2 pill vs Galaxy 98vhp

[rosman6119]

I was just wondering if anyone would know why or how this happened, in my work truck I have a Galaxy 98vhp and in my personal vehicle I have a Galaxy 939 with duel finals in it and I just added a 2 pill to it now when I added the 2 pill I can talk to people in Texas but with but with my Galaxy 98vhp I cannot get out that far I thought that was a real big radio so my question is why can I get out so much further with a duel final radio with a 2 pill then I can with the 98vhp.

[yota167]

I was just wondering if anyone would know why or how this happened, in my work truck I have a Galaxy 98vhp and in my personal vehicle I have a Galaxy 939 with duel finals in it and I just added a 2 pill to it now when I added the 2 pill I can talk to people in Texas but with but with my Galaxy 98vhp I cannot get out that far I thought that was a real big radio so my question is why can I get out so much further with a duel final radio with a 2 pill then I can with the 98vhp.

The 939 most likely transmits all it's power on frequency, dirty in dirty out or clean in clean out. The amplifier is sending more clean signal on freq than the harmonic splattering 98

[MDYoungblood]

I'm more incline to say it's location and conditions, sometimes I can talk around the world and others I can't get across the street.

3's

Greg

[Deleted User 14541]

With dx it's probably just conditions. A clean radio and external amp will out talk a big super trucker radio 9 times out of 10. I'll take a cobra 29 and a 2 pill over the biggest export on the market.

[Bombero]

a cobra 29 and a 2 pill over the biggest export on the market.

Yep...and my Cobra 29 LTD Classic and 1 pill gets me coast to coast in my mobile..

Bombero

[yota167]

a cobra 29 and a 2 pill over the biggest export on the market.

Yep...and my Cobra 29 LTD Classic and 1 pill gets me coast to coast in my mobile..

Bombero

Ya know, I hear people say that, and I key a well tuned 2 pill in my work truck on and off every day for years and years and I have NEVER been able to talk coast to coast on regular 40am with any sort of regularity. If you were to say that you do it with a beam on a PS id believe it, but here, in the Midwest the fact is; on AM regular 40, you might get your name called back 1 time out of several hundred cq's.

I run a mean over driven 4pill in my pickup mobile keying 900 peak will do a K but I don't do that often. Even this setup doesn't get your name called much if at all on 28, 26 or 6. So I'm just not sure what kind of magic conditions all these people have when they say they talk world wide on AM cb 40 with a few hundred watts.

Now when I'm keying 2300+kilowatts my name gets called. A lot. Often. I'm heard. But in my experience if someone wants to talk DX in a mobile on cb AM 40, it's gonna take more than 1kilowatt to do it and not be wasting your breath. Maybe some guys on the salt water coasts and get by with less, or the guys who can drive the mountain passes, but wow it take KILOWATTS to get called from the Midwest. Any less is a waste of time if someone is looking for a dx'n mobile setup.

[wild willy]

a cobra 29 and a 2 pill over the biggest export on the market.

Yep...and my Cobra 29 LTD Classic and 1 pill gets me coast to coast in my mobile..

Bombero

What kind of 1 pill do you use? I have a gatekeeper 1 pill with a variable. A friend of mine on here is going to send me a 29LTD. I hope to run it with that.

[Deleted User 14541]

a cobra 29 and a 2 pill over the biggest export on the market.

Yep...and my Cobra 29 LTD Classic and 1 pill gets me coast to coast in my mobile..

Bombero

Ya know, I hear people say that, and I key a well tuned 2 pill in my work truck on and off every day for years and years and I have NEVER been able to talk coast to coast on regular 40am with any sort of regularity. If you were to say that you do it with a beam on a PS id believe it, but here, in the Midwest the fact is; on AM regular 40, you might get your name called back 1 time out of several hundred cq's.

I run a mean over driven 4pill in my pickup mobile keying 900 peak will do a K but I don't do that often. Even this setup doesn't get your name called much if at all on 28, 26 or 6. So I'm just not sure what kind of magic conditions all these people have when they say they talk world wide on AM cb 40 with a few hundred watts.

Now when I'm keying 2300+kilowatts my name gets called. A lot. Often. I'm heard. But in my experience if someone wants to talk DX in a mobile on cb AM 40, it's gonna take more than 1kilowatt to do it and not be wasting your breath. Maybe some guys on the salt water coasts and get by with less, or the guys who can drive the mountain passes, but wow it take KILOWATTS to get called from the Midwest. Any less is a waste of time if someone is looking for a dx'n mobile setup.

If you can't talk on 28 with 1kw you have an inefficient antenna or are just in a bad location. Yeah its tough in a mobile with a 4 pill but it can be done. Try it where I live...DRDX used to say that even the high school kids are running 16 pills these days.

Alot of its politics too. A local base operator used to talk alot of skip and has made alot of friends. One day I was driving home while he was talking to Oregon. I knew I was keying on him but the oregon guy would not acknowledge me. Truth is he could barely hear my neighbor because he kept keying up with him and not really answering his questions...ghost talking. I waited a bit and used the Jamaican accent. Then all of a sudden that guy from Oregon could "hear me like a local".

