perhaps after cutting wire and moving jumper you switch off radio then before switching on you have to hold in certain buttons and power on again then you might have some luck i have come across this with a number of radios just a thought. good videos...
No. After going over the schematic this radio is missing numerous parts found in the EU version. This radio has CB AM receive/transmit and the NOAA weather channels receive. The EU version is AM/FM transmit/receive. Same circuit board but populated with different parts and the microprocessor is going to be running a different program.
OK Mike i understand its a pity you are not allowed FM in the US even in little old UK we have that but its only been a few years really since its been legal to use SSB but who sticks to the rules hands up.....
@@stephenwright8103 Im in Ireland and Id love to buy one of these..obviously the EU version that can be modded up...any info where i could get one ?? Tryd ebay but seem to be all American versions.
Hi there Paul this company here in the UK is excellent the president bill is advertised in there store along with massive stock of all kinds of radios and accessory's www.nevadaradio.co.uk hope this helps....
@@stephenwright8103 They have the fm on those little fm walkie talkies. That is the FM you can use. Still would be nice to have those abandoned forestry frequiencies below the cb band to use.
This is long, but here's my thoughts... I think the 13N10s get a bad rep due to the radios they're used in and the people that own and modify those radios. RCI and Stryker tend to use them in their high power export radios, and these are the same radios that people like to modify and hack up. They're not just going to explode at proper operating power with a low SWR. They do hate high SWR, especially when it's a highly reactive load such as the input to amplifier that's not properly tuned. Severe over modulation and harmonics will kill them also. They're ok for a switching MOSFET though. They're less resilient than an IRF520, they run a bit hotter, but they make a bit more power. I think Stryker may have went back to using the IRF520. The last couple new 447HPC2's I've seen have had 520s again. Who knows. As for the ERF2030s and ERF2030+ they have positives and negatives. I've never used the original 2030s, but I've heard they're basically equivalent to an IRF520 or 530. I don't know personally. The 2030+, I'm not sure what MOSFET die is tucked inside that one, but it has a static gate capacitance almost 3x higher than an IRF520. They are quite a resilient MOSFET, but they can be tricky to drive if you're used to a 520 or a 13N10. I've decapped a couple and the die looks like it's a higher voltage design. If so that could partly explain it's better resistance to higher SWR. They cost more than a 13N10 or an IRF520, but you can buy them in matched sets. They're matched only on gate threshold voltage. They have the small signal transconductance on the label, but that doesn't mean much at large signal levels. At the end of the day though, they are still a power switching MOSFET, not an RF device and there are compromises when using any of them in an RF circuit. Honestly, I'd prefer they use something like an RD16HHF1 MOSFET. That device swaps the drain and source terminals. This means the tab is now the source for easier mounting and better heat transfer and reduces some parasitics of having the drain connected to the tab. Plus, it's a real deal RF MOSFET designed to run at HF frequencies. That's just my opinion though.
@Mr. Morton aka. Highlander You're right, the parasitics inside them, under certain conditions, can cause the transistor to self oscillate. When I experimented with them, it seemed fairly dependant on the biasing and the passives that surrounded the FET. I didn't mess around with it enough to characterize it or anything though. I do know that they get very hot, very fast, if they break into oscillation. The other thing to consider with these switching power FETs is the mode they're being operated in. Take for instance a typical dual final export radio, so 1 FET driving 2 FETs in parallel, and both stages are being polar modulated (for the most part) via a linear audio power regulator. This setup is more power efficient (less loss in the FETs), more stable, and runs cooler than if they are used in a more linear/CCS mode. Stryker radios use them in both ways in AM mode. The pre-driver and driver FETs (1 FET driving 1 FET) are both 13N10s being modulated via a linear power regulator. Then the output from that goes into 2 parallel 13N10s being operated as a Class AB linear amplifier being supplied directly from the main 13.8V power rail. This last stage is inerrantly less stable, has lower efficiency, and puts off more heat. I honestly don't know why they are using 4 of the same FETs in a 1x1x2 output section. I guess it's cheaper than adding an additional part to the BOM. My point is though, these switching FETs aren't designed to be operated at HF frequencies, and they also aren't designed to be operated in their CCS (Controlled Current Source) region either. As these FETs heat up, the way they operate changes, sometimes very significantly, and these radios don't have temperature compensation. When you add the heat and out of spec operating conditions with screwdriver jockeys cranking everything to 11, cutting limiters, and creating massive distortion, they're going to start popping FETs like popcorn. Everybody blames the FET itself, and ignores the operator that has jacked up their equipment. Personally, every 13N10 that I've seen burnt up was either being over driven, over modulated, over distorted, driving into a high SWR, or some combination of all of those. They're not bad as people like to claim, but I personally don't use them in any of my export radios because there are better alternatives. If you get creative about installation and want to spend a little extra money per device, there are legitimate RF FETs that can be used. This is an avenue I'm currently developing with my personal gear.
@ab5ni You are spot on with this. It's definitely a cost cutting/profit margin thing. I mean, there is a reason that you don't see Kenwood, Yaesu, ICom, ect. using switching FETs in their amp sections. I understand that the industry seems to be moving away from 12-14V devices to higher voltages such as 28, 50, and even 65V with the latest LDMOS stuff. I've even seen a couple TO247 DMOS devices (ARF446/447) that have a VDSS of 900V and operate with a 250-300V supply. That being said though, there will always be a market for mobile radios and that should keep enough of a demand for 12-14V devices to keep them in production. If anyone needs ideas for 12V RF FETs, just look up the schematics for mobile HF ham rigs. There are tons of designs, using many different devices. There are even quite a few surface mount devices that could be utilized. Many CB manufacturers have moved to surface mount designs, yet they have kept using the TO220 switching FETs for output devices. I guess it's cheap and simple, but it's a compromised solution. Since surface mount main boards allow for a shallower mounting depth, why not mid-mount the board in the chassis and move the heatsink to the top of the radio while keeping the same overall chassis thickness. This would allow for easier use of surface mount RF FETs for the PA driver and even something like an RD70HHF1 or RD100HHF1 for a final output device in the higher power rigs. They make low profile blower style fans that could suck air in the top of the radio at the front, then blow the air across the heatsink and exhaust out the back. Many of the newer radios have some sort of microcontroller in them already, so why not use it to do a little bit of temperature sensing and use a stable voltage reference and some opamps to provide a simple temperature compensated biasing network for the PA section? I get that these things cost extra money, but I think people would gladly pay extra for the radio if it meant that it worked perfect out of the box. If you buy an export radio now (almost any brand) and just do the frequency conversion, most of them have a dirty RF spectrum, too much IMD, and poor audio frequency response. I guess besides the profit margin, it all boils down to the circuit design. Almost all of the Galaxy, Connex, General, and RCI/Ranger radios use a circuit design that is just a modification of the RCI EPT3600 or EPT6900 circuitry. These designs may even be modifications from older designs for all I know. The main portions of these circuits can be seen in almost every radio. Even companies that don't use RCI circuit boards seem to base their boards on modified versions of the same circuitry. The older Magnum/RF Limited radios, like the Delta Force and the S680, are good examples. Even the newer more modernized radios like the Stryker 955, the 447HPC2, the Anytone 5555 & 6666, the newest version of the President Lincoln, all share slightly different, but strikingly similar circuitry. If you study their design even more (the 955 has a downloadable schematic) you can see that the underlying building blocks of the radio are still very similar to the old 1990s RCI designs with more modern updates like surface mount parts and varactor tuning for the IF stages. There just doesn't seem to be any drive to produce a high quality, great performing 10m/export radio.
