MY FINAL COMMENTS, FEELINGS, AND SPECS ON THE PRESIDENT GEORGE FCC, ETC.
This was really a Topsy-Turvy review that included checking every feature, verifying watts and the audio tone. Then, after all of that I compared it to other radios I've owned and used.
In many cases they were 10m mobiles which could be converted to 12-10 meters, allowing for an easy clarifier pick between R, T, or R&T setting. 10 meter radios typically had a higher output, but I'm a 11-15 watt Sideband guy, who gets a kick making long distance QSO's with 15 or less watts (I've made a QSO 1,000+ miles, then slowly going down to 500mw - all on an indoor antenna).
I kept a President McKinley FCC in the car for years, then gave it away and put my Cobra 138xlr in it's place. It's my favorite CB, and I know someday it will stop working. But for a 47 year old radio, that's pretty good.
The quality of these newer radios seem to be cheap, possibly the new boards with teeny-tiny chips that require reading glasses + a well lit magnifying list to even determine what they are - but who cares? you can't get the tech manuals anymore. Let me be clear: THE PRESIDENT GEORGE IS NOT A CHEAPLY MADE RADIO, AND HAS A FRAME THAT FEELS LIKE IS WAS FORGED OUT OUT OF STEEL (OR ALLOY).
But I digress...
Back to the President George -
Here's the President George FCC sitting on top of my favorite all-time winner of an all-model HF ham radio mobile: The Kenwood TS-50:
The is one helluva radio! All you have to be aware of are some electrolytic caps and glue that dissolves connections and you'll be okay. Just make it a practice to do maintenance check on it, every 2-3 years and you'll have a rig that lasts longer than you.
When I going to be on a long drive, or trip, I tend yo have the TS-50 and whatever LEGAL CB I want to use, riding shotgun with it. I like CB radios, 40ch, depending on the brand a decent NB. As well I like the NOAA channel/frequencies as they can really come in handy at times. And I like being legal. Other features not to be be forgotten: Dual-channel watch and a programmable EMG button.
I can't remember how many CB radios I've have in a vehicle or another, some owned, and others just to test/review except for the early years ( 1972-1984) - otherwise, it was a butt-load of CBs.
Perhaps I'll change these words at some point and time, but the President George is my go-to LEGAL CB radio from now on.
- AM and SSB power was "as advertised"
- The Frequency was spot on.
- The built in NRC (noise canceling) can't be beat
- And who'd of thought the USB charge port would come in hand...😉
- THE WARRANTY!!! How could I have forgotten that at 2.am.?? The President CB radios have a C-R-A-Z-Y warranty which is 2 years, and I believe, if you buy a President antenna at the same time you get another year added, i.e. 2 + 1 = 3 (That wasn't for you - just me. I crawled into bed around 2:45 and just fell asleep, when the cat from hell woke me up @ 3a.m. and delighted in repeating her practice of torture until she fell asleep around 4:30. Then the first line of alarms went off not soon after so we could get there on time. Anyway, DON'T FORGET THEIR WARRANTY!!
I don't know what happened at President, but a few years ago the FCC allowed the CB to have AM and FM come out with on AM-FM mobiles. I don't do FM, and only use AM on ch.19, so there wasn't much to impress me until rumors reached me about the soon to be announce George II. If they were coming out with a Europe version called the George II, you could bet that a "George FCC" was not far behind.
So, via BELLS CB, I was able to buy one and check it out. I'm not paid to mention them, but I do like to promote a good business, with fast support, and quick shipping. Not only that, 100% of our communication was via text. Even when I got the "we're closed until tomorrow" auto reply, they surprised me time after time (nope, it wasn't Cyndi Lauper) with texts that came several hours after the "we're closed post".
So at last we come to the President George's final review. It took awhile to get there, but sometimes I take a different path to get to the finish line.
SIZE:
- In the house I get less background noise than my ham rig
- In the car I get less noise compared to 4 other radios, except one - the Cobra 138xlr
- The 5v USB plug up front, which I thought was wasted space, turned out to be not such a waste. I had a lot of errands to do one day and Robin said "Don't forget your phone". Well, I didn't forget the phone, but I had forgot to put it on the charger the night before. That USB charger sure came in handy.
