If you enjoyed this video, found it helpful, or would like to see more videos with a similar demonstration,let me know in the comments. Thanks again everyone!
A very loose S meter calibration standard in the radio industry is approximately 6 db per S unit or 50 microvolts of signal for an S9. No two radio companies seem to agree on that, but it's an old standard from the Collins military radio days. To gain a half S unit of signal strength you have to double your RF power. This is why going from a stock 4 watt radio to 100 watts is a big jump, you're getting a tad over 2 S units of gain. The problem is, the more power you run, the harder it is to see the difference on the other end. For example, going from a 100 watt amp to a 200 watts amp is barely noticeable, you only gain 3db. 3 db on most S meters is barely even noticed if at all. To gain a full S unit you have to go from 100 watts to 400 watts. If you keep doing the math, you can see why running big power can get very expensive for very little gains in signal strength. It's a lot cheaper and smarter to run the best antenna you can with a decent sized amp, than to run a huge amp on a crappy antenna.
You are exactly correct. I started playing radio in 79, stepped away from it around 91, divorce, life changes, etc, and got back on the air two years ago after i retired. Anyone thats been around since the old days can attest to this comical fact, and i know a lot of you have heard the local ducks shushin' and whistlin', twiddlin' and tweakin', trying to squeeze every last watt out of their junk, which usually resulted in them pushing it too hard and blowing their crap up because they just dont understand this simple fact. A lot of guys here in vegas still do this today and it cracks me up. You have to leave headroom and keep your junk running forever. Antenna, location, decent coax are the biggest gains your gonna make, and are gonna be the biggest bang for your buck instead of trying to push a 4 pill through that crappy antron or imax yah got strapped to your roof at 10 or 20 foot. If you take the money you spent on that 4 pill or more pill and applied it to a decent antenna at a decent height, some 213, and you can get off a 50 to a 100 watt deadkey with some clean, not over driven audio and swing, your gonna do great, and your gonna get heard. Yeah we all think more is always better, and it is to a degree, but know the playing field and how it all REALLY works. For local, your never going to beat proximity no matter now much you run in most cases. Location is everything. For DX : yeah we all know the huge doods running 10, 20, 50 k through them huge long johns at a 100 foot that are at the top of the game. Understand propagation and do what you can to play to it the right way, and understand your limitations if you aren't a well loaded guy with money to burn to play in the big leagues. Dont play on a field thats over your head that extreme. Take your little 100 to 500 watt station and play on the field that best suits you. Your still gonna make contacts and have fun. For me, doing more with less is more fun, not the other way around.
It is exactly this that makes part of this test not add up. Now I am not saying the guy is a liar. But maybe something weird going on in his shop there with reflections or something. With the radio barefoot it reads about an S3 on the meter without modulation. Then swings up to an S9 when he is "audioing it". 6 S unit increase on just modulating the radio alone! Do the power calculations on that. If the radio is indeed keying up at 2 watts then to get to an S9 from an S3 it would have to be modulating up to 8192 watts! Or if you worked the math the other way saying 35 watts got it to an S9 then the unmodulated carrier would have to be only about 8.54 milliwatts! Also not likely. So we have to assume something else is coming into play. The numbers at the higher end of the scale seem a bit more realistic. A max of about S9 was observed with the radio modulated to the 35 watts and then with the amplifier turned on got about half way to 10dB over S9. Which would put the power of the amplifier right around the 140+ watt mark.
Great time of year to get an amp and make sure it is rockin' steady. Some of us have north pole spread coming, and indoor sports are a must during hibernation season.
Thank you for the information. I am waiting on my bj300 amp. I have the cobra 29 ltd chrome with a Stryker A10 antenna. But i knew I need an amp. I live in San Diego, CA and there is a lot on powerlines and buildings. I am hoping it will make me hear people better and they can hear me.
That’s the exact same setup I used for several years. Got my 2970 in 1994 and I used RG214 coax fed to a 102” steel whip mounted on the right rear bumper. I worked a lot of stations across the U.S., to include Hawaii, and also worked a station in Kobe, Japan. I had to position my truck so that the signal would be radiated East/West from my Georgia location. When I sold that truck my next one, and each subsequent vehicle thereafter, didn’t have any room to mount that radio. It’s collecting dust and waiting to be put back in service one day. Still have that Radio Shack whip also, it’s almost 30 years old 😊.
