Cobra 200 GTL

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satelitesid
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Cobra 200 GTL

Post by satelitesid »

Are they actually worth repairing, or just a crock of rubbish?
I have 2, and I am not impressed with either, both faulty, with various faults.
Is it worth my time to look at them, and try to diagnose faults caused by lead free Malaysian solder on surface mount components done on a Friday afternoon by a stoned YTS trainee, or should I just bang them on ebay as spares or repair?
You may guess that I am not impressed with the quality(?) of them
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dt307
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Re: Cobra 200 GTL

Post by dt307 »

you will find they are not the most respected radio on the forum and not many want to work on them,
done some with shorted RD16HHF1 norm takes out tracks both sides.
regulators.
ssb on high power sounds shocking needs a mod to the biasing circuit of the finals to cure.
and as for the frequency counter tracking the actual frequency and working a "zero" dont get me started on the 10.240 and getting it to slide.
they do fetch good money when working ok.
unless your bored get them working the best you can and get rid they are utter crap
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“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”
― Albert Einstein
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163TM847
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Re: Cobra 200 GTL

Post by 163TM847 »

satelitesid wrote: 20 Oct 2018, 23:02 should I just bang them on ebay as spares or repair?
If they are faulty with various faults then yes, I [personally] would move them on with the intention of them being for spares only, Someone may have a beat up one that could do with a better bezel etc.
marvin
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Re: Cobra 200 GTL

Post by marvin »

I had a rev 2 and a rev 3 .......got them when they came out, used them a little bit, they bang out the wattage and best used in a quiet location, they have a cult following, as mentioned no one wants to repair them.........but still better than a Grant 2
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Mudslinger
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Re: Cobra 200 GTL

Post by Mudslinger »

I would say they are worth fixing.

If only because people on ebay pay silly money for them.

So fix them up and sell them on quickly before they break again...
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There is no such thing as a Fidelity 1000 which is too good to scrap.
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radio pete
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Re: Cobra 200 GTL

Post by radio pete »

If set up correctly they work very well & on the 0s, The one problem they can suffer from is static can kill the driver FET you do need a good ground on your AE system.
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dt307
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Re: Cobra 200 GTL

Post by dt307 »

radio pete wrote: 30 Oct 2018, 11:26 If set up correctly they work very well & on the 0s, The one problem they can suffer from is static can kill the driver FET you do need a good ground on your AE system.
the 3 i have seen inc a sealed from new 1 (think ver2's) will be fine on say 27.555 tune on the display to 27.781 and they like 3kc high and with the coarse turned all the way left or right dont go any where near a zero. i looked into it and found the 10.240 was to tight and swapped for 1 from a cybernet that helped, a uniden 1 was worse, so i bit the bullet and ordered a special 10 pound 1 from cobra workshopz which i didn't expect to do anything but it did and restored the -/+ 5kc . as for the counter i didnt look a lot into it as i had to replace the fet driver and stupidly didn't check it before i fitted it as i bought from a well known seller and was fake and instantly went short and killed all the tracks, so i had to buy the radio from the owner as "my fault" but i think the counter it tied into the voltage and depending on the varactor voltage so it would need if possible some altering of the varactor circuit to get them both to track, did all the repair work and sold it. maybe the newer versions work better
163dt307-chris




“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”
― Albert Einstein
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