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bigdog58

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I have a new Uniden 510 Pro, bought mostly for shiggles. Qestion is will Uniden do anything if I complain about just over 2 watt output on a well tuned antenna. SWR 1.1 on both ends almost 1.0 in center. want to stay legal, but would also like to have legal max output. Thoughts, suggestions ?
 

Blackswan73

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The only accurate way to check power out from radio is into a dummy load and an accurate meter like the Bird 43. Definitely do not rely on a Dosy. These are the most popular and most inaccurate meter sold to the CB crowd. You could also use a scope, but that is beyond the realm of most of the CB crowd.
 
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bigdog58

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Tested with 2 meters one older one I had from the past and a brand new A static. Both with the same results.
Second meter is a Vancor from the 70s. New meter purchased sue to age of other.
 

TheSpaceMann

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I have a new Uniden 510 Pro, bought mostly for shiggles. Qestion is will Uniden do anything if I complain about just over 2 watt output on a well tuned antenna. SWR 1.1 on both ends almost 1.0 in center. want to stay legal, but would also like to have legal max output. Thoughts, suggestions ?
Yes, Uniden will repair the unit if defective.
 

KD8DVR

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Columbus, Ohio
Dead key, with little or no rise during modulation.
You want 4 watt dead key with an increase to 6 watts during modulation.
The only accurate way to check power out from radio is into a dummy load and an accurate meter like the Bird 43. Definitely do not rely on a Dosy. These are the most popular and most inaccurate meter sold to the CB crowd. You could also use a scope, but that is beyond the realm of most of the CB crowd.


AntiSquid Disclaimer: All comments are personal opinion only and may not indicate a claim of actual fact.
 

teufler

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Okay, you are experiencing an economic question many of use have. The radio is priced at a point that by the time you ship back to wherever, the costs are close to just buying as new radio . In the FM world, several Chinese radios are priced where its cheaper to throw away and buy a new one rather than to have the radio repaired or even sent in for a warranty adjustment.. One party suggested you key into a dummy load, forget the antenna, just check with whatever meter you have into a dummy load. If you don't have one, perhaps a friend has one that you can use. Radio wants to look at 50 ohms and it seems 50 ohms is only seen with a dummy loaD. Also, check the radio with another antenna, like a mobile setup. This is to see if you are showing different power readings.
 

SCPD

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..........Something possibly being wrong with your transceiver, or the inaccuracies of the SWR/Power meters aside, the difference between 2 watts and 4 or so, is only 3Db's... a difference no one is going to notice. With your flat SWR, you've done all the right things... an efficient antenna is far more important than higher power output. For a low power device like a CB radio, I think you have as good a (legal) set-up as possible....unless, that is- it is to improve your antenna... :)
.
.........................................CF
 
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AC9BX

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Lockport, IL
CB sets are funny animals. For *standard* AM with 100% positive peak modulation the peak envelope power is 4 times the carrier power. (unmodulated carrier power is the same as PEP because the carrier does not change versus time so without modulation the value would be PEP) A 4 Watt CB at 100% modulation would make 16Watts. However, this is peak envelope power (PEP). Average power in AM is much less, more around 1.5 times the carrier power. Even with heavy processing you won't get much more than double the carrier. So 6 or 7 Watts modulated is reasonable.

I mention all this because you need to know if you are measuring peak or average power. However, I would expect the dead carrier output to be nearer 4Watts. I'm thinking that radio should go back or at least you should contact them about it. But as mentioned you really need proper test equipment to make such measurements. FCC rules require the power dissipation rating of the output devices to not exceed 10Watts.

Going from 2 to 4 Watts in carrier power is about a 40% increase in field strength. That's a notable improvement but it's not going to make you twice as *loud*. To double your perceived loudness you need about 8 times the power.
 

bigdog58

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First off, thanks to all that gave a responses and assistance.
I think I have located a loaner dummy load, My intent is to use dummy load with the meters I currently own to see for my info how much different the readings are compared to reads on antenna.If I see a marked difference I 'll see if I can talk the local radio guy into giving me a freebee on a real quality meter. After all of the results are in I'll make a decision about taking it up with Uniden.
This thing seems somewhat pointless even to me, except for the fact that if I'm supposed to get 4 watts I should get 4 watts. I hope to post with outcome to all this, if I don't give up first.
Thanks again,
Dog
 

bigdog58

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Illinois
Update ; couldn't find a loaner dummy load so i built one. really good SWR and straight up 50.1 ohms.
Radio tested pretty well on load 3.5 + watts across the board. talks pretty good out to about 8 miles per a radio check from a reliable friend from the old CB days in the 70s. guess i will be happy with that from my cheap (economical) little uniden 510 pro. thanks again for the help and responses..
Dog
 

KB0VWG

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Lyford, Texas
Update ; couldn't find a loaner dummy load so i built one. really good SWR and straight up 50.1 ohms.
Radio tested pretty well on load 3.5 + watts across the board. talks pretty good out to about 8 miles per a radio check from a reliable friend from the old CB days in the 70s. guess i will be happy with that from my cheap (economical) little uniden 510 pro. thanks again for the help and responses..
Dog

You could also have it tuned at a cb shop too but if you do that now it will void the warranty I believe.
kb0vwg
wqoi992
 

Delta33

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You could also have it tuned at a cb shop too but if you do that now it will void the warranty I believe.
kb0vwg
wqoi992
It also wouldn't make Beans of a difference worth noticing on the the received signal. Better off leaving it alone.
 

bigdog58

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Illinois
Don't feel cost of radio warrants that kind of work.
I have considerd an amplified mike, but have read the modulation limiters in radio kind of defeat the purpose. if i were to get an amplified mike, i could most likely use in on another radio also.
do you or anyone else know if thats true about mikes and radios
 

TheSpaceMann

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Don't feel cost of radio warrants that kind of work.
I have considerd an amplified mike, but have read the modulation limiters in radio kind of defeat the purpose. if i were to get an amplified mike, i could most likely use in on another radio also.
do you or anyone else know if thats true about mikes and radios
The mod limiters stop the radio from over modulating (over 100%) and splattering, but a power mike can help to increase the sensitivity and audio even with the limiters in! Of course, a good base antenna is way more important when it comes to increasing your radio's range!! :)
 

bigdog58

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no intentions of a base at this time. have found CB in my general area is not very active at all. may not stay involved very long based on what i hear at this time. i may look into some other form of radio. was so into CB during its peak. had hoped that a least a little of that was still alive.
 
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