@@dereklea1183 That is the key to it, a radio with the power boost built in. Most stable situation, and no offence to techs, but if the operator is not a dummy load about swr, no tech needed. Amps that need a 4 watt radio tuned down to operate reliably, are absurd. The LINEAR should have a dummy load built in, then a loose coupling gets excited to drive the amp, but no, gotta be fragilé, like the lamp on A Christmas Story. The typical "big talkin' radio" has a max 15 watt carrier, and needs a peak meter as a sidekick to appear to haul some skip. Never let her go, though that in 5 minutes, could catch $600 plus on ebay, mplace, ect. in an emergency!!!
Back in the 80s we had these guys around here that had like 1k linears pushing with a mini scout? They had these big tower moon raker directional beams things. Anyway, they would bleed 5 channels over from like 7-10miles out. They would key mikes just to hold a channel up.
What was interesting is what appeared to be a significant jump in dbs when the amp was turned to hi power. You would think the jump would be insignificant
I put an rm Italy board in my Cobra 29. Company trucks didn't have anywhere to run a linear. Works great. A cobra doesn't attract attention of the radio thief like a 10 meter radio.
Hey rooster, What part of Tennessee are you from? I talked to a guy the other day that had a guy on his end out towards bullsgap, if that is you not too sure, ranger in Morristown
Last week skip was really rolling so I got the truck and two radios. first my 4 watt grant xl, it was very hard to make contacts but I did a few times then I tried my 100 watt 955 and holy shit I was getting contracts left and right over and over! Coincidence? I don’t know ;)
Not a coincidence. The first 100watts is the most important. To gain 1 S-unit you have to quadruple your power so at 100 watts to gain 1 s-unit you need to go to 400watts. 4 watts to 100 watts is huge 100 watts to 200 watts is almost nothing
Of course, there's the terrain one's on & the equipment & antenna one's using, but don't forget the radio conditions at that time that'll greatly increase one's range & sometimes even allow someone running barefoot to make DX, or skip, contacts🇺🇸😀 contacts equipment &
1-2 S units increase which is what I would expect. You have a power supply issue, almost as if the PS doesn’t have enough amperage for the linear. Lots of hum…or fluorescent lamps😂😂
witness me. at 4 watts i can not be heard by others on *barefoot 100 watt radios at distance. i have good location, swr is near 0. i need a small amp just to be on same level as the new 100 watt radios....
A station 15 miles away will put a larger signal most likely. Transmitting dummy load to dummy load is a pretty good simulation of a station in the distance
If you enjoyed this video, found it helpful, or would like to see more videos with a similar demonstration,let me know in the comments. Thanks again everyone!
Awesome video.
I have a little 60 watt amp Italy and it helps for me at a least! The extra 50 watts makes a difference
A very loose S meter calibration standard in the radio industry is approximately 6 db per S unit or 50 microvolts of signal for an S9. No two radio companies seem to agree on that, but it's an old standard from the Collins military radio days. To gain a half S unit of signal strength you have to double your RF power. This is why going from a stock 4 watt radio to 100 watts is a big jump, you're getting a tad over 2 S units of gain. The problem is, the more power you run, the harder it is to see the difference on the other end. For example, going from a 100 watt amp to a 200 watts amp is barely noticeable, you only gain 3db. 3 db on most S meters is barely even noticed if at all. To gain a full S unit you have to go from 100 watts to 400 watts. If you keep doing the math, you can see why running big power can get very expensive for very little gains in signal strength. It's a lot cheaper and smarter to run the best antenna you can with a decent sized amp, than to run a huge amp on a crappy antenna.
You are exactly correct. I started playing radio in 79, stepped away from it around 91, divorce, life changes, etc, and got back on the air two years ago after i retired. Anyone thats been around since the old days can attest to this comical fact, and i know a lot of you have heard the local ducks shushin' and whistlin', twiddlin' and tweakin', trying to squeeze every last watt out of their junk, which usually resulted in them pushing it too hard and blowing their crap up because they just dont understand this simple fact. A lot of guys here in vegas still do this today and it cracks me up. You have to leave headroom and keep your junk running forever.
