Does anyone know if the New Cobra 148GTL has the MB8719 PLL Chip
and the 11.3258 xtal. I'm looking to pick one up and don't want to get
stuck with a radio that uses a rom.
New Cobra 148GTL
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perrym1962
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- Joined: Monday 4th Sep 2006, 17:00
- Location: East View, Ky.
Yes on the 11.3258 xtal. I think the new ones have the RCI8719 pll. I have done the channel conversion on a couple of them and they channel the same way as my old ones. I did notice that on the x-tra freqs. below channel 1 with the old ones (148gtls) freq. 26.9550 is on channel 13 and channel 27. On the newer ones it is only on channel 13. Somehow it is 26.9150 on channel 27. ?
Thanks for your help. At least i can change out the xtal to
get more frequencys until I figure out the binary code to
to reprogram the PLL if it can be done. I had an old Grant
with the 8719 and 11 mhz xtal and the schematic for the old 148
looked liked the same chassis didn't know if the new one was.
It's hard to get schematics for the newer radios these days.
Again thanks for your help.
get more frequencys until I figure out the binary code to
to reprogram the PLL if it can be done. I had an old Grant
with the 8719 and 11 mhz xtal and the schematic for the old 148
looked liked the same chassis didn't know if the new one was.
It's hard to get schematics for the newer radios these days.
Again thanks for your help.
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perrym1962
- Frequent Keyer
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Monday 4th Sep 2006, 17:00
- Location: East View, Ky.
I was looking for a used one but the price they were askingMin wrote:just my opinion, your better off and waiting till you can find a good older style Cobra 148GTL. From what I hear the newer ones aren`t all that good.
But like I said, thats what I hear and also just my opinion.
is almost the same as a new one I can get one new for around
$150 you don't know what has been done to a used radio and
I enjoy doing the mods myself.
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frogman296
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- Joined: Monday 12th Nov 2007, 0:47
- Location: canada
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perrym1962
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- Joined: Monday 4th Sep 2006, 17:00
- Location: East View, Ky.
I have 3 older ones and 2 newer ones. Of course I like the old ones better, but I really cannot find serious fault with either of the newer ones. I use them on sideband as well as AM and they do fine for me. So I don't know?......
p.s. I did channel mods on both, variable wattage along with the diode trick for maximum swing at any dead key. 16-18 watt range.. Fine by me.
Oh yeah one more thing, I did the 10kc mod on them as well..
p.s. I did channel mods on both, variable wattage along with the diode trick for maximum swing at any dead key. 16-18 watt range.. Fine by me.
Oh yeah one more thing, I did the 10kc mod on them as well..
best you look around, I`m in Australia and I have just purchased a older style 148 for just over $100 and thats including postage from th US.
There are plenty of them going around, save your hard earned money and get yourself an older style. Alot more reliable. Do more reading on the newer style one and you will see alot of people have negative things to say about them.
My opinion, keep away from the new ones.
There are plenty of them going around, save your hard earned money and get yourself an older style. Alot more reliable. Do more reading on the newer style one and you will see alot of people have negative things to say about them.
My opinion, keep away from the new ones.
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perrym1962
- Frequent Keyer
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Monday 4th Sep 2006, 17:00
- Location: East View, Ky.
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perrym1962
- Frequent Keyer
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Monday 4th Sep 2006, 17:00
- Location: East View, Ky.
As much as I dont like them, early next year I will purchase one for myself so I can see how good they really are and to see for myself the difference between them both. Well with the newer ones I know that the mod board I`d like to put in it wont work as it is the rci and not MB8719. Even if I where to do a pll swap it wont work.
Cobra has also used cheaper parts and change the pcb to a cheaper design aswell. A lot of cheaper things doesn`t really say much good for it.
Then again, my OP*
Cobra has also used cheaper parts and change the pcb to a cheaper design aswell. A lot of cheaper things doesn`t really say much good for it.
Then again, my OP*
Here is a great article that talks about the new cheapened version of the 148 and what the main problem he found with it
Cobra has really shot themselves in the foot with this new radio, why you ask? I'm getting to that but first let me say that Cobra has been the industry leader in producing good quality CB radio's down through the years, there was the great line of Mobil "AM" radios such as the 25LTD, 29LTD. Their Sideband radios such as the 146, 148 gtl and 2000 were superb, they were stable and a radio you could be proud of.
The first thing that happened to Cobra was that Uniden wanted to raise the price on there PC boards, Cobra did not like this so they got some other company to make there boards cheeper! The first thing that happened was that they started using 1/6 Th. watt resistors throughout the whole radio, don't know how many radios failed in the field because of this, I had several myself that had a failure of several resistors that had previously been 1/2 watt. Of course this is all history, they fixed that problem.
