Galaxy 979

[Scipio Kid]

I swung a deal on a Galaxy 979 and I'll be picking it up in the morning. I've got a Cobra 29 Chrome that's been acting up a little in one of the trucks so I'm putting this one in it's place for now. First I'll put it in the radio shack and see what it does vs. my Cobra LX and my Washington. Never had a Galaxy before but I've heard good things, that's why I went for it. Wondering what the experts or other owners think about this rig, especially compared to the cobra 29 (or iterations thereof). Also wondering about tweaks etc. I hear adding a roger beep is simple as is unlocking the clarifier. I understand the roger beep but what does unlocking the clarifier do? If it's good, why is it locked? It also has a jack for an external frequency meter but I've never understood the need for one of those ... I have trouble enough remembering 1 - 40 much less trying to figure out 27.225 or something. OK, I know that's channel 22 (well, I had to look it up) but I'm not understanding why I need to know that, other than just seeing that you're on frequency. Or are there subtle adjustments you can make to get out or receive better that I've been missing. I've seen delta tune since the 70's and played with it some but usually don't do much with it. I've seen clarifiers make a big difference on sideband but wonder what, if anything an unlocked clarifier would do. I haven't had a good mobile sideband since the 80's so I'll probably play with this one quite a bit to get back into it even if it's just talking back to my base.

Anyway, any ideas, comments, negatives or suggestions on this 979 are appreciated.

[Scipio Kid]

Got this Galaxy, in perfect order for 25 bucks! Hooked it up at home and it did extremely well. Looked at upping the modulation a little too so tried it according to a guru on youtube and suddenly I was pushing 12 watts on AM and was a bit surprised. Then I noticed my SWR's had jumped from a near perfect match to a 2.2:1! The radio has a variable power output so I turned it down and still have the same high SWR reading. It doesn't make sense to me that upping the output would change the antenna match.

Any ideas? ... or better, any solutions?

[295 antenna]

Your right it doesnt sound right.. are you using the radios meter or an external one .I know those radios have a non tuning swr meter but maybe something changed on it and your swr is not really that high

[Scipio Kid]

It jumped up on both the internal and the external meter on an antenna I've had set up for 6 months. It could be the antenna but it's a strange coincidence it had a perfect match before I tweaked it. I need to throw a different radio on the antenna and put the Galaxy on a different antenna to be sure. Once that's done, I'll be back with more dumb questions.

[MDYoungblood]

If your SWR is good with the other radios I would say someone with no experience jacked up the Galaxy probably turning every pot on the board so it will need someone with he right equipment to get it back to right. If you have to use a matcher to get the antenna into a good SWR range you are losing a considerable amount of wattage.
The reason I unlock the clarifier on the Galaxy SSB radio is to get it on frequency while it's warming up, they are all known to drift, when they are unlocked and aligned properly just listening to the receiving station will keep you within a tolerable frequency range. Increasing the modulation is about the only thing worth doing to the 979 unless you get the external freq counter but then again the frequency mod is a pain and needs realigning after it's done.

3's

Greg

[Scipio Kid]

Thanks MDY,
I've been too busy to do much but I might try it out in my pickup today to see what kind of match I've got there. I'v had several radios in the truck with real good swr's on all of them.

I said I'd be back with dumb questions but instead a dumb observation; I had a couple of dummy loads sitting right there when I tested the radio. Seems to me if there is a problem with the radio but the Antenna is good, then the bad match ought to show up on the dummy load as well. It would have taken me all of 15 seconds to try this out but duhhh.

I don't know if anyone had tried tweaking it before I got it. My original tests on am and sideband showed the good match. Then I turned up VR14 for am and VR17 for sideband but it was several hours, maybe the next morning before I got it all back together and tried it out again and noticed the high SWR's.

Also thanks for the info on the clarifier, I think I'll just leave it alone. I might try installing the jumper for the roger beep though just to see if I can do it without wrecking the radio ... now I'm having second thoughts, simply turning up a couple pots didn't go so well, if I get to soldering in there, who knows what I might do?

Anyway, thanks for the info and advice.

[Scipio Kid]

Figured it out (I think). At least now it's working and it doesn't seem to be the radio.

More later

[Scipio Kid]

I started thinking maybe the coax was shorted or something. Not dead shorted, the SWR was only about 2.25:1, not nutso, but maybe it got nicked and water got in there. It's been real wet around here lately (not a very good way to run a desert). I also didn't realize we'd had a lot of wind. I found the coax got whipped around in the wind and a lawn swing had blown over next to the antenna. I'd had the coax secured with a coupling tucked up under an eve. But I found it exposed and wet. So I dried everything out, tightened up things secured the coax and put the yard swing back where it belonged and voila! it was back to a 1:1 match.

I'd tweaked the Cobra LX exactly the same as the Galaxy and had it on the antenna after the clean up. Had a perfect match and got out well but the power output wasn't nearly as high as I'd expected, only 5.5 watts. Swapped it out with the Galaxy and had 4.5 watts at the low adjust and 12 -14 at the high end. So I'm impressed with the Galaxy. The SWR was higher with it ... 1.25:1 but that's acceptable and maybe I can tune it out. I'm also thinking maybe I need to replace the coax, maybe there's still some water in it.

Anyway, really liking the Galaxy but a couple complaints; Probably petty but the knobs are very similar to those on the Cobras or Unidens but they seem to be cheaper, not as well chromed, and don't look as good. Noticed the same thing about the faceplate when I cleaned it up. It didn't clean up like the Cobras usually do. Maybe the former owner used a rough rag cleaning it and dulled it up some? The meter displays are blue and very nice looking, especially at night but the rx/tx light and the SWR light, just below it, are blue switching to red. But the SWR light is dull blue while the RX is bright. When the RX switches to TX and goes bright red, the SWR goes dim red and makes you think there's a problem. It goes bright red if there really is a problem. Maybe they're just not mounted right. Seems to me the SWR should just be off all the time unless there's a problem. The biggest complaint I have is the frequency meter port on the back. It's a hard, sharp plastic thing protruding a quarter inch right next to the coax connector. When you screw your coax on, you end up sticking or cutting your thumb or finger on it. Oh well, nobody asked for a report on it anyway. All in all I really like this little sideband Galaxy and so far, am very impressed with it's performance. Haven't had it in a mobile situation yet so we'll see how it does there later. I think I got my money's worth on this one.

[army1975]

well, all I know is that my lil mobile is the Galaxy 979 and it does me a fine job