Just Bought A New RCI 2970a2

Well, I took the plunge and purchased a brand new 2970n2 yesterday. This is actually a very nice radio, stock out of box. Connected to the 300 watt dummy load in my MFJ antenna tuner, it dead-keys about 45 watts on low power am, and high power is about 125 or a bit more. It peaks out at over 230 watts on am and ssb. I listened to the audio on my Kenwood R-2000 shortwave receiver. With the AMC limiter in place it still sounds great and you can see it clamping down when you whistle into the mic. This radio is a hot potato as it is out of the box, I see no reason to "peak and tune" it. If a guy wanted to put it on a modulation meter or a scope and peak the amc to 100%, this would be ok, but I think its already close to that. This radio seems to actually be a very serious SSB radio and I cant wait to run the heavy power cable in the truck and start using it. I will be using a Wilson 5000 Trucker antenna tuned for 28mhz on it. I will let you know how it works in the next few weeks.

 

Well, I have been using this radio for a few days now, and so far, it is working perfectly. 10 meter band opened up for a bit the other day, and I chatted with a few hams from Sao Paulo, Brazil. I hope they send me some QSL cards. I hate to disagree with the export haters, but the 2970n2 works and sounds great, right out of the box on sideband. Just don't let some cb hack shop screw it up for you by "peaking and tuning" it or let them talk you into turning down the power to get more "swing". This radio is a beast as it sets with the AMC at the factory setting.

 

Do yourself a favor and don't let some cb hack-shop talk you into any peaking+tuning bs. I have been running mine stock out of the box on 10m and the hams from all over say that I have studio quality audio, smooth and clear. I thought about bumping the AMC control up a bit, but Im not going to do that without a scope or at least a modulation% meter.

 

This radio is not going to have super-booming audio without major mods done to it. It was designed mainly for serious sideband work. That is where it shines.