- While slight, the channel knob has a slightly tougher click going from one channel to another, and it reminded me how the channel clicks felt on some older radios, and didn't have that cheap sound when going from on channel to the other.
- Not every ham radio is exactly on frequency, but I tried it against two of 'em, the Yaesu 757GX and my ICOM IC-705 and my voice sounded natural - not too low, not too high, but just right. Comments for the locals said I was on frequency, but a little different. I attributed it to the fact that they'd got used to hearing me on the previous radio test/check, the new Alinco DX-10, and I was on President's stock mic.
- The buttons below the screen were logically placed and easy to activate or de-activate, and the screen itself gave me the incoming DC voltage, RF Gain setting, and S/RF meter. If I had the NB turned on, it was displayed as well as the usual stuff, like your channel number and mode. It also displayed the useless frequency readout.
- THE SCREEN. I usually have a hard time finding a screen color that my eyes seem to like, and usually it's either Orange or Yellow and I've always HATED blue. It always looks good when I take a picture of it, but try and see it across the room, or where it's mounted in the car? Nope. This is why it's always good to have a "fallback" radio (Cobra 138XLR) But the President George can be the orange/yellow or NOT either blue/cyan is now all I use, (I lost my color notes, and possibly it's both) although I could occasionally use the Orange color. I would like to see an included, variable adjustment, to slightly brighten or dim each color (unless I missed that part in the manual). Other "wants"- I'd like to see a screen reversal - by that I mean having an option to have a light screen/dark data (as it is now) or a dark background/dark lettering, so with a push of the button it could be changed.
- Not necessary but it think it would be cool having a "George" styled matching speaker that could take a lot of volume pumped into it with a decent sized magnet. That would be, as they say: "The cat's meow"
On the far right side, starting from the far right and moving inward we see some knobs, followed by a vertical lineup of buttons. Let's check 'em out:
- At the top there are two buttons TB and F (lock). TB as you might guess is to toggle your Talk Back ON/OFF, while the second button has 2 functions as well - "F" for the function menu, and LOCK to lock/unlock everything on the front screen, as to avoid mishaps. It certainly would keep you from accidentally activated VOX, Talkback, NRC, or CB/to the NOAA channels (amongst other dual-band buttons).
One thing I've always meant to mention is: When a new radio pops up on their website 99% of the time, so will the manual. I think it's always a good idea to D/L the manual and see what the radio(s) have to offer vs. another model
I've notice a couple new microphones on President's EU site
OTHER STUFF
In a recent post I put Ham Radio Outlet's (HRO) video on post. While they didn't use any the words like "upset", "unsettled", or "pissed" about what I had to say about it, the general feeling I got was along those lines. They pointed out that they are a Ham Radio shop and only provided a few CB radios to appease someone who walks in and asks "I want to buy a CB, do you sell any?"
I'm glad they sell them, BUT, they should at least sell a 1 quality radios (Cobra has a great name, but it's not the radio it was decades ago).
I'm a ham and if I walked into a ham store and all they offered were Baofengs and Anytones and maybe a Yaesu. I'd probably walk out. A never-a-cber might be a good intended buyer, but a seasoned operator is willing to spend the bucks if the quality is there.
Yes, the Cobra AM-FM handheld is a good price at about $110, but personally I would paid more to get the President Randy II. And eventually, when the coffers refill themselves with greenbacks, I'll but one to test. It's excellent testing territory our where I am, and pretty darn flat. I'll try to make that happen by Spring or early-early summer (i.e. - before you could fry a Woody on the sidewalk if he stood still too long... 😉)
73
WOODY
"How many CBer's does it take to mount a mobile antennas?
Answer: 8, one to hold the antenna, and 7 to turn the car"
***and yeah, the longer this got, so did I, by either misspelling words or thinking of the word and not having that info sent from the brain to my flying fingers of fury, because I had to get my wife to the hospital for a test at 6.am. - and I just misspelled 6 words typing this paragraph. I'm going to bed...
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