Rci 69ffb4

[321 treeclimber]

Is it worth owning ? I love my gal 98vhp.she is everything i was told she'd be but it has a few issues. Like over heating,not to the point of failure but hot to the point of fear of failure ! Over modulation and unusable talkback.all tolerable, no prob. But with that said how much better could the ranger be ? And as a base what kind of power supply does it need ?

[BBB]

The 6900 chassis is known to drift a bit until it is warmed up. The 6300 is just a 6900 board sans the SSB components. Both are the basis for some loud modulating AM radios. There may be a few 4 pill Ranger and RCI radios around that were converted using an amp board with genuine Toshiba 2290s or 2879s. I believe the C4 version they were called. R&R also offered them as an add-on a few years back.

I would also look for the older 6900F150, Turbo or Jumbo that had genuine Toshiba transistors in the final amp stage. These older 2 pill versions of the 69ffb4 radios hold their value though. You may get a few more watts from the new ffb4 version but I don't trust those DEI or HG final amp bi-polar transistors as far as I can throw them.

Some of the new big radios like the 98VHP and 2970N2 use 8 MOSFETs and I know how that story will end. Luckily the MOSFETs are not that expensive. Make sure the bias is adjusted on these MOSFETs to match your 14.5VDC+ or higher voltage power supply (if used)

The main issue with all of them is that are not adequately fan cooled or not fan cooled at all. Probably due to the fact that these were marketed to OTR truckers that were light on the key down times. If you want to run then as a base station, simply put a cooling fan nearby to blow on the bottom of the radio to get some more air movement on the heat sinks.

Either way the 69ffb4 is a limited production radio that will also hold it's value IMO. Not really trying to bash it, I just like the previous versions better. Look at the prices that they are getting for the big old RCI base stations these days. Literally more than a new HF HAM radio.

New "Black" Transistor crap?

Hmm, well looky here... R&R offering the amp board with Genuine Toshibas still. You Solder. $450... ouch.

www.rrcom.com/radioparts/Parts%20Pictures/T-149G-P08.jpg

[321 treeclimber]

Hmmmm....well great info. Im torn on the price right now as christmas has wiped out my disposable cabbage.but i still haven't heard enough negatives to think it would be a poor choice. My 98vhp really wants a permanent position in the truck so a base unit position is going to open up. What kind of amperage from a power-supply would be adequate to yak on the rci with? The galaxy isn't really getting enough from my 52 amp supply. 321

[321 treeclimber]

I've decided to go on an get one...well, there goes the rent. 321

[BBB]

FYI that Pyramid 52 amp supply is more like 40 amps.Sorry, just the way they market it.

The b4 will need 75+ amps. Mega Watts sells some 50 amp units you can combine easily for 75-100amps. You will want a dedicated 20 amp 120VAC out to run them or two dedicated 15 amp 120VAC outlets (1) for each.

See...as you power up you need to up your power.Ampz x Volz = WATTZ

www.ebay.com/itm/10-14V-50-Amp-Stackable-100-Amps-CB-Ham-Radio-Power-Supply-MegaWatt-28V-12V-/222979107347?nav=SEARCH

[321 treeclimber]

Yep'r i ended up buying the powermax 100 amp.i hava some what dedicated line. The only other thing on it is my desk light.looks like walcott radio has the best deal for me. I trust them getting the alignment and set up right. 321

[321 treeclimber]

The power-max amp checks out. Certainly puts out what they said it would. No frills , yes. Quiet, yes and nicely put together.next stop rci .
321

[321 treeclimber]

It arrived like any other fedex box. No fan fare, no fireworks, just my dogs barking at the little white van at the road. 321

[321 treeclimber]

