McKinley II Fell Into My Lap

[tbzep]

Nearly exactly two years ago, I asked if FM was going to be a thing in 11m. At the end of the discussion, I decided to wait on getting a CB of any kind because my 996T wasn't picking up anything on 11m AM and FM wasn't a thing yet. I took a trip to Texas (9+ hour drive) last week and wished I had a CB with me, getting hung up behind multiple wrecks. I started looking at new and used radios and liked the President George, but couldn't justify the price not knowing how much use I'd get out of it. I liked the price of the McKinley II better, and also liked the front firing speaker with pretty much everything the George has except tones. It was still a little steep for me, considering not knowing how much it would be used.

I was still debating on ordering a new McKinley II or just waiting to find a decent old AM 40 ch used radio this morning, and low and behold, a McKinley II basically fell into my lap at less 1/2 what I've found it online! Someone had got it for Christmas and never pulled it out of the box. I never find deals like this on anything!!! I've got it sitting in my cave hooked up to a Lil' Wil and I'm picking up a lot of local traffic on ch 6 this time around. Right now I'm listening to someone driving through a town about 10 miles from me, not bad for a 3 ft antenna sitting on the pool table. I am upstairs in the house, but I'm in a low lying area, so it's a wash. I'm not crazy enough to expect a consistent 10 miles with it mounted on my truck unless someone is pushing more than 4w on a hill, and I sure wouldn't ever expect to transmit that far, if I ever decide to talk on it. I doubt it will be permanently mounted in my truck, but I guarantee it will be in it on the next long trip. The rest of the time, I'll probably keep it in the cave set to scan and turned down low until something interesting catches my ear.

 

[KB4MSZ]

McKinley II Fell Into My Lap​

Its fortunate for you that you weren't thinking about a Collins station.

 

[slowmover]

Better antenna plus WEST MOUNTAIN RADIO CLEARSPEECH speaker it’ll be close equivalent to George2.

McK is what I gave my son a few years ago as it was then the best available. Needs DSP.

I included a SIRIO 5000 mag-mount.

May the good luck continue!

.

 

[tbzep]

I will probably make a 1/4 wave antenna to stick in the attic and get the Lil' Will off the pool table, but I will still use the Lil Wil in the truck unless it flies off in the 100 mph flow of traffic in Memphis and the DFW areas. Just kidding, I let them fly by me like I'm sitting still when I'm doing 80. I can't get the truck in the garage with a permanent mount, so I don't know what I'll do if the magnet doesn't hold.

I just finished playing around with the built in SWR meter. Believe it or not, with no adjustments, the Lil' Wil gives me 1:1 on channels 20 and 40, and 1.8:1 on ch 1 with two side panels from a computer tower as a ground plane. It gives me 7:1 with nothing under it. I'll check it again when I put it on the truck and mark the adjustments.

 

[merlin]

Lil Wil is likely too short.
Mana from heaven, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

[slowmover]

Lil Wil is likely too short.
Mana from heaven, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Good SWR doesn’t mean it’s worth a flip in TX/RX. That antenna waaay too short to really work well. (I have one).

 

[tbzep]

Good SWR doesn’t mean it’s worth a flip in TX/RX. That antenna waaay too short to really work well. (I have one).

But it does mean I won't damage the radio, and will maximize what little performance the antenna has.

 

[SmileySixguns]

That's some good fortune with the radio for sure. My daughter and I were able to chat at between 5-6 miles while she had an old 34" Radio Shack antenna sitting on top of her car

 

[slowmover]

But it does mean I won't damage the radio, and will maximize what little performance the antenna has.

Maybe a mile while mobile on AM-19. I’ve lost guys at 1/2-mile. Given that 3, 5, or 7-miles is possible with only an antenna upgrade it’s an easy change.

Things happen fast on the road. The captured radius area is vital. If they can’t hear you, they also can’t repeat or define problem being stated. Then they’re gone.

Expect that other mens radio systems aren’t very good. This is the heart of the problem.