Now we have this new radio, the 148 , It looks real pretty at night. I had a customer send me a 148 for peaking and tuning for better receive and transmit. So before doing anything else, I hooked it up to my antenna to get some radio checks, well, AM was OK, nothing to write hone about but clear and clean. Then I went to Sideband, now people say they can't "clarify" me in, What! So I tried some others on the band with the same results, can't clarify me! So I'm thinking maybe my oscillators are off frequency so I check them and find that they are a little off so I align them. This time is the same as the last, they can't clarify me!
So I really got concerned! After checking the oscilator frequencies I find that they change when I modulate! What the Hell! they are not supposed to change, they are supposed to be rock solid! I placed a volt meter on several test points and found that the voltage to the oscillators is changing with modulation! So I start looking for the reason for this and ran into the cause right away.
The new units don't have the MB3756 Voltage Regulator, They have decided to further cheapen the radio by doing away with it! and installed a 3 pin voltage regulator in its place with a series resistor on the 8 volt pin, on the input pin there is no voltage drop, on the output pin there is. What is worse, any type of mod done to these radios that use power, actually decrease the output, due to the fact the radio can't produce enough power through this setup.
What this all boils down to is this, the radio is in my opinion now is somwhat "unstable" on sideband, unable to do proper power mods without introducing a stable power supply inside the radio (I'm not talking about power to the radio) and I for one, would not own one!
Cobra has really shot themselves in the foot with this new radio, why you ask? I'm getting to that but first let me say that Cobra has been the industry leader in producing good quality CB radio's down through the years, there was the great line of Mobil "AM" radios such as the 25LTD, 29LTD. Their Sideband radios such as the 146, 148 gtl and 2000 were superb, they were stable and a radio you could be proud of.
The first thing that happened to Cobra was that Uniden wanted to raise the price on there PC boards, Cobra did not like this so they got some other company to make there boards cheeper! The first thing that happened was that they started using 1/6 Th. watt resistors throughout the whole radio, don't know how many radios failed in the field because of this, I had several myself that had a failure of several resistors that had previously been 1/2 watt. Of course this is all history, they fixed that problem.
Now we have this new radio, the 148 , It looks real pretty at night. I had a customer send me a 148 for peaking and tuning for better receive and transmit. So before doing anything else, I hooked it up to my antenna to get some radio checks, well, AM was OK, nothing to write hone about but clear and clean. Then I went to Sideband, now people say they can't "clarify" me in, What! So I tried some others on the band with the same results, can't clarify me! So I'm thinking maybe my oscillators are off frequency so I check them and find that they are a little off so I align them. This time is the same as the last, they can't clarify me!
So I really got concerned! After checking the oscilator frequencies I find that they change when I modulate! What the Hell! they are not supposed to change, they are supposed to be rock solid! I placed a volt meter on several test points and found that the voltage to the oscillators is changing with modulation! So I start looking for the reason for this and ran into the cause right away.
The new units don't have the MB3756 Voltage Regulator, They have decided to further cheapen the radio by doing away with it! and installed a 3 pin voltage regulator in its place with a series resistor on the 8 volt pin, on the input pin there is no voltage drop, on the output pin there is. What is worse, any type of mod done to these radios that use power, actually decrease the output, due to the fact the radio can't produce enough power through this setup.
What this all boils down to is this, the radio is in my opinion now is somwhat "unstable" on sideband, unable to do proper power mods without introducing a stable power supply inside the radio (I'm not talking about power to the radio) and I for one, would not own one!
Here is a great article that talks about the new cheapened version of the 148 and what the main problem he found with it
Cobra has really shot themselves in the foot with this new radio, why you ask? I'm getting to that but first let me say that Cobra has been the industry leader in producing good quality CB radio's down through the years, there was the great line of Mobil "AM" radios such as the 25LTD, 29LTD. Their Sideband radios such as the 146, 148 gtl and 2000 were superb, they were stable and a radio you could be proud of.
The first thing that happened to Cobra was that Uniden wanted to raise the price on there PC boards, Cobra did not like this so they got some other company to make there boards cheeper! The first thing that happened was that they started using 1/6 Th. watt resistors throughout the whole radio, don't know how many radios failed in the field because of this, I had several myself that had a failure of several resistors that had previously been 1/2 watt. Of course this is all history, they fixed that problem.
Now we have this new radio, the 148 , It looks real pretty at night. I had a customer send me a 148 for peaking and tuning for better receive and transmit. So before doing anything else, I hooked it up to my antenna to get some radio checks, well, AM was OK, nothing to write hone about but clear and clean. Then I went to Sideband, now people say they can't "clarify" me in, What! So I tried some others on the band with the same results, can't clarify me! So I'm thinking maybe my oscillators are off frequency so I check them and find that they are a little off so I align them. This time is the same as the last, they can't clarify me!
