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Colt
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - 4:30 pm: | 
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Hello, Gentlemen!
I could use some opinions(and, hopefully, facts) regarding the effectiveness of noise blankers on Galaxy mobile and Lincoln/HR2510 radios. I'd like to hear from guys who have had both.
As some of you may be aware, I have a Galaxy DX959 that I got last December. I have been quite satisfied with the quietness of the receiver. I sent the radio to a technician a couple months ago to have various mods done. The quiteness of the reciever was good then, as it is now. During our conversations, I found that it was his opinion that the noise blankers in RCI/Galaxy radios, although they work well, are not as good as the noise blankers in the Lincoln/HR2510. Reading the rave reviews on the Lincoln on this board, I scrounged around till I got my stinking grubby mitts on a new Lincoln(Yes!)
Well, I just wasn't gonna be satisfied till I had the outfit Chipswitched, so I sent it to a tech; but before sending it, I hooked it up in the ole pickup and farred that baby up! Well, when I started my engine, I noticed somewhat more ignition noise than I get with the 959. "Dagnab!" I thought. "Sorta pesky!" Turning on the blanker cut out quite a bit of it, but it was still noisier than the Galaxy.
When I sent it to the tech, I asked him to go on and check the noise blanker. Well, according to him, the blanker is working normally, but he says that the blanker in a Galaxy is better than the one in a Lincoln; just the opposite of what the other tech said.
"NUTS"!
So what do you fine gentlemen say? Remember, I'd like to hear from fellers who have owned both, or from techheads who have the straight dope!
Also, if it's true that the blanker in a Lincoln is inferior, is there any mod that can improve it?
That's all I got to say about that. What to y'all say?
(BTW, I'm copying a version of this to the Tech's page in case they don't see this one!)
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bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - 9:24 pm: |
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the ONLY way a noise blanker would be totaly effective would be if some how it could predict the noise and sel adjust to the correct bandwidth and timing of each spike... now some sourt of bandwidth control on the blanker and depth control to shut the if down might help see every blanker is a compmise all do a good job all work well but none will kill every spike i have had a 959 to be honest the blanker was one of the only things i liked about that radio..... DSP real DSP could help but again lots of bucks.... by the way my alinco dx-70 as good as it is the blanker is no better that that 959.... bruce |
bags
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 09, 2002 - 10:03 pm: |
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Colt i have had a galaxy 33'44'66'73'&77 over the years and not one of them had the noise filtering that my 2510 does in the pickup truck. Seems to me that the galaxy's work better as a base station than in a mobile. Talk is cheap but i am telling you this from experience. |
Highlander
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 6:45 am: |
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SS8541 tweaked the NB on my Galaxy 2517, and it does alot. My Lincoln mobile picks up some fuel pump noise in my car, the NB takes most of it out. The Lincoln seems to be the better receiver of the two...sensitivity is comparable, but the Lincoln's signal to noise ratio seems better, and unwanted sideband gunk is handled better, IMO. |
Diggerodell
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 11:55 am: |
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yep my lincoln is the best of all my radios.......... |
Colt
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 3:58 pm: |
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Come to think of it, I don't really know if the other models of Galaxies, that is, the 10 meter models, are a good comparison with my 959 since they use altogether different ckt boards. I'm sure the 949 would be a good comparison to the 959. My 959 probably has the most quiet receiver of any radio I've owned(mostly Cobras). It just doesn't make sense that the Lincoln would not have as good a noise blanking system as the 959.
I'm trying to determine if the Lincoln has a problem in the blanker, or if it is doing as well as any Lincoln.
More input please. Keep it comin'! |
Ohiobiker
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 12:44 am: |
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I run all my radios stright from the battery, useing cranking cable amp wires, seems to me lead has some kind of filtering qualitys. I have some noise in my HR-2510s But nothing like a wine or repeated ticking...I have a good ground on my whole system and that seems to help. I haven't had all that much noise in any of the 3 HR-2510s I curently own, I haven't needed to try any after market devices. I get more interference from my daughters hair dryer at 6AM in the moring on my Yaesu then I do my HR2510s in any of my mobiles. Where are you getting the power from to run the Lincoln? I do pick up some noise as my wipers run in my old Ford E-150. Try getting you power direct from the battery, Mine is also set up so I need not have the key on durring any use of the Radio if I don't want to be on the move. I have kept all my connections clean, and use only good copper connections too. I also soldier all my connections where possible. My power to radio cords do not go near my fan heater motor or any other electrical componants of my vehicles. I guess some of it is over kill like the cranking cable(audio amp power wire)...but i have seen some radios work poorly due to too small of wire.
Just my thoughts on the deal...and if you'd like COLT....You can send it too me if your really disappointed with it....and I'd gladly send you a nice Galaxy DX66V in exchange for it...LOL...I know you waited a long time to get this radio...So be paient and try a few different things with power source to get rid of excess noise. I wonder if the chip switch has anything to do with it also...as none of mine are chip switched out?...Any how write for the address when you're "fed up with it" COLT...And I'll put a fresh coat of wax on the DX66-V...LOL...later all.....OHIOBIKER~...Trans-America 5275 |
707
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 2:06 am: |
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I can't speak for Lincolns, but my 2510 does have a rather brutish NB. As a base radio, NB rarely gets used, because it works TOO well, making it difficult to understand those stations that are right at the noise floor, but it surely does clean up the noise. I ran one in the car for a long time and never had a noise problem. |
Magnum410
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 7:49 am: |
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Colt
I run a lincoln, HR2510 and a galaxyDX99v and I have always thought the Galaxy had a better noise blanker but I run the 2510 in my mobile and it seems just fine as far as noise. I hope this helps. 73s |
ss8541
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 10:55 am: |
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in my opinion the 2510/lincolns nb works better. the president(including the 2510), non dx galaxy, and newer rci radios all use the exact same noise blanker circuit design but with different parts. the dx model galaxies and older 29xx use the same design except they have one extra coupling transformer. i think the layout and maybe parts difference and rx chain is the reason for the better performance in the lincolns.
here is how i list the nb's performance when i am asked this;
1) lincoln/2510
2) 29xxdx and rci/gal with 6900 board (your 959). overall these nbs are almost as good as the lincolns but imo not quite as good. although i have seen some radios that were just as good or even better.