To hear and get heard means proper installation, first, and gear quality, second. With this, there are gear minimums.

.

 

[slowmover]

That's some good fortune with the radio for sure. My daughter and I were able to chat at between 5-6 miles while she had an old 34" Radio Shack antenna sitting on top of her car

Probably on a quiet channel. We have 40 for this reason (find quiet one). But when we share the road with others, it’s another thing all over again.

I “get it” that folks don’t think they’ll néed what CB can actually do for them. Don’t want to get more involved when the amount of time used (hours-per-year) are seen as low.

I use mine a few thousand hours annually. But what matters is maybe 2-3 minutes in a 2,800-mile week where the radio system is turned on 70+ hours.

Understand that the rest is the pleasure: The re-assurance of signal capture odds, and the wry & dry quips.

As I see SSB as mandatory, scanning AM or upper/lower is another valued feature.

Once one is over the hump is where it comes together. The payoff.

Sirio Performer 5000 PL CB Antenna Review | CB Radio Magazine

Sirio Performer 5000 PL Antenna (Tested with Sirio Mag 145 PL Magnet Mount Base) If your Christmas bonus is burning a hole in your pocket and you've been looking at buying a magnetic mount antenna, you might just want to read this article before pulling the trigger. As a long-time fan of the...

cbradiomagazine.com

Can get it from DNJ RADIO.

The one I installed on my son’s SUV behind a McK/KL203 combo delivered everything.

That vehicle shortly to get an NMO-mount. The 5000 can go on the new business vehicle till it’s radio systems finalized, or onto the leased vehicle. It can be used with the mag or with a permanent Breedlove mount. Etc.

.

 

[slowmover]

unless it flies off in the 100 mph flow of traffic in Memphis and the DFW areas

As I’m highly familiar with those roads — IH40 & IH30 — all the more so re antenna.

Skip is a bear. AM-19 full of trolls paid to interfere.

A .32-Special purse pistol ain’t enough tool.

You’ll be relying on truck drivers. They’re “there”, but comms will be flat difficult in that heavy traffic unless right measures enacted.

My “ears” are such that I hear what the others around me don’t. (Antenna system plus DSP).

I was short of Texarkana eastbound one afternoon about 1430 and heard that 40 past Little Rock had just been closed till the following morning given a multi-fatality wreck. In a car I’d have used US-82 to get across the Mississippi. In the big truck I shut down for the day before Malvern.

Everyone else — the ones couldn’t hear my detailed description gotten from another man — drove on into hours & hours of gridlock delay. That’s the same as not having a radio at all. GPS/Waze too slow for when it matters.

Arkansas fast runs out of alternate routes. Same as mountainous north is swampland, rice-growing central and east for viability. Truck stops and motels jammed up fast, therefore.

Radio relays are the thing. I was about third one distant, probably 100 air-miles.

McK a very good tool deserves right antenna.

CB today is for the few.

.

 

[slowmover]

I'm not crazy enough to expect a consistent 10 miles with it mounted on my truck unless someone is pushing more than 4w on a hill, and I sure wouldn't ever expect to transmit that far, if I ever decide to talk on it

With an NMO34 + WD640 whip dialled-in you can expect a consistent 5-7/miles with a stock radio. With a KL203 & DSP you can bump that well beyond (right conditions).

S-5k ought to be better when real distance matters.

My tests with pickups sporting radios with permanent antennas (but no DSP) is that they’ll lose me right about 5-miles (IH40 across Panhandle). Had they that plus KL203 It’d be bumped to 9-10/miles.

With a quarter-wave, or a Predator 10k or other 7’ antenna (like Skipshooter or S-5k or President Texas 1800) farther still.

I’ve talked with pilot cars at 15-miles, them heading north and me heading west (away) in western Kansas, pre-dawn.

Neither one of us running big power.

Ears are the thing.

.

 

[KC0LRP]

I run a 102" whip and lincoln 11+ off left last stake hole of my pickup I've talked 45 miles down the road on ssb.