[rosman6119]

I did not mention in my 1st post that I live in Pennsylvania and when I put that 2 pill in on this past Thursday I have been able to talk to several different people in Texas everyday since.

[Buzzweiser]

The antenna can make a big difference in your ability to get out as well. The type and how it's mounted and grounded. I'd dare to guess that your 2 pill is also doing about the same as the 98VHP but your 2 pill is probably louder on audio with the 939 than the VHP is due to the board in the VHP being AB1 biased. Your 2 pill is probably biased C or B.

[rosman6119]

On my work truck I have a hustler scb with the 98 vhp
And on my personal vehicle I have a Wilson 1000 mag mount with the duel final 939 and 2 pill
Is it worth it to change the amp on the 98 vhp to the ranger amp and if so how would you go about doing that.
Can you just buy a ranger amp to fit the 98vhp if so where and does anyone know how much that would cost.
Thanks for any input.

[Buzzweiser]

It already has the Ranger amp in it. Galaxy buys those amps for the VHP from Ranger. if you open it up it will say Ranger right on the amp board. Unless they've changed recently....lol.

[Deleted User 14541]

I did not mention in my 1st post that I live in Pennsylvania and when I put that 2 pill in on this past Thursday I have been able to talk to several different people in Texas everyday since.

Its really hard to base performance on ability to shoot skip. If you had a way to switch between radios quickly and get a signal report that would settle it. If you've just switched setups try it for a couple of months and see what you think. It might very well be better.

A watt meter is an ignorant device. It doesn't know what frequency is being pumped into it. Take one setup that shows 100 watts pep but is transmitting spurs and harmonics. Then another 100 watt setup that us cleaner. More power is on frequency so of course it's stronger.

Type accepted cb radios have to meet FCC standards to be legal CB radios. Exports don't have to meet any standards but the manufacturer's. I've saw crazy things happen running exports into amplifiers because of the trash coming out of them. You're always at a disadvantage in a mobile and that's why you won't see an export in mine. I want a clean radio because there's no sense in amplifying spurs and other trash. Many people will disagree but I've been through my export stage of life...they used to look very appealing when I wanted echo and thought I needed all those channels. There is a good reason you rarely see anything but a cobra 25/29 or a uniden 66/68/76/78 in a key down truck. With all the money spent on amps and alternators they could have easily bought a nicer radio.

[1 ADAM 12]

There is a good reason you rarely see anything but a cobra 25/29 or a uniden 66/68/76/78 in a key down truck. With all the money spent on amps and alternators they could have easily bought a nicer radio.[/quote]



A LOT OF TRUTH IN ABOVE STATEMENT

[drdx]

I wonder if the galaxy 949/959 and the smaller 919/979 units are as clean as the cobras and unidens. Being type accepted id think that they possibly are but being related to the export crowd who knows. I too am past the needs of the extra channels but I do like the variable power on the legal galaxies. That said, the only export I own is like new and just sits in its box. It is an S3 and works great but not sure how clean it is and that concerns me as far as spurious emissions.

That said, I'd think that any remotely clean radio going into a good amp would do better than the big export. Throw a low pass filter in after each and see which one looks better on a wattmeter. You may learn more about the differences and as 543 mentioned, you would need to be able to quickly switch between for a better comparo and I'd do that to a local station or two.

-drdx

[rosman6119]

Well I am not going to pretend to know a lot about radios and amps , so basically you are saying that a cobra radio with a amp is better then a Galaxy radio and another question can I run a amp with my Galaxy 98vhp and do I have to run another power cord to the battery for the amp or can I split off of the cord already ran for the 98vhp and what type of amp would you recommend to go with the 98 vhp.

[yota167]

An amp for the 98vhp? If your gonna go with a pill box id say something with straight 8 2879's. You'll need to upgrade to 2 batteries and buy a high output alternator, and some 1/0 welding cable. Bond the entire body, drill a hole for a puck mount and have your stuff tuned perfect. Hope u got some money to spend cause you'll need it if u wanna run an amp behind a 200watt export.

-- February 11 2015 --

Also might look into some bigger MOSFET boxes for that export. I don't know much about them maybe Someone else can chime in on the FETS as a possible cheaper alternative.

[Buzzweiser]

You could run a high drive box behind it but it would really need to be an 8 pill or bigger. You might be able to run a smaller HD box but I doubt the pills would last very long unless you had the radio dialed back to do about 125 maybe 150 depending on the brand of box you buy. Those Ranger Fet amps don't like high SWR's and if you happen to get a box where the ports aren't tuned well you'll end up cooking the fets in the radio amp. That amp was made more for SSB than AM. They work great on SSB (Never really heard the 98VHP but have heard many of the RCI 2970N2's) and while they really talk on SSB they really don't cut the mustard on AM. I run the N2 myself but went through a lot of experimentation and money with mine and threw the FET amp that was in it in the trash. I like what I have now but the time and frustration I went through plus the money I could have gotten an older Cobra 148 and a nice 6 pill box to go with it that would sound just as good probably.

