want to put a bigger kicker on a connex

You have to get them tuned together by a GOOD tech, not just anyone. Running extra power can be a pain in the ##### if not set up properly.

 

Check your deadkey. Needs to be 2-3 watts.

 

I picked up a Texas Star 667V awhile back. Need to run my 6 gauge wire again and hook it up. It will probably out do my KL 300!

 

the best way to key a non drivable amp (small linears, usually less than 600 watts) is to have variable power on the radio. you turn the radio and linear on with the variable power all the way down. turn the mic gain off and then hold a dead key with the radio. then turn the variable up slowly until you hear the linear relays key. then go a bit less than 1/4 turn more with the variable. you want the amp to do what it was designed to do, and that is swing. the best sounding radios out there do not splatter or over modulate and they do not over drive the linear either.

you want it to swing like a clock pendulum. the more it swings, the better it will sound on the other end. and the reason for turning the mic gain down is so you get a true dead key with no modulation which would change the input wattage your attempting to set. then dont forget to turn the mic gain back up before talking lol

 

The "sounds like im on a different channel when turned on and that's with r f power turned down" could be caused by a bad jumper. But sounds to me like some wanna be CB tech has hacked and clipped the radio to the point that it so over modulated, it's bleeding over onto other channels with the amp on because it is making the over modulation that much worse. Contrary to popular belief, Bleed over is not the sign of a big radio, it is the sign of a poorly tuned one and if you let Triple R work on it ( is He still around?) then I promise you, it's way over modulated!

If your radio is setup to key low and swing big then yes, it is not set up correctly regardless of what your watt meter or your CB tech is telling you and no. You don't have to run a 1 or 2 watt key into any amp, they will take 4 and 5 watts just fine and sound much better. I ran 5 watts into my 5 pill Dave Made ( as well as 4 and 5 watts into amps smaller and way bigger than that on my base setups) for years and always got great reports and talked all over the country with it. Regardless of what people tell you. An amplifier is not meant to make you sound louder and if it does then your setup is not right. If one is set up the way it should be then you should be able to run a 1000 watts+ and not even the guy sitting next to you should be able to hear a difference.

I know this is most likely not what you want to hear and probably you think that I'm clueless, so be it. But after 17 years of trucking and CB'ing, I have wasted enough money to know what I'm talking about when it comes to hacked up radios and poor sounding setups....how do you think I know who Triple R is!

 

WRONG! The more swing you have the more over modulated you will be and the worse you will sound to others.

Back in the ole days when radios would only max out a 10 or 12 watts then you needed a low dead key or else you had zero modulation. But now with 30 watt and up radios, your killing your sound quality and the distance that you can talk by running low carriers. Yes, you will talk DX much better with a higher carrier then you will with a low one ( find someone with a base setup and go up the road about 25 miles and see if they don't tell you that you sound better and are stronger with a higher carrier) - look it up for yourself. You boys really should do a little reading when it comes to proper AM communications before you buy into the crap that CB techs tell you in order to make a buck off of you because most of them are nothing but rip off artists!!

I'll just point this little tidbit out to you and you can take it for what you will... If super low keys and big swinging wattage was the way to go then the boys on the super bowl would be running dead keys down to 100 watts and swinging to 50K! The one guy who did try this, Black Diamond out of TX, got ran off of the bowl because He sounded so bad and bled over on all 40 channels.

I know some of the boys who are big hitters on the bowl and I can promise you. Their meters don't swing like a monkey on crack!

If you want your hard earned money to pay off when it comes to radios, amps and quality of sound then try this. Set your carrier by dividing your max power by 4. Say 325 watts peak by 4 = 81 watts. This will keep you close to 100% + or - modulation and if you set your stuff up with this method. You will have a clean clear sound and talk when ever and where ever you want.

If you think I'm full of it then try it for yourself!

 

The 667V is a great amp! Should blow that KL-300 out of the water!

 

I agree too much swing is not a good thing. I prefer to follow the 1 watt carrier to 4 watts modulation rule.

The 667V looks like a nice amp. I happen to have a TNT HD 600 myself. Use that with a 108 whip and a Magnum 257 HP. Managed to get my name called the other night on ch's. 11, 20, 26 and 28 when skip was in.