Yuck! :)

I use a Uniden PC76xl, all stock nothing fancy with the exception of one external speaker for my benefit. I have never heard any one complain about my output. And 3 to 6 miles is good. Ive gotten as much as ten to 15 or so in the Sonora at night. Which is not too often for me.

Good luck to you in that Knoxville. It's a problem now. I remember long ago it was just a 20 minute zip by on the interstate and done. Now it's a hour or more of working through the traffic.

 

Nice to know there is at least one driver out here I can understand, I currently use a stock President Mckinley, 4 watts carrier, 12 watts pep, with Palomar SL 41 mic audio is loud and clear, matter fact I have had several remarks ( didnt ask) as to how clear the audio is and the question always is " who worked on your radio" and I proudly say " never been opened" , average range with 4.5' Francis antennas on stock T680 mounts is 5 to 6 miles, more than enough to obtain any usable information.

 

Yep as I was saying in another thread
Too many hack shops out there and one lives 1 hour 10 min away.
Do I carry mine there? Heck no
The golden screwdriver clips and volts finals all day.
The number one radio that is hacked most is the Cobra 29 or 25
Those shops see them come in so much they clip the modulator. Pull slugs out
Spread coils just to Max it out
Plus on top of that they try to talk you into a swing mod
Ya look at this buddy your dk is 2 watt swings 25 pep now
Lol no thank you I'd like to keep my radio a CPL yrs longer.
And sound like I'm a real person not Charlie Brown

 

That last bit: useable information.

When I hear that FedEx has dropped a pup trailer in the middle of IH85 mid afternoon, that I can pick this up ten and sometimes fifteen miles out and it gives me MORE choices than the rest of the herd.

Backup five miles and growing.

No thanks. I’ll detour around that mess.

It’s not the radio so much. When entry level is considered ALSO as final (UNIDEN 980 or PRESIDENT McKinley; both AM/SSB) as no REAL upgrade likely exists

It’s

1). the antenna system (also tuned on antenna analyzer)

2). Best coax & power

3). Vehicle bonding

4). For my money: an upgrade from Amateur Radio: cleaning up reception with an adjustable digital sound-Processing filter.

However good the radio, it’s even better than you think with DSP.

That’s the “extra range” when you can pull the signal out of the noise.

The rest of you all can jam up Exit 158 to avoid that backup. Sit thru stoplights with 3-changes before you get across.

I got off at Exit 173. On a different route. Heard what you couldn’t.

GPS or WAZE or whatever night tell me about a backup. What it won’t tell me what eyewitnesses can relay. It may be aspur to the hell off that road, pronto.

Or, just ambling along of an eveningand hearing conversations from out in the bush you didn’t know existed before DSP.

Agreed that the radio needn’t be expensive. But it should be quality and it should be AM/SSB.

.
.

 

I totally agree, I was stating average range, what I normally hear on a regular basis, I have at times heard other stations from 10,20, and even 30 miles away, and hopefully when there is a backup I will be fortunate enough to hear one of them warnings 10 to 20 miles in advance, but just based on my experience, usually another driver that may be within 5 miles of your location and is spreading the news about the backup, passed by it 10 minutes ago, so maybe I didnt hear him 5 to 10 minutes ago but I still receive the warning with enough time to look at alternative route.

 

Why DSP picking that signal out of the hash, is your friend. It’s there, but we don’t have to get to five miles away to “hear” it. It becomes audible much farther out.