I've been using it for a few weeks now. So I feel comfortable with it.
Most have read all there is to read on them, so I'm just gonna give my impressions. Some reviews might be the first production on these and they have changed some.
The conversion is not for amatures! This resistor is microscopic, lol. If your a weekend solder monkey, like me, forget it. Get someone who knows what they're doing. Seriously. This needs to be said again!
Mine is swinging about 150 watts or so on AM high power. Several people have told me they are swinging well over 200, but I didn't want mine cranked up all the way, I'd like to see it last a little longer. In general I don't like to max out my radios, or anyone messing with the modulation.
People talk about the +10khz switch not working after the conversion, but mine is right on the dial now. For example I go from 15 to "15A" right on the dial as I flick through (there's a dot next to the channel number to show the difference), so I didn't see this as a big deal. All the channels are there. I would never use it to jump channels anyway, I'd just click the dial once to hit the next channel. Seems like I could use that button for something else though! I need to look into that.
The recieve is just *slightly* less than my new 148 GTL that I also use on the base. But I'm currently using a far superior speaker on the 148 also. It's a very slight difference. But I find the recieve excellent on both radios. I can sometimes pull a distant mobile mud duck out with the 148 that I couldn't on the 200. The external speaker I have on on my 148 does make a difference too though, it has a better sound quality than the motorola.
This baby is a power drawing radio, which you would expect out of the export class. Mine draws about 18 amps on AM high power. I've heard of them being super tweeked and blowing fuses on a Pyramid 25 watt supply on SSB. So be prepared. Perhaps a better brand of power supply could handle it maxed out with 25 amps
I have a 40 amp continous Pyramid which usually draws less than half the available power on the AM high power setting (about 18 of the available 40).I'm going to be putting an on off switch on the talk back. I have a very old school motorola speaker with heavy shielding, volume control, and a metal case. Not rushing out to put the on off switch on the talk back, but I will at some point. All my other speakers ranging from radio shack to my texas ranger produce a very nice squeal with my D104 hand mike at a very low setting. Some say you can use an Astatic Road Devil noise canceling power mike, which did work better (cranked up about half way before squealing) than the D104 hand mike, but I still couldn't crank it all the way up with most speakers, or even the stock speaker. That Motorola speaker was a life saver till I get the on off switch installed in the talk back. All in all I would rather have the talk back than not to have it, I need to know how I sound, especially with the echo. I didn't have any problems with the stock Cobra mic, which BTW is way to big to be that light! They need to throw some weights in it
With the D104 hand mic on it, cranked up all the way, this radio is really swinging!I really don't use SSB hardly at all. But I tried it out a couple of times and didn't have any sort of problem talking some DX.
The NB/ANL does cut down slightly on your recieve. I can see where there would be a fix for that. But it doesn't seem to me to be worth the trouble to mail it in for the repair, or even have it done right away locally. It isn't a very big deal to me. A very slight difference when trying to pull out those distant mobile barefoot mud ducks. I could see in a mobile installation with ignition noise it might be more of a problem. I was planning to use this in my mobile, but now I gotta have it for my base
On my base I don't have the need for NB/ANL so it's not really a factor. As far as the channel rejection goes, it doesn't seem any worse than my 148 GTL. We have some big radios in Detroit and I get wash sometimes regardless of what radio I use, from Browning to Cobra to Midland. This one isn't special in that department, about average with the rest of my radios. Perhaps Cobra has tweeked the newer ones some?
The "nightwatch" is very cool
Roger Beep and echo on a "HAM radio", that's some funny stuff I think real HAMs might hunt you down, lol. I would have liked to see a tone control like on the 148 GTL (I think some might go speaker hunting to get that "just right" tone), and I prefer how the 148 GTL has ANL and NB/ANL as different selectable options. On the 200 it's NB/ANL on or off together. I find the SWR needle more sensitive on the 200 than the Cobra 148 GTL, people tend to hit me harder on the 200 than they do on the 148. It's all the same, but it might be why some feel the 148 GTL has such superior ears than the 200 (I can hear this guy hitting me with a 3 on my 148, but I can't hear a guy hitting me with a 3 on my 200 kinda thing). The 148 GTL does indeed have *slightly* better ears. But on the 148 I can't always reach the people on the edge I can hear, I sure can with the 200.After working out a few bugs (any export type radio needs some work/tweeking), I love this radio. If you've got a tech (for the conversion, power tweek, and I highly suggest an on off switch on the talk back) in your area you trust, this is a really really nice radio. If you get the on off switch for the talk back, don't worry about any modulation adjustments, the Astatic D104 will really swing that radio plenty. If you don't have the skill or anyone in the area you trust to work a few bugs out of it, I wouldn't suggest you get it (or any export type radio, they all need the tweeking). Lucky for me I have an excellent tech in the area, if your in SE Michigan, and need someone, drop me a PM. He's seriously done 100's of these. I give it a 9 on a 10 scale. I've never found a 10 or a 10 scale yet, I doubt I ever will
Hope this helps someone.