3) dx gal mobiles and older 29xx. in some radios the nb seems to not be operational at all. this is even after aligning the nb.
for all of the above, this is for ssb, since the anl is not active on ssb. in ssb you can really tell if the nb is working or not.
if the tech that moded your 959, upgraded the n.b. components and aligned it with a pulse gen, this could be 1 of the reasons it works better.
u need to ask the tech who is looking at your lincoln if he aligns the nb and how he aligns the nb. also, the nb in the lincoln can be upgraded just like the nb in the 959.
the lincoln does pick up more noise through the power cord than the rci/gal. an inline noise filter will fix that. a quick test is to unplug the coax. if the noise is still there, it is coming in through the power cord and the nb has no effect on this. this is a 2nd reason the 959's nb may seem to work better.
this is just my opinion from my testing and experience. |
Colt
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 3:55 pm: |
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HA! 'Biker! and another one...HA-HA! I ain'ta tradin' fer no Galaxy. Throw that Yaesu in on the deal, and we can talk!(vbg)
Well, I haven't gotten it back yet. I noticed the noise before I sent it off, so the Chipswitch wouldn't be a factor. The test was done with the power coming from the cigarette lighter, so I'm hoping going direct to battery will help.
I want to run from the battery with some kind of shielded wire. I haven't had any luck finding any without buying a 250 ft roll. Can't find it sold by the foot. It has been suggested to me by Copper's service dept and a stereo store to use Mini-8 if I want to shield it. The part that stinks about that is having to run seperate wires for pos and neg. Also, if I want to run a little beef later on down the road, I'll have to run the wires again since I doubt the Mini-8 would handle the total amperage. I know that using shielded wire may be a little bit of overkill as you said with your audio amp wire, but I really want to get rid of as much noise as I can, knowing, of course, that you can never get rid of all of it.
Do you know of any kind of place that might sell a 2 conductor shielded wire-heavy enough to handle some amperage-by the foot?
Think about that deal now, ya hear? You don't really want a Yaesu anyway! You ride a Harley, right? Well, shux, any man what drives an all American Harley don't wanna be caught talkin' on no rice-burner radio!(LOL!) |
Colt
| | Posted on Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 11:10 pm: |
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Thanks guys, for the info so far. I'm digesting all this. SS, I hope you're right about the quality of the Lincoln blanker and the statement that it picks up more noise from the power cord. It definately had more noise when I hooked it up than my 959 does, both before and after modding[959]. When I get it back, I'll do the unplugging the coax test and hope it proves the noise is from the power source as you said since, again, as you said, you can filter that out. I know that solving noise coming in from the antenna/coax can be a bear.
So far as the noise blanker being upgraded and aligned on my 959, yeah, all that has been done. I think you know the guy who did it; some scallywag from a little one horse town close to the NC/SC border(vbg). He's a good ole boy, but, man, he's a flapjaw!(LOL)
What do you think about wiring direct to battery with Mini-8? I can't help but be believe that using shielded wire would be a plus, and as I said in the above post, I can't seem to find any 2 conductor shielded wire sold by the foot that can handle any amps. You got any ideas on that? |
ss8541
| | Posted on Friday, April 12, 2002 - 12:42 am: |
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yeah i know that clown. i picked up on who you were when i 1st read the post. and for the record, anytime i've talked to him, he wouldn't shut up. i just didn't want to put any info out there that you didn't want disclosed.
as for the 2 conductor cable to hold an amp, you can make it yourself. you can strip the outer braid off of mini8 or rg8 and slide it over 10-04ga wire. gnd it at both ends, and 'bam', you have shielded power cords. may not look really neat, but hey whats better performance or looks? if done right, it won't look too bad though. you can always 'neatly' wrap it with electrical tape for appearance purposes.
you can also go to the hardware store and get 'foil' hvac (air conditioner) tape and wrap the wires with this. when i worked as a business band tech we sometimes had to use this to keep rf out of the cameras, bar/strobe lights, and computers in the patrol cars.
you could even do both if you wish.
for the radio, i'd just use an inline filter. but you first need to test to see if the noise is coming in through the power cord. if it isn't, then either is a waste of time.
let me also say that on the bench with test equipment, the nbs between the lincoln/2510 and the 959 (or other radios with the 6900 board) on average work almost equally well. but when put into the operational setting (mobile, base, etc) the lincoln/2510's nb/anl seems to be more effective to "real world" noise.
once again, just my opinion and experience. seems as though other "operators" here seem to agree.
richard byrd |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Friday, April 12, 2002 - 2:07 am: |
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Ok heres my 1/ cent. lol
I have had both the 2510 and the 2600 (which i own now) and i have to say they have a -good- NB in them. IMHO about the best you can find in any radio. I mostly run base ( no longer run mobile) and the 2600 i use works excellent although the NB is a tad on the macho side on some of the really long distance locals that i can hardley hear when it is on... |
Colt
| | Posted on Sunday, April 14, 2002 - 12:32 am: |
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SS, now, I was 100% kiddin' about the "flapjaw" part. I always enjoyed our jawin' sessions on the LL, 'specially since I have a card that let's me talk for 3 1/2 cents per minute!(heh-heh);) |
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