The President Mckinley AM/SSB CB Radio Part 4. Let's Do A SSB Range Test!
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2020
- You can get one here: amzn.to/4cfyG9Q
I wanted to knock out the Sideband range test of the awesome President McKinley CB radio with the Tram 3500 before I swapped that antenna out for the newer Stryker SR-A10 that I picked up.
I can't help but wonder if the bad weather caused the range to be less than It normally would, but I guess weather issues are issues that we CB'ers have to get used to.
I still think this is one of the nicest sideband CBs ever made, and I'm installing the Stryker antenna this week so I look forward to testing this radio with that antenna to look for changes.
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This is the one I just bought, before I found your channel. Great to see it in action.
cool demo, its amazing how far SSB goes and how clear your voice is still.
Waiting for this video. Glad to see it up on your channel. One test I made with Hydro 444. We got 25 miles as a crow flys. On a non DX day. I was mobile he was Base. Glad to see these tests. Thank you
I have one of these that I use as a base station. The antenna is a wire dipole about 25' up in the attic of my house. Using SSB, I was able to have a very clear conversation with an operator in Michigan. I think the antenna is the key to getting good distance for your contact. Jim Virginia 616
Agreed! Antenna is everything with CB.
Thanks for the test. I would say it did pretty good for the weather conditions, the terrain you have and operating mobile to base. That’s a nice antenna and radio setup.
I also hear a pair of well-installed antennas. Readability is exceptional.
President McKinley range test at the dead dog in the road.
I did an approximately 20 mile line of sight contact from my McKinley running mobile in my Frontier with my Tram mag mount centered on the roof. I got a call back from 109SC on a base station in a nearby town. I was just on the outskirts of Columbia SC. He said he had a weak signal on me but could hear me clearly. It was just this past Sunday Jan 17 on a little day trip I went on. It was a clear day around 11am. So the range seems pretty consistent. Cool.
sold me going to buy one. great job
Nice radio and test.
I like the front of the radio in the beginning of video. Looks like a business band radio than it does a CB. I like the front-firing speaker.
This is one of my favorite radios
That’s very impressive man 👍
I like that radio I've been going through some of ur old videos and I'm thinking about the uniden 980 ssb but this radio sounds pretty good I watched one of ur videos and decided to get back into cb radio again I love my cobra 29lx need to update.
Be safe out there in America folks
Same for me. I love my mckinley. I have 2 nitpicky with it. I'm used to the classic radios so the nob layout is backward to me. Far right is on/off volume, should be channel. Second is tied with the first, its not a classic style radio. It IS a great sounding radio that really performs on ssb and am. Many compare it to the old 148s. As far as the 980, I've been reading more if in a mobile, protect the display.
Not happy with my uniden 980, Going to buy the pres McKinley radio .
@@edwardfoehring8827 The President McKinley is simply a superior radio, not just in sound but it sound quality and sensitivity but also tuneability as it uses non fixed pots. It also has auto squelch control, and auto SWR feature.
@@LionWithTheLamb thank you so much
@@LionWithTheLamb I like both radios. The McKinley is a bit newer model.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.
The 980 may be better as a base station where you expect no severe interference.
The McKinley's automatic squelch control and other noise suppression features make it great as a mobile even in urban areas.
Pretty amazing range compared to AM modulation.. Even more amazing is that you got about 16 miles out and were still readable on a rainy night!
That's pretty cool. Thank you😎
A bit late seeing this but I really loved how you had it mounted/. I am still looking to get a lunch box carrier for my Lincoln II+. What would have been nice was to have another person at the base talking to you to see how you received it in the car.
Thank you for the review, I appreciate your work. One concern I have about the McKinley is the menu driven controls. I fiddle a lot with the RF gain to control the floor noise. Did you find the controls on this radio easily accessible?
Nice video. I haven't had the opportunity to try the SSB yet but I was speaking to a fella with a Galaxy 959 at approximately 9 miles the other evening on AM. Not picking at your video but I noticed the micro clarifier knob on your radio is set at 7:00 position.
seems like that little radio is working pretty well!
