Midnight Special 250

[quickdraw83]

any idea if a midnight 250 would work paired up with my 88? i figure i would have to run on low power, but wasnt sure if low power was still to much dead key for the 250 amp. so how much more wattage will the 250 actually give you?

[Pro-Tech]

With a proper match you will have 250 watts PEP with your 88. That is the very minomum you should see. Most of the time our customers do that up to 300 watts PEP.

[slydog]

ill be interested in hearing more about these as they start hitting the cb community here. may have to add one to my collection down the road.

CB Community?????? Xforce has been making them for 4 years. They are only $125....it's not like you have to finance one.

[Unit 243]

If you want to look at another Small Amp and cost, take a look at the Bullet Proof Amp's I have the 250 and I am getting great reports on the crisp sound on both Am and SSB and I do prefer the SSB Delay Sys. over the Auto Switching. I believe Protech has some for sale.

Rgds: Unit 243

[silverstreak]

Go with a Fat Boy 300 that Redman sells better Customer support and its only $130.00 shipped.Will do as much or better than the Midnight Special.Carl the owner of x-force is to busy driving for UPS to worry about his product or give support when their is a problem,the woman who answers the phone is his wife and when a problem comes around she can be real fun to deal with.

[SuperDave4x4]

They don't make them any more. I think I already posted that. But good luck in your search for some inventory that hasn't sold yet. I talk to these people about every morning and they don't know who is sitting on unsold merchandise either.

Wow. I'm confused. They don't make them anymore, but when I talked to his wife today she acted like they never stopped making them?? And I found this post you made a while back about the Midnight Special 250:

PostPosted: Thursday, 14 February 2008, 18:48 PM Post subject: Reply with quote

Please don't buy it. When they first hit the market we bought a case to try them and they all came back with problems. It was cheaper for us to fix them ourselves than to pay the shipping to send them back.
The gentleman that said that they are made in Chi-town. Sir you are wrong. I can't give up industry secrets to tell you who and where but take my word for it they are not of the mid west.

I hope the manufacturer doesn't read this. But I wanted to save you some grief. They do have other products that do deserve the industry's respect though but just like the Ford Motor Co. we all have our Edsel's that we put on the market.




I'm so confused.............Not trying to start anything just want some clarification.

[SuperDave4x4]

Thread from above.

http://www.radioraffle.com/vi ... 99fa55cf81

[white devil]

Well it has been eight months and quality control could have reached a new standard. If Pro Tech will stand behind the product that is good enough for me.

[SuperDave4x4]

Yeah, that is extremely true! I mean a whole heck of a lot can happen in 8 months.

[slydog]

Yeah, that is extremely true! I mean a whole heck of a lot can happen in 8 months.

Maybe you confused the 500s with the 700s. I never heard of any problems with the MS 4 pill but the 700s had a single problem........if you drive them with a healthy low key big swing dual final export you'll burn up the 2 watt resistor from the pot to the input of the 1 pill section.

[SuperDave4x4]

Yeah, that's why I listed what it liked above. It doesn't like but about but about 30ish watts of swing. That sd1146s driving the other 4 can take the abuse.

[quickdraw83]

ill be interested in hearing more about these as they start hitting the cb community here. may have to add one to my collection down the road.

CB Community?????? Xforce has been making them for 4 years. They are only $125....it's not like you have to finance one.

take it easy, dude... i said "cb community here". that means specifically members of this forum. i meant ill be interested in hearing from guys on the forum that buy them and run them. and i didnt say anything about them costing alot either.

[slydog]

ill be interested in hearing more about these as they start hitting the cb community here. may have to add one to my collection down the road.

CB Community?????? Xforce has been making them for 4 years. They are only $125....it's not like you have to finance one.

take it easy, dude... i said "cb community here". that means specifically members of this forum. i meant ill be interested in hearing from guys on the forum that buy them and run them. and i didnt say anything about them costing alot either.

They are not a real popular box.....mostly because a lot of CBers have never heard of them.

[10 Gauge]

I just ordered one of these online last night from Xforce as it seems like a nice little box for the price.