So I really got concerned! After checking the oscilator frequencies I find that they change when I modulate! What the Hell! they are not supposed to change, they are supposed to be rock solid! I placed a volt meter on several test points and found that the voltage to the oscillators is changing with modulation! So I start looking for the reason for this and ran into the cause right away.
The new units don't have the MB3756 Voltage Regulator, They have decided to further cheapen the radio by doing away with it! and installed a 3 pin voltage regulator in its place with a series resistor on the 8 volt pin, on the input pin there is no voltage drop, on the output pin there is. What is worse, any type of mod done to these radios that use power, actually decrease the output, due to the fact the radio can't produce enough power through this setup.
What this all boils down to is this, the radio is in my opinion now is somwhat "unstable" on sideband, unable to do proper power mods without introducing a stable power supply inside the radio (I'm not talking about power to the radio) and I for one, would not own one!
Cobra has really shot themselves in the foot with this new radio, why you ask? I'm getting to that but first let me say that Cobra has been the industry leader in producing good quality CB radio's down through the years, there was the great line of Mobil "AM" radios such as the 25LTD, 29LTD. Their Sideband radios such as the 146, 148 gtl and 2000 were superb, they were stable and a radio you could be proud of.
The first thing that happened to Cobra was that Uniden wanted to raise the price on there PC boards, Cobra did not like this so they got some other company to make there boards cheeper! The first thing that happened was that they started using 1/6 Th. watt resistors throughout the whole radio, don't know how many radios failed in the field because of this, I had several myself that had a failure of several resistors that had previously been 1/2 watt. Of course this is all history, they fixed that problem.
Now we have this new radio, the 148 , It looks real pretty at night. I had a customer send me a 148 for peaking and tuning for better receive and transmit. So before doing anything else, I hooked it up to my antenna to get some radio checks, well, AM was OK, nothing to write hone about but clear and clean. Then I went to Sideband, now people say they can't "clarify" me in, What! So I tried some others on the band with the same results, can't clarify me! So I'm thinking maybe my oscillators are off frequency so I check them and find that they are a little off so I align them. This time is the same as the last, they can't clarify me!
So I really got concerned! After checking the oscilator frequencies I find that they change when I modulate! What the Hell! they are not supposed to change, they are supposed to be rock solid! I placed a volt meter on several test points and found that the voltage to the oscillators is changing with modulation! So I start looking for the reason for this and ran into the cause right away.
The new units don't have the MB3756 Voltage Regulator, They have decided to further cheapen the radio by doing away with it! and installed a 3 pin voltage regulator in its place with a series resistor on the 8 volt pin, on the input pin there is no voltage drop, on the output pin there is. What is worse, any type of mod done to these radios that use power, actually decrease the output, due to the fact the radio can't produce enough power through this setup.
What this all boils down to is this, the radio is in my opinion now is somwhat "unstable" on sideband, unable to do proper power mods without introducing a stable power supply inside the radio (I'm not talking about power to the radio) and I for one, would not own one!
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perrym1962
- Frequent Keyer
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Monday 4th Sep 2006, 17:00
- Location: East View, Ky.
Question if you were run your own regulator off 13.8V say off the On&OffRedEye wrote:
The new units don't have the MB3756 Voltage Regulator, They have decided to further cheapen the radio by doing away with it! and installed a 3 pin voltage regulator in its place with a series resistor on the 8 volt pin, on the input pin there is no voltage drop, on the output pin there is. What is worse, any type of mod done to these radios that use power, actually decrease the output, due to the fact the radio can't produce enough power through this setup.
What this all boils down to is this, the radio is in my opinion now is somwhat "unstable" on sideband, unable to do proper power mods without introducing a stable power supply inside the radio (I'm not talking about power to the radio) and I for one, would not own one!
switch to the PLL and the Clarifier Pot to supply your own regulated voltage I assume that would solve the FMing problem on sideband since your suppling your own stabilized voltage to the frequency controlling components.
Re: New type Cobra 148 GTL
The new type Cobra make good door stops. A good example is the Cobra 200 GTL-DX which Cobra have now stop making due to all the problem with it (it only lasted for 2 years of production), I know you will get some which say the radio is ok well good luck to you, I have see this radio in the UK second hand for as little as ?35 with faults.
It maybe worth have a look at Galaxy something like the DX88HL or DX99V or if you want something a little more basic have a look at the DX949V or DX959V.
It maybe worth have a look at Galaxy something like the DX88HL or DX99V or if you want something a little more basic have a look at the DX949V or DX959V.
Rick.