Upgrade a Galaxy 959

[LiLPlumber]

I have a Galaxy 959. I want to modify it for more mod and watt output. Are there any plug and play parts available.Any comeback on this shotout will be appreciated. 73s the plumber

[DanTaylor]

The only plug and play your gonna get is to hook a linear to it. Which we all know it illegal in citizen band. Best thing you could do is send it off to a guy like Sparky and have him peak and tweak it. It'll get done right the first time and you'll have a screaming radio.

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[Night Crawler]

The only plug and play your gonna get is to hook a linear to it.

And for modulation get a power mic can't get any easier then that.

[DanTaylor]

The only plug and play your gonna get is to hook a linear to it.

And for modulation get a power mic can't get any easier then that.

Good point forgot about running one of those.

[LiLPlumber]

Thanks for the 10-5 Night Crawler. We'll take your advice. Actually I was thinking about getting a monkey. We're an animal lover...

[Deleted User 30222]

Here is a site for you to do any mods. I did a few from this site. But if your not handy with the screwdriver, then yes, you're better off going with a good power mic and heater.

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[51]

turn up amc for 100% modulation and a new mic, thats it, the old 959's scream out of the box. beware of the new ones, made in vietnam. pure garbage

[Scipio Kid]

Now that's an interesting topic; where are the best radios made? I just checked and all my Galaxys were made in Malaysia, Taiwan or China as were, I believe, most of my Cobras, no, some were made in the Philippines. I have a few older radios made in Japan and even a couple right here in the U.S.A. Holy cow! When did they start making stuff here!!!?? Oh, look at that, my newest acquisition, the 880 Bearcat was indeed made in Vietnam! Why is it we don't like stuff from there? I thought it was North Korea we didn't like. Hmmm ... I even heard my Ford Pickup was made mostly in Canada and Mexico! Good thing I have an all American made Honda Civic in the garage! (Or was that a Jetta?)

[51]

Now that's an interesting topic; where are the best radios made? I just checked and all my Galaxys were made in Malaysia, Taiwan or China as were, I believe, most of my Cobras, no, some were made in the Philippines. I have a few older radios made in Japan and even a couple right here in the U.S.A. Holy cow! When did they start making stuff here!!!?? Oh, look at that, my newest acquisition, the 880 Bearcat was indeed made in Vietnam! Why is it we don't like stuff from there? I thought it was North Korea we didn't like. Hmmm ... I even heard my Ford Pickup was made mostly in Canada and Mexico! Good thing I have an all American made Honda Civic in the garage! (Or was that a Jetta?)

the highest quality radio communications gear is made in USA, Japan, Philippines and Malaysia. (in that order) and finally Taiwan to a lesser extent. these country's have, use and build electronics technology, and foremost these guy's are known for taking a high level of pride and care in the things they build. they don't even have cb radios in Vietnam let alone cell phones etc. so how can an electronics illiterate country produce a quality product? pshhh, they probably never even seen a signal generator, frequency counter, oscilloscope etc before let alone know how to use one accurately and properly.its pretty easy to do the math on why electronics that come out of certain areas of the world are just garbage. these days if a company can have their product built in some little village in tim buk too for $1 an hour guess what? yea, they will. its all about maximizing profit with a low outflow of cash.
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[Scipio Kid]

Ha Ha!!, that pic looks like happy hour on the production line!

I agree. Those guys know nothing about single generators, freaky counters, silly scopes or any of the great stuff we Americans are good at. I'm really glad I don't like North Korea (and Vietnam too). Also, if anyone knows how to set up and use a scope, please let me know so I can hook mine up and figure out what it's doing for me. I can plug it in and make it look like the outer limits ... but, that's as far as it goes.

[51]

start a new thread on how to use your scope. i can help you and there is probably a few others that can as well

[Scipio Kid]

I was kidding ... but now I'm not. I'll start one when I have more time and have the thing out on the workbench.

Thanks!

[51]

rf sampler, set scope according to the waveform to be monitored. there you go

[Scipio Kid]

Also, back to the original topic, and not that the original poster, LilPlumber is still around now, 8 years later (he's undoubtedly a much bigger plumber by now too), the 959 is a terrific radio without mods and really blasts out with them. Mine hits 15 - 20 watts easy (it's stock but tweaked), but when I'm using it, everyone thinks I've got a linear. The same goes for my 979. My 48T is tricked out and doesn't need a linear to push the big watts up the antenna (wish it had side band though). I love Galaxys. They're loud but they're clear and they always work great.

