First off before anything is written and we have a deep look I’d like to thank a few people Mike In Liverpool I know reads here and also Andy In Portland and Maxine In Telford for helping me out with contacts with this radio a little earlier. And also thanks to Kieron 26K666 thanks for the contact on 805 FM. You’ll all now see what it was being used when we spoke.
What We have is a very different President CB Radio. It’s a fully remote headed Bluetooth operated multi-EU norm radio with small format, VOX, NRC on both TX and RX and with it’s small format it’ll pretty much fit anywhere and yes it has a rather sleek antenna that fits in the front. The handset has a USB-C at the bottom and comes with a charging cable and is a fully coloured display and literally loads of functions within the menu system of the handset.
Please Read Well: During my tests there has been good reports about the audio and there has been reports of muffled and not strong. (More Below) The audio can’t be as strong as normal President radios as it’s via Bluetooth AND the audio was found to be muffled when talking to stations using various brands of ham radio gear running as CB radios! Legal CB to Legal CB the reports were better than legal to ham gear.
Above a look around the handset
The radio comes preset for the handset so it’s connected quickly. Should an issue arise you are able to re-pair via instructions in the manual so it isn’t an issue.
The Build
Strong, solid case and heavy. Very well made. The antenna fits well into the front of the radio and is flush and secure. Be careful when positioning the antenna as it sticks out a little bit. Connection was effortless and quick. The handset is chunky but ergonomic and fits lovely into the palm of the hand so making it easy to use and the sound is good. Press the PTT and no delay at all, truly a nice experience and it’s like using the old whilst experiencing something absolutely unique within the same breath.
Extended Operations
Always tricky where GPE are concerned so I’ll say it in the least controversial way. Yes, A,B,C and U.K. in export mode. This makes it a 120 channels plus A and plus 5/0 ending. And with this 8 watts of output power. Whether you loose the warranty for this is another matter entirely. And also do not cut the wire. Truth not worth messing with and especially with new technology as this is. Don’t cut the wire and most likely do not touch. And this is from an old pirate! Best to keep it as is, just in case.
NRC
I’m a fan of this and it’s well known. Tested it before was named and now wouldn’t want to be without it as it’s defined and is defining CB radio now and onwards. Easy to activate and easy to hear voices in the noise even when the radio is wire free from the base. There is no fake voices, no ghost sounds of non existent voices so this has been killed off. Set the level in my case of RX 1 and TX 1 it’s enough in my personal situation.
Menu
You’ve seen how the menu operates and do not get super excited when you see the band RU in normal menu. It’s a dedicated band for Russia and not the once used re-named export mode. This was a little surprise in the menu when I first saw it.
Distance
Good Question and tricky when we all have different situations in life. I can get around 30ft in the house from the handset before it starts to get a little tetchy. In the car it’s easy connection from equipment in the boot and handset in the front. We need remember this is wire free and has its limitations but the amount I can get will also be fine for many running the radio.
This is a really technologically advanced CB radio and my advice is read the manual before getting too deeply into using it. The radio comes pre configured to the handset so it’s just a matter of turn on and then it connects. You’ve also got in the manual what to do when you have issues. It’s all there in the manual.
Closing Part 1
This ends the introduction part and of course you can see the radio with M0OGY on his channel with his exclusive look. I will say and repeat the following small thing. For me and my impression this is a good, sound and very well working radio. The only and I mean only issues I’ve had were speaking to people running non CB radios as CB radios. This has a number of reasons whether it be filters, noise blankers, bandwidth and more. So when you speak from a legal homologated CB to another one you’ll not get issues and life is perfect. In my case when I spoke from William II to Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu and other then people mentioned to me about the audio not sounding extra clear. This was on one occasion cleared up when the NB on the receive radio was turned off. Your talking from in some cases let’s say 1.8-1.9KHz to someone whose maybe hearing you at 2.4-2.8Khz so there is a difference of course.
So it’s a smart idea, a clever engineering advancement for our hobby and absolutely it’s a first. More will come from my side shortly as we’ve had some issues with videos here since a Go Daddy update. Send your questions the usual way and I’ll answer you of course, as always.
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