Cancelled the PC787, Gonna Save for a President Lincoln II

[Tioga23p]

While I have been waiting for my PC787 to ship, I kept reading about how few people are on AM CB. I came to the conclusion that I would be limiting myself greatly if I got an AM-only radio. My thoughts then went to the Uniden 980SSB. My reading about the 980SSB brought me to the conclusion that I'd need to get an amplifier to be properly heard. An amp and the 980SSB cost less than the Lincoln II, but they require more space and more wiring. I decided it would be simpler to just go to a Lincoln II and clip the white wire so it can operate on AM.

The conclusion that I came to is that I'll initially operate it on AM/SSB, and work on getting a HAM license when I grow into it. I realize that the Lincoln II is not "legal" on AM/SSB, but I am not going to attempt to trample on others, so I figure that if I am courteous, I'll be okay.

So that's my logical progression to a Lincoln II.

Any thoughts?

Dave

[MDYoungblood]

JMO, you'll be happier. The couple of watts difference won't be noticed on the receiving end.

3's

Greg

[barefoothank]

I think you made a good choice to cancel the 787, might as well have SSB capabilities.

[silvereagle1]

Excellent choice Dave in my opinion. I've had mine for a little while now and it's by far the best one of the 4 radios I've had in the past two years. You'll be very happy with it.

[theglide]

I wish I got a Lincoln II v3 from the start. A little extra power without the hassles of an amp, power supply, SWR issues, etc.

[Tioga23p]

Do the Lincoln II's run hot or have any other potential longevity problems?

BTW, thank you all for your opinions and support!

Dave

[silvereagle1]

I've never had any problems with mine getting hot. I talk SSB mostly though. It has a pretty large heat sink.

-- Friday, 28 August 2015, 7:47 AM --

I wish I got a Lincoln II v3 from the start. A little extra power without the hassles of an amp, power supply, SWR issues, etc.

Don't be discouraged... Something isn't right somewhere with your set up. Your 980 should be a good match with the kl-203. Re-trace your steps and check everything. You could have a bad ground or your antenna may be bad or the coax. It could even be a bad amp even though it's new. It could be a bad jumper cable.

[theglide]

Thanks silvereagle1. Somehow I think my SWR issue at the house is related to coax feed line length. Happens when I use 3 foot jumper for external SWR meter.

Scenario 1: Radio------->3 foot jumper------>SWR meter----------18 foot coax(from factory on Wilson 1000)---------->Wilson 1000 on my terrace floor on top of some cookie sheets. External SWR and internal SWR meters agree, 1.2 - 1.6 entire CB band. Good. 21 total feet of coax.

Scenario 2: Radio------>15 feet of rg8x coax---------->11 meter dipole with 1:1 balun, 1.1 - 1.3 across entire band with internal SWR meter. Good. 15 total feet of coax.

I need to use a jumper to use the KL203P of course, so without hooking up the KL203P:

Scenario 3. Radio----->same 3 foot jumper--------->SWR meter--------15 feet of coax (same as scenario 2)------->antenna, internal and external SWR meter go thru the roof, total red 4++++++! Bad. 18 total feet of coax. Same 15 coax from scenario 2 and 3 foor coax from scenario 1.

I'm thinking if 15 feet of coax works in scenario 2, make a 15 foot jumper for 30 total feet OR 6 foot jumper to the 15 foot coax for a total 21 feet like scenario 1.

Any merit to this? I think I'm going insane like the guy in A Beautiful Mind