| Author |
Message |
    
Hotwire
Advanced Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 879
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2006 - 9:52 am: | 
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Some owners are not aware that the radio is easily convertable to 10 meter and freeband channels from the front controls. This sparked the interest of a newbie friend of mine who has the chance to buy a like new for cheap. Also a removable face plate is an eye catcher. Any happy owners of this rig? How does it compare to the performance of its competitors? |
Alsworld
Advanced Member
Username: Alsworld
Post Number: 980
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2006 - 8:49 pm: |
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I purchase one for my brother and he did that mod. It is a very stable radio on SSB, and seems well put together. I just recently purchased an Astatic D104 mic from Coppers that I sent to him. It should improve the audio considerably.
I've heard the adjacent channel rejection is not as good as some radios, but with him living 2500 miles from me, I have had very little time to play with it.
Size, detachable face plate, weather channels are all a plus, and the radio seems very well built.
Alsworld |
Vdub61
New member
Username: Vdub61
Post Number: 6
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2006 - 6:24 pm: |
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I have had a 79-290 for 3 years and the only problem I have had is the wires pulling out of power connector on rear of radio. This is probably because I move it from car to other car too much.  The other thing about the radio is midlands excuse for a noise blanker they call ESP, which is horrible. BTW, there is more to the mod than just holding some buttons down when you turn the radio on. I had to lift a diode or resistor in the faceplate before the button combo worked.(it's been awhile since I did the mod). Overall it's been a reliable good performing radio. |
Im4jc
Intermediate Member
Username: Im4jc
Post Number: 101
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2006 - 7:34 pm: |
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I've read many testimonies and reviews that state that the 79-290 has abysmal Adjacent Channel Rejection...one of the worst on the market actually. |
Alsworld
Advanced Member
Username: Alsworld
Post Number: 983
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2006 - 9:26 pm: |
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Different versions of the radio require different mods to achieve the 240 channel expansion. My brothers required soldering a jumper between two spots. His is the version 1.1.
Alsworld |
Im4jc
Intermediate Member
Username: Im4jc
Post Number: 103
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 4:14 am: |
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Midland's website says that the 79-290 has been discontinued. One more company dropping SSB from it's lineup. Even though I'm not a fan of the 79-290, that's a sad story indeed. I'll bet it won't be long until a good solid SSB unit can only be found in the HAM market. Now that the Uniden's and Midland's are gone, what's left for type-accepted SSB? Made-in-China 148's, Galaxy 3-digit series (5 digit freq counter for SSB? What's the point), and Ranger 696FD1(They dropped the F model with the pretty chrome and brought in the FD1 with the ugly flag faceplate. I mean, I'm a big fan of the US flag, but I don't want it on my radio. It makes it look like a Fischer Price toy) and the Ranger 966? Ugh.
Ranger even dropped it's 148/Grant clone, the 296 I think it was. That was the best SSB rig in their lineup. I guess they figure that they can make more money off of the yee-haw crowd that goes for all of that gawdy flag stuff on their radios. The same crowd that buys the most obnoxious noise-toys they can find, and fills the airwaves with profanity, hatred and racism.
It's almost like they are forcing us to break the law and go 10 Meter. I mean, I understand the law of supply and demand, and that's probably what it all boils down to, but it's just irritating.
Oh well. I'm sure it won't change a thing, but at least I got to rant a bit. |
Hotwire
Advanced Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 882
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 7:35 am: |
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Ok, I did hear about a mod that needed a simple solder bridge. Thanks guys for the replys! Too bad about the acr though. Bad acr would determine if I wanted to own one. |
Troublemaker
Intermediate Member
Username: Troublemaker
Post Number: 272
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Friday, February 10, 2006 - 9:57 am: |
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I bought the 79-290 about a year ago, did the expansion mod, It was a really decent little radio,I thought it was better as a base radio,ended up giving it to tech 291 to play with.
also agree about the ranger-fd1,thought it would be as good as the base radio,it needs a good alighnment I guess,it sets on the shelf collecting dust now.
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Revpo
Junior Member
Username: Revpo
Post Number: 12
Registered: 7-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, July 30, 2006 - 4:09 pm: |
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what power can u tune up this radio to on am and ssb?
revpo |
Dalowe
New member
Username: Dalowe
Post Number: 5
Registered: 3-2007
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 7:30 pm: |
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The 79-290 has a major problem with the removable faceplate. The latches that hold and release the faceplate will wear down prematurely and the faceplate will fall off and not relatch. This happened on mine after only a couple weeks. The adjacent channel rejection is pretty bad. Other than that, it's not a bad little radio. I wouldn't buy another though because of the latch problem. I permanently glued mine in place. |
