@@pulsarcb The Malaysian version was made from 1993 to around 1997 or so.The 4-pin front mike version was besides China also made in Thailand (year unknown to me though).
I have all 3, and I think the Chinese version sounds the best. I also have a n.o.s. Grant XL and the board is identical to the 148. I had a Cobra 148gtl-b, it had a cybernet board and a 60 channel selector.
The Chinese have a poor voltage regulators there are a couple of Chinese versions also. Then they have a 148f with freq counter Then there is the unidentified grantxl. Which is another version. All based of the uniden original design
Honestly, it is 3 completely different radios with the same face plate. They clearly have 3 different main circuit boards, and quite a variance in components. They were just selling you a face plate.
If you had 3 pics of the older radios which three would you choose also three pics for the newer radios meaning like nowadays and three pics for base antenna I'm your direction doesn't matter thanks in advance enjoy your content
For base antennas there's so many great antennas people make on their own. I would say Procomm pt99 (Antron 99), Sirio Starduster and Maco M103C. For older radios I like the Tram D300, Lafayette Telsat SSB 140 and Cobra 138 XLR. For modern radios I like the Uniden 980 SSB (even with display issues), President George FCC and Top Gun/ Anytone 5555 Thanks for asking ! What are yours ?
Iconic 148's. Chinese made are, " sorry to say ", have bad qualities. One example is the channel selector. My sister bought me a Chinese made 29ltd Classic and channel selector is just flimsy. Even a two year old child can rotate it.
