I have this Cobra 200, it is a few years old,, but has less than 10 hours on it,, it seems to boom out,, but the receive is pretty weird. There is like 3-5 noise on RX meter, no matter what vehicle, or where I am,, even in garage,, where RX on meter should be almost "0". I have both leads going direct to battery,,, was thinking about putting an additional ground tap on ground lead to a metal surface in cab. this noise, has pretty much always been like this, that is why I never used it much,,,, sure is a sharp looking radio,,,,, can the RF be tuned to clean up the white noise,,, and still get good RX ? Just love the look of this radio,, really want it to work,, hate to just throw it back on the shelf.
Cobra 200 install
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GrandpaBubba
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Cobra 200 install
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Bubba From Illinois
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TheCBDoctor
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Hello GrandpaBubba,
I remember when that model came out. I never sold one, but I repaired a lot of them about a year after the production run. There are a few problems with them. The biggest problem is the radio's output after modification. As long as it is kept at a low output setting it will last. Everyone turned up the output to the maximum power and every Cobra 200 died.
They are not really simple when it comes to alignment. The Receiver is incredibly clear. The sensitivity is great, less than .1uvd. I never liked them because after fixing the 200 it would fail again in short order. The production run was short when Cobra realized they put their name on a radio that most shops couldn't give away at that time. I was a warranty service for the Cobra 200 GTL to cover warranty issues. The company supplied all the parts. It was not worth the trouble because the radios would come back again.
I just thought about this. The first version had an echo, but no Talk-Back. The operator had no idea how he/she sounded. The modification for talk-back provided by Cobra was at best all right to terrible. Some of the radios modified for TB were too quiet.
Having said all that. I would say most of the problem at the time fell on the customers and shops. Even after the bulletins came out stating, "keep the output power low" the 200's that ended up on my Bench had burnt Finals and output circuit.
There was time after the word got out that truckers just stayed away from the 200, but there were customers that thought it was a beautiful Radio. It was and still is. It looked better than it was designed. The 200 was technically Cobra's only "export" radio. I never saw any other Cobra model, before or since, that was sold as a 10 meter rig. It has no acceptance tag to even be a legal 10 meter Ham radio. Echo is not allowed, but this beautiful radio had one.
If you want a base station with a great Receiver and are will to keep the output at a reasonable level this radio is fine. I never had much luck with installing the radio. Every install had different outcomes.
I remember when that model came out. I never sold one, but I repaired a lot of them about a year after the production run. There are a few problems with them. The biggest problem is the radio's output after modification. As long as it is kept at a low output setting it will last. Everyone turned up the output to the maximum power and every Cobra 200 died.
They are not really simple when it comes to alignment. The Receiver is incredibly clear. The sensitivity is great, less than .1uvd. I never liked them because after fixing the 200 it would fail again in short order. The production run was short when Cobra realized they put their name on a radio that most shops couldn't give away at that time. I was a warranty service for the Cobra 200 GTL to cover warranty issues. The company supplied all the parts. It was not worth the trouble because the radios would come back again.
I just thought about this. The first version had an echo, but no Talk-Back. The operator had no idea how he/she sounded. The modification for talk-back provided by Cobra was at best all right to terrible. Some of the radios modified for TB were too quiet.
Having said all that. I would say most of the problem at the time fell on the customers and shops. Even after the bulletins came out stating, "keep the output power low" the 200's that ended up on my Bench had burnt Finals and output circuit.
There was time after the word got out that truckers just stayed away from the 200, but there were customers that thought it was a beautiful Radio. It was and still is. It looked better than it was designed. The 200 was technically Cobra's only "export" radio. I never saw any other Cobra model, before or since, that was sold as a 10 meter rig. It has no acceptance tag to even be a legal 10 meter Ham radio. Echo is not allowed, but this beautiful radio had one.
If you want a base station with a great Receiver and are will to keep the output at a reasonable level this radio is fine. I never had much luck with installing the radio. Every install had different outcomes.
Respectfully as always,
Rick
Rick
