uniden

If you want a radio to last for years, I would not let anyone mess with the radio unless it was in some way defective. In plain english -- leave it stock.
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I strongly suggest that you check your SWR reading with a separate SWR meter --BEFORE-- you use the radio. IF the SWR is 3 or higher, do NOT use the radio until the problem is resolved or you could damage the radio.
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Oh, and get a good antenna that is 4 1/2 to 6 feet in length. A 4 foot long antenna is the absolute minimum length for mounting on a large truck.
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I hope you enjoy your radio for many years to come.

 

Trying to wrest the last fraction of a watt out of a CB (or any) transmitter shortens the life of the radio and will *never* be noticed by whomever your talking to. It will only show on your meter; going from 4 to 6 watts or so won't come close to making the other party's meter move any farther.

If you *really need* more power, use an external amplifier. That way your radio is still running in its comfort zone, and lessens the chances of your radio putting out trash on other frequencies from some sort of hotrodding.

Echo boards are a matter of opinion, once you get past the FCC's ban on them. I personally think that anything that distorts one's voice (by, say, filling in the gaps in your syllables with more vocal noise) is just that: a distortion, not an enhancement.

There's an entire thread in here about echoes with about 35 pages of replies. None of the people whose radios I've seen with echo on them run without talkback, presumably because they enjoy the sound of their own voices. There's nothing "enhanced" by making voices harder for others to understand.

My suggestion for those folks is run a separate line out of the radio with an echo board and a little audio amplifier and speaker in the cab, but leave the transmitted signal untouched. That way they can hear themselves sounding awesome, but the signal they transmit on the airwaves is easy to understand.

But that's just an opinion, mind you. The part about squeezing watts out of a radio is actual science.

-- Handlebar --

 

I love this idea but don't think many would jump on this option.