The radio shipped in four days. Well packaged and neatly packed with no damned packing peanuts! Thank God, cause no matter how carefully i open a box, they escape. Anyway,upon opening the carton a spec sheet fell out, revealing the output after the tech tuned,aligned and peaked this very sharp looking cb. It simply stated 10-150w deadkey, 450w pep am....impressive,i thought. So i remove the radio and three plastic bags of stuff,(mic,pwrcord and mounting hrdwr) all looks in order but what seemed like a cheap looking mic(the ranger name in big white letters painted on it) turned out to feel pretty well made. Had a good solid weight to it and nice,clean classic design. even the hanger-button on the back of the mic was chrome. The radio itself was much like my galaxy 98vhp...maybe heavier but same set up with giant heat sink on belly and another small one on the back,thin with deep fins. The face of the rig is what i like about its looks.heavy chrome and nice layout of buttons and knobs. My problem with this very classic early 70s control center is the tiny meter. I can't read it even with my glasses, much less in a moving car. Then there's a very poor cosmetic flaw...the control labeling is tiny red letters."invisible"at best. I had read the review's about that and had thought, how bad could it be? Bad very bad. Ok read the users manual and started to hook it up on the bench. Just bought a megapower switching power supply for this overly thought out and scrutinized occasion.

[BBB]

Glad everything arrived undamaged. At one place I used to work, we would refuse any package that had packing peanuts in it. All of our vendors were instructed not to use them on our packages but every once & while one would ship thru the cracks. The slightest breeze would send the peanuts around the dock and out into the parking lot.

[321 treeclimber]

Yep that would've been me. I'd had been shop vacin, leaf blowin ,rakin an'ah sweepin ,cuss'n an complaining! Damn peanuts! They aught'ah hang the sorry bastard that thought'em up!....ok that said, got this thing fired up and i strolled around the controls and kicked a tire or two, only to notice that the button designated by the manual as the hi-low tone switch,its not,it drops the frequency. I'll come back to that. Now that this so called "bad-ass" trucker rig is in motion i start checkin claims of grandeur on my dosy...mind you my meter aint no bird,but it ain't bad. Yep,10-155 and 460wpep...ok I'm goin hunt'n straight to chnnl.28, first victim

[321 treeclimber]

BBB was right. It drifts. A lot until warm. So much so that i couldnt make out what a local was saying. There were washing and fading receive sounds.does resolve itsef to a tolerable level as it warms up but we're not talkin 4 or 5 min. More like 10 to 15 or more. At that point I'm not sure if its got really good ears or poor noise limiting.or both! Besides that, stations as far away as 50 miles have come back with good reports. No one has called it a monster yet and i have not told anyone that im talkin on anything new. The locals know i have a habit of radio hopping all my units. So most just assume its just my flavor of the day from my old stable of radios. Wanna keep it that way for a bit to get a few more unprejudiced reports.

[tubefan]

In my opinion, Which is only mine, Any radio with an echo built in, amp built in, or newer than mid 1990s is junk on SSB and not a quality radio. The money people spend on these newer Chinese import radios baffles me. You could buy the bottom model Yaesu or Icom and do the MARS mod and have a serious quality and stable radio. Or buy a nice vintage Cobra 148 or Uniden Grant and add on a separate amp. I know they look pretty but if you want a nice quality radio buy vintage CB or new Yaesu or Icom

[Sandbagger]

Jan 19, 2019 12:02:02 GMT -5 tubefan said:

In my opinion, Which is only mine, Any radio with an echo built in, amp built in, or newer than mid 1990s is junk on SSB and not a quality radio. The money people spend on these newer Chinese import radios baffles me. You could buy the bottom model Yaesu or Icom and do the MARS mod and have a serious quality and stable radio. Or buy a nice vintage Cobra 148 or Uniden Grant and add on a separate amp. I know they look pretty but if you want a nice quality radio buy vintage CB or new Yaesu or Icom

I tend to agree with your points. The modern RCI or Galaxy style radio is pretty much an evolution from the original Uniden designed Cobra 148/2000 chassis. Some parts have changed and the circuit layout is different, but the basic design remains. But the Chinese copies have degraded performance. The receiver is much noisier, the PLL is less stable both from a drift standpoint and an "FM'ing (Warble)" standpoint. Phase noise is higher than I'd like to see it as well.