I am currently using a Cobra 25 NightWatch and it's been a solid little radio hooked to the K40 I bought with it. My question is how well will the K40 hold up to this amp? I love the antenna and IIRC it will handle up to 500w. Xforce recommends an antenna capable of handling 2x the output of the amp which seems like a perfect match for me.

What kind of distance gains can be expected from a small amp and antenna setup such as mine? Thanks in advance for any replies!

Oh yeah, love the forum too. Very nice!

[Pillpopper]

I just ordered one of these online last night from Xforce as it seems like a nice little box for the price.

I am currently using a Cobra 25 NightWatch and it's been a solid little radio hooked to the K40 I bought with it. My question is how well will the K40 hold up to this amp? I love the antenna and IIRC it will handle up to 500w. Xforce recommends an antenna capable of handling 2x the output of the amp which seems like a perfect match for me.

What kind of distance gains can be expected from a small amp and antenna setup such as mine? Thanks in advance for any replies!

Oh yeah, love the forum too. Very nice!

Distance is a hard factor to determine but it will increase your signal strength and audio. If your in Falls Church I should be able to pull you in here in Centreville/ Fairfax aka "Destroyer Territory" Listen for a fellow by the name of 678, I am either on 18, 20 or 6.

73's

Pillpopper

[10 Gauge]

I just ordered one of these online last night from Xforce as it seems like a nice little box for the price.

I am currently using a Cobra 25 NightWatch and it's been a solid little radio hooked to the K40 I bought with it. My question is how well will the K40 hold up to this amp? I love the antenna and IIRC it will handle up to 500w. Xforce recommends an antenna capable of handling 2x the output of the amp which seems like a perfect match for me.

What kind of distance gains can be expected from a small amp and antenna setup such as mine? Thanks in advance for any replies!

Oh yeah, love the forum too. Very nice!

Distance is a hard factor to determine but it will increase your signal strength and audio. If your in Falls Church I should be able to pull you in here in Centreville/ Fairfax aka "Destroyer Territory" Listen for a fellow by the name of 678, I am either on 18, 20 or 6.

73's

Pillpopper

Thanks Pillpopper! I actually work in Manassas Park which is right down the road from Centreville... I hope to be getting on the road around 5 or 6 tonight and I will see if I can catch ya.

Do you think the K40 will work out OK with that amp? Thanks!

[Pillpopper]

The K40 is in all around good antenna, but I would go with either a Wilson 5000 or even better & cheaper the 102" whip. Put it like this, I have an old post around here comparing the difference of a Wilson 1000 mag to the 102" whip on a tri mount mag. Using the same radio, same spot, same DNA in my body, the 102" put out 3 db’s over the Wilson on a bare foot radio. Now I know the Wilson is a step up from the K40, just a little something to think about.
I should be on the radio around the same time. I’ll be listen for ya.

73’s

Pillpopper

[10 Gauge]

The K40 is in all around good antenna, but I would go with either a Wilson 5000 or even better & cheaper the 102" whip. Put it like this, I have an old post around here comparing the difference of a Wilson 1000 mag to the 102" whip on a tri mount mag. Using the same radio, same spot, same DNA in my body, the 102" put out 3 db’s over the Wilson on a bare foot radio. Now I know the Wilson is a step up from the K40, just a little something to think about.
I should be on the radio around the same time. I’ll be listen for ya.

73’s

Pillpopper

Awesome thanks for the advice! I have loved my K40 antenna, it seems to do the job bare foot just fine, I just don't want to burn it out putting more watts through it than it can handle. I would LOVE to go with a 102" whip but I don't think it's too economical on my little car, lol....

My assistant manager just bailed on me for the next 4 days so I'm heated right now and won't be leaving till about 8:30 and working open to close sat, sun, and monday as well. Suuuuuuuper **Censored** about all that. At any rate, I will hop in the car when the store gets slow and see if I can't pick ya up on one of the afformentioned channels.

Thanks again for the advice Pillpopper!

Big Ten signin' off.

[579]

Hey 10 gauge, I'm really interested in this amp. When you get it, could you give us a review of it?

[10 Gauge]

Hey 10 gauge, I'm really interested in this amp. When you get it, could you give us a review of it?

