Ok, before you jump down my throat I’m not talking about breaking any laws here. I have a little Mariner VHF radio made by Si-Tex. I bought an SWR/power meter to check it and my fathers Uniden 525 (or 535, I don’t remember) radio and antenna installations. Well the SWR was great for both, but on high power my radio only put out 17 watts, not 25. His puts out like 26. His radio is a beast.
How hard would it be to get it cranked up to the legal 25 watts? Would my range increase much from 17 to 25? I don’t think it would as I only have a 3’ whip, but if it is nothing more than turning an adjustment pot, I can do that easily. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It is possible that radio is putting out as much power as it was designed for. Nowadays a lot of radios are “software controlled” There isn’t any tweak or adjustment you can do, as the microprocessor dictates power output. Most of the semicondustors are likely surface mount, and not adjustable.
You best bet is to search online for a service manual and see if there is a possibility to adjust it.
Otherwise check the test data at the FCC web site, based on the FCC ID of the radio.
You’re probably right. It isn’t brand new, but I’m sure is pretty sophisticated. It was made in the year 2000 or so.
I’d like to know this. How does a radio take a voice signal…convert it to a radio signal and send it out over an antenna? It’s not new technology as my father owned (he gave it to me) an old CB from the early 70’s and it still worked fine. How can it do it? Is it magical? What parts do that? Is it simple? Complicated? Down right magical???
Nothing magic. Simple natural order of things. Everything has a specific frequency. Light for example has a frequency. Television has a frequency, Electricity through your wires has a frequency. All the radio bands have a frequency.
All these things relate to one another as electromagnetic radiation. Depending on the frequency, you can hear it, see it… experience it through plain sight, theough elecrical force, or via a tv screen or radio speaker.
Through centuries, people have discovered this and expanded upon theories and found ways to use these aspects of nature.
Welcome Brandon - adjusting the power out from 17 to 25 watts would yield
you just about nothing in range gain. This would not be noticeable out on
the fringe of radio coverage. This is less than 2dB of rf power gain. You would
have better success at increasing range with a higher quality antenna installation. You would not put lousy speakers on a great stereo now would ya? Same concept for two way radio and antennas. Good luck & have fun with the radio hobby…
What parts do that? Is it simple? Complicated? Down right magical???