Nice to see another video of the McKinley USA. I’ve been on record and guess people already know it but I think the McKinley USA although only 40 channels is the best Uniden produced SSB radio currently on the market. I will add this is my view across brands. Will it come this year to Europe I guess the answer is no as President seem quite quiet at the moment but given time I guess we will see.
So my reasons:
Front Speaker
Rounded Uniden Display (numbers)
Options for Power, Volume, Mike & RF Gain
12/24v and looks good
Quality of sound from speaker
Quality of transmitted audio
SWR function
It’s almost a throwback or homage to the old school Uniden manufactured radios. It reminds me of the quality the original Lincoln / Uniden 2830 was back in the day. Sure all new insides etc but seems new old style..
The original microphone that comes with the radio, I pack the inside will some foam to take away the hollow sound, and also add some foam around the electret it helps to take the muffle away. But sounds perfect both microphones to my ears.
Great Video….
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Im Impressed with unit and internals\schematics from what Ive seen of set,lets hope this becomes the new trend with cb design going back to what works best,rather than cost cutting design esp the RX side.
Im very keen to see a EU version with FM mode and Multi-Norm but have certain technical upgrades I would like designers to look at and improve for an EU market version especially as it involves FM,normally a weak spot on multi-modes.
Bit more RF power (EU Model not FCC) like President Premium Range but to keep RX side good but limited export range 26.5-28mhz band-pass Multi\Export.
28-30mhz band-pass filter for 10m HAM.
IF there one thing I would ask President to do is introduce a higher blocking Roofing 10.695mhz @15khz Bandwidth Filter before the main Filters,that will significantly reduce skirt noise and make a quieter radio,it can be done quite easily and low cost and really helps keep noise floor a bit lower and interference.
Use a separate 9khz filter for Narrow FM and separate 6khz Filter for AM,so you get best of both worlds and not compromising design of radio modes .
Switching them is technically easy to do in the 455khz area,quite within a RF designer hands.
My Other suggestions for an EU model would be to take advantage of the FM noise squelch built into the narrow or wide fm demodulation chips MC-3361 commonly used,its far superior than carrier squelch,often Ive noted designers miss this trick.
Also for the love of god go back to using Audio diode clipping\limiting in the FM tx audio stages,not AGC controlled audio which is part of AM circuits,you will get a much better punchy fm sounding radio if done right for an EU market version.
Currently a lot of radios use soft limiting agc controlled audio,which really is part of the AM transit circuitry,its works but often the FM lack that punch\sound quality FM can offer,so this is key to FM market users should a EU Multi Norm version happens.
If your going to start marketing Multi modes ( export 10m markets etc) make the FM switchable too for different markets USA often still use WFM=5khz Dev\16khz Bandwidth,Europe Hams use N-FM 2.5khz Dev\11khz bandwidth and CB EU Super Narrow FM use 2.00khz\9khz Bandwidth,make the kit switchable saves a lot of technical,production variation and people messing about with Dev pots and complaining you sound low or sound too loud!
Obviously in CB config it can be locked to the correct spec in software.
Again this is not hard to design and involves a extra 455 khz filter and few extra switching parts,well with a RF designers capability for a min extra cost,plus can be markets in worldwide areas then where FM standards are slightly different.
I think this is going to be a President USA on a winner this set for USA market esp having the front loaded speaker and good engineering practices,I also like the VSWR feature on this radio very handy for installers,smart thinking engineers.
Hmm President Randy II USA next on cards to complete the Market line next?
Fingers crossed for a EU Multi-Norm Version,with hopefully some additional technical features for EU markets.
Robs 73’s