That's a big 10-4 579! I plan on doing my own little review of it once it comes in and I get it hooked up. It will be here by noon tomorrow so I get to test it out then hopefully. I wired up my car today with 10 gauge power and ground leads direct from the battery with a 25amp inline fuse. Gonna store this little guy in my glove box which should give me easy enough access for on/off.

I do have a question though, I have yet to purchase my interconnect coax to go between the radio and the amp. Is there a specific length cable that would be recommended or just get a piece of cable sized to the needs of where the amp is located in reference to the radio?

The local CB enthusiast / shop owner in Manassas recommended that I get an 9 foot cable for the interconnect even though I only need approximately 1-2 feet at the very most. Any suggestions from you pro's out there?

One other question before I get off. Is upgrading from the standard Cobra mike to a powered / noise canceling mike make a pretty big difference when amping?

Thanks in advance!

Big Ten over and out!

[579]

If you only need 1-2 ' of coax, than a 3' jumper would be best. Some people say aslong as it's multiples of 3', while other's say as much as you need to get the job done. I've used an 18" jumper before and noticed no difference when I switched to a 3' jumper. Looking forward to the review.

Do You have an external swr/power meter? I would really like to know the output wattage number's you'll be seeing.

[10 Gauge]

If you only need 1-2 ' of coax, than a 3' jumper would be best. Some people say aslong as it's multiples of 3', while other's say as much as you need to get the job done. I've used an 18" jumper before and noticed no difference when I switched to a 3' jumper. Looking forward to the review.

Do You have an external swr/power meter? I would really like to know the output wattage number's you'll be seeing.

Thanks for the cable advice. Not sure what my CB guy has in stock right now (he's retired and barely runs his business any more), but depending on what he has I may end up with a 9' or 3' cable, lol.

I don't have an external meter currently. Doesn't RadioShack sell a pretty cheap one that does the job decently? If so, is this an item they usually stock in store or purchase online only? Does this meter have an input/output that uses PL-259's or is it something different. Rather a better question is how does it hook up to the system?

[10 Gauge]

Quick Update:

My pair of Midnight Special 250's came in this morning at around 10am from X-Force (one for me and one for my flat mate). Got it neatly installed in my glove box and it powered right up the first time, nothing blew (woot!), and I have made a few contacts so far with it. I've only had about 5 minutes to play with it since I am working all day today but the contacts I have made so far have said that it's coming through nice, clean, and loud.

I will post another update tonight after I get home and have had some time to play with it travelling down I-66 from Centreville to Falls Church.

@Pillpopper: Lemme know when you will be on today and I can test it with you.

[the_junkie]

Quick Update:

My pair of Midnight Special 250's came in this morning at around 10am from X-Force (one for me and one for my flat mate). Got it neatly installed in my glove box and it powered right up the first time, nothing blew (woot!), and I have made a few contacts so far with it. I've only had about 5 minutes to play with it since I am working all day today but the contacts I have made so far have said that it's coming through nice, clean, and loud.

I will post another update tonight after I get home and have had some time to play with it travelling down I-66 from Centreville to Falls Church.

@Pillpopper: Lemme know when you will be on today and I can test it with you.

Sweet! Glad to hear it's workin for ya...now you need a 6 pill and get REAL loud (Something i need to do too haha)

But in all seriousness, I'm glad it's workin for ya.

[10 Gauge]

Sweet! Glad to hear it's workin for ya...now you need a 6 pill and get REAL loud (Something i need to do too haha)

But in all seriousness, I'm glad it's workin for ya.

Yeah I definitely plan on it... I have this setup in a 2005 Honda Civic so I don't have a lot of space or power (me have a itty bitty alternator, lol).

Would a power mike make any difference or are the standard Cobra mike's decent? I don't know what really to do next except get a pre-amp for the RX. I would at some point like to get another antenna but I really have 0 complaints whatsoever about the K40. It seems to have really good reception and carry to it, and I love the fact that it's quick disconnect so I can remove it at night and it doesn't get nicked by a bum.

Anyhow, if I really get in to this I might look at getting one of the bigger Midnight Specials, maybe that 400 or 700 (I think they have a 700 MS....). Don't know how the hell I'd power the damn thing though with such a weak charging system and midget sized battery.

Thanks for the reply junkie.