Came in great spec. Hi pnt
Great stuff. At your 17.5 mile mark, it would be interesting to point the truck all 4 positions to see how directional your signal is.
Thanks...
Yeah, my rig does a little better to the front for whatever reason
Did you get the McKinley peaked/tuned at all? I have read that the clarifier benefits from tweaking as well. I do own a Mckinley and have been debating on getting the peak/tune on it.
Probably would have been even better on the more quiet upper or lower frequencies, but still very impressive thanks for sharing.
Nice set up. Decided to get back on the air. Dug out my old Uniden PC122xl.. 👍
i have two of them i bought from ebay usa about 10 years ago and shipped to the Uk. unfortunatley they both sound fluffy on ssb TX and i guess need a recap and tune up but no one that is cb radio or ham radio dealer in the UK will touch them for fear of prosocution by the government for working on "illegal" radio's. you could'nt make this siht up but it is true .
@@SuperCanuck777 The McKinley is type accepted here in USA and I assumed also in UK, what does Ofcom object to the Mid block with AM and SSB?
That's awesome. Wondering if you have the radio peaked and tuned. Shame to keep the radios at box value when they can do so much more.
Eric I'm getting this cb as a base station how many pins does the power cord have. Thank you
Hey Eric! I received a President MA 145 magmount antenna yesterday! You should do a video on it. Very impressive antenna!
I have one and I've been planning on it!
Can extra channels be added to the president McKinley radio. 40 channels up above channel 40
are you set up wiring cb mics
The Stryker A10 is an amazing antenna in my experience.
Agreed. It's a great talker!
Awesome
I may order this radio I hear a lot of good things about it I do like the front speaker that's pretty awesome I do like that it's a sideband radio also they make a service manual for this radio so if you ever need it repaired they have a service manual the only downside I believe is this Roger beep other than that it seems like a great radio good range test by the way👍
You can turn off the beep if you want, but then you'd be a commie! Just kidding, I know some folks just don't appreciate Roger Beep like I do.
@@FarpointFarms Rodger beep is cool it's just that that Rodger beep sounds very weak I have heard anyway thanks for the reply
Got that!
Great radio!!
Nice test Eric, I have both radios (the McKinley and the 980), and I'm still debating on which to put where. I got 2 stations, one for summer and one for winter. It's tricky to decide the pros and cons of each. Add to the fact I have a Grant XL that will run laps around both of those radios in terms of sound fidelity, DX capability and usability...
... decisions, decisions!
I'm trying to decide on this radio and the bearcat 980 for my work truck. Which do you think is better? I keep hearing people having trouble with the bearcat screen. Any trouble for you?
In the Volvo , nice :-)
I've heard nothing but good things about the a10 stryker antenna from actual users at the cb shop in my area. Been saving up to get one because they are a bit pricey but if you want performance you have to be willing to pay for it as we have learned
Is it better then the tram 3700 you think .
Great video as always. Putting together a home base station. Seriously considering the Mc Kinley. As compared to the Uniden 980 SSB...what would you choose based on your expertise and experience? Going to use the Antron A99 antenna as well.
Both are great radios!
Is it just me? Where is part 3? And how did you record and play back the audio?
Here you go! ruclips.net/video/AYzJ7ojwIo4/видео.html
This was filmed with a old cell phone on a stand abotu 2 feet from the radio, and cut together using Sony vegas 8.
