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2SF2696
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2001 - 9:21 am: | 
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The first Galaxy I had was a 33HML. It made a good CB. It was kind of hard for me to settle for it because of all of the channels with no sideband. Then I went a ta CB shop in St.Louis who let me trade it in on a an 88HL. The first thing I noticed was all of the extra gizmos like the 10k button, and the switch for the rodger beep, and the high low switch just to name a few. The man at the shop told me this thing puts out 45 watts. Of course this turned out to be more like 35 watts swing. The echo setting are coax under one knob instead of 2 like on the 33. This thing also has a course and fine clarifier adjustment. It also has a built in switchable frequency counter.
On AM, and FM, this radio is mighty loud. No need for a power mike or echo with this box. It even has talkback when the echo is on. I found the band switch kind of confusing at first because of the PA setting being all the way to the left. The speaker in this radio is really good. That is a switch from the horrible speaker(Like in my Magnum257) in some of the other radios I have tried.
On SSB, I ran into a few issues. First was the clarifier. The fine clarifier only works for the receive, and not for the transmit. Also, when its cold it drifts. I talked to tech support at Galaxy that told me the main difference between the Galaxy, and some other radios is that some higher end radios have a heater for their crystals
that allow them to stay on frequency. He also explained the reason for the clarifier design. This allows you to tune in the station with out messing with the transmit frequency. Personally I never saw this as a big problem, if some one told me I was a little off, I would just make the adjustment, and after a minute or two, it wouldnt move off Freq. Even on sideband, this radio is very loud!!! People think I am using a D104. I constantly found my self having to adjust my mike gain about half way, and of course turn off the echo. Listening to the receive, I realized where the money went into this radio. This radio has a real nice sounding receive!!!!. Especially when I tested it with my Wilson FGT antenna. (I tested this radio with a Wilson5000, Firestik2, BigDog2 Triband, Wilson FGT and a Workman SP3000).
Range. Well I did a side by side test with my Magnum, my Cobra 29STNW, and Galaxy88 with no amp. Although the swing in all of these radios showed to be about the same, the Galaxy won hands down.
Over all, I think this is an Excellent radio. I would suggest you dont run this radio out of a cig lighter, and use a really good antenna to really enjoy this radio.
Phineas
2SF2696 |
Vernonott
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2001 - 12:07 pm: |
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I've run all of the Galaxys at one time or the other and the 88 is one of my favorites.If the 88 and the 77 came with infinite power adjust I would prefer either of them over the 99 I run presently.73's |
2SF2696
| | Posted on Friday, October 26, 2001 - 8:35 pm: |
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Yeah, I have read a lot of bad press on this radio that was un-informative and unfair. That is why I kind of cleared up a couple of things. I think if more people would call tech support for answers before they jump to a conclusion, they would have a little better attitude about a product. I found the tech at Galaxy very helpful and did not seem to have anything to hide. I could have spent the extra money on the 99, just could not justify it for a couple of gizmos and a bigger meter. The only thing I would get, otherwise, is a little more swing. The 99 I tested swings a little past 50 watts modified. That 15 watts doesnt really make much difference in over all gain. The 99 is a better looking radio I must admit. I also felt I could live with out the variable power adjustment since the amp I use had that. Maybe I will do a review on that radio too.
Thanks for reading the article. I just wanted to publish a real test with fair and accurate information. Galaxy make nice products that are not perfect, but sound damn good on the air.
Phineas
2SF2696 |
Parkcom
| | Posted on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 4:41 pm: |
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my thoughts is stay away from 99v and all galaxy radios the city i live in they all have galaxy radios i bought a 99v sold it the next day the freq drift on ssb will drive you crazy if your like me and want things perfect people in my area have all kinds of problems with the galaxy brand from lights blowing out to lost receive to lost transmit you name it and guess what they all love the galaxy ?? i have radios from the 1960,s and the 1970,s lights have never blown out and still work as good as new we would not have stood for this in the 1970,s and we should not take it today if you want a good ssb radio that will last for years go for the cobra export or dx models or the president line you can,t go wrong good luck |
Butcher318
| | Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 11:44 pm: |
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I sold my 2950 afew months ago and purchased a 4 month old mint used 99V. The output and overall sound from the 77,88,and 99 will be very close, just different features. SSB operation does tend to drift until the radio warms up. The Clarifier is supposed to work like was stated. You tune the course until someone says your on....then you can fine tune the recieve with....you guessed it fine clarifier. And last, I don't know who the heck told you that other radio's have heaters in them and thats why they don't drift..lol..lol, that's the funniest darn thing I ever heard. Last, most real world peak and tune power numbers for the 77,88,and 99 will be in the 25-35 watt range on AM. Someone always says mine does 45 or 50 or whatever. Hell some outfit on the east coast claims 50-70 watts of peak power. My 2950 came back from them doing 28 watts on a Bird 43p meter. These radio's have two 20 watt finals in them, do the math. Now if you want to spend some bucks and swap finals, and volt finals and stuff yea you will see more power. Your better off spending the money on a good amp, more bang for the buck. The 99 sort of grew on me and I kinda like it. I'm playing with an NPC moded Delta Force right now so I'll decide which one to keep. Good day gents. |
RCI2990
| | Posted on Sunday, May 19, 2002 - 6:41 pm: |
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If you guys want a good SSB rig that works equally as well on AM then go with the Ranger AR 3500. Great radio on SSB that hardley ever drifts after you leave it on for about 15 to 20 minutes. Great loud audio on AM and SSB! Yes i know the radio is old but hey its a good rig! |
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