what setting on variable power do you all run mine used to be wide open but have it put back now at setting 9 radio is a Stryker SR955 HPC
I dont have a 955 but variable power adjusts the carrier/deadkey and at 100% modulation the carrier should be 1/4 of pep wattage. On my Galaxy 99v2 the pep is 55 watts so the variable power on high is set at 14 watts ( 14×4=56) . It is my understanding on radios with variable is to run it on high and only run the carrier lower if running into a amp.
If a radio has the Top Gun Modulater installed( many Magnum radios) it is designed to be used at a low carrier and swing to full pep watts and produced loud audio.
I also have a General Lee and it doesnt have a variable knob but just a high/ low switch, low is set on 1 1/2 watts for amp and high is set on 10 watts ( radio pep is 40 watts) for running barefoot.
Apparently that what Eventually burns the Finals in them I was told 9pm position and let the modulation do the rest
Transmitter alignment for the 955 specifies to set high carrier power to 15 watts and low carrier power to .5 to 3 watts and Strykers website specifies pep output to 70 watts, seems to me finals should be able to tolerate 15 watt carrier.
So run it wide open I noticed my radio gets a little warm running full power , but that’s of the 12 volt lighter socket .
Then trust the person who advised you to run rf power at lower setting just to be safe, I run the power on max on my 99v2 and have never notice radio getting hot, howerever different finals and completely different radios.
Cb Radio Magazine did a good review of the 955 and he stated high power was set at 15 watts and AM pep was 65 watts and during on air conversation the heat sink did get quite warm but there was no drop off in power.