[Scipio Kid]

Hey thanks 51,
You posted while I was typing and I don't multi-task well. Sometimes it's a choice between eating and breathing (eating always wins out). The only thing I understood about your instruction was "There you go", and even that confuses me a little. I don't even know how to hook up to the thing, much less calibrate it or set wave forms. Once I get it on the workbench, next to a good radio. I'll have some questions for you. Maybe mine isn't set up for using with radios at all. All I can tell you about it is, it's pretty old (looks old school), in mint condition and says "Bell & Howell Schools" on the front. Do you think it's worth pulling out and setting up and starting a new thread to figure it out?

[51]

if its a 30mhz or higher bandwidth scope yes it will be fine for radio work. if its lower than 30mhz your very limited in what you can do with it

[MDYoungblood]

start a new thread on how to use your scope. i can help you and there is probably a few others that can as well

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3's

Greg

[Wmalgren]

if you look inside your 959< in the back left< you will notice an empty spot for another final transistors. if you lookup the survice manuel for a Galaxy dx98hp, it has the same board with duel finals. the schematic will show all the parts and values. if you dont have any experience with this sort of thing< find a teck that does.
mosts folks, on the other end wont even notice the difference.
your best bet, a good amp and the best antenna you can afford>
i use a 5/8 ground plane, and a wilson 5000, in my truck.

[Scipio Kid]

I agree, antenna, antenna, antenna ... As Confucius said "a great antenna can make a crummy radio sound great and a crummy antenna can make a great radio seem like junk". Uhhh, it loses a little in the translation (and I'm not really sure it was Confucius who said it, might have been Greg) but you get my meaning.

Over the years, I've seed dozens of guys who've invested a lot in their radios, but ignored their antennas and wonder what's wrong with their high powered, chrome plated, super amped radio. I talked to a guy recently who dropped 250 bucks on his radio, but was ticked off it didn't work very well. I told him to check the SWR and he didn't know how. I wasn't far away so I tried talking to him and he was right, he wasn't getting out at all. I was only a block away before I could hear him. I showed him how to check his SWR (and mentioned it wasn't really rocket science). It was pegging his meter to the right and I told him his coax or antenna were bad, very bad, and then took a close look at his antenna. It wasn't a CB antenna at all! I think it was for some business frequency or something but definitely not for CB frequencies. I offered to sell him a CB antenna but instead he asked if I wanted to buy his equipment as he'd lost interest. I told him he may have damaged the radio and the most I could give him was 20 bucks. So, I ended up with a great radio (he hadn't hurt anything) for almost nothing (and an antenna I'll probably never use). Too bad he lost interest. If he'd only started with the right antenna, he'd be having a lot of fun with his radio.

And, thanks Greg for the scope info. I haven't pulled it out yet, but when I do I'll find the right thread, or start a new one.

[Scipio Kid]

P.S.
I thought the 959's came with dual finals from the factory. Mine did. ... Well when I got it, it did. Maybe someone modified it before I got it. Either way, it's a great radio! and I love being able to turn off the roger beep, something I can't do with my 979.

[Scipio Kid]

Ok, don't have the scope set up yet but I took a good look, and it has settings from 1 to 100K, so I think it might work.

I'll start a new thread or find that old one and ask dumb questions there. ... and one here ... How do you hook your coax to it? There are red and black vertical and horizontal inputs on the front. Do I simply cut a jumper in half and run the shield to the one and the core to the other?

[Deleted User 30864]

hey all hope everything is well. i read through all the post here and didn't see much irrelevant to this answer i am going to give. but if i missed something please forgive me.

NO NO what ever you do do not hook the coax directly into the scope. you need some type of attenuation before entering the scope or poof.
you need some type of rf sampler. so-239 converted and attenuated to bnc or what ever type of connector your scope has.
if you have a 10x probe you can lay it on the coax and it will couple to it. this is not the most accurate way but will work.

[Scipio Kid]

Thanks Swingdaddy,
I don't have it set up yet and I haven't started another thread yet. Work has been crazy, lots of travelling and not much time to do anything else. I thought maybe today but ... off to work in 5.

Thanks, I'll definitely not do anything with it until I have some better questions and figure out how to understand the answers.

[SlowNeasy]

Nice going Beachbum84, you filled the question I'm sure he needed the answer to...!

Basics are basics...