148 GTL

[unrealantidote]

I traded my Ol' trusty Palomar 250 Elite for a Cobra 148 GTL today. I played with it a lil bit after I checked SWR and such.......then I figured out it was swinging backwards........WTF! none of my radio's swing backwards. Anyhow I will be taking it to the local CB shop tomorrow to see if they can figure this out....this is a stock 148 gtl.......none of the wax has been melted on any of the pods. it is currently DK 4 and swinging 3(WTF) and on SSB it is DK 0(like it should) and swinging 10w. Any ideas why this CB would act strange like this? I have got into my Uniden 76 several times and twisted everything that needed twisted, but, im afraid to get in this nicer radio and twist.

anyhow, I finally put my PC76XLW under the bed and upgraded(I guess) to a better radio. I feel the trade was worth it because I only had $75 in the linear. Currently looking into selling my 4pill(4x2879) to buy a TS 667v. I no longer go to shootouts and no longer need a shootout box(at the moment). I have a guy interested here local. Besides neither of my old boxes had SSB delay.

[BtyMONSTER]

get a TS 500 instead of the 667 or better yet a messenger 450 at ALA . I'm guessing you want AB amps to go with the SSB radio . the 667 does only a very few watts more than a 500 and the messenger is much cleaner and only $250 . your watt meter might see 100 watts or so more on the 667 over the 450 but the person you're talking to will never know the power difference .

[busman]

is this 148 the old style with a 5 pin mic plug and the mic mounts on the side. these were the good ones. if it is id send her to sparkys for some tuneing.

[BigBopper]

I use to rewax all the pods as you call it after tuning, that way when a guy would return with a problem I knew if someone else had been in the radio

[Duck Commander]

I have an old 148 5 pin mic on the side and its a blastin radio man for what it is

[drdx]

I have one too, and the receive is outstanding, just like DC said they are what they are. They do lack a little in the output department, but that's what amps are for. Quality wise, on the side mic ones with only 4 switches across the top, they are hard to beat. The knobs and switches feel head and shoulders above most others. -drdx

[busman]

my vairy first real radio was a uniden grant xl. paid 190 $ for it new. my uncle had, and still does a new 148 gtl. the only difference we could see in the 2 was the uniden had a round channel knob and the cobra 148 had a notched channel knob. both great radios.

[Duck Commander]

Mine is loud i mean real loud my pops told me the other day it was just almost too loud :D
almost brought a tear to my eye..... It does its deal thats for sure and like you DOC said it
does lack in the output department with it only swingin around 8 watts if you tweety bird
test it you may get 9-10 out of er but the amp takes care of that part for me the 10K has
its roll in it also

[unrealantidote]

is this 148 the old style with a 5 pin mic plug and the mic mounts on the side. these were the good ones. if it is id send her to sparkys for some tuneing.

Side 5pin mic. its an older one, but, it doesnt have a scratch on it

I guess I will be looking into the TS450 then.


what do the TS450's usually see PEP and DK? Where did you find the TS450 for that price? I know for me to see 250w PEP out of my Palomar I had to over drive it, but, it made a good driver box for my 4pill.

I'm glad that everyone seems to like these radios. Most the ones that I saw had some problems holding frequency for some reason. this one is dead on every frequency

anyhow, I have an external freq counter that I will be running between the amp and the radio just to make sure that everything is always on count

[unrealantidote]

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that is about the cheapest site I could find offering up the texas star amps. and no 450.

[unrealantidote]

Ok, so I went to the CB shop today and asked about variable power and DK being set lower.........their reply was "148 GTL's are stingy. You will never see more then 10w pep on AM out of one. If you want swing buy a G. Lee and if you must have SSB buy a Magnum." WTF, im not asking for 1kkw but 20 would be nice with a 2 or 3w deadkey. I am not a SSB fanatic, but, I do agree that it is nice to have. grr, i just want to drive my truck threw the front door of that CB shop and out the back because they arent trying to help someone. they just want to sell more equipment that I dont need.

anyhow I am going to drive over into ohio about 20 miles because that guy does better peak jobs anyhow. Wish me luck.

[crazytruker]

I put my old Grant, old as in it's the President Grant with Uniden on it because it's from when Uniden first bought President on the Dosy. Anyhow on my Dosy it is keying on the 20 watt scale 10 watts and peaking about 12. On the 200 watt scale it Dk 10 and peaks at 20-22. If I flip to RMS it swings backwards from 10 dk to about 6 watts. May be the meter, may be the radio. I don't know but it is loud.I need to get it to Sparky for a going over.

Holy editing. Making all kinds of goofs on this post

[unrealantidote]

I put my old Grant, old as in it's the President Grant with Uniden on it because it's from when Uniden first bought President on the Dosy. Anyhow on my Dosy it is keying on the 20 watt scale 10 watts and peaking about 12. On the 200 watt scale it Dk 10 and peaks at 20-22. If I flip to RMS it swings backwards from 10 dk to about 6 watts. May be the meter, may be the radio. I don't know but it is loud.I need to get it to Sparky for a going over.

Holy editing. Making all kinds of goofs on this post

heh, sounds like the DK is a lil on the high side for me. and yes those ol' radios like yours are real nice radios. I'm sure if you can get your DK lower you will have more PEP. I know when i took my Uniden PC76XLW from a 6w DK to a 2W DK I saw about 6 watts difference PEP.

Anyhow, will be going to bed soon so I can get threw with my SCA presidential duties =/ then going to CB shop in Ohio to ask him his opinion. I dont know, maybe these radios are Pooopy.

[Slim Jim]

How do the new Cobra 148 gtl's compare to the older ones?

