CB Radio purchase and installation near Las Vegas?

When you say tweeking you really mean modifications, Im in agreement with Ridgeline on this one.

 

Ask for advice on a radio least likely to need anything.

As I’d always recommend an AM/SSB radio as basic, a $150 +|- UNIDEN 980 hits the mark.

Add to it an RM ITALY KL203 amp (that will run off company truck CB circuit) and touch nothing inside.

$225 or so

Better antenna(s) may be called for, etc, but so far as the radio itself goes, one can spend $400 on a Big Radio and not “get more” than what this pair offer. (And it’s unlikely the Big Radio can run off the CB circuit).

IOW, put things in perspective. Look at the whole system. Time, effort & money. Leave radio techs out completely (at least at first). There’s plenty the driver can do on his own with just a multimeter and an SWR meter.

As always, I’d “filter” the coax and the 12V with toroid chokes. And add digital signal processing (HAM gear) to clean up the receive.

At which point I’d be at about the $500 mark all told. Equipment only, no paying for suspect pro experience.

That advice and an antenna analyzer has its place, but it’s closer to last, not first when worried about value versus $$.

.

 

Yes if you wanna go by letter of the law sorta speak..
Tweeking could mean align and chking if its on freq..Setting the tx/rec to work better than factory tune..Not that have done anything inside any radio im fairly sure this is done without adding parts..

 

Well craig, out of the radios I have bought for my trucks in the past seven or eight years, one out of the 125 needed something done to it, the other 124 worked well.

 

Thats fine an all but no matter how well it works there is room to improve without adding parts to truely say its modified.....Outta all the vids of different techs lookin at new radios,they all basically say the same thing...Not bad for a factory tune but......Most will mod it for the customer rather than tweek a few things for it to perform at its best while still being stock..

 

The President Mckinley I purchased for $198.00 works great stock OTB, matter of fact have it in line at present, stock carrier on AM is right at 4 watts and pep is 14 watts( 87% modulation) on SSB it is right at 12 watts, and receive is excellent, no reason to remove cover at all, not to imply that is the case with all stock radios but the Mckinley and my Bearcat 980 are good stock.

 

Just have an alignment done following manufacture service manual, the majority of modded radios keep cb shops in business because they usually require repairs later on, when I hear drivers brag about their 30 to 40 watt ( pep) Cobra 29, you can be certain of two things, they sound like dodo, loud but distorted, and they will require future repairs, now those statements will probably elicit some feedback from sone individuals who will state otherwise, but I make those observations based on my own experiences and being out here for 23 years.

 

Yeap..Some p all over my tune yet they never ever listened to my radio..Just cause they dont.like who i use they just assume is a crap set up....One fella went back a years threads on here to find something i post but outta context..To refute his shoot down claim,i stopped and made a vid to show he was wrong..Lol shut him up pdq...
So yeah lotsa braggers with crap radios who are quick to boast but lack the proof..
Like the sayin goes..If it aint broke,dont fix it....If ya want a lil more,why not..

 

A Uniden 980 and a KL 203p with a 102" whip is what I'm running right now, and I have to admit, I like it alot.

 

So here is an update for you guys of your interested. I thought I would pass this info along.
Just received my radios (Cobra 29lx on a KL 200p and a Galaxy 929 on a Palomar 250)) back from Chris Hilland in Ontario. I had him tune and match them to their perspective amps. I also had him lower the DK (not a full tune) on a Uniden 980 with a KL 203p.
After picking them up, I took them over to Ron (also in Ontario) to check them out and see if he could improve the receive (since he seems to be highly regarded for a receive tune/upgrade). Ron is an honest man, he told me that Chris had done a great job, and there was not any room for improvement on the receive side. Both radios were WAY lower than 1 microvolt (I cant remember the actual fraction) and that they were the best they were gonna be.
So what I learned was that It looks like Chris has improved his receive tunes and Ron is a very honest tech. He didnt even want to charge me for looking at them because he said he didnt even do anything to them. I did buy some accessories and another whip antenna from him tho so I could help support a good local guy here. He also said that tuned with an amp, he would recommend Chris over himself because Chris was better in that area. That's pretty #### honest to me!

Hopefully this info will help some other guys out there. In the end, it looks like you can have radio work done by either of these 2 guys and have the peace if mind knowing that everything is correct.

On a side note, I'm running the Uniden with a modified stock mic and the KL203p right now since it has ssb. All 3 radios sound clean thru a Uniden BC20 speaker. The Cobra and Galaxy I was using an SR198 mic. The Cobra did have have a slight disadvantage in clarity tho. Not much, but a little.

Thanks to everyone here who helped point me in the right direction