Having a radio like that with a built-in amp is problematic because it only exacerbates the warbling problem on SSB. The amp draws a lot of current and it makes it tougher to maintain the solid voltage regulation you need for a stable PLL circuit. Basically these built-in amp radios were designed with truck drivers in mind as they often can't run a radio AND an amp in a company vehicle. But for the rest of us, it makes far more sense to keep them separate. The newer radios with switching MOSFET amps are ticking time bombs. These MOSFETS are VERY bias sensitive and the bias window is very narrow. They have a habit of popping out frequently. Fortunately the parts are cheap (Because they're trying to be something that they're not), but the inconvenience of dealing with an unreliable radio isn't worth it.

For the serious SSB operator, I would recommend either a converted ham rig (and virtually all of the modern ones can be opened up for general coverage transmit) or, if you want to remain strictly part 95 compliant, an older vintage President, Cobra, or other Uniden-made radio. For export radios, the Superstar 360 was a stellar performer, as was the President Jackson and Grant. All were made by Uniden in the early 80's, before the Chinese conglomerates got a hold of them. The President HR-2510 is also a great radio. I've had one for over 30 years now and it's still working great.

[321 treeclimber]

I respect both of your opinions. So here's the truth, im a cb'er for the fun and flavor of it. I like trucker mics and trucker movies, RIP Bert "the bandit" Reynolds. The look of cb and the sound of signal slightly louder than it should be is ok by me. With that said.im well aware of the degradation of all things in this modern,meant to be thrown away, society. I have some beautiful old cbs. Nothing phenomenal, but the affordable quality of its day. I can buy anything i want in a hobby at this station of my life. And for me, this is fun . Even if its buying a dog and hoping it talks(rci69ffb)even if it wont hunt. 321

[321 treeclimber]

Ok nonbelievers! Hahaha, got to put the ffb on some serious skip last night,as some of you northeasterners know we got a nasty bit of weather which set skipland on high output. So i gave betty a good ten minutes to get warm,set her at half throttle and fired her off with a m6b at anything that made a noise.dialed in the mic gain a bit and got some good n.Carolina reports and a florida contact while under some heavy fire! Took a while for it to get warm enough to set off the internal fan. It was just before that, i noticed the powersupply fan kick on and before that is just about when all the frequency wash sound had disappeared. Fan is very quiet and it would come on once in awhile as i got a little long winded. In a nut shell she's a good dog. time and trial will tell the tale of longevity. In the meantime im gonna do a nice installation in to the mobile. Any suggestions on a good antenna for my old ford sport trac roof? Keeping it magnetic. 321

[tubefan]

I like the Wilson 1000 mag mount and the Tram mag mount. Both work really good.

[321 treeclimber]

Big 10-4 then it's the wilson for sure. Thanks man, i run the lil wil now. 321

[321 treeclimber]

By the way, its 6 degrees here in the catskill mnts right now ! Hahahaha sucks

[Sandbagger]

Jan 20, 2019 19:30:55 GMT -5 321 treeclimber said:

By the way, its 6 degrees here in the catskill mnts right now ! Hahahaha sucks

The mercury, in the home of Classic Radio Roundup, is struggling to break the 7 degree mark. Not even my Tram "Space Heater" could counter that..... But it's supposed to hit 40 again in a couple of days.....

[321 treeclimber]

Roger that sandbagger. we're at -4 now.i wont climb in this cold. nothing works right. chainsaws, ropes, hired help. 321

[321 treeclimber]

Love the catskills so i guess snow is part of the deal. Wonder if i could get a low swr on an antenna mounted on my flexable flyer?...321

[bluemax]

Now you did it. Wait until you hear the stories these guys have about where they mounted CB radios as kids. I haven't heard of any skateboard mobiles, and wakeboards don't work well even with walkie talkies, but I have a feeling one of these guys MUST have tried a sled. 
C'mon you guys...fess up.

[321 treeclimber]

I'll show you this spring when i put the cb back in the drag truck and one on my 1962 "schwinn american" bicycle that i use to get around at the local drag strip. Really fun. 321

[Sandbagger]

Jan 22, 2019 11:45:28 GMT -5 bluemax said:

Now you did it. Wait until you hear the stories these guys have about where they mounted CB radios as kids. I haven't heard of any skateboard mobiles, and wakeboards don't work well even with walkie talkies, but I have a feeling one of these guys MUST have tried a sled. 
C'mon you guys...fess up.