@ab5ni I haven't personally used any LDMOS devices, but they do look promising. I see the majority of them that blow up due to over drive conditions, especially when used at HF. What's cool though is that many of these devices can be used from the bottom of HF to well over 70cm. Most of the larger and more expensive ones seem to take about 5W of drive to output over 1500W. I'm like you though, I like currently like playing with tubes for that kind of power. I don't have any 50V devices or power supplies and would have to completely gear up to experiment with the LDMOS stuff. I'd bet that little radio in this video is still an analog receiver. The tolerances on tiny SMD components are very good so for an entry level radio, fixed chip inductors and capacitively coupled IF stages work fine. The latest Uniden 980SSB doesn't have IF cans anymore either. I'm not an expert on any of this stuff, just what I've learned from tinkering with my own stuff and I've repaired a couple radios for friends. I have been thinking though, professionally made PCBs can be had from China from places like JLB-PCB for pretty damn cheap these days. I might try my hand at designing my own AM/SSB 10m mobile rig. That would eliminate working within the limits of previous board designs and even if I don't ever get it working, I'm sure I'll learn stuff along the way. 👍
@@douro20 Yes, but actualy modern President radios made in China on the AnyTone factory (Barry, Ronald, Bill, Andy etc). President Еlectronics is just a customer, they don't have their own full cycle production factory. Previously, they collaborated with Uniden. They are currently working with AnyTone (Qixiang Electron Science Technology Co.，Ltd).
Hey Mike, Please tell your contacts at President that we NEED CB radios with separation kits available. There are a ton of amateur radios with remote face options, but some of us run multiple radios and it's crappy that we have to mount the entire radio on, in, or above the dash when all we need access to is the face. Someone needs to fill that need in the market.
Thanks again Sensai! Can you do a video on how to 1- desolder an SO 239 without.the proper equipment. 2- diagnose cracked and cold solder joints Thanks
I use my President Bill as one of my base units and I have talked skip quite a few times with it, it's a VERY capable radio. Great vid and 73's from 2112 here at the CB Lounge 2112 on UA-cam!!
That's definitely a nice little set. Thanks for sharing, Mike. Whenever I think about mini-cb's I always start dreaming up ways of making them into a portable walkie-talkie setup, built into a little metal carrying-case with internal battery-pack and a nice long telescoping antenna for the radiator, something like the TRC-236's center-loaded antenna, maybe even add one of those CB rubber-duckie antennas to the ground side of the RF output to serve as a tuned-to-resonance and easily portable ground-counterpoise to give the telescoping antenna something to brace against.. I recall browsing the Radio Shack catalogs and other catalogs as a kid and would come across the TRC-9 or similar tiny cb's and start visualizing away...lol :-D
Speaking of cool cb's, I bought a Cobra 38WXST walkie-talkie from a Radio Shack some years ago, and it's a very nice little and rugged set, but, the key-beep function was insane... it would loudly '"BEEP!"' with every keystroke or channel-change...lol :-D. I dug up that set's schematic on the Internet and found one and traced through that walkie-talkie's circuits and tracked down a surface-mount capacitor # C-307 on the control-board and removed that cap, and: no more crazy beeps!... set works great. One can press and hold the channel up or down buttons and quickly scan the band with the squelch level turned to 'off' without 40 loud beeps accompanying each scan cycle. :-)
Nice video. Thank you. That speaker on that little rig looks like an earphone would knock it out of the ring. Definitely want to aux it to another speaker or Bluetooth it.
Almost everything is “ Radio-in-a-chip”. I’m a radio collector. No Ham license,but used to have a CB back in the day. Just stumbled upon this. Thought it would be interesting. It is. I haven’t heard of the “President “ name since back in the day. (My last CB was a Pierce-Simpson‼️) Cool. 📻👍🙂
Hi glad your back been missing your videos.hear in the uk we have the CRT one N And The CRT 2000 very small radio like the one in this vidio and just the same when you cut the wire for full mode
I just noticed how old this video is, but Mike yeah if you redo the jumper like you had it there's a procedure when you turn the rig on which puts you into a menu where you can play with higher wattage output and more modulation. Now that FM is legal in the USA we are going to probably see the newer FM version of that board. I know these have been out for several years but I'm just starting to get into this.
Mike, Great to see you back again! Really been missing seeing your videos uploaded over the weekends! On the cutting and moving the jumpers usually after that is done the radio's CPU would need to be reset for the new abilities to take effect. I'm not trying to create extra work for you but it would be very interesting to see if it was capable of channel expansion or FM! Love your videos, please keeping them coming!
I have the Bill EU which has FM on it standard when you cut the white wire and move the jumper you get 10 bands 25.615-30105 and all the A channels. switchable to either 5 or 0 ending channels plus the UK40 channels. if you connect jumper 3 you can get 20w FM I've done the channel mod but not the power mod.l found that the channels are mixed up 30 is 29 28 is 29 you have the correct frequency but the channel is wrong such a shame . I put mine back to standard and there is a front panel adjustment for modulation AM and FM ,power too which you get from turning the radio on pressing certain buttons. All in all its a good little rig which I really like it will do the job.
