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Just a few notes describing the radios we have available and their ability to work out of band.
The Magnum S-9 came to us directly from the factory in China with the jumper installed for expanded band operation. Even if you work only 10m the 10m option for this radio is a mess. Don’t do it. The radio comes with 8 bands of 40 channels with the exact frequency reading out on the frequency display. 10khz up is on a switch and anywhere from -6khz to +6khz is on the course clarifier…a great option for popping between channels. The frequency counter tracks the course and fine clarifier movements in all bands and modes so you always know where you are. Both Clarifiers work in TX and RX and I don’t know how to lock the fine clarifier to RX only at this time. We are working on it and the mod will be released when perfected. (A far cry from flicking switches and referring to a frequency chart to work out where you have gone!) The channels follow the American and Australian 1-40 system per band and alpha channels must be accessed by the 10khz switch. Coverage on the magnum is from 25.615 on channel 01 band A through to 29.205 on channel 40 Band H. As I mentioned before there are no gaps at all in the coverage using the course clarifier as a mini VFO to go to whatever frequency you need within the range. Coverage of the NZ CB frequencies starts on Band B and part of Band C. NZ operators will have to be aware of the frequencies of the channels they want and use the clarifiers to go down 5khz to find the zero. The frequency counter on the front panel takes all the guess work out of it. Band D is the normal 1-40 channels on the channel selector and the readout. Band E is the freeband 40 channels where you will most likely find 91DD018 on 27.555 or channel 12. Bands F, G and H take you into the Ham 10m band for those licensed to operate there. A good place to listen if you want to get bored to death. Otherwise best stay away. Operation is possible on AM/FM and SSB. For FM use you will need the mic gain turned up near full but for SSB local signals it should be kept below 12 o’clock. For DX wind it up as the S-9 audio gets very sharp and penetrating and seems to hammer its way through the noise on DX very well for a 40W PEP radio. For AM switch on the Top Gun Modulator and watch your voice peaks go to 40W on AM …pretty neat. Top Gun is not supposed to work on SSB. Noise blanker doesn’t seem to do anything either. I have not been able to make a difference to any noise I have encountered so far. We are working on that too as Mike says the same circuit does OK in other radios, so I am sure he will sort out where they went wrong with this one.
Well what else can you do with this radio…..Quite a lot and Mike is working on more mainly to do with balancing the Side bands, stabilizing the VCO a bit more and better biasing of the finals to get the squawk and warble out of the audio for local use. Slight use of the echo controls can also bring some depth into the TX audio but handle with care on SSB.
My favorite mod on this radio is the 5khz mod. Place another jumper in the box and the radio will change the way the band switch and 10khz switch work. With this in place Band A becomes 26mhz in 5khz or 10khz steps depending on the position of the 10khz switch. Totally brilliant in the freeband for positive instant 5khz steps. I don’t know of anything other than a digiscan that can do that. Band B becomes 27mhz, Band C 28mhz and band D 29mhz. If you are a ham this is the mod to use. The channel selector doesn’t work any more so everything is read off the 6 digit Frequency display. Clarifiers continue to function as before. This mod is available on the web but most people who do it don’t realize that you have to retune the VCO to bring it back into stability. The display just goes running wildly out of control until the VCO is retuned, causing most people think they have messed up and undo it.
The VCO is L17 and it is the coil in the middle of the wax poured around it. You won’t be able to see the part number on the board. Mike will probably get some pics up to help you find it before too long…maybe! Depending on the tuning of the VCO you can push the S-9 up to 32mhz but you will only have about 4-5 mhz bandwidth for stable operation. If your S-9 gets out of whack and the counter stars to run wild on its own; start looking around L17 the VCO. In this mode 26.000 is the lowest we can get without changing crystals. With a crystal change Mike was able to get 24.6 up to 29.7 Mhz which could be useful to Ham operators wanting a cheap mobile with devastating AM audio for CB and the 10 and 12 meter ham bands. Mike does an amazing mod where you can change between the channel read out and the 5khz steps by using part of the dimmer switch on the front panel.
At the back of the set is a little switch marked “on – off” Default is off. Set it to on. It is supposed to be a hi SWR warning switch but I am sure it shut down the radio once when I had a cable problem. Saved the DX500 because there was not enough power to key the amp! The power meter will flash on and off alerting you there is a high SWR problem. It works. Receiver is pretty good. Quiet but sensitive. Compare it with an RCI 2950 receive audio and the RCI does not come close. I think the SSB white noise from the RCI 29XX radios could drive you insane eventually. It is awful. Does not seem to get hammered too badly by local QRM but if someone is close you will know it. Way better than a lot of other radios in it’s class but it is no Kenwood or Yaesu. Still chances are you will not copy a signal on your Kenwood that you won’t copy on the S-9.

The new hi power versions are due out with the mosfet finals and Mike will be looking into those as well. Deliveries are being pushed back as I think there may be some stability and audio problems with the mosfets similar to the new cobras. Our hi powered S-9s will come with the nitro knobs as well.

If you want the best S-9 on the planet you can buy from www.yeticomnz.com.

10-2-07 Update

New model of S-9 due out very soon,called the S9-80 it will have dual final Mos-fets giving even more power! check here for the test of the S9-80.