Antenna, location, decent coax are the biggest gains your gonna make, and are gonna be the biggest bang for your buck instead of trying to push a 4 pill through that crappy antron or imax yah got strapped to your roof at 10 or 20 foot. If you take the money you spent on that 4 pill or more pill and applied it to a decent antenna at a decent height, some 213, and you can get off a 50 to a 100 watt deadkey with some clean, not over driven audio and swing, your gonna do great, and your gonna get heard. Yeah we all think more is always better, and it is to a degree, but know the playing field and how it all REALLY works. For local, your never going to beat proximity no matter now much you run in most cases. Location is everything. For DX : yeah we all know the huge doods running 10, 20, 50 k through them huge long johns at a 100 foot that are at the top of the game. Understand propagation and do what you can to play to it the right way, and understand your limitations if you aren't a well loaded guy with money to burn to play in the big leagues. Dont play on a field thats over your head that extreme. Take your little 100 to 500 watt station and play on the field that best suits you. Your still gonna make contacts and have fun.
For me, doing more with less is more fun, not the other way around.
Who Cares what the S meter says, what matters is the sound, the readability of the signal.
It is exactly this that makes part of this test not add up. Now I am not saying the guy is a liar. But maybe something weird going on in his shop there with reflections or something. With the radio barefoot it reads about an S3 on the meter without modulation. Then swings up to an S9 when he is "audioing it". 6 S unit increase on just modulating the radio alone! Do the power calculations on that.
If the radio is indeed keying up at 2 watts then to get to an S9 from an S3 it would have to be modulating up to 8192 watts!
Or if you worked the math the other way saying 35 watts got it to an S9 then the unmodulated carrier would have to be only about 8.54 milliwatts! Also not likely.
So we have to assume something else is coming into play.
The numbers at the higher end of the scale seem a bit more realistic. A max of about S9 was observed with the radio modulated to the 35 watts and then with the amplifier turned on got about half way to 10dB over S9. Which would put the power of the amplifier right around the 140+ watt mark.
Nice demo ,, that Uniden sounds clean and LOUD
Great time of year to get an amp and make sure it is rockin' steady. Some of us have north pole spread coming, and indoor sports are a must during hibernation season.
Thank you man !!!!! amps and radios and swr .. people get so confused about that ..
This is the type of information that I never see anywhere else but here on ROOSTER CB. Excellent presentation!
Thanks Mitch!
Nice informative video. I've often wondered what difference it would make.
Hopefully this answered some questions
Thank you for the information. I am waiting on my bj300 amp. I have the cobra 29 ltd chrome with a Stryker A10 antenna. But i knew I need an amp. I live in San Diego, CA and there is a lot on powerlines and buildings. I am hoping it will make me hear people better and they can hear me.
I get amazing results from my 1996 RCI 2970 with a 102” steel whip. I can pretty much talk to anyone I can hear.
That’s the exact same setup I used for several years. Got my 2970 in 1994 and I used RG214 coax fed to a 102” steel whip mounted on the right rear bumper. I worked a lot of stations across the U.S., to include Hawaii, and also worked a station in Kobe, Japan. I had to position my truck so that the signal would be radiated East/West from my Georgia location. When I sold that truck my next one, and each subsequent vehicle thereafter, didn’t have any room to mount that radio. It’s collecting dust and waiting to be put back in service one day. Still have that Radio Shack whip also, it’s almost 30 years old 😊.
@@dereklea1183 That is the key to it, a radio with the power boost built in. Most stable situation, and no offence to techs, but if the operator is not a dummy load about swr, no tech needed. Amps that need a 4 watt radio tuned down to operate reliably, are absurd. The LINEAR should have a dummy load built in, then a loose coupling gets excited to drive the amp, but no, gotta be fragilé, like the lamp on A Christmas Story. The typical "big talkin' radio" has a max 15 watt carrier, and needs a peak meter as a sidekick to appear to haul some skip.
