I own a DAK MARK X,TRAM D201A,& BROWNING GOLDEN EAGLE MK IVA & no matter if all of them are turned on or any other CB Radio or Amateur radio it will catch your eyes.It is by far the most BEAUTIFUL CB radio ever built hands down.
The catalog retail outfit called "Dak" was the initials of David A. Kaplan, the guy who ran the outfit. NOT IN ANY WAY related to the M.H.Scott Co who sold this radio.
Hi MIKE I suppose being a customers radio it has now been returned. It would have been nice to see it running and what the performance was. Have long liked the look of these, but knew about their problems but like you it would have been nice to have one for collection reasons. Keep me coming mate. Top explanation as usual. Thanks.
What a sweet looking radio. Something laid out like this but without the rack mount and with a tube audio section would be a killer base station. That is, if it were a little better built. Probably would have cost as much as a new Chevette Scooter back in those days though. lol
Those rack handles are very handy.It's not a small little radio & those handles make it much easier to carry it somewhere when the need arises.I love my Near MINT DAK Mark X & the handles.
Putting the case back on can be a real pain in the rear end as well.The back will fold in & the screws will not make any connection with the back case with the top of the case.This is a Free FYI.I have NOT checked the voltage on those small lights so Please let me know what they are suppose to be if you would? Thanks & keep up the great videos.
Only issue I have with my ow DAK Mark X is keeping lights in the Big meters & those smaller ones that show when a toggle switch is in a certain position burning.It talks & hears great but I'd like all of the lights too also be operational.Thinking about putting a small 12 volt DC power supply in the radio & wiring all of those lights to it & making them all 12 volts DC of course.Even with my Browning Golden eagle MK IVA sitting on the same desk 99% of the time everyone stops their eyes on the DAK.It's Eye candy but I think the MK IVA is as well.
1OFGODSOWN LED's are definitely the answer to your lighting problems. No need for a separate power supply. The existing supply to the light bulbs would be fine. Just measure the voltage and calculate the proper dropping resistor for the LED's you chose to use. There are plenty of online dropping resistor calculators online.
Well it's a tight space as you know behind the meter face.I measured the voltage & found that it has 13.5 volts AC on the meter tabs & why the lights keep failing.I have done some wiring & am now using the small plug in Christmas lights with a modified wire configuration so they are turned sideways so that the bulb lights the entire meter face.The faces are pretty equally lit so I'm leaving them alone.As for the small lights for the controls I'm just living without those when they fail.A few still still work so I'll just go with that.I am not using a dropping resister since there really is no room without turning the bulbs a different direction & changing the lighting on the face of the meters.It kicks butt on the air so I'm leaving it alone.
Have to say that's one of the coolest looking CB radios I've seen. Now why in the world did they revert to