how do you install an echo board?
Discussion in 'CB Radio Forum' started by thetez, Sep 16, 2007.
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Thetez,
The whole premise of setting up an echo board to teach others how to set theirs is just setting yourself up for the heartbreak of rejection.
First, you'll never get 3 drivers to agree on what sounds good.
You'll go thru several mins of helping one guy figure out where & what his echo controls do, just for him to finish it all by asking for a radio check from other drivers.
Then of course, he'll want to modify the settings you and he spent 20 mins finding based on others' opinions.
Then, there's the guys who think that their talkback voice is really representative of what they sound like over the air. They don't understand that just because they can understand themselves in their own speakers doesn't mean it sounds good on the air.
Of course this whole thing depends on finding a driver that will actually take constructive criticism about his echo unit & actually agree to work with you on it. Lotsa' luck there Charlie Brown.
And to finally answer your question of how to install one. In the general sense, the unit goes between your mic & radio.
You can do this internally or externally.
Internally is a bit more difficult but makes for less junk on the dash. Externally can be set up as a plug and play thing.
Assuming you do the internal setup, find a place to mount the echo unit in the radio that provides enough room when the covers are on.
Sometimes you need to remove the speaker or unclip a bundle of wires to move them away from the mounting area.
Now gain access to the mic jack, in particular the mic input lead from the jack.
Once located, remove that wire from the pin on the jack.
Solder the shielded input wire of the echo board to the mic jack.
Solder the output of the echo board to the wire you removed from the mic jack.
That completes the audio in/out section.
Now find a decent place to ground the echo board negative lead.
You can usually solder it to a IF can or ground trace on the pcb.
Try to keep it short.
Now look for a good place to get +12volts from.
Do not go to the power jack.
It is unfiltered at that point & could introduce all kinds of noises & rf.
You can locate a filtered +12 on the pcb near the power jack.
I can't be specific as to the loactions of these attachment points cuz I don't know what your radio looks like. Finding the best places to get power & ground on the pcb is also radio specific.
Lastly, sandwich or wrap the echo board in something that will not allow anything to short to it & provides some firm cushioning of the board in the chassis. Vibration is your enemy.
That's it. Set it up listening to a somewhat weak signal on another radio nearby. I suggest listening to a radio that only sees your radio at a signal strength of 9 "S" units or less.
You may get squeals or other noises when the mic gain is set too high. Remember, if you went to the mic jack, your mic gain control also effects the output of the echo going to the radio.
Now you know as little as I do. -
Go to your local radio shop and put your radio and your echo board on the counter.
Ask " how much to install that, in there?"
LOL -
once again, I am here to help in this situation if you can use me services. I install echo boards everyday here in my shop. Talk to Tank33 here on the forum he can direct you to me. I don't want to start any advertising wars. Or, just google the name dodgem250
bubba T Thanks this. -
there nothing wrong with a connex echo board(only one I would use) if you use it right just a touch of reverb also only use a rk56 mic
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What's so special about the Connex board as opposed to some of the others out there?
Just askin'. -
Echo, echo, echo...I'd like to meet the genius that came up with that idea! I won't even answer a radio check if I hear even a hint of echo! What if someone had echo on their cell phone...Im betting the number of ppl willing to talk to them would be zero! Echo on a radio is just about as stupid sounding as echo on a cell phone! Sorry, just my opinion.
Blaskowitz and keepitsimple Thank this. -
why dont u guys stop bashing the guy and either help the guy or keep it to yourself! Everyones allowed to have an opinion and he wants and likes echo. Theres probally half the guys out there that love it that hate it. I'd sujest took it up on youtube there are lots of examples there on how to install or cbradiomagazine dot com
Kevin83165, jbee and Outlaw CB Thank this. -
Ok I'll explain how to put an echo board in your radio....might as well make this a sticky...
First it depends on what echo board you are installing. I have installed the RF limited X2 turbo echo board, the RF limited BR-1 big rig reverb board, and also two other boards, I believe they were workmans.
I'll start off with the BR-1 first....this board only has 3 wires, and it is super easy to install.
One wire hooks to a 12 VDC power source. I recommend the back of the on/off switch. Then the next wire hooks to the audio pin on the back of the mic plug. if you're putting this in a Cobra 25/29, Uniden PC 68/78 or a Galaxy, it's pin#2. The final wire is the ground wire, and you hook that to pin 1 on the back of the mic plug. The board comes with hardware that allows you to screw it to the chassis so it doesn't come in contact with any live circuits. On this board, it comes with the dual pot that you have to install in the radio, and it also comes with a board with screws you can preset the echo/reverb for if you want to install this in a radio that is too small to accept a board and pot....
The other two boards are a little more involved and don't have the board with the knobs on it...on the Workman board and the RF limited X2 turbo echo boards, you unsolder the audio wire off the back of the mic plug, and on the board, there's 2 small white wires inside of two black wires....one of those white wires you solder on the back of the mic plug where you just unsoldered the audio wire, and then you solder the audio wire to the remaining white wire. Then you do the same with the two black wires, soldering one to the ground pin on the mic plug and the other to the wire that was formerly soldered to the ground pin on the mic plug. Then there's 2 more wires on the board, usually a brown and a black....you solder the brown to a switched 12VDC (on/off switch) and you solder the black to a good ground...then pick a spot to install the dual echo pot.
All in all installing an echo board is really not hard to do at all.Outlaw CB Thanks this. -
Turbo has hit it dead-on. The only additional recommendation I have is, for the love of all that is holy, if the radio itself is not box-stock already, *please* have a well equipped shop, with a qualified (ideally licensed, but no longer legally necessary) technician make sure the radio already is performing the way the manufacturer intended for it to. A previous post in this thread alludes to echo users being pleased with how awesome they sound in their own talkback, under the delusion that that is an accurate representation of their transmitted signal. It is not. All you are hearing through talkback is the audio amplifier circuit(s), *before* it gets impressed (modulated) onto the carrier being transmitted by the rest of the radio, out the coax, to the antenna, etc. If the radio has been randomly tweaked or tuned to someone's best guess with *just* a wattmeter, your signal may already sound like ca-ca, and no amount of echo will help it.
If that's the case, and you prefer not to have the radio tuned professionally (pre- or post-echo board installation), my advice would be to just run a parallel line off the mic to the echo board, and have that drive a small mobile public address amp with a horn speaker inside the cab. That way your actual transmitted signal won't sound any more distorted than it was after (if indeed it's happened) some yayhoo with a screwdriver and a #49 light bulb for tune-up instruments, but you'll still be able to sound as awesome as you want to yourself inside your cab.
Make the P.A. loud enough, and the mic will also pick up some of the natural reverb from inside the cab and *that* echo signal will go out over the air, too -- just not as much. And, of course, every syllable that you utter will take up more time than it's supposed to, breaking up the cadence of speech that we've become accustomed to hearing when we speak with one another in person.....
73paulplj2002 Thanks this.
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