I have been watching you videos on the Mckinnly as well as a few others. I find that you videos seems to be the most realistic. I contacted President radio since there's no dealers in my area. I said I wanted a Mckinnly that was a first quality not a refurbished or rejected radio. They responded with I believe 2 places that only sell first quality radios. I took it to the only shop I trust who has done all my radio work since 1984. He checked it out of the box and AM it was set to 3.6 watts and 70% modulation . He said thats on par with how they all come through. He was able to get 4 watts @ 100% modulation on am. On SSB it was only putting out 1.5 watts he was a little shocked at that. He started to peak the SSB and could only get 8 watts average. With the stock mic talking in a normal voice about 8 watts was it. The strange thing is if you whistle in the mic it will shoot up to over 14 watts. He said that it didn't make sence because SSB is alowed to be I think 14 watts. I want to try the mic that I usually use to see how it responds to it. What kind of power were you able to get on SSB? When he tunes a radio he watches the power and modulation as well as how hot the radio gets. He use to have me watch as he was doing it and he said when you key up you want the power to stay the same or have an ever so slight up swing. He mentioned that when it was on the bench turned on not transmitting that it seemed to get pretty hot. He said usually on receive radios don't get real hot. Then when transmitting it heats up even more. I wondered if a usb power fan would cool it down but he said I would need to drill air holes into the case and he didn't seem to want to do that. I was just wondering if you got any more on sideband or not? And if maybe we missed something when we peaked it. He agreed with you on AM if you go for more power it robs the modulation. He set it to where he feels comfortable with its performance and heat generation, so it should last a good long time. But SSB even at 6 watts will go much further than AM around here you need the distance to get to anyone else with sideband. I just wanted to get your thoughts on the SSB power and if you think we forgot anything or if they just cant make the power? It's been a while since I watched your first 3 videos on the Mckinnly. Thanks for your feedback on this radio.
I’ve been hearing that they are making these new radios below the legal limit as of late. I’ve been wanting to get back into cb, but if those radios are not going to perform at even the legal limit, then what’s the use?
@@bluegrassman3040 Have they now... could'nt be an unspoken directive from the US government to reduce range because when the T.S.H.F, scenario happens they NOT want joe public to have anything resembling reliable long distance comms in case they "co-ordinate" anything
@@SuperCanuck777 a lot of people are using amps with them anyways.
@@bluegrassman3040 Yes, i've noticed that from the youtube video's.
@@SuperCanuck777 this.
Probably why ssb hit the backburner for fm.
Some people were commenting about how quite the Roger Beep is. Sounds better on Sideband
I am seeing on the President web site , that it can do FM. Was their a upgrade
Not that I have heard yet, but it makes sense!
Farpoint Farms your McKinley ssb CB is cool my hobbys are painting pictures and lisining to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my ham license I have 4 shortwave receivers iam thinking about getting sangean ATS 90 9x 2 Mw lw fm air SW ssb 6 bands receiver or the Tecsun Pl 660 mw lw fm air SW ssb 6 bands receiver
You said you using a Striker SR 810 aerial for this CB radio. Where can this aerial be purchased?
The SR-A-10 is available from Stryker.
@@FarpointFarms later on I did find out I spelled Stryker wrong. Much appreciated.
Thanks for the range test, great job. What kind of antenna were you using in mobile?
Stryker SR-A10 and an Antron 99
Not bad but don't know what the receiving antenna is or how high or what kind of a mobile antenna you was talkin on but pretty good test
The base was an Antron A99 at 24feet without a ground plane kit. The mobile was a Stryker SR-A10.
10-4 MCKINLEY ON TEST YOU GOT THE CAROLINA 373 ON AM CAROLINA FOUR BARREL ON THE COAST
Great test. Do you get any AM noise, like alternator whine in your rig? Bought a Mckinley off your reviews. Seems to be great other than a mild whine all the time on AM, even with my pickup off. NB and high cut don't filter it out either.
I have noticed on mine that the radio’s receive is really sensitive. I turned down the RF gain two clicks and the signal to noise ratio is much more comfortable to the ear. It still receives like it should. Try it.
Throw a ferrite choke on the 12V power lead close to the back of the radio.
@@rallypoint1 That's what is was, silly me. Kind of miss not having a RF gain knob is one of the few drawbacks of this radio for me.