[unrealantidote]

dunno, this is my first 148 GTL and its an older one....but, from what im hearing I am not going to see much swing out of this for a amp

[Slim Jim]

I would think that it would be able to do at least 20 watts swing, right? I've heard good things and just wondered if the new ones could compare at all. I've heard that receive and ssb clarity were outstanding...

[crazytruker]

I would say the older 148's are better quality if not made in China like the new ones. They may not put out huge watt numbers but they are real talkers on modulation. If you want an awesome receiver of a radio the old Uniden Grants are one of the best receivers ever. Even now compared to alot of the new radios out and that is coming straight from Sparky himself. (about the receive)

[Slim Jim]

ten fo

[busman]

i got 5 of them. on average i see them dead key stock at 3 to 5 watts. swing to about 10 to 12. i got one that swings to 15. i run one in the house. got it going into a texas star mod-v going into a eastcoast straight 4 pill base amp. it will jit around 800 watts or so. i got one in my moble that i got drivin a dave made 2 by 4 and its hitting about 750 watts or so. i just bought some big **Censored** fuse holders at the stereo store. its a stinger custom pro. takes them big ol blade fuses. dude let me have it for 39$. it listed for 149$ then i got to solder on my anderson quick disconects. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT OLD COBRA 148. its quality is second to none.

[unrealantidote]

i got 5 of them. on average i see them dead key stock at 3 to 5 watts. swing to about 10 to 12. i got one that swings to 15. i run one in the house. got it going into a texas star mod-v going into a eastcoast straight 4 pill base amp. it will jit around 800 watts or so. i got one in my moble that i got drivin a dave made 2 by 4 and its hitting about 750 watts or so. i just bought some big **Censored** fuse holders at the stereo store. its a stinger custom pro. takes them big ol blade fuses. dude let me have it for 39$. it listed for 149$ then i got to solder on my anderson quick disconects. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT OLD COBRA 148. its quality is second to none.

thx, thats what i like to hear. I guess if the guy in Ohio doesnt want to fool with it Sparky's will have a present on his door step in a week or so.

one question though; should I have variable power put in it being that it doesnt do that many watts or just have it peaked at 2w dead key and swing where it may?

[WEASEL]

A while back I did a mod on a 148 that I found on the Internet. It involved increasing the voltage to the finals to 12v,cutting a trace on the back of the board and adding a couple resistors across the cut. There might have been some more steps that i have forgotten. But, you could adjust the dead key all the way up to like 13w, or turn it down really low and it would swing like crazy. Has anybody else ever seen or heard of this mod, it works really well, I wish I could remember all the steps.

[busman]

heres what you do, you get you a texas star 667-v . and mate it with that 148 and some 4 gauge wire going from the battery to the amp and it will hit 500 watts. i gave a buddy of mine a 667v and we mated it to a 148. with a wilson 5000 mag mount antenna and it hopped right up there to 500 watts. just use good wire and antenna. or you could go with the texas star dx350 high drive. or the dx500 high drive. if you look, some of the texas star amps come working on 10 and 12 meters. cb band is right in the middle of that and will work fine. some of the amps have to be converted to 11 meter ( cb )has them and radio active. i run a rf limited 2018 extreme echo mic on mine and you set the knobs at 2 and 2 and it sound like a big ol galaxy. :D i kid you not.

[drdx]

Here's a fun comparo for you guys regarding the 148. I have an old 148 (pristine condition, no hacking done), a Ranger 2950dx, and a Ranger TR-966. I haven't done much sideband operation with them, but I have ran each in my car, same antenna, etc., only the radio changed. My good comparison was a base station that is about 35 miles as the signal travels away from me. On the 2950, I hear him fine, but gotta work a little to get it all among the noise. With the TR-966, same deal, can hear him but fighting the noise. On the 148, I have a lower noise floor for the given conditions and the station is putting the same approx. 4 s-units and it is very clear. I liken the signal on the 148 to being on a base late at night, when conditions are clear. He just comes right in there. I've been swapping them out now for about a month, and consistently the 148 stands tall on receive. It still doesn't have all the buttons or high output, but you can easier improve those qualities than you can a good receive. This thing is clear enough, I might get use out of my preamp. I know some of it is speaker quality, but the rest is beyond that.

Now don't confuse this with the newer 148. I had one of those, bought it new in 04, sold it in 05. Comparing the 2, there is a definite difference. You can hear it in the receive and feel it in the knobs. The newer one just feels cheaper. The receive is not as good as it is on the older ones, as it sounds too wide banded and "hissy", kind of like the old Super Star 3900 back in the early 90's. It still gets the job done, and may not be noticed to those newer in the hobby. That said, you can search around and fine a very nice older one as cheap or cheaper than a new one.

-drdx

[TwentyTwo-Zero]

i gave a buddy of mine a 667v and we mated it to a 148.

Hey there "buddy"...if you have any more equipment just layin' around you can pass it my way. I'm sure I'll find a good use for it...

[busman]

the quality you speak of drdx is true. i got a couple of 500 $ galaxys and the knobs dont have as tight a feel as my old grants. the receive on them rivals any receive job done on any radio. if the older 148 and uniden grant xls had a band of channels above and below the cb band they would be perfect. the 3 old/new in box ones i bought will never get hacked on. the other 2 i got,one has a swing kit and a rf power switch, the other one has a extra set of dual knobs with echo and talk back. i bought them like that off ebay for like 60$ apeice. they were in pretty good shape to. i am a big fan of the old 148 gtl and uniden grant xl. my first real radio was a grant xl so this is why i like those more. no other reason.