Never let her go, though that in 5 minutes, could catch $600 plus on ebay, mplace, ect. in an emergency!!!
Back in the 80s we had these guys around here that had like 1k linears pushing with a mini scout? They had these big tower moon raker directional beams things. Anyway, they would bleed 5 channels over from like 7-10miles out. They would key mikes just to hold a channel up.
Thanks for sharing excellent demo! 73
What was interesting is what appeared to be a significant jump in dbs when the amp was turned to hi power. You would think the jump would be insignificant
I put an rm Italy board in my Cobra 29. Company trucks didn't have anywhere to run a linear. Works great. A cobra doesn't attract attention of the radio thief like a 10 meter radio.
Hey rooster, What part of Tennessee are you from? I talked to a guy the other day that had a guy on his end out towards bullsgap, if that is you not too sure, ranger in Morristown
Any experience with the cheap Chinese Amazon units? Was thinking of buying one and hooking it to my cobra 29 to experiment with.
I added a RM Italy 703 and it made a huge difference....run 30 watts into it.
I love this video. Cool!
Last week skip was really rolling so I got the truck and two radios. first my 4 watt grant xl, it was very hard to make contacts but I did a few times then I tried my 100 watt 955 and holy shit I was getting contracts left and right over and over! Coincidence?
I don’t know ;)
Not a coincidence. The first 100watts is the most important. To gain 1 S-unit you have to quadruple your power so at 100 watts to gain 1 s-unit you need to go to 400watts. 4 watts to 100 watts is huge 100 watts to 200 watts is almost nothing
Great Video doesn't seem all that much better with an amp???? Love you fellas down in TENN!!
It's a considerable difference. Did we watch the same video?
Test très intéressant, merci de l'avoir réalisé et publié.
What amp?
I ran 500 watts in Oklahoma back in the mid 60s. Lol
You need to somehow try this test over different distance spans! i.e. 10 miles 15 miles ect!
Question....
What is a New old stock 1993 made in the Philippines Cobra 148GTL with original box & packaging worth ? I found one at an estate sale.
Realistically? Couple hundred dollars give or take. eBay? $300-$500
@@Rooster_Radio I should offer the estate sales person $350 dollars for their unused new old stock Cobra 148GTL radio ?
It's a beautiful looking CB.
@@unitedstatesirie7431 i wouldn't pay that myself, no. It's an estate sale you can probably get it significantly cheaper than inflated eBay prices
@@Rooster_Radio ok, thanks. How can a person identify if it is a counterfeit copy of a Cobra 148GTL radio CB ?
@@unitedstatesirie7431 im not aware of any counterfeit 148 cobra radios.
Of course, there's the terrain one's on & the equipment & antenna one's using, but don't forget the radio conditions at that time that'll greatly increase one's range & sometimes even allow someone running barefoot to make DX, or skip, contacts🇺🇸😀 contacts equipment &
Interesting
Big Difference
2993535 so that’s the model of radio or box I need?
Please tell me where I said anything about that being a model number for a radio or "box"
Rooster what type of meter are we looking at here
Signal meter top left. Band scope/spectrum scope bottom middle.
Icom 7700 is the radio
1-2 S units increase which is what I would expect. You have a power supply issue, almost as if the PS doesn’t have enough amperage for the linear. Lots of hum…or fluorescent lamps😂😂
200 amp power supply isn't struggling to run a 200 watt amp
witness me. at 4 watts i can not be heard by others on *barefoot 100 watt radios at distance. i have good location, swr is near 0. i need a small amp just to be on same level as the new 100 watt radios....
A radio is only as good as the antenna
Bingo
squash lol.
Now you have to do it from 15 miles away. Little more real world experiment.
A station 15 miles away will put a larger signal most likely. Transmitting dummy load to dummy load is a pretty good simulation of a station in the distance
amazing that you are advocating people break the laws by exceeded the FCC limits on power on the CB range! Some people have some nerve!
Amazing that you don't have a life
barefoot sounded best
Tell GatekeeperAmp hes a Thief n a liar
I don't talk to gatekeeper?