutton/encoder tuned Cobra's), the unit picking up more ignition noise than the current unit (even with an extra filter and an isolated circuit, although I suspect my stock noise cap is toast), and somehow the mic jack getting bumped and snapping off two of the three switch/pot locknuts on the front panel (made from sintered potmetal it seems).

Looked at the president units mentioned... nah, I'd have to ditch my entire setup (since the mic also contains the channel switches) and honestly, the look is bit too modern for what I am going for (although the auto-squelch and built in USB charger are indeed handy features!).

I have $75 or so in the current unit ($40 used radio + $12 replacement Workman gauge + $10 new power harness (old one rotted) +$13 mounting bracket and knobs). With the mic (and the replacement plug) added on (radio didn't come with one) that puts me at about $100... $10 more than the president bill mentioned, but that's with an "upgraded" Astatic mic, not the "stock" mic that the president's come with. Or the same price as a new 25LTD with stock mic (which I happened to have one of from another radio not in use, but didn't really care for).

That was a big reason I went with the Cobra 29 WX NW ST and had it modified with blue channel display and blue light for the meter to blend in with the blue interior lights. I also had an echo board installed as well as having the internals calibrated for more power.

The Galaxy DX979 which is discontinued now I feel fits the truck better than the old Cobra 29. It has a black face with stock blue lighting and all the text glows in a green color. Whats nice about this one is it has a power knob so I can calibrate the power myself, I actually turned mine down to 2W output to not over drive my CB amp.

[grumpin]

The "old" radio (cobra 18 wx st) also had weather, albeit the obsolete kind (which was updated in the 18 wx st II, which is still a current model). Bought it for $30 NOS at a goodwill. Still have the original box. Only issues I had were the tuning resetting to channel 9 on powerup (as do most/all pushbutton/encoder tuned Cobra's), the unit picking up more ignition noise than the current unit (even with an extra filter and an isolated circuit, although I suspect my stock noise cap is toast), and somehow the mic jack getting bumped and snapping off two of the three switch/pot locknuts on the front panel (made from sintered potmetal it seems).

Looked at the president units mentioned... nah, I'd have to ditch my entire setup (since the mic also contains the channel switches) and honestly, the look is bit too modern for what I am going for (although the auto-squelch and built in USB charger are indeed handy features!).

I have $75 or so in the current unit ($40 used radio + $12 replacement Workman gauge + $10 new power harness (old one rotted) +$13 mounting bracket and knobs). With the mic (and the replacement plug) added on (radio didn't come with one) that puts me at about $100... $10 more than the president bill mentioned, but that's with an "upgraded" Astatic mic, not the "stock" mic that the president's come with. Or the same price as a new 25LTD with stock mic (which I happened to have one of from another radio not in use, but didn't really care for).

The Andy and the Adams don’t have the buttons on the mic, they’re 4 pins and you could use your Astatic mic.

I do like the mic channel buttons in my Xterra, because the radio is mounted on the passenger side of the center console, by the passengers knee. The Andy in my truck is mounted on the front of my center console and tilted towards me, easy to get to.

[ratdude747]

The Andy and the Adams don’t have the buttons on the mic, they’re 4 pins and you could use your Astatic mic.

I do like the mic channel buttons in my Xterra, because the radio is mounted on the passenger side of the center console, by the passengers knee. The Andy in my truck is mounted on the front of my center console and tilted towards me, easy to get to.

Not saying it's a bad radio... more that I'm happy with what I have, so why spend the money?

---

All of my units are stock. Never been a fan of "peak & tune"... seen too many units blown up due to such.

[grumpin]

Not saying it's a bad radio... more that I'm happy with what I have, so why spend the money?

---

All of my units are stock. Never been a fan of "peak & tune"... seen too many units blown up due to such.

I agree on spending the money. Just pointing that out.

Also agree on peak and tune. And amps for more power. I just don’t think they’re necessary for a short range radio.

Actually thinking of pulling the radio out of my Bronco, by far the worst vehicle I’ve tried to get good swr’s in. Thinking it must be that fiberglass top.

 

[Rusty_S85]

Not saying it's a bad radio... more that I'm happy with what I have, so why spend the money?

---

All of my units are stock. Never been a fan of "peak & tune"... seen too many units blown up due to such.

Well you blow them up when you try to push them too hard. My Cobra it was only tuned up a couple watts more than out of the box. The Galaxy I am running at 2 watts which is half of the max output of the radio itself. I could max it out but then that will over drive my amp and my amp isnt anything big. Just a cheapie unit I picked up for $80 that at 2 watts input will put out around 200 watts output. Well over enough for what I use it for.

[Rusty_S85]

Not saying it's a bad radio... more that I'm happy with what I have, so why spend the money?

---

All of my units are stock. Never been a fan of "peak & tune"... seen too many units blown up due to such.

I agree on spending the money. Just pointing that out.

Also agree on peak and tune. And amps for more power. I just don’t think they’re necessary for a short range radio.

Actually thinking of pulling the radio out of my Bronco, by far the worst vehicle I’ve tried to get good swr’s in. Thinking it must be that fiberglass top.

I was able to get my swrs down quite well on my short center load antenna never tried to calibrate my 7 foot antenna since I cant use it around here with the power lines.

I also have been thinking of pulling the radio out as well just to clean the interior of the truck up a bit sort of like how I pulled the aftermarket tach out for a OE cluster with factory tach to clean the interior up some.

[AmericanSavage]

This is great thread. When I do the interior bench, I am going to add a CB—where to mount, and what ant. I have no idea at this point—but likely a Cobra with FM.