[rosman6119]

Ok here is what I am not understanding you said that the Galaxy 98 vhp has the same amp in it as the radio that is made by ranger RCI 69ffb4 so if they have the same amp in them which I believe that they do I have heard that before why does the ranger radio do 600 watts and the Galaxy only do 260 watts that's a big difference please explain that's what I ment when I said Chang the amp out of the 98 and put a ranger one in I saw it done on YouTube I just did not know how to get one.

[yota167]

and another question can I run a amp with my Galaxy 98vhp and do I have to run another power cord to the battery for the amp or can I split off of the cord already ran for the 98vhp and what type of amp would you recommend to go with the 98 vhp.

Is this not the question you ment to ask?

[rosman6119]

Yes yota I did ask that also but if you look at some of the earlier post my whole point was why is my Galaxy 939 with dual finals and a 2 pill hooked up to it getting out further then my Galaxy 98vhp the 98vhp does not have a pill box hooked to it it was told to me it would do 260 watts by itself so then I asked if you could change the amp on the 98vhp to a ranger amp I thought they were identical radios the ranger and the 98vhp but the ranger radios I have been seeing on YouTube do a lot more watts so then I found I guy on YouTube that said you can change the amp part of the 98 vhp to the ranger amp that has different finals in it and it will do more watts but someone above said they had the same amp boards I thought ranger did not use mosfet in there radios and that why they can do more watts if you read above you will see what I mean.

-- Thursday, 12 February 2015, 13:30 PM --

Thanks for the help everyone but I called ranger today and the guy I spoke to said he can sell me a ranger amp with the 4 2879 finals in it and it fits in the Galaxy 98vhp and will do 400 watts instead of the mosfet finals that only do 200 watts he said it is an easy swap out.

[Buzzweiser]

The Galaxy 98VHP uses the Ranger T-149E-P08 amplifier board. That's the same board used in the RCI-2970N2. This is an 8 IRF-520 Mosfet amplifier. The IRF-520 is rated at 25 watts. If your radio is doing 260 they won't last long. 225 is about Max you want. No one will notice 40 watts. The other Ranger amplifier you saw on youtube was the 4 pill board they use in the 69FFB/C4. The board number is T-149G-P08. It uses 4 2sc2879 pills. It will do 400 watts at 12.5 volts nominal. Most guys that did this mod are getting about 500 - 550 watts out of the radio at 13.8 volts. Some foolish guys are over volting their radio's and are getting over 600. While the pills can take the higher voltage the radio components can't for very long. Add to that the pills run pretty hot and it's only a matter of time that "poof" out comes the smoke. Consider the board alone is $250 bucks and then add 4 matching pills and the cost of the radio gets pretty high, especially if you can't do the mod yourself and have to pay someone else to do it. You can buy a Ham rig cheaper, or a decent Cobra, Galaxy or other type and a separate amplifier for less. I built several different styles of amplifiers for mine and while most of them worked well the heat was always an issue.
Regardless of what board you want to run in that Radio I'd suggest the slimline blower unit that you can buy for 25 bucks. You have to take out the internal speaker but it sucks anyways and use an external speaker but the blower will save you a board,downtime and money.

[rosman6119]

I will be fine with the 400 watts and I don't know what board you are saying is $250 because I spoke to the guy from ranger today and for the whole board the whole lower half of the amp fully assembled with the 4 - 2879 pills in it is $400 and you get on a waiting list he only had a few spots open for the ones coming in this March 20th he said it is around every 3 months that he gets them in to sell so when I get it I have to just swap it out which is pretty easy he said so when it comes in I will just try and sell my 98vhp whole lower amp with the 8 finals in it. Thanks for the help.

[1206FL]

That new board has DEI pills and not toshiba 2879's. Big difference man. If you get 400 watts out "clean" I would be surprised. Why not just just buy a 4 pill amp and use it with your dual final 939. You will not be plagued by heat, solder joints coming loose due to heat and just the added heat at the bottom of the radio. You are adding a 4 pill amp to the bottom of a radio chassis. There is no way that you will keep this cool without use of a coupe of fans. And also a 4 pill amp and radio will probably still smoke the Galaxy you are having the board added to. Goes back to one of the original posts, clean in equals clean out. But hey if you want to have 800 tied up in an export radio go for it. Last but not least, you may get 400 watts from those DEI pills, but without some cooling, the radio isn't going to last. JMHO.

[Deleted User 14541]

The 520s cost a bit over 50 cents a piece. That amp board had $4 in transistors plus some other miscellaneous parts so don't expect to get much out of it. If you bought the radio new buying a $400 amp board Wil almost put you to a $1000 in that radio. If you aren't happy with it you would be far better off selling it and buying what you want. Even with the 4 pill board a guy with a 25 and a 2 pill will be talking just as far if not further.

If you're stuck on having an export what about a 50 watt radio and a comp 4 pill? Cheaper, more watts and won't run hot enough to cook bacon on like the built in amps do.

-- Friday, 13 February 2015, 7:54 AM --

And yes I realize the 4 pill board on the galaxy will show more watts on a meter. I just said the Cobra with 2 pill would out talk it.