Scott w Great! Ya little more involved in adjusting the RF gain. RF power is even more!! LOL Enjoy your radio!👍🏼
From what I remember about "propogation conditions" when I had a 40 channel Realistic running 25 watts max on a Shakespeare Big Stick that was NEVER more than 30 feet above the ground of my driveway 30 years ago, SSB always works best when broadcasting towards the east in the 30 minute - 1 hour period of time either side of the moments that the morning sun turns the sky from black to dark blue. It has something to do with the heat from the sun that gets stuck in the STRATOSPHERE region of the sky.
Too cold and the signal fades after only a few hundred miles. Too warm and there is so much bleed over from short distance communications that you can't hear anyone that's throwing less than 500 watts.
Same as AM radio during the overnight hours but with a little more consistency considering that overnight AM stations sometimes throw as much as 10,000 watts or more during the overnight hours. Here in NJ I can sometimes hear a few AM broadcast radio stations as far away as New Orleans, St. Louis, and Chicago, but once the sun comes up I lose those stations and sometimes can't hear AM stations in NYC, Reading Pa, or even Wilmington De.
Would you recommend it as a base station?
Certainly! It's a great radio.
Another consideration for the base station, as it is permanent fixture, would be the wire you use. You can always match great SWR , with high loss cable, but you will lose db. However a cable that may cost $10 a metre will also give you a great SWR, but you will gain 3db, on power and receive, doesn't sound much for that huge expense. Until you realise you have just doubled your power and range, all of a sudden 17miles becomes 34 miles, with no change to your rig, power, antenna, or SWR. This is a cost l would be willing to pay for an all band transceiver, l may hook up a long wire for the 144mhz, but it too would be matched to aircell 7 wire.
Just a thought.💵📻
president or someone really needs to make a cb that has the form factor of some of the higher end dual band ham radios. have all the rf stuff in a box which connects to the display and mic via cat6 or something. this would allow an operator to mount the rf stuff close to the antenna and do the long run with stuff that isn't as affected as much by long cable runs. for now he could use a small linear with a preamp mounted close to the antenna with relays replacing the switches on the front.
WTF kind of drugs are you on? Put down the bong and go pick up a book on antennas and basic RF principles. Doubled power doubles range? SMH...
which portable antenna is recommended for it to use SSB?
I would get a tram3500, hope that helps
@@FarpointFarms thx will check
if conditions pick up again you could reach europe easy!!!and what is the brand of your antenna????cool video///
In the description he says the antenna is a Tram 3500.
Would you choose this Mckinley over the Galaxy 959?
I have both and the Mckinley is a way better unit, and more modern. You get auto scan, and, channels on microphone, and sound quality is slightly better. My Galaxy 959 drifted out of alighnement on SSB, had it serviced, and doing it again. Mckinley is rock solid, no drift issues.
@Cat Kingradio883 I have both radios, and hate the galaxy959. The Galaxy was 1 mth old and drifted on SSB so much that others could not understand me, and it went in for repair. At that point I bought the Mckinley, better sounding on AM and FM, auto scan, crisper sound, and looks like a modern ha radio. The Galaxy looks like an old radio with chrome pulled out of the attic. The Mckinley also is front mounted speakers. There is no comparison, the Galaxy is old technology. A great feature of the Mckinley is the SWR meter that gives off an audio signal. The only good thing with the Galaxy is that you can really push swing to about 30 watts plus.
Where can I get a sideband cb radio.
They should be available on ebay or other online stores.
Wow!!! Awesome ssb test. This is an awesome radio!! I love my modified McKinley radio.
Glad you like it!
Are you driving a Volvo V 70? If so, you’re probably the only other person I know other than myself that has a Volvo wagon with a CB radio installed in it. Lol.
Yes it is a V70-Great minds think alike!!
What antenna
In the description he says the antenna is a Tram 3500.
I"m going to contact a local club here in town and see if they can help me find this Radio locally.
Good call!
@@FarpointFarms No luck on that.. I guess I will have to find a local truck stop in my town.
