The worst UK FM rig ever?

[ChickenMadras]

Well sod the lot of you. I like it so nerrrrrr

The only reason I haven't got it in my car is because the old school 2001 is a bit too big with nowhere to mount it on my dash. I just chuck it on the passenger seat and plug it into the fag lighter for temporary use.

Though one day I will buy one of the new tiny rigs that I can mount permenantly in the car to replace the Midland 2001.

[RogerD]

Maxcom 20E was awful, worse than the Compact 40, fer sure

[MrWeetabix]

Yeah...its been developed inside the Midland Research and Development Lab........rador.....lol

[marineboy101]

lake manxman gcoll etc etc they were bad for bleedover i mean bad but you could so much with them i had one that covered 25 to over 32 mhz it had a 25w burner in it it was converted by charley grandad in north shields( rip old friend )mind you the channels were all over the place and you needed a chart but it did work oh also i had one with a crystal filter in and i had no bleedover well .not much maybe 1 or 2 channles but the audio was bad crappy squelch and a bit deaf but it got you on mid band when it first came out in 1987

[marineboy101]

oh did any one else had a famous charlie special

[g0slq]

i can't say a midland 2001 ever looked good,in fact all midlands look cheap in that crap greeny blue colour.

With performance to match!

Even the FIdelity 3000 homebase looked nice but wasn't.

Honorary mentions to Gecol and Commtron IV in the crap stakes as well!

Agreed Marine Boy - Gecols NEEDED a freq counter - not just to see the freq/channel but because they were somewhat random/spurious all over the place.

[2A0FX]

I emphatically disagree with the view that the Murphy Homebase should be listed as one of the worst UKFM rigs - I have owned a Murphy CBH1500 since 1982 and have compared it against some of the best mobiles available using the same homebase antenna (Silver Rod) and it has performed consistently as one of the best receivers with exceptional transmission audio quality (I have frequently been asked if I was using a speech processor because it is so punchy). Reliability to-date has been 100% and the transceiver performance has been consistently good throughout. A simple examination of the circuit diagram shows why the receiver is so good; it uses a low noise FET mixer for the first stage IF conversion and follows this with a high gain low noise 2nd IF amplifier. I am still delighted with it after all these years and wouldn't change it for all the Yaesu's in China (and it has knocked the socks off of one of those as well!).

[gmham]

Not read all three pages off this great thread but unless its been mentioned already ?? sure the maxcom apollo 16e /21 e ?? was among the worst off the worse, the bleedover on these things back in the days was so bad making them almost useless !!

lowe tx40 - thought these were regarded as one off the better uk40 rigs ??- sold by lowes / cheaper copies were to follow- bramer pt40 - with its shiny plastic front !!!

enjoyed my short ownership off a maxcom 30e, 100% improvment over there other earlier crap !!

amstrad 901 / murphy homebase and the fidelty homebase other rigs that surely qualify for being in the worse list !!!

[darkone]

PE Ranger 27FM

Desgined by fisherprice, parts sourced at Maplin and assembled by a YTS bod.
Dreadful.

[strawb]

I honestly can't belive that you guys are banging on about bleed over
I used to get irate with people constantly asking me to move coz i was bleeding on them so i used to ask them if they had an RF gain control on their radio to which most of them did !! "Use it man!!" thats wot its for
incidently ....i used a Lowe tx 40 and loved it, the rf gain was awesome at eliminating bleed over from the guy over the street from me , and the midland 4001- even better at eliminating bleed over ...the rf gain used in conjunction with the loc-dx switch was even more effective..and i would have another 4001 tomorrow, as for cybernet rigs...i prefer those to uniden...all 134 boarded rigs . Nato 2000 was the best rig i ever had ,wish i hadnt parted with it:( the "dynamic range" was superb with very low noise floor belive me ..i have owned hundreds of rigs...cybernet/uniden 27/81 and most of the ssb rigs.
this is what i look for in a radio...useability, an unclutterd facia, sensitivity (with control of corse), great dynamic range and low noise floor. not many rigs can manage all of the above but if it does i bet your bottom dollar its a cybernet!
regards from a an Amateur and professional radio operator

[UGLY_BOB]

and the midland 4001- even better at eliminating bleed over ...the rf gain used in conjunction with the loc-dx switch was even more effective..and i would have another 4001 tomorrow,

I actually still use one mobile.... it's waaay better than the 2001 that gave it such a bad 'Rap'.



Still a million times better radio than the god-awful Maycom EM27 squawk box.

[darkone]

That's a plush carpeted pimp mobile you have there Bob

[UGLY_BOB]

There's nothing better than a tasteless American car interior ! The Ugly One travels in style ha ha !

[nordhavn]

one of the worst ones ive had was a jesan something or other , it was no bigger that a pack of 20 b&h .

[jazzsinger]

and the midland 4001- even better at eliminating bleed over ...the rf gain used in conjunction with the loc-dx switch was even more effective..and i would have another 4001 tomorrow,

I actually still use one mobile.... it's waaay better than the 2001 that gave it such a bad 'Rap'.



Still a million times better radio than the god-awful Maycom EM27 squawk box.

slightly off topic,but that red carpet pimp mobile is just crying out for a ss3900 eghp.even bigpimp would be glad to own such a garish combo.

back on topic,those binatone route 66's were seriosly bad to the bone.