Most radios can be aligned for better reception. No radio is designed to do more than it's rated specifications. Doing so only shortens the life if the PA section and in many cases leads to increased spurious emissions.
I just got the FM. I set the emg 1 & emg 2 to ch1 & ch40 when tuning my antenna (set on ch20 then easy to bounce high and low channel.) That was convenient. I don't know what I'll set for regular operations, but even the truckers have begun to move off cb here so probably doesn't matter. The service menu is not useful on this radio. Stick with the factory settings or it becomes difficult to dial in the antenna. I don't know why that is, but I was sitting at 2.7:1 which is not fantastic. I went back to factory and managed 1.4 on ch20, 1.6 on ch1 and 1.7 on ch40 in a pickup truck with a firestick. This isn't a "hi power" radio, but it's clear and seems fairly bulletproof. Set your color to cyan so my daughter likes your radio better, because the world revolves around her aesthetic tastes apparently.
Mike i hooked the power wire backwards of course a small pop i see on your board a small devise at the board i am sure i popped that is that a protection devise and can i do a work around it if it is.I remember back in the day we had some protection diodes that would open and you could replace it and you were back on. Thanks in advance.
Dear Mr Mike ... My name is Marcus Motta and I live in the state of São Paulo Brazil. I have a CB Radio Cobra 148 GTL serial number 83018940 (by Taiwan) - an old model from 1980/90. I spent a long time without operating the radio and now when I turn it on, I realize that it doesn't receive any signal at all on channels ... only QRM (noise) ... Some indication of what could be happening ??? ... some diode or electrolytic capacitor???...lamentably I do not have the wiring diagram. thanks for your attention ... Motta, Marcus
Is that a pl-259 connector on the back? Sorry for the dumb question, never installed a cb before and want to make sure I order all of the correct items. Great video, Thanks!
If you clip that wire don't charge your phone on it because it will phone home, void your warranty and turn you in. I just had to put that out there as a joke so when the real conspiracy theorists say it you'll have already had a chance to chew on it before you spit it out.
Mike I notice you never give peak output reports and rarely even carrier. Surprisingly you showed carrier output here but of course no clue for us as to what the radio peaks at stock. Thanks. 73s
The President Bill hiddetecsun Service menu. Press and hold the PTT on mike and the 2 nobs at the right, then power on. Please make a second video for the hidden Service menu .
I had a radio in1961 it was kinda kit build , had to solder most everything .of course it was tube type, the receiver was a regenerative type, ya wasn't sure what channel you were listening too. So you would ask for a long count for receiver tuning now xmitt was a crystal that plugged into a socket on the front. Only one xmitt xtal at a time. I built this super regenerative wonder radio, you and lots of other people wondered if it was a real radio. This was in the day of 23 channel cb radio. It was a Grove electronics kit. A good learning kit for a high school kid. I think the mic was a carbon button, straight cord, only expensive radio's had curly mic cords. Expensive was anything over $50bucks or so.
Neat little radio and I think where I am I would be looking for a President Bill to get the FM going as well. They have relaxed the rules here so we can transmit on anything we like as far as I know, though I have not used CB for a while, I will need to check what we are allowed to use. There is not a lot left on CB here so if you were to cause problems you would be easily found. Up here in the north anyway of this small island.
I wonder how difficult it will be to repair the radio since both sides of the PC board are populated and there is no access to the underside when under test.
Hm... I opened mine up with you and I didn't find a jumper in there. Just three exposed contacts with nothing on them. I'm also noticing that this radio is putting out a solid THREE watts. Time to tinker!!!
I just wish there was a black silicone cover with a theater to keep dust, dirt,and mud out of the USB charging port. A piece of vinyl tape only last so long and the glue gets nasty.
This looks a lot like a TEAM MiniCom? That has the am/fm as well as “export” bandwidth. Are they similar and is there any advantage to having the extra channels? Can you even use those radios in the US or are the frequencies different between channel one here and channel one there?
It's so nice to see a review of a CB that checks the RF performance like receiver sensitivity and uses an actual service monitor instead of rating a CB by how many colors you can set the display to. Hats off Mike!
Just subscribed great review and breakdown of the radio:) Certainly a newbie here...will be taking the Ham license test soon...have a question though...can you use this radio with a non ground plane (NGP) antenna like the 4 or 3 foot firestik II the one that can be tuned by that little screw on the top along with a SWR meter ? Was thinking of getting this for a 2014 Jeep unlimited because of its size? Thanks in advance:) Btw does President sell a NGP antenna or can you suggest a few good ones...from what I am learning its all about the antenna selection?
Here is an mod idea and question: Is it possible to have the faceplate separated, to mount it another place, just 3D print a back cover for it and print a cover for the space it left behind on the radio itself. Then extend the wires maybe via a few RJ45/ethernet cables or something?
Hi I’ve got trouble with the mike on my president bill. The up/down buttons have only been working one way that’s down. Any idea what is the problem please. ?
Thanks again for making videos very interesting as always . I can't wait for the wireless mic to be offered for sale here. Then I will buy a radio and wireless mic really want to get president radio but going to wait and see
the matching network tells the CPU how much power the final should put out. With high swr shutdown etc. So by changing the values output from the "matching" network as you like to call it it is possible to peak and tune. I can imagine someone will reverse the radio firmware and figure out how to unlock it for full frequency coverage too.
Hmmm, I get the slide in mount but without a detachable power cable how you gonna take it anywhere? Powepole time! Good to have you back on the air Mike!
Nice insight. After viewing this, I see it would be rather simple to mount this with a remote head/face. 3D print a back, extended the cabling in a smart manner, and there ya go.
Is President CB transceiver using a TI Blackfin DSP chip and doing all processing using high school mathematics if so should give pretty good audio but just watch out that USB socket might be usable to reprogram that President CB Transceiver, can you dump the FLT (Frequency Lookup Table)?
I took my too big Bearcat 980 ssb out of my 15 CRV and put the appropriately sized Bill in its plac. I LOVE it. I use it as a receiver with the mic removed and listen mostly to skip. There is very little cb traffic here in Massachusetts and 19 is pretty much dead.
I know this is an old video. As for the peak an tune , as it turns out there is alot that can be done it does require the change of some surface mount part values to get the extra power and this little radio will talk ...
Guys that is a Euro model "President Bill" (AM/FM). This radio is a different version for the US domestic market, called the "President Bill FCC". All the best regards. -LeapFrog
Is there a way to make this water resistant and attach to a Bluetooth adapter to use on a motorcycle and a Sena 10R or other type motorcycle helmet Bluetooth setup? Currently don’t have anything and looking to get CB radio installed onto Indian Chieftain hard mounted.
No. Authorized modulation types for CB radio in the USA are AM, SSB and FM. FM was just recently added when the last regulation updates came out from the FCC.
I have had an old Realistic SSB sitting in the original box and never powered on, for years. I set it up the other day, powered it on, and after about three minutes it made two second squeal and RX audio went away. Operation Cap replacement to commence shortly. Sigh. Just goes to show, those old capacitors need some TLC these days.
That tilt switch will be a failure point when dirt & dust gets in there and because its plastic. This will be a throwaway unit. We wont be adding this one to the collection.
I get 15 miles from mine to my base on a regular basis. They seem to come from the factory with the xmit power level set to about PL126 which is about 2.6 watts. You can get into the service menu and turn the xmit power up to 145 which is about 3.8-9 watts. That's as far as it goes. I believe PW is modulation. I didn't fool with that. To get into the service menu, turn the radio off. Hold down cb/wx, emg and PTT. Turn the radio on. You will now be in the service menu
I wish someone would produce an AM / SSB version of this radio. I see the CRT Xenon has AM & FM but no SSB. I asked the manufacturer & they said it can't be done in this size of radio. That is complete BS as there was AM / SSB in the Cherokee AH-100 handheld cb as well as AM / FM / SSB in the Magnum 1012 handheld cb. Both of these radios have a main board less than half the size of the the radios in question. I don't expect a high power cb of this size just 4w on AM & 12w on SSB. All that is required is to add the few extra components for SSB and to change the front mounted rotary switch to a dual version so one can be the clarifier control. Any thoughts on this would be great.
Mike I think the slide in bracket is to allow people to flush fit the radio in the dash of the car. You see a lot of Europeans that do that. So it goes intot he dash but can still be removed rather easy unlike a car AM/FM broadcast radio. This is especialy true of the Chinese radio's that are DIN sized. French and Italin car's have in the past had a lot of close out panels that can be removed to install other things especially if you get a base model and not the premium top of the line interior trim. I have always said that DIN is a great size if you want to hide a radio in the dash nice and neat. Smaller than din though I have no clue!
wow they sure don't make them like they used to. Gone are the days of Jackson and Grant! Maybe President will release a classic line one of these days.
I got a 40 channel Midland CB walkie-talkie I had it on the Shelf I got it out the other day and put new batteries in it it has white noise but no receive on hit and no transmit can a radio go bad just sitting on the shelf
They sure can and go bad faster than if they were used. Almost anything electronic has aluminum electrolytic capacitors in it. These have a finite lifespan which is actually shortened by not using them. Every time you power up a radio, TV or other electronic device it helps to reform the capacitor. Extended durations of them being unpowered leaves them in a state where they can no longer be reformed. On top of that the electrolyte in them eventually dries out. If I had to guess I would say it's probably a bad electrolytic capacitor.
perhaps after cutting wire and moving jumper you switch off radio then before switching on you have to hold in certain buttons and power on again then you might have some luck i have come across this with a number of radios just a thought. good videos...
No. After going over the schematic this radio is missing numerous parts found in the EU version. This radio has CB AM receive/transmit and the NOAA weather channels receive. The EU version is AM/FM transmit/receive. Same circuit board but populated with different parts and the microprocessor is going to be running a different program.
OK Mike i understand its a pity you are not allowed FM in the US even in little old UK we have that but its only been a few years really since its been legal to use SSB but who sticks to the rules hands up.....
@@stephenwright8103 Im in Ireland and Id love to buy one of these..obviously the EU version that can be modded up...any info where i could get one ?? Tryd ebay but seem to be all American versions.
Hi there Paul this company here in the UK is excellent the president bill is advertised in there store along with massive stock of all kinds of radios and accessory's www.nevadaradio.co.uk hope this helps....
@@stephenwright8103 They have the fm on those little fm walkie talkies. That is the FM you can use. Still would be nice to have those abandoned forestry frequiencies below the cb band to use.
I heard President Radios are coming out with a President Brandon. You take the case off and there's nothing inside! :p
This is long, but here's my thoughts...
I think the 13N10s get a bad rep due to the radios they're used in and the people that own and modify those radios. RCI and Stryker tend to use them in their high power export radios, and these are the same radios that people like to modify and hack up. They're not just going to explode at proper operating power with a low SWR. They do hate high SWR, especially when it's a highly reactive load such as the input to amplifier that's not properly tuned. Severe over modulation and harmonics will kill them also. They're ok for a switching MOSFET though. They're less resilient than an IRF520, they run a bit hotter, but they make a bit more power.
I think Stryker may have went back to using the IRF520. The last couple new 447HPC2's I've seen have had 520s again. Who knows. As for the ERF2030s and ERF2030+ they have positives and negatives. I've never used the original 2030s, but I've heard they're basically equivalent to an IRF520 or 530. I don't know personally. The 2030+, I'm not sure what MOSFET die is tucked inside that one, but it has a static gate capacitance almost 3x higher than an IRF520. They are quite a resilient MOSFET, but they can be tricky to drive if you're used to a 520 or a 13N10. I've decapped a couple and the die looks like it's a higher voltage design. If so that could partly explain it's better resistance to higher SWR. They cost more than a 13N10 or an IRF520, but you can buy them in matched sets. They're matched only on gate threshold voltage. They have the small signal transconductance on the label, but that doesn't mean much at large signal levels. At the end of the day though, they are still a power switching MOSFET, not an RF device and there are compromises when using any of them in an RF circuit. Honestly, I'd prefer they use something like an RD16HHF1 MOSFET. That device swaps the drain and source terminals. This means the tab is now the source for easier mounting and better heat transfer and reduces some parasitics of having the drain connected to the tab. Plus, it's a real deal RF MOSFET designed to run at HF frequencies. That's just my opinion though.
@Mr. Morton aka. Highlander You're right, the parasitics inside them, under certain conditions, can cause the transistor to self oscillate. When I experimented with them, it seemed fairly dependant on the biasing and the passives that surrounded the FET. I didn't mess around with it enough to characterize it or anything though. I do know that they get very hot, very fast, if they break into oscillation.
The other thing to consider with these switching power FETs is the mode they're being operated in. Take for instance a typical dual final export radio, so 1 FET driving 2 FETs in parallel, and both stages are being polar modulated (for the most part) via a linear audio power regulator. This setup is more power efficient (less loss in the FETs), more stable, and runs cooler than if they are used in a more linear/CCS mode.
Stryker radios use them in both ways in AM mode. The pre-driver and driver FETs (1 FET driving 1 FET) are both 13N10s being modulated via a linear power regulator. Then the output from that goes into 2 parallel 13N10s being operated as a Class AB linear amplifier being supplied directly from the main 13.8V power rail. This last stage is inerrantly less stable, has lower efficiency, and puts off more heat.
I honestly don't know why they are using 4 of the same FETs in a 1x1x2 output section. I guess it's cheaper than adding an additional part to the BOM. My point is though, these switching FETs aren't designed to be operated at HF frequencies, and they also aren't designed to be operated in their CCS (Controlled Current Source) region either. As these FETs heat up, the way they operate changes, sometimes very significantly, and these radios don't have temperature compensation. When you add the heat and out of spec operating conditions with screwdriver jockeys cranking everything to 11, cutting limiters, and creating massive distortion, they're going to start popping FETs like popcorn. Everybody blames the FET itself, and ignores the operator that has jacked up their equipment.
Personally, every 13N10 that I've seen burnt up was either being over driven, over modulated, over distorted, driving into a high SWR, or some combination of all of those. They're not bad as people like to claim, but I personally don't use them in any of my export radios because there are better alternatives. If you get creative about installation and want to spend a little extra money per device, there are legitimate RF FETs that can be used. This is an avenue I'm currently developing with my personal gear.
@ab5ni You are spot on with this. It's definitely a cost cutting/profit margin thing. I mean, there is a reason that you don't see Kenwood, Yaesu, ICom, ect. using switching FETs in their amp sections. I understand that the industry seems to be moving away from 12-14V devices to higher voltages such as 28, 50, and even 65V with the latest LDMOS stuff. I've even seen a couple TO247 DMOS devices (ARF446/447) that have a VDSS of 900V and operate with a 250-300V supply. That being said though, there will always be a market for mobile radios and that should keep enough of a demand for 12-14V devices to keep them in production. If anyone needs ideas for 12V RF FETs, just look up the schematics for mobile HF ham rigs. There are tons of designs, using many different devices. There are even quite a few surface mount devices that could be utilized. Many CB manufacturers have moved to surface mount designs, yet they have kept using the TO220 switching FETs for output devices. I guess it's cheap and simple, but it's a compromised solution.
Since surface mount main boards allow for a shallower mounting depth, why not mid-mount the board in the chassis and move the heatsink to the top of the radio while keeping the same overall chassis thickness. This would allow for easier use of surface mount RF FETs for the PA driver and even something like an RD70HHF1 or RD100HHF1 for a final output device in the higher power rigs. They make low profile blower style fans that could suck air in the top of the radio at the front, then blow the air across the heatsink and exhaust out the back. Many of the newer radios have some sort of microcontroller in them already, so why not use it to do a little bit of temperature sensing and use a stable voltage reference and some opamps to provide a simple temperature compensated biasing network for the PA section? I get that these things cost extra money, but I think people would gladly pay extra for the radio if it meant that it worked perfect out of the box. If you buy an export radio now (almost any brand) and just do the frequency conversion, most of them have a dirty RF spectrum, too much IMD, and poor audio frequency response.
I guess besides the profit margin, it all boils down to the circuit design. Almost all of the Galaxy, Connex, General, and RCI/Ranger radios use a circuit design that is just a modification of the RCI EPT3600 or EPT6900 circuitry. These designs may even be modifications from older designs for all I know. The main portions of these circuits can be seen in almost every radio. Even companies that don't use RCI circuit boards seem to base their boards on modified versions of the same circuitry. The older Magnum/RF Limited radios, like the Delta Force and the S680, are good examples. Even the newer more modernized radios like the Stryker 955, the 447HPC2, the Anytone 5555 & 6666, the newest version of the President Lincoln, all share slightly different, but strikingly similar circuitry. If you study their design even more (the 955 has a downloadable schematic) you can see that the underlying building blocks of the radio are still very similar to the old 1990s RCI designs with more modern updates like surface mount parts and varactor tuning for the IF stages. There just doesn't seem to be any drive to produce a high quality, great performing 10m/export radio.
@ab5ni I haven't personally used any LDMOS devices, but they do look promising. I see the majority of them that blow up due to over drive conditions, especially when used at HF. What's cool though is that many of these devices can be used from the bottom of HF to well over 70cm. Most of the larger and more expensive ones seem to take about 5W of drive to output over 1500W. I'm like you though, I like currently like playing with tubes for that kind of power. I don't have any 50V devices or power supplies and would have to completely gear up to experiment with the LDMOS stuff.
I'd bet that little radio in this video is still an analog receiver. The tolerances on tiny SMD components are very good so for an entry level radio, fixed chip inductors and capacitively coupled IF stages work fine. The latest Uniden 980SSB doesn't have IF cans anymore either.
I'm not an expert on any of this stuff, just what I've learned from tinkering with my own stuff and I've repaired a couple radios for friends.
I have been thinking though, professionally made PCBs can be had from China from places like JLB-PCB for pretty damn cheap these days. I might try my hand at designing my own AM/SSB 10m mobile rig. That would eliminate working within the limits of previous board designs and even if I don't ever get it working, I'm sure I'll learn stuff along the way. 👍
this was a good read. i have noticed the ERF2030+ need more drive then a 520 or 13n10
Im sure i speak for many... We missed you Mike!
Thanks for showing that this radio can be mounted in either direction. I've been searching EVERYWHERE!
I Mike
Listening to your videos is not a waste of time.
I really appreciate the sharing of your amazing knowledge.
Keep-Up !
Thank you,
Another AnyTone radio from President.
Goodbye Uniden. Thsnks for the good review. Very interesting.
President is actually a French company.
@@douro20 Yes, but actualy modern President radios made in China on the AnyTone factory (Barry, Ronald, Bill, Andy etc). President Еlectronics is just a customer, they don't have their own full cycle production factory. Previously, they collaborated with Uniden. They are currently working with AnyTone (Qixiang Electron Science Technology Co.，Ltd).
Partially true. Some of President's radios are still made by Uniden.
@@RadiochiefRu Yes I knew that.
@@mikesradiorepair Yep my Andy AM/FM is a Uniden
That little radio has a lot to offer, Thanks Mike for the info.📻📻📻
Looks like a good basic AM for small cars. Getting difficult to find room for conventional size radios
Hey Mike, Please tell your contacts at President that we NEED CB radios with separation kits available. There are a ton of amateur radios with remote face options, but some of us run multiple radios and it's crappy that we have to mount the entire radio on, in, or above the dash when all we need access to is the face. Someone needs to fill that need in the market.
LMVRCRacing, your comment is so true and very much underrated.
ft891 Yaesu opened up fills that need.
Thanks for you videos! To go in the minimalistic alignment menu: Power it up with PTT + the two buttons on the right pressed. 73 from Germany!
Thanks again Sensai!
Can you do a video on how to
1- desolder an SO 239 without.the proper equipment.
2- diagnose cracked and cold solder joints
Thanks
I use my President Bill as one of my base units and I have talked skip quite a few times with it, it's a VERY capable radio. Great vid and 73's from 2112 here at the CB Lounge 2112 on UA-cam!!
In the EU model you cut that white wire-bridge and move the jumper a place.
The results i,ve seen is 16.5 watts max by different repairmen.
That's definitely a nice little set. Thanks for sharing, Mike.
Whenever I think about mini-cb's I always start dreaming up ways of making them into a portable walkie-talkie setup, built into a little metal carrying-case with internal battery-pack and a nice long telescoping antenna for the radiator, something like the TRC-236's center-loaded antenna, maybe even add one of those CB rubber-duckie antennas to the ground side of the RF output to serve as a tuned-to-resonance and easily portable ground-counterpoise to give the telescoping antenna something to brace against.. I recall browsing the Radio Shack catalogs and other catalogs as a kid and would come across the TRC-9 or similar tiny cb's and start visualizing away...lol :-D
Speaking of cool cb's, I bought a Cobra 38WXST walkie-talkie from a Radio Shack some years ago, and it's a very nice little and rugged set, but, the key-beep function was insane... it would loudly '"BEEP!"' with every keystroke or channel-change...lol :-D.
I dug up that set's schematic on the Internet and found one and traced through that walkie-talkie's circuits and tracked down a surface-mount capacitor # C-307 on the control-board and removed that cap, and: no more crazy beeps!... set works great. One can press and hold the channel up or down buttons and quickly scan the band with the squelch level turned to 'off' without 40 loud beeps accompanying each scan cycle. :-)
Nice video. Thank you.
That speaker on that little rig looks like an earphone would knock it out of the ring.
Definitely want to aux it to another speaker or Bluetooth it.
Almost everything is “ Radio-in-a-chip”.
I’m a radio collector. No Ham license,but used to have a CB back in the day.
Just stumbled upon this. Thought it would be interesting.
It is. I haven’t heard of the “President “ name since back in the day.
(My last CB was a Pierce-Simpson‼️)
Cool.
📻👍🙂
Very good explanation for radios he works on. Love to watch his videos.
We all wish you were back.
Hi glad your back been missing your videos.hear in the uk we have the CRT one N And The CRT 2000 very small radio like the one in this vidio and just the same when you cut the wire for full mode
Looks like a quality built unit. So small it can fit in any car. President looks like they are trying to do it right.
I just noticed how old this video is, but Mike yeah if you redo the jumper like you had it there's a procedure when you turn the rig on which puts you into a menu where you can play with higher wattage output and more modulation.
Now that FM is legal in the USA we are going to probably see the newer FM version of that board.
I know these have been out for several years but I'm just starting to get into this.
Mike, Great to see you back again! Really been missing seeing your videos uploaded over the weekends! On the cutting and moving the jumpers usually after that is done the radio's CPU would need to be reset for the new abilities to take effect. I'm not trying to create extra work for you but it would be very interesting to see if it was capable of channel expansion or FM! Love your videos, please keeping them coming!
I have the Bill EU which has FM on it standard when you cut the white wire and move the jumper you get 10 bands 25.615-30105 and all the A channels. switchable to either 5 or 0 ending channels plus the UK40 channels. if you connect jumper 3 you can get 20w FM I've done the channel mod but not the power mod.l found that the channels are mixed up 30 is 29 28 is 29 you have the correct frequency but the channel is wrong such a shame .
I put mine back to standard and there is a front panel adjustment for modulation AM and FM ,power too which you get from turning the radio on pressing certain buttons.
All in all its a good little rig which I really like it will do the job.
What mobile radio would you recomend that can be tuned for better reception and more wattage.
Most radios can be aligned for better reception. No radio is designed to do more than it's rated specifications. Doing so only shortens the life if the PA section and in many cases leads to increased spurious emissions.
Thanks for the review, Mike. I am looking for a small 6" or less CB.
Since FM has been authorized in the USA the Bill is now a AM/FM radio. Great small footprint radio.
I think the "rocker" switch/screen will be the weak point of the radio.
I just got the FM. I set the emg 1 & emg 2 to ch1 & ch40 when tuning my antenna (set on ch20 then easy to bounce high and low channel.) That was convenient. I don't know what I'll set for regular operations, but even the truckers have begun to move off cb here so probably doesn't matter. The service menu is not useful on this radio. Stick with the factory settings or it becomes difficult to dial in the antenna. I don't know why that is, but I was sitting at 2.7:1 which is not fantastic. I went back to factory and managed 1.4 on ch20, 1.6 on ch1 and 1.7 on ch40 in a pickup truck with a firestick. This isn't a "hi power" radio, but it's clear and seems fairly bulletproof. Set your color to cyan so my daughter likes your radio better, because the world revolves around her aesthetic tastes apparently.
Mike i hooked the power wire backwards of course a small pop i see on your board a small devise at the board i am sure i popped that is that a protection devise and can i do a work around it if it is.I remember back in the day we had some protection diodes that would open and you could replace it and you were back on. Thanks in advance.
Very comprehensive coverage of President BJ radio.
Dear Mr Mike ... My name is Marcus Motta and I live in the state of São Paulo Brazil. I have a CB Radio Cobra 148 GTL serial number 83018940 (by Taiwan) - an old model
from 1980/90. I spent a long time without operating the radio and now when I turn it on, I realize that it doesn't receive any signal at all on channels ...
only QRM (noise) ... Some indication of what could be happening ??? ... some diode or electrolytic capacitor???...lamentably I do not have the wiring diagram. thanks for your attention ...
Motta, Marcus
Great small radio, WOW on features. Great video Mike. From York.
Is that a pl-259 connector on the back? Sorry for the dumb question, never installed a cb before and want to make sure I order all of the correct items. Great video, Thanks!
Yes. CB radios use PL-259/SO-239 connectors.
Would be nice to have a removable power cord. I'd have to look up the dimensions but it looks like a good candidate for an in dash installation.
Mike,that white wire usually in most president radios is for expanding the channels when you clip it
If you clip that wire don't charge your phone on it because it will phone home, void your warranty and turn you in. I just had to put that out there as a joke so when the real conspiracy theorists say it you'll have already had a chance to chew on it before you spit it out.
Mike I notice you never give peak output reports and rarely even carrier. Surprisingly you showed carrier output here but of course no clue for us as to what the radio peaks at stock. Thanks. 73s
It swings around 20
The President Bill hiddetecsun Service menu.
Press and hold the PTT on mike and the 2 nobs at the right, then power on.
Please make a second video for the hidden Service menu .
Service Mode: press the CB/WX Alert, the EMG, ant the PTT buttons when you turn on the radio. Greetings from Switzerland
Great vid and interesting info will let you know about the jumper/wire on the uk/eu models, Thanks Mike..
I’m looking to put this radio in my Jeep along with Midland’s 40 watt gmrs radio. What antenna would you recommend for this CB?
Does the radio come with some cigars?
Thanks for publishing some new videos.
It comes with an impeachment
I had a radio in1961 it was kinda kit build , had to solder most everything .of course it was tube type, the receiver was a regenerative type, ya wasn't sure what channel you were listening too. So you would ask for a long count for receiver tuning now xmitt was a crystal that plugged into a socket on the front. Only one xmitt xtal at a time. I built this super regenerative wonder radio, you and lots of other people wondered if it was a real radio. This was in the day of 23 channel cb radio. It was a Grove electronics kit. A good learning kit for a high school kid.
I think the mic was a carbon button, straight cord, only expensive radio's had curly mic cords. Expensive was anything over $50bucks or so.
Neat little radio and I think where I am I would be looking for a President Bill to get the FM going as well. They have relaxed the rules here so we can transmit on anything we like as far as I know, though I have not used CB for a while, I will need to check what we are allowed to use. There is not a lot left on CB here so if you were to cause problems you would be easily found. Up here in the north anyway of this small island.
Nice, but i prefer my good ole Uniden PC33, even the 500D is that good with plenty of audio output.
My pc33 is still my favorite. With a power mic it has booming audio
@@Hook-set_Outdoors Good idea! I have an Astatic 575M6 I use on HAM equipment, I'll try it on my PC33 :)
I wonder how difficult it will be to repair the radio since both sides of the PC board are populated and there is no access to the underside when under test.
Hm... I opened mine up with you and I didn't find a jumper in there. Just three exposed contacts with nothing on them. I'm also noticing that this radio is putting out a solid THREE watts. Time to tinker!!!
Very informative video! Thanks! Btw.....I'm sure you've heard this before but you sound like Alan Alda!
I just wish there was a black silicone cover with a theater to keep dust, dirt,and mud out of the USB charging port. A piece of vinyl tape only last so long and the glue gets nasty.
This looks a lot like a TEAM MiniCom? That has the am/fm as well as “export” bandwidth. Are they similar and is there any advantage to having the extra channels? Can you even use those radios in the US or are the frequencies different between channel one here and channel one there?
It's so nice to see a review of a CB that checks the RF performance like receiver sensitivity and uses an actual service monitor instead of rating a CB by how many colors you can set the display to. Hats off Mike!
Just subscribed great review and breakdown of the radio:) Certainly a newbie here...will be taking the Ham license test soon...have a question though...can you use this radio with a non ground plane (NGP) antenna like the 4 or 3 foot firestik II the one that can be tuned by that little screw on the top along with a SWR meter ? Was thinking of getting this for a 2014 Jeep unlimited because of its size? Thanks in advance:) Btw does President sell a NGP antenna or can you suggest a few good ones...from what I am learning its all about the antenna selection?
I like All president Radios, "NICE" thanks Mike!!👍
Iam glad to see you posted another video
Thanks Mike, I was being to worry that you were sick or something.
Here is an mod idea and question: Is it possible to have the faceplate separated, to mount it another place, just 3D print a back cover for it and print a cover for the space it left behind on the radio itself. Then extend the wires maybe via a few RJ45/ethernet cables or something?
Recently watched another user review. Looks like a really useful little CB with some nice extra features.
Hi I’ve got trouble with the mike on my president bill. The up/down buttons have only been working one way that’s down. Any idea what is the problem please. ?
Thanks again for making videos very interesting as always . I can't wait for the wireless mic to be offered for sale here. Then I will buy a radio and wireless mic really want to get president radio but going to wait and see
Mike, do any of the President radios have an accessory connector on them with PTT, RX audio, TX audio and maybe channel steering options?
Most of them have all of that accessible from the microphone connector.
How can I get a hold of you about repairing my Stryker 497?
Service Manual... ? It's a throw away radio.
we need a president Donald,1000 watts barefoot, with a take no shit 10kw linear,
I'am Your Newest Subscriber Great Videos
nice little cb radio
special am radio mike
Bicycle,Motorcycle,ATV,boat anything you want.
the matching network tells the CPU how much power the final should put out. With high swr shutdown etc. So by changing the values output from the "matching" network as you like to call it it is possible to peak and tune. I can imagine someone will reverse the radio firmware and figure out how to unlock it for full frequency coverage too.
Hmmm, I get the slide in mount but without a detachable power cable how you gonna take it anywhere? Powepole time! Good to have you back on the air Mike!
Not hard to put an in-line plug in the power wire, not a deal breaker for sure
thanks Great video,
what size of the torx you use to screw it up ?
just on my way to order some screwdrivers,torx.
many thanks '73
Nice insight. After viewing this, I see it would be rather simple to mount this with a remote head/face. 3D print a back, extended the cabling in a smart manner, and there ya go.
Is President CB transceiver using a TI Blackfin DSP chip and doing all processing using high school mathematics if so should give pretty good audio but just watch out that USB socket might be usable to reprogram that President CB Transceiver, can you dump the FLT (Frequency Lookup Table)?
I took my too big Bearcat 980 ssb out of my 15 CRV and put the appropriately sized Bill in its plac. I LOVE it. I use it as a receiver with the mic removed and listen mostly to skip. There is very little cb traffic here in Massachusetts and 19 is pretty much dead.
I know this is an old video.
As for the peak an tune , as it turns out there is alot that can be done it does require the change of some surface mount part values to get the extra power and this little radio will talk ...
People actually do monitor channel 9 Its worth a shot. There used to be a national CB club of monitors called REACT.
There still around they have moved on to dmr apco phase 2 and hotspots and amature radio.
That jumper is for high power, cut it, move the jumper. You will end up with a nice boost. It also does FM, plus 25MHz to almost 30MHz.
Have a source to confirm? Thinking of getting one
Yes there's is another video showing the radio modded also doing 20 Watts
Guys that is a Euro model "President Bill" (AM/FM). This radio is a different version for the US domestic market, called the "President Bill FCC".
All the best regards.
-LeapFrog
Correct. Same circuit board but populated with different parts. Also probably has a different program on the microprocessor.
Is there a way to make this water resistant and attach to a Bluetooth adapter to use on a motorcycle and a Sena 10R or other type motorcycle helmet Bluetooth setup? Currently don’t have anything and looking to get CB radio installed onto Indian Chieftain hard mounted.
A friend told me CBs are now digital. I can't find the answer on the Internet. Does anyone know?
No. Authorized modulation types for CB radio in the USA are AM, SSB and FM. FM was just recently added when the last regulation updates came out from the FCC.
Did I see a freq display on bottom of channel display? Pretty nifty, can it be turned down to about 1W deadkey?
Greg Barth no adjustments points in the radio. Maybe mike can change an inductor to set the power to one watt.
I have had an old Realistic SSB sitting in the original box and never powered on, for years. I set it up the other day, powered it on, and after about three minutes it made two second squeal and RX audio went away. Operation Cap replacement to commence shortly. Sigh. Just goes to show, those old capacitors need some TLC these days.
Put one in my jeep Mike and it works great with my Tiger double wrap antenna
That tilt switch will be a failure point when dirt & dust gets in there and because its plastic. This will be a throwaway unit. We wont be adding this one to the collection.
Can it be peaked in tune and is it water resistant
I saw a vid where he cut it , took bottom half and put it the hole below the 3 and turned it on on it 20+ watts. Not sure if it bleeds out tho.
Please revisit this radio when you have info on the hidden menus that controll Tx per and modulation.
I get 15 miles from mine to my base on a regular basis. They seem to come from the factory with the xmit power level set to about PL126 which is about 2.6 watts. You can get into the service menu and turn the xmit power up to 145 which is about 3.8-9 watts. That's as far as it goes. I believe PW is modulation. I didn't fool with that. To get into the service menu, turn the radio off. Hold down cb/wx, emg and PTT. Turn the radio on. You will now be in the service menu
I wish someone would produce an AM / SSB version of this radio. I see the CRT Xenon has AM & FM but no SSB. I asked the manufacturer & they said it can't be done in this size of radio. That is complete BS as there was AM / SSB in the Cherokee AH-100 handheld cb as well as AM / FM / SSB in the Magnum 1012 handheld cb. Both of these radios have a main board less than half the size of the the radios in question. I don't expect a high power cb of this size just 4w on AM & 12w on SSB. All that is required is to add the few extra components for SSB and to change the front mounted rotary switch to a dual version so one can be the clarifier control. Any thoughts on this would be great.
Mike I think the slide in bracket is to allow people to flush fit the radio in the dash of the car. You see a lot of Europeans that do that. So it goes intot he dash but can still be removed rather easy unlike a car AM/FM broadcast radio. This is especialy true of the Chinese radio's that are DIN sized. French and Italin car's have in the past had a lot of close out panels that can be removed to install other things especially if you get a base model and not the premium top of the line interior trim. I have always said that DIN is a great size if you want to hide a radio in the dash nice and neat. Smaller than din though I have no clue!
what do you buy to talk skip that is small ?
I wonder if i can run a small 200w leanear with this small radio?
Thank you for the great video. I would buy it if that a PA function. You are very smart.
The 10 meter anytone aka smart cb is a better buy more powerful with more channels. Like 60 bucks.
I'm running out of room to put more radios. Is there a similar version that can also do ssb?
Can the radio wattage and modulation be increased through a service menu? If so, how is that accessed?
Hmm... That bracket makes a thief's job so much easier.
CB's haven't been a "most stealable item" from automobiles in decades.
@@grigorirasputin5020 Maybe not. But people steal anything that's easy to steal and pawn.
wow they sure don't make them like they used to. Gone are the days of Jackson and Grant! Maybe President will release a classic line one of these days.
Come back up to the net when you get the service manual . I want a manual so I can maintain it . I'm kind of a stickler for the rules .
I want to utilize your business Mike, so I must ask. I subscribed, but, this video is 4 years old.
Are you still repairing radios?
Hi,I have a midland 75-822 handheld,is it possible to tune up this radio and add extra channels?? Thanks,nice video 😎😎😎😎
I got a 40 channel Midland CB walkie-talkie
I had it on the Shelf I got it out the other day and put new batteries in it
it has white noise but no receive on hit and no transmit
can a radio go bad just sitting on the shelf
They sure can and go bad faster than if they were used. Almost anything electronic has aluminum electrolytic capacitors in it. These have a finite lifespan which is actually shortened by not using them. Every time you power up a radio, TV or other electronic device it helps to reform the capacitor. Extended durations of them being unpowered leaves them in a state where they can no longer be reformed. On top of that the electrolyte in them eventually dries out. If I had to guess I would say it's probably a bad electrolytic capacitor.
How do I send my radio to you to fix it I have a president Lincoln 2
Great video , So it's a pretty good bang for the buck basic radio !! Thank you, very Interesting !!