President Jackson II vs McKinley

[Captain Fantastic]

I am considering getting into something a bit more interesting than just the CB side. Having heard folks DXing from the UK and then reading a little (not much I must admit), I am tempted to get a new rig with additional capabilities.

Does anyone have pro's / con's of the President Jackson II vs McKinley for SSB and generally as rigs?
Also, could there be something else you might suggest instead of these two?

I doubt I would go so far as to get a HAM radio license.

Thanks for your input.

[The Collector]

I've used neither of the above and don't DX (or use CB really to be honest), but I'd perhaps suggest you buy something cheap multimode-wise first, just to see if A) you like it and B) you can actually get out okay. If both criteria are fulfilled, then maybe you can resell the cheapo temporary radio and get yourself one of the above.

The reason I mention it is that we've had people come on here with newly-purchased expensive radios, only to find that because of aerial-size limitations or their geographical location, they just can't seem to get out well. They then pack up and have to resell their gear, at a big loss I'd say.

Just food for thought, but good luck with whatever you decide

[Captain Fantastic]

Thank you for that very wise advice, much appreciated.

I will certainly have a look around. A quick scan of ebay UK and they are still relatively 'not so cheap' as I would have imagined, but there is no rush! I seem to have less choice in Switzerland (where I am), but maybe will check Germany too.

[The Collector]

Check out what the French have to offer too as you can get President stuff a bit cheaper from there as a rule.

Prices in the UK have increased about 100% since Covid started. Hopefully things will calm down and return to normal-ish soon price-wise.

Ham International Multimode 2's were about £60-£70 a few months back but now seem to be hitting triple figures just lately. Concorde 2's are about £100-£120, Nato 2000's have gone up from £75-ish to easily double that and Cobra GTL-DX's have close to tripled in cost if you pefer Uniden-boarded radios.

You could try something like a Tristar 747, or the less popular 777 model if the standard 120 channels are enough for you as both of those go for slightly less unless you're after a mint example.

Another one to consider (there's one currently on ebay uk) is the Marko 747 which is very similar to the Concorde, but done in a dog poo brown colour, which may put some buyers off I resprayed my own Marko (paid £30 for it if I recall correctly years back) in silver and grey.

Good luck with your search if you should go down this route

[Mudslinger]

If you shop around you can buy an anytone AT5555n for about £160 (Try Jabber Products)

Forget paying extra for the President name, the Anytone is just as good if not better, and is a lot cheaper....

If you like older stuff, check out earlier superstar 3900's. They work very well and are much cheaper than the Cobra 148/360FM on which they are based. Plus they tend to be less messed about with as they start off with more channels.

[Otter]

To andswer the question directly - the McKinley because it has a frequency readout and it's easy to get precisely onto the zeroes.

[Captain Fantastic]

@otter - thanks for that, yes I was thinking this aspect as well. The Jackson looks more 'retro' and has an attraction there, but the McKinley clearly is more sophisticated in the display department!

@mudslinger, @ the collector - I had a look around various places, and prices seem to be relatively high as you mention. Some of them are reaching £170+ which is getting into the region (give or take £50) of the President stuff. Wow.

Having looked up the regulations in Switzerland, it seems I can legally use a 40ch AM&FM w SSB without license. Beyond this I should get qualified, etc. In theory, that would limit my options

[The Collector]

If your country is tougher than ours with regards to the rules of radio usage and frequencies, then perhaps you can get a newer-fangled radio that's "legal" to use there if it's been locked on to the correct country setting, like a lot of these multi-norm AM/FM sets over here do.

Perhaps the McKinley, New Grant and New Lincoln etc do this but you can find out on Google etc. easily enough.

Best check the reg's on aerials too, before you stick that Sigma IV up on a 70ft pole

[Mudslinger]

If it was a straight choice between the two i would go for the McKinley. They seem to work very well judging by those who have used them, where as Jackson 2 reports have been varied to say the least...

Plus as mentioned the Frequency display is also very useful.

Not sure if the Mckinley still suffers from the AGC issues which afflicted later President Radios, you would hope that they have fixed it by now but the Grant 2 which I had suffered. Might be something to think about?

[Adidas SoulBoy]

I had a Mckinley i loved it, had to go though, horrible popping sound when volume turned down, something to do with the squelch. Might have just been my radio others may not have been like it, Other than that great radio

[lambrettadave]

I would say the McKinley would be the better of the two that you mentioned.

A president George could be set up to work on legal frequencies and would be less money than either of those that you mentioned.

[delboyonline]

The Jackson 2 I had was the worst SSB radio I've ever owned.

AM/FM worked well but the SSB was garbled/distorted, the radio was also off frequency by about 300hz, and the controls were loose and wobbled every time you touched them.

Shocking for the price

On the other hand, the McKinley EU is a nice radio. Not perfect but it works well.