Italy KL203P: Plug and Play?

I'm sure there's a way to modify your radio, but it would require more than casual skill or the money to hire a Golden Screwdriver. If you choose the latter, you best be careful to pick the driver-of-screws carefully.

 

I have a couple of the 203's, the oldest is about 5 years old on a Uniden 980, and the other one, about 3 years old on a Pres. McKinley (literally velcro'd to the top). My experience was PNP, nothing special done, and they do make a difference, whether a clear day and trying to get some extra distance, or trying to keep local communications when the band is open and it's extra noisy.

 

The little 203P amp does make a difference in performance. It seems to cut through the everyday RF crud out there and gets you heard in many cases when the factory radio alone is stuck in the background clutter.

I've always thought that a modest signal boost of 20 to 80 watts or so was the best low-hanging fruit for a CB operator in a truck to pick. This level of RF boost can be achieved on regular 10 gauge wiring that can handle 10 amps or so and doesn't require heavy-gauge wires and a larger alternator to run. And even though the little amp won't competed with the hundreds-or-thousands watt, muscle-bound freaks on the air, what driver wants to compete with the bully-of-the-bar anyway. And for what reason? It's the same as trying to compete with road-rage-maddened psychos in vehicle traffic we see every day.

About the factory's advice on what incoming wattage the 203P can handle: I surmise that even though it can handle higher-than-standard wattage from the radio like the factory says, it can't do it for long. The 203P is known to heat up fast when higher wattages are fed to it, and I believe its life is shortened under such circumstances. I've seen testimonials on this point. The heat can overwhelm it.

So, the best advice is: if you want the longest life for the 203P, reduce the wattage from the radio. This is especially true if you tend to be a "talker" who doesn't shut up long enough to allow the amp to cool down. Also, if the amp isn't in a place that is cool (a cool place is hard to achieve in a vehicle especially if the amp is built into the dash or something), then low wattage to the amp is even more important.

The point: even though the amp technically can take the higher wattages, the question is: for how long?
This is similar to buying a car that has a top speed of 150mph. It can do it, but for how long before something fails and you need to call for a tow or, worse, the witnesses need to call for your ambulance.

I've seen folks with a lot of experience with the 203P who recommend wattages of 0.75 to around 2.0. I don't know if the lowest of this range adds measurably more life than the highest, but I'm sure the lower the incoming wattage, the cooler the amp.

Also keep in mind that the radio wattage going into the amp helps determine the wattage going out of the amp. IE, the more wattage the amp is fed, the more wattage (and heat) the amp produces, up to the point of maximum potential and/or failure.

In my case, the radio wattage going into my 203P is at about 1.2 watts dead-key, and I measure about 40 watts coming out of the amp dead-key. The PEP would be higher, of course, but I don't have the instrument to measure that. I'm happy with this level of performance, which equals or exceeds the performance of many of the high-priced and often high-maintenance "exports" out there.

Not bad for less than a hundred bucks.

 

I've never used an amp with my radios, but if I did, this is the best way to go about it.

http://cbtricks.com/radios/cobra/mods_&_info/graphics/Cobra_Uniden_Var_Pwr.pdf

I have thought about doing this mod sometime, just for the experience.

 

You can use that in almost any mainstream radio.

Really very simple to do.

Try it out. Cheap to experiment.

I've done a lot of conversions with the adjustment on the back and switchable in the front.

Used it since I think 1976.

I won't get into the mods that can be done to the amp to prevent killing it.