president mckinley

Hi does anyone have a president mckinley rig and if so what are your thoughts on it review wise are they worth all the dosh  ? 

A lot about that radio on here i did a quick search and this is just 1 of the many posts.
https://charlietangodxgroup.forumotion.com/t2983-president-mckinley?highlight=mckinley

Hi 'skyrider'. (Sorry no name given here or in your profile.)


Many members here have or have had the President McKinley CB radio and judging by equipment lists as well as reviews it seems like a popular radio.

Nowadays with CB operators being much further apart than days of old a SSB or sidebander radio is a must with better transmission distances available with such modes. They're also helpful if you want to catch some 'skip' DX contacts being the preferred method of operation. (You can DX with FM and AM modes also though.)

Reviews for such radios should be taken on balance, if attached to a poor antenna setup then the apparent 'best' radio in the world won't perform very well. Worthwhile remembering that it's not just about the radio so account for an antenna, coax, power supply when running as a home base let alone any ancillary equipment such as SWR meters etc. within your budget.


Is it worth all the dosh?

Well it certainly is when you have the excitement of your first DX contact giving you a radio thrill!


If you want to go further then the Radio Amateur Foundation exam costs less than £30 plus a bit of study. The equipment is a bit more expensive on the face of it but there are cheaper alternatives available and compared to a full blown CB setup can be fairly equivalent in price. Especially if you sling up a bit of wire cut to the right length as an antenna on the HF bands and on some bands far off contacts could happen almost every day.....even with the 10 Watt limit at Foundation. 

Even if only armed with a cheap 2m/70cm hand held radio you can fire up repeaters and manage equivalent or greater distance contacts than normally possible on a propagation devoid CB band. Far more likely to make a contact too.


Apologies for my 'mumblings' but there are many paths you can take to reach radio bliss it all being down to the choices you make and effort put in.


Is the McKinley worth it? That's pretty much up to you.  

All the best,
Victor

thanks very much for your thoughts Victor (im Lionel by the way) i still have my multimode 2 in a cupboard and i have had several home base antennas plus a pama power  mike with echo , and right now i think i need a rig with LSB/USB so i think i will have to go shopping thanks i will stay in touch i forgot to mention im in preston lancs

Thanks for that Alan

Hi Lionel, pleasure to make your acquaintance.

It sounds like you're pretty much all geared up and obviously have some past experience with CB radio.

Newer CB gear is great, (pretty much based on the circuitry of old just with fancy screens and microprocessor control), but there's many that lust and swear blind by the old gear. Probably won't be long before it all shifts over to SDR technology much like everything else.

CB Radio has definitely changed over the years and although there are many that have hung on it's nowhere near as busy as it once was. (We unfortunately lost a lot of faces & voices due to the passage of time.) Here's hoping the ramp up the current solar cycle brings back many on board and maybe attracts newer operators.

I expanded my interests by finally getting my 'ticket' and must admit that there's always something to do when the CB bands are quiet. (Shhh....I've hardly touched CB since turning to the 'dark side'. )


I wish you all the best with your radio interests.

73's
Victor

again thanks for that Victor plus two points would you happen to know if anyone is selling a president mckinley for reasonable money or if not a similar ssb rig with usb/lsb and  another one for you im surprised rigs have not gone digital like everything else 

Hi Lionel,

A very good question!!  I'd recommend the CRT SS9900 by way of an alternative bud.  It will give you an expansive frequency range across AM/FM/SSB modes, and it's absolutely fantastic!!  Have a look at kcb.co.uk and they'll sort you right out with the radio pre-programmed to all of the relevant frequencies chap.

Cheers,

Simon.

thanks Simon i will have a look

have you seen the one on ebay and what do you think about it  ?

skyrider wrote:

have you seen the one on ebay and what do you think about it  ?

Hi Lionel, I take it you mean the 9900 if so there is 8 to 10 on Fleebay.

Tony

Hi Tony yes it has one bid on it at the moment at £120

skyrider wrote:

Hi Tony yes it has one bid on it at the moment at £120

Ok Lionel, I didn't know you were looking on the auction section. I steer clear of auctions on Ebay myself as I'm a suspicious old bugger.
Tony

right what do you reckon go straight to a reputable shop/ dealer. how about kcb.co.uk   

skyrider wrote:

right what do you reckon go straight to a reputable shop/ dealer

Lionel, please don't let me put you off the auction but I would prefer a dealer or a CTDX member to buy gear from.

Good luck whichever way you go.
Tony

yes i would really like to buy a rig off someone on CTDX they have more interest in what they are selling i will have to look on the classifieds

do you ever use an amp on your radio Tony

skyrider wrote:

do you ever use an amp on your radio Tony

I haven't used an amp since about 1985.
The Yaesu is 100W and the Space-U is about 17W which is plenty for me, in fact I rarely use more than 40W on 11M & 10W on 446.
On the Ham bands I am limited to 10W and stick to that.

Tony

i think if you have a decent radio/antenna you are on to a winner

has anyone ever owned a kpo dx-5000 plus , kcb sell them and they look ok