AT6666 vs QT80 vs ?

[slowmover]

One of the reasons I started this thread was I wanted to get different opinions and perspectives for a variety of people. Everyone is different. Like when I was on the job, I was a department range master for twenty years. I had a guy that swore up and down and sideways that the 1911 was the best pistol ever developed and everything else was “junk” blah blah blah. Well, during a transition course he ran a $1,600.00 1911 and I ran a $455.00 Glock. On day two of the three day course his super blaster broke. My tactical Tupperware ran for three eight hour days without even cleaning.

When it comes to an 11m radio what I’m looking for is AM/SSB with a decent receiver. It doesn’t have to be a super blaster, just something that will work from my location out to about 7-10 miles. In my seven mile circle I have so much industrial stuff it’s insane, a rail yard, and major shipping warehouses. I have the Port of LA right down the road. So I don’t need to be able to reach out thirty miles. Honestly, I’m still playing with the 7300 to see if I can get the AM to sound “acceptable”. So far it doesn’t sound bad at all. It’s certainly readable. I’ve had some short contacts with driver’s out about 5 miles and they said it sounded fine.

I have a radio mounting shelf that is currently occupied by three other radios, so space is limited. If I can find the magic settings on the 7300 that’s probably what I’ll stick with. Ancillary to this, I also wanted to make a “throw in” set up for my car. I already have a Motorola APX 7500 in there so there not a lot of room. I may repurpose this President Bill II as a radio I can Velcro beside the seat and use a Laird NMO27 on a magnetic base for those long solo road trips. But, we’ll see. Nothings off the table!

I’ve read posts where others with Amateur gear have worked and worked and then finally get a solution they favor for CB

I’ve heard fairly sure your radio with some and I’d say I’d keep at it. There’s a couple of guys near OKC sound very good and obviously have gone thru all the details.

If you ever hear, Dr Bob, he’s one of them.

 

[kc2asb]

For some parts i find that somewhat acceptable, but not for an encoder that is the heart of any radio and gets used repeatedly.

100% right. And for the record, in my example above, Drake built these radios in their own US plant, so they had strict control over every step in the build.

 

[slowmover]

At home

QT80 & NMO-34 for the Subaru.

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[K6GBW]

I’ve read posts where others with Amateur gear have worked and worked and then finally get a solution they favor for CB

I’ve heard fairly sure your radio with some and I’d say I’d keep at it. There’s a couple of guys near OKC sound very good and obviously have gone thru all the details.

If you ever hear, Dr Bob, he’s one of them.

I found an article that talked about the 7300’s ALC flat topping at 100 percent power. Apparently turning it to 60 percent is a sweet spot where this doesn’t occur. Since the 7300 is a 25 watt radio on AM this equates to about 12 watts dead key and PEP at about 40 watts. I’m completely good with that. I’ll do some testing on it as soon as I can. I have to go put to Santa Barbara tomorrow to work on a repeater antenna. But starting Monday I’ll see if I can make some contacts.

 

[Chris155]

Honestly, I’m still playing with the 7300 to see if I can get the AM to sound “acceptable”. So far it doesn’t sound bad at all. It’s certainly readable. I’ve had some short contacts with driver’s out about 5 miles and they said it sounded fine.

I put a new d104m6 hand mic on an icom 756, really woke that thing up on am. Went from bad to good enough. Still wasn’t much of an am rig in comparison to McKinley/203 or 5555n2 but much better that the stock mic.

 

[K9KLC]

I’ve read posts where others with Amateur gear have worked and worked and then finally get a solution they favor for CB

I’ve heard fairly sure your radio with some and I’d say I’d keep at it. There’s a couple of guys near OKC sound very good and obviously have gone thru all the details.

If you ever hear, Dr Bob, he’s one of them.

Funny you mention someone called "Dr. Bob". I had a Kenwood 430 and I'd give anything to still have it, that another fellow called "Dr. Bob" set up for AM. He's SK now, but I believe many hams have run his microphones. He originally did it for 75 meter AM, but it worked just fine on AM whatever band it was on.

 

[K6GBW]

View attachment 181245
At home

QT80 & NMO-34 for the Subaru.

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I wish! Literally no where to put it. That car is tighter than a…well you get the idea.

 

[K6GBW]

Funny you mention someone called "Dr. Bob". I had a Kenwood 430 and I'd give anything to still have it, that another fellow called "Dr. Bob" set up for AM. He's SK now, but I believe many hams have run his microphones. He originally did it for 75 meter AM, but it worked just fine on AM whatever band it was on.

