Midland Alan 42DS CE MultiNorm UK CB radio (handheld) - Adjustment
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- A customer sent two of these current model radios if for optimisation. It's not a set I've seen before, though we covered the earlier 42Multi last year. Anyway, at least you can set the S meter & RF meter & it receives well.
On the Air test to follow later today with Mr Chippie
Recorded 8th March 2021
Richard G0OJF
Lincolnshire, UK
Thanks you 73/51
From belguim
Little more than a fancy walkie talkie. That coax it comes with, be as well with a wet bit of string!
How much loss does it have over such a short run?
@@Perthshire I think he lost half a watt just with that short bit of coiled coax.
I've found that my Midland Alan 42 DS, with HYS SD-XP-70 antenna, appears optimised for the D4 and I2 bands, with the most of the others being not bad and the UK band the worst. (The stock antenna giving similar results). D4 and I2 showing 4 watts at top and bottom of the band and UK just over 2 watts at channel 1 and just over 1 watt at channel 40. (13.3v approx). Another disappointment is that a 12v LI-Ion rechargeable battery pack (Kratax 8 x 1.5v AA 3500mWh) will not go over 1.5 watts on any band due to what appears to be a limiter which cuts in at around 13v. If I had known this I certainly would not have purchased this radio, which I bought in the UK.
Thanks a lot for the video. I am new to CB - bought this Alan 42 ds. Friends saying that incoming signal strengh is very good (S-9) but they hear my very very quiet although I am very close to the mic. Can I understand "deviation" as kind of mic gain in FM-mode? I tried to play around with the potentiometer (without measuring equipment) and it seems to be a bit louder now. You show at 12:33 the deviation at another place than you show deviation at 18:02. I adjusted the potentiometer mentioned at 18:02 - hope, that was the right one. Is there another way to get a louder voice with this radio?
Deviation has to be done with a test instrument.....it's the width of the FM signal & must not exceed 2.5Khz absolute peak. If set too low, the voice appears quiet....if set too high you transmit on several channels at once but will appear louder on a receiver with poor selectivity (such as a Fidelity 1000).
I've worked as an electronics engineer specialising in 2-way radio for 40 years & would not be able to guess deviation without instruments.
If it was unclear which preset was FM deviation....bearing in mind the radio can do AM on the CEPT band also has a Modulation preset, then I've covered this set at leas twice before in the back catalogue. Remember if I say "Modulation" then it is for AM as I will always say "Deviation" if I'm doing FM...which is what I'm doing 99.9% of the time.
Richard, G0OJF, UK
The construction is very similar to a Yaesu FT-26R handheld. I've just been replacing the memory backup battery in mine not long ago.
Yes, when I was at Nottingham Radio we had a national customer with Yaesu 517L10 with that type of construction...though the Yaesu didn't have the two boards soldered together but instead folded out making it more serviceable.
When the Maxon SL70 handheld business radio came out in the 90's it was once again similar with the two boards sandwiched together & interconnected with flexitracks. Now, this handportable is in fact made by Maxon for Midland-Alan, but of course has to be cheaper than the £299 that the SL70 was.
\Richard
Hello, great video! Could you show your notes again in detail for what the individual pottis are? Greetings, Thomas
Yes Great video, though a bit confusing,looking to increase power on uk band to 4 watts.
Thinking about getting back into CB like the handheld type as I don't think I be able to set up a home base
The reality is that if were sat at home with a handheld (especially the new ones) you would be restricting yourself to a 1.5 mile range. A mobile (that means a fitted unit in a car with a roof aerial) is around 7 miles & a base station at home is around 12 miles. I'm talking UK here.
Richard, G0OJF, UK
compared to the design of a President board, there is no story, ok, this is a portable, but...my very old Alan38 is way better...anyway, thanks for the video! Will wait for Mr Chippie response! :)
The Alan 38 was not offered in the UK & shows on a google search as CEPT AM.
Richard
@@ukfmcbradioservicingTango21 yup, sorry, it was for Italy market, but many years ago and yes, only AM at the time. My comment was just to compare circuit board, modern smd apparatus VS old circuitry :)
Thanks for a great informative video. I have just bought this exact model and I fear that it will be nowhere near powerful enough for my needs. I am off on an overland trip in my camping car, do you have any recommendations for a much more powerful rig (I'm in Europe) and would you be so kind as to make a suggestion for a replacement antennae for the Alan 42ds. Many thanks.
4W is the maximum legal power throughout Europe. If you are wanting to use CB in a car, use a proper mobile set into a rood aerial. We get 35 miles mobile to base & about 7 miles mobile to mobile on totally legal equipment. I'm not sure how you are intending using this handheld, but if you think a handheld in a car on a 'rubber duck' aerial will work....it won't as the metal body of the car will screen the signals at this frequency. You also run into a legal grey area using a handheld in a car, whereas a fitted mobile radio with an ordinary fist mike is legal to use when the car is in motion 'when safe to do so'.
I've not tested alternative rubber duck aerials for handhelds such as this as all our tests are with the factory supplied accessories for optimum fairness. Bear in mind there may be bigger & better looking aerials on the market that boast all kinds of B.S. CB radio & the accessory market is full of bull.
If you are hoping to talk car to car on a handheld inside on a rubber duck, expect 1 mile range maximum.
Richard, G0OJF, UK
@@ukfmcbradioservicingTango21 Thank you kind sir for your informative reply, I will take your advice and get a dedicated car cb. The Alan 42 does have an adapter for a roof ariel and a cigarette lighter power point which enables one to remove the battery pack and use the unit as a fist mike. Thanks again.
i have this alan 42 DS but its stuck in EC mode so i pressed the LCR button held it in and turned the radio off then back on.
its still stuck in EC mode im i doing anything wrong here.
thank you
David
I though you had to press LCR & SC together, then turn it on.
Richard
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Rubbish power output and fuzzy TX'd audio.
yep, I agree. I wonder what the proper Midland accessory microphone sounds like.
Richard
the layout of the board has completely changed so this instruction has become useless.
That's interesting. I had a brand new 42DS arrive from the wholesalers yesterday as there were some things I wanted to do what I didn't do with the customer set. However, your comment about a possible layout change making the video useless is invalid if there are a number of different versions. At least I've covered this version & we'll see what version has arrived new when I look into it later in the week.
For example, there are two versions of the 1981 Binatone Route 66;mI've covered them both.
Richard, G0OJF, UK
It's maybe useless to you but not to others plus well done to Richard for keeping us all entertained for the past year he didn't have to do these video's so stop being ungrateful