DX-2547 AM/SSB CB Base Station w/ Freq Counter, Talkback & Roger Beep

I have been a Cb’er since 1966 when I had to pay $8 for a license and worked a tube radio with a homemade antenna. No one cared about SWR with these monsters and 15 miles was Dxing. I’ve owned many mobiles and bases through the years. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert – just a seasoned user. I tend to write for people less experienced than I do so I may simplify things at times. Those more knowledgeable can sort things out easily.My antenna is a Sirio GPS 1/2 with a modest height of about 30 ft. The GPS 5-8 would be nice if you have the room/height for the ground plane sticks. I ran/tested the radio from both the 120V house power and my MFJ-4225MV switching power supply. Testing was done on a Dosey TC-4001-P test center. Not the precision of testers like Bird, etc. but suitable and relevant. Radio performance was the same in either case with slight improvement running on 120V.I was running a Galaxy 959 as my base until I bought this 2547. It is basically a Galaxy 959 with a built in power supply. The differences to the 959 are subtle but dramatic. This thing has a bigger set of ears. I hear things – with the same setup – that I could never hear before. The Xmit audio – as reported from those I regularly talk to and know my old radio - is clearer and has good swing. This is especially true running on 120V household power. Unlike the new surface mount radios, this thing is all discrete components and is easily adjusted. A newbie guided by YouTube can tweak this thing. I’ve found no need for the ANL or NB. I do use the Galaxy Noise Filter (GNF). In my opinion, this is a valuable but misunderstood filter. I agree that it is basically useless in normal use – close by receiving. However, for weak/distant signals this feature shines. As I said, one of the great things about this radio is its’ ability to receive weak signals and still sort out the audio. You can clearly understand audio when other radios are swamped by all the noise. The GNF makes this better. It is difficult to put into words but the filter takes out the very high pitched hissing. The audio goes to a low tone but it is now easy to listen to because all that high-pitched hissing is taken out. Yes, there is still some atmospheric noise but it is dampened and not annoying to listen to. It makes Dxing more pleasurable. Other than that you just leave it off.Out of the box the radio put out 1W to 3.8 W – min/max on the RF power dial. On sideband it measured 10.5W. The downside, like all radios, was the lack of swing. Audio was limited to about 65% with the mic gain at full. We all know that the manufactures limit the radios for the FCC inspectors. All in all it was a little better than most typical radios out of the box. For most people this would be acceptable with no tweaking. Just plug-and-play. The upside is that this is just plain the easiest radio to adjust. Within 20 minutes I had the AM and SSB power and modulation adjusted. That includes removing/replacing the cover, unplugging/replugging the speaker, locating and tweaking the VRs. I did not do any mods. The clarifier, etc. are all left as stock. What I set my radio to is irrelevant. Everyone is different. With the dual MOSFET finals this radio is quite capable.Let’s talk drift. I read and hear a lot about frequency drift on this radio. I’m going to make a bold statement here and I hope the “big guys” with their own calibrated frequency counters running kickers on their Presidents give me some leeway. I think you’ll understand my “drift”. This radio does not drift – or at the very least drifts less than others – including my 959 (I measured it). The only reason you hear so much about drift on this radio is because it has a 6-digit frequency display. You can actually see what your radio is doing. Even my Galaxy 959 only has a 5-digit display. It rounds to the nearest digit – the 5 and appears stable. Most radios don’t even have a real frequency meter just a preprogrammed readout of what the frequency should be for the channel selected. The other radios are doing the same thing – you just can’t see it. With the 6-digit display you can see the last digit change – it kind of flips back and forth on/off the “5’s” one digit. That is the 1KHz position but the flipping on and off the 5’s shows it is something much less than a 1KHz shift. My point is that the other radios are drifting slightly too. You just can’t see it and think your radio is stable. This drift is just plain a “so what” on AM and so little as to not be an issue on SSB. Just stop obsessing with the frequency display and constantly tweaking out a “who cares” and you’ll be happy. You’ll know when to tweak and that’s when it just stays off frequency.This radio is pricey but it is not your basic CB. It is exceptionally capable. It may appear busy but each of those dials has a specific function that let’s you make the radio work the way you want it to. All those dials are a blessing. This is not one of the new radios with programmed buttons that make it a bugger to change something easily. I know. I also have a Uniden 980 SB that I bought for my wife’s car. “But honey it’s pretty” – nuf said. I’m not bashing the 980 mind you. It’s a nice competent radio but not for a mobile (IMO) - unless you want to spend a lot of money for a mobile radio relegated to On/Off and squelch. For clarity: I’m driving – now let’s see – which of those buttons do I push? Oh now I have to cycle through a menu. Or, I have to push the button then key the mic and hold it while I turn the channel knob to adjust to the setting I want. Make’s you want a second set of eyes and hands cuz it’s just not reasonable and safe to tune/change anything while on the road with the new-fangled “pretty” things. I relegated it to a backup base radio. My wife now runs a Cobra – with dials. I got the one with the orange backlighting so it would be pretty.

Packaged in three layers of box's. Perfect condition looks great, came with a service manual, operating manual and cb rules. Had up and running in 10 minutes. Power meter says 5.9 watts AM not ssb is on the low side 8 watts but that does not matter. Guess somone messed up on the good side! Checked with my meter and also read 5.9 watts. Right off the batt good swing on meter. Knobs all feel very solid, buttons work well. Would be better in blue digits red seems harsh but that's minor right? OK so no real CQ yet. Propigation bad in Montana tonight. Will put more info in on transmit and receive soon! 266. 73 on the side channel 38 LSBUpdate second day. Tested with son on base unit. AM perfect. LSB off frequency and wattage swing to low. Adjusted LSB frequency, LSB wattage, AM modulation and power. Will rest at long distance tomorrow. And by the way very easy to adjust just lift top off and find dash pots in Service Manual or online.Well have been operating this radio from February on. Still works great talked all around the US, Canada, Alaska, Australia, New Zeeland on LSB 38. All reports say I'm right on frequency and the Clarifier works great to fine tune in coming. Of course this is when DxING is good. I use a 5/8 vertical ground plane by Sirio. The rf power out is a nice feature I use quite a bit. Like I said earlier this radio is very tunable nice big open circuit board. 100% happy still! Hear of a lot complaints about drift.....just let it warm up for 10 minutes it levels out. Make sure you have a good match use good coax. O I also use a MFJ antenna tuner. 73

Well i sat there all December looking at this box under the Christmas tree knowing there was a radio in it. A radio i have dreamed about for a long time! Christmas day opened, hooked up my antenna, turned on NO SOUND what the hell! Hooked up an external speaker and got sound. Puzzled. Took the bottom panel off and pooped my self! All the spot welds had come apart. Again what the hell! Sent it back today and will see what happens. Oh by the way spent 47 dollars to ship there broken radio back to them. Again what the hell! Will update review after new one gets here. April 2019 Update: I received the radio the beginning of February, so lets see if they fixed it. NOPE , receive was non existent, side band had 7 to 9 units on the s meter, and the frequency counter was way off. So contacted them again and explained the situation. Ill keep it short but it didn't go very well. I asked them a second time for a new radio, they said that was there call. NO ,i explained how bad reviews and sharing the experience with many others would be bad for business . Sent it back for the second time. Finally received a new radio, so my advice is try to avoid dealing with Galaxy repair. Radio works great by the way, nice radio!

The radio works very well and sensitive to weak signals