RCI 2970N4 DX AM-FM-SSB-CW 10 & 12 Meter Mobile Ranger Radio …

Dx is based on the solar flux 99% and sporadic E layer skip, Period! This is an amazing radio, but again right now with the sunspot cycle on the way down everything is because of Sporadic E skip conditions. And Dx contacts will be very random no matter if you are using QRP or legal limit. 73s, Jimmy, WX9DX

Garbage out of the box. The radio was deadkeying at 250W on AM out of the box, too high! Seems like nothing was setup or calibrated correctly from factory. The first unit had a defective microphone ( screw was missing on connector ) which shorted the radio when connected out of the box, the second unit was /is totally whack out of the box with a 250W dead key on AM, should be approx 100W. The frequencies dont line up correctly either I believe, SSB Wattage is peaking at over 500W!, unit wont last long in its current state. Attempted to make contact with Ranger RCI HQ tech support in California and their (sister?) company Radio Shop Supply in same state via tech support emails resulted in NO response back from them via multiple attempts, $650 down the toilet. The radio was setup correctly, PSU unit was either hard wired to vehicle battery ( 180A alternator ) or hard wired to home 13.8Vdc 75A PSU via 8 guage welding wire. So in essence, if you think you can merely install the e chip and talk, you wont, well you might until you burn it out soon. Do yourself a favor and buy from a place that tunes and alligns these before selling them, since Ranger RCI factory settings out of the box are a joke. As is their tech support, which is non existent. So much for the 2 year warranty, its worth nothing more than the paper it is written on. Makes me laugh when I read about people over tuning their radios blah blah, this thing was over tuned from factory, then they no doubt have the audacity to blame user for over tuning their rig, where in fact it was setup by the under paid person working in one of their factories. Update 8/1/2017, The radio is now down on power,it tops out at approx 297W from approx 400W wide open, bearing in mind I never usually go past 12 oclock power setting. Tested the RMS and PEP via quality SWAN SM2000A meter. Which gave me the results, also the current draw is down with the same voltage which indicates a blow PIL, so probably one of the 4 pils are gone . All in less than 2 months of mild usage. I will be contacting Amazon for assistance since the manufacturer never responded to any of my previous tech support emails nor did Rangers authorized repair center.

This radio needs to be adjusted and tuned before you purchase. I recommend paying extra for the service cause you will smoke it fast. To much money also.

I pretty much like everything about the radio, you need the correct antenna for it and some type of swr meter.

Awesome radio once you replace the transistors, Runs hot with the cheap ones. Receive is excellent. No warranty service for the transistors. Actually RCI is no longer in business. and repairs are on your own dime. If you buy hi radio in its dtock format, you WILL be replacing parts. It wont probably happen for about 6 months, but you will wake up one day, and key it up, and poof, Get the checkbook ready.

What an amazing radio! First the receive is incredible compared to your typical cobra radios. There is no drift whatsoever on SSB. Receiver is very quiet and signals are clear. The anl/nb work fabulous at eliminating ignition nose. Out of the box as measured on my Bird Thruline 4410a SSB is spot on at 400 watts and AM is spot on at 225 watts output. My Astron VS70M shows almost 50 amps of current on SSB full power. The sound from the speaker is definitely acceptable and an external speaker doesnt seem necessary. You will need to buy additional 8 guage wire to run a connection directly to your battery as using a cigarette light plug in or tapping into a fuse box is a NO GO. The audio produced by the microphone is smooth and perfect (meaning not over modulated, clipping. If you want to sound like a trucker buy a Galaxy and slap on a Red Devil power mic) I opted to use a Palomar SL41. The best mobile antenna setup is a 102 inch whip which will pretty much cover a frequency range of 26.000 MHz to nearly 29.999 MHz with SWR ranging no higher than almost 2:1 at any end. Adding a spring to the whip lowers the frequency range on the higher end to about 29.500 MHz. Very pleased with this purchase.

radio supply has been spot on with me my 2970 n2 conversion to n4 with matching toshibas is the very best hands down i have talked 35 miles in these moutains no small feat when on sideband you know i am there 3710 colo said that 73s