I am about to purchase a cobra cb and the guy at the shop said
something about alignment. Is this just another way of doing the old
"peak and tune" thing that I've heard a lot of folks advise NOT to do?
Because I was just going to use it as is right out of the box with no
mods due to the often mentioned "dirty" electronics that result from
shop modifications. Or is alignment something else?

I don't know if it is the same or not but I would recommend that it be
checked out to see what the wattage going out is and what the
modulation is doing. I picked up a Realistic and it was only putting
out 2.46 watts and about 50% moduclation and would not get out at all.
I started with a single no-name Huslter copy, went to single Hustler,
twin Hustler, to twin Tram Penetrators and really never made one whit's
difference in getting out. I bought a Uniden, he put in on the meters,
turned watts to 4, mods to 100% and it'll blow the doors off of rigs
within 8-10 miles if that roar is not in there.

Alignment usually means setting up the oscillators so that the
frequency and wattage/modulation are correct. I believe the term comes
from the good old days, when radios had paper or metal cards marked
with the frequencies that had to be aligned mechanically with the dial
markers.

"Peaking and tuning" is not in itself a bad thing; there are a lot of
ways to do it, and not all of them are correct. Even if you are bending
the 4W carrier limit, you still want to make sure your modulation is
correct, and that you are on frequency, because this will make your
received signal stronger and clearer at any power level. I've seen
hacks tune radios up to 100W carriers without setting the modulation
correctly, resulting in a radio that transmits a very strong but nearly
silent signal for miles and miles.

The other possibility is that he's trying to get some extra bucks out
of you. I know the guy at the local CB shop here, and he aligns rigs
for free if you buy them from him.

well he already said the alignment was no charge. I guess I should go
ahead and let him do it.

JArthur wrote:

well he already said the alignment was no charge. I guess I should go
ahead and let him do it.

Tell him you want him to follow the factory alignment procedure specification.

Anything else is a waste.

ok I'll do that thankyou

On 20 Jun 2005 16:55:58 -0700, "JArthur" wrote:

ok I'll do that thankyou



Most of the alignment involves the PLL. As Dave said, a good frequency counter
can do the trick. It takes little time.

If it is free, than go for it. But most charge $20-25 for that and to set your
DK and ALC. So in many cases, yeah, it's a way to get extra bucks.

Vinnie S.