Are you talking about Bob Heil?

 

[K9KLC]

I found an article that talked about the 7300’s ALC flat topping at 100 percent power. Apparently turning it to 60 percent is a sweet spot where this doesn’t occur. Since the 7300 is a 25 watt radio on AM this equates to about 12 watts dead key and PEP at about 40 watts. I’m completely good with that. I’ll do some testing on it as soon as I can. I have to go put to Santa Barbara tomorrow to work on a repeater antenna. But starting Monday I’ll see if I can make some contacts.

About the same on my FT-991A and FT-450, as far as wattage goes. When I reduce the dead key to 10 or so watts, it becomes "more usable" on AM.

 

[slowmover]

Are you talking about Bob Heil?

No. A character lives near OKC, OK.

 

[K9KLC]

Are you talking about Bob Heil?

Yes.

 

[K6GBW]

The 7300 is an interesting radio. I learned pretty quickly that Icom’s manual on how to set mic gain is total non-sense. I struggled with it for months until PRCGuy clued me in. I set the mic gain to 50 and compression to 2 and ignored the meters and voila! It just works. So I’m hoping this power down routing will do the trick. The 7300’s ALC circuit is very aggressive. Icom didn’t want these things to splatter and they don’t. In fact, I don’t think it’s even possible to make them!

 

[K9KLC]

The 7300 is an interesting radio. I learned pretty quickly that Icom’s manual on how to set mic gain is total non-sense. I struggled with it for months until PRCGuy clued me in. I set the mic gain to 50 and compression to 2 and ignored the meters and voila! It just works. So I’m hoping this power down routing will do the trick. The 7300’s ALC circuit is very aggressive. Icom didn’t want these things to splatter and they don’t. In fact, I don’t think it’s even possible to make them!

I have not tried any compression on my Yaesu's, however I have had the gain at 50% since I got the radio. I may see if just a wee bit helps, but I don't do much AM from home anymore, but still would be good to know. About the most AM I do is getting on there and seeing if I can get a road report during bad weather from home, prior to heading out. That doesn't come up much in south west Illinois these days, but we did have a couple of occasions last winter to check and see how it was out there.

 

[slowmover]

I wish! Literally no where to put it. That car is tighter than a…well you get the idea.

On a Subaru forum

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[slowmover]

I have not tried any compression on my Yaesu's, however I have had the gain at 50% since I got the radio. I may see if just a wee bit helps, but I don't do much AM from home anymore, but still would be good to know. About the most AM I do is getting on there and seeing if I can get a road report during bad weather from home, prior to heading out. That doesn't come up much in south west Illinois these days, but we did have a couple of occasions last winter to check and see how it was out there.

Getting past East St Louis is the weather report.

I navigate using the LOVES TRUCK STOP at Sauget (Moussette Lane) on IH-255. Still new and zero problems.

There’s no benefit to going thru town. Like Shreveport and some other cities: always use the bypass. At 1400 or at 0200.

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[K9KLC]

Getting past East St Louis is the weather report.

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That's GREAT! Also, accurate!!!

 

[WSAC829]

When it comes to an 11m radio what I’m looking for is AM/SSB with a decent receiver.

Honestly you can't go wrong with any of the CCR’s for the price. $150-$300 gets you a pretty nice rig. Their RX is HOT. With NRC enabled the signals are very clear. I mean hot as in they hear better than any other rigs i've owned. My 5555n2 (kept it because nobody would want my franken-modded unit) / Retevis HS4 (sold it) / QT40 (sold it) / and CB-500 (kept both) all hear things out in the weeds locally that my FT-710 (sold it) didn’t even know was there. Odd how the FT-710 was supposed to have the 4th or 5th best ranked receiver on the market currently, yet it’s deaf compared to these CCR's. TX audio is also great, even with a power mic wide open, they don’t overload.

 

[slowmover]

That's GREAT! Also, accurate!!!

I edited that post. From there to IH-44 is heavy truck traffic. I’ve “fixed” the audio on quite a few radios using NRC going thru there.

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[slowmover]

all hear things out in the weeds locally that my FT-710 (sold it) didn’t even know was there

It’s difficult to make believers. And it’s 100% true.

For Mobile, an NRC CB is a revolution.

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[slowmover]

My 5555n2 (kept it because nobody would want my franken-modded unit

Back-lit buttons and chrome vinyl wrap.

“SAC it to me”

Tell them you apprenticed under MR X



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