Well I did put an old Johnson 5 channel radio on my bicycle back in 1975. Used a center loaded mirror mount antenna and had a 1.3:1 SWR. Ran it off of 2 6V lantern batteries in series. Worked pretty well for what it was. Got out better than my 1.5 watt walkie-talkie.

[321 treeclimber]

Man i can just picture that! In seventy five i had schwinn stingray five speed with a stickshift and banana seat! Loved that bike,mowed lawns all summer to get it. That fall my grandmother let me put a Shakespeare bigstic on the roof of the house. Started really messin up TV's then.

[BBB]

Jan 20, 2019 16:00:43 GMT -5 321 treeclimber said:

Any suggestions on a good antenna for my old ford sport trac roof? Keeping it magnetic. 321

Let me know where you finally settle on passing the coax thru into the Sport Trac's cabin. Since I have a mag mount I have temporarily passed the coax from a Wilson Lil'Wil over the back of the roof so it passes down along the rear retractable window vertical rubber coated metal divider (less seen) and have the coax just coiled up in the back of the bed for now.

I looked at trying to pass it thru the rear cab vents on the bulkhead below the rear window but that is double walled sheet metal. I looked at bringing it up thru the floor but found the same issue of double walled sheet metal areas where there are rubber access plugs from below.

On the antennas, I would consider an older Wilson 1K or 5K. I understand the new Barjan made ones need some modifications internally to work as reliable as the old ones. That being said Stryker makes an SR-A10 based mag mount that looks killer and Sirio has the Turbo 5K that will fold away when struck and you know all mobile roof mounted antennas get whacked at some point. Keep in mind you can add a magnet to most antennas, but get the biggest diameter you can find for the best sticksion. You can even tune a FireStik with a spring mount & magnet to work well.

[Sandbagger]

Jan 27, 2019 11:58:01 GMT -5 BBB said:

Jan 20, 2019 16:00:43 GMT -5 321 treeclimber said:

Any suggestions on a good antenna for my old ford sport trac roof? Keeping it magnetic. 321

Let me know where you finally settle on passing the coax thru into the Sport Trac's cabin. Since I have a mag mount I have temporarily passed the coax from a Wilson Lil'Wil over the back of the roof so it passes down along the rear retractable window vertical rubber coated metal divider (less seen) and have the coax just coiled up in the back of the bed for now.

I looked at trying to pass it thru the rear cab vents on the bulkhead below the rear window but that is double walled sheet metal. I looked at bringing it up thru the floor but found the same issue of double walled sheet metal areas where there are rubber access plugs from below.

On the antennas, I would consider an older Wilson 1K or 5K. I understand the new Barjan made ones need some modifications internally to work as reliable as the old ones. That being said Stryker makes an SR-A10 based mag mount that looks killer and Sirio has the Turbo 5K that will fold away when struck and you know all mobile roof mounted antennas get whacked at some point. Keep in mind you can add a magnet to most antennas, but get the biggest diameter you can find for the best sticksion. You can even tune a FireStik with a spring mount & magnet to work well.

I don't know how much different it is, but on my F150, I was able to pull out the rubber plugs underneath the cab and snake the coax through the double sheet metal, from the access plugs inside under the carpet behind the seats near the back wall. You might have to remove the PL-259 and reattach after you snake the coax through, but it was doable for me.

[321 treeclimber]

We share the same impasse. I routed the extra coax on my lil wil around the interior til suitable. Ended up getting the wilson 1k. And truly have not yet figured out the ultimate point of entry. In my neck of the woods the powers that be say winter deserves as much salt as winter wants. So rust is a big issue. Not good with the idea of drillin or cuttin holes in sheet metal. I also have to run some 8g.power cable in through the firewall but i think i spotted a roomy grommet. Also im interested in knowing about the mod for that antenna. Let me know about that if you have any info. This is a crappy time to do anything as i do not have a heated garage and the weather isnt so good here in the catskills but I'm dying to get this together !

[BBB]

Contact R&R Comm. in DE and ask if they know about it. Maybe the manufacturer, Barjan, has solved the bad internal soldering issues (when used with high power systems) with a revised batch from the Peoples Republic of Jina.