Eric, are you familiar with marine (boating) SSB radios? I know they have the ability to do incoming weather fax with GRIB files and also email. I'm not interested in those features. I will have satellite coms for that in the form of an Iridium GO. Marine base stations are huge and require a lot of extra electrical work to install. I was hoping I could get away with a mobile unit. The SSB will be for sailnet communications, emergency coms, and back up in case the ole VHF goes out.
From these results from your test I see no reason to get into frs or gmrs. SSB CB seems to have the same range and reliability
FRS is restricted to 2 watts and a fixed antenna. GMRS is allowed up to 50 watts legally. It is line of sight, so in some areas the
distance might be very impressive. PLUS you can legally have a repeater with GMRS. A little height and you are talking on FM
big time. I see Retevis makes little a 10 w repeater for about $400. Just a thought. Yes, I still luv classic CB
No one on GMRS (even wit 50 w)....all the action is on CB Radio. When conditions are up, talk across country easily.
@@badbrad8918 VHF and UHF both rely on line of sight, meaning that height is might. If you cannot get the antenna for that GMRS repeater at least 100 ft or more, you're not talking much further than the same radio in your truck. For example, a 2 meter repeater about 50 miles north of me cannot quite make it to my house but if I get about 10 miles closer it booms. Their antenna is 600 ft above ground level and getting that high in the air has high costs that doesn't even factor in the cost of the repeater or coax.
Also, UHF is SEVERELY affected by vegetation, more so than VHF, which is also more affected than 11 meters.
Height does matter!
eric I don't have an eye-bay account
I often refer to President radios as "ham-grade CB radios" because they are made with precision and every last one of these new models have the best sounding audio on the market of politically-correct radios. I've heard the audio of the Bill and the McKinley and both are right in the pocket. No excessive carrier hiss or background noise and no garbled, blasty modulation. Just a perfect balance of clean, crystal-clear audio.
I agree! These are the Cadillac of modern CB's totally outclassing the Cobra and uniden lines.
I'm one of few base stations still in play in my city here in Ohio, and I'm often complimented on the quality of my audio. That's because in addition to being a professional broadcaster for almost a decade and having worked with some of the most anal on-air engineers, I'm also a performing musician. Audio quality is very important. Every last modern President radio that I've heard has the most pristine, right in the pocket audio I've heard out of any factory radio. My wife, who isn't into CB but is supportive, even comments from the other room when she hears the couple guys around here who run President mobiles as to how good and how clear they sound. I'm hoping to get a few in to review on my channel as well. Right now I'm starting a series on covert CB antennas from the golden era of CB radio. I got a new-in-the-box "Intenna" by the Microwave Filter Company that I'm going to be installing soon. I did an unboxing video the other day. Pretty neat $7.95 find. Love your videos, by the way. I've watched many of them! I'm on Radio Reference Forums and I love that I've been able to pull many hams back down into the 11-meter gutter with me. LOL. Keep up the great work!
I did the exact same test with an old Cobra 29ltd & couldn't even get a mile outta it , I knew then the radio was shot. *out with the old in with the new*
Great video sir
I wood up grate your coax
To lmr 400 time wave for the base
N 240 lmr time wave for the mobile it really help
N put some ground straps on the mobile bumpers to frame battery to frame block to frame
It help a good bit
It in the arrl mobilelering hand book
I like your video's
I have a small farm 50 goats a few cows bee's chicken about get ducks bin on cb since I wus 13
N I'm a extra class license
N I like working on old cars trucks
So I look forward to your video's
Stay safe n 73 n good dx n9prf 2fb2112 JOE
Is there a shortage of the letters a and d in short supply now, along with ammo and TP? I hope the supply increases soon, their loss makes it much harder to read.
bought one and hate it. wish i still had my ronald. other than sideband it blows this junk radio out of the water. having all kinds off small annoyances out of mine i never had with the ronald
bought one and hate it. wish i still had my ronald. other than sideband it blows this junk radio out of the water. having all kinds off small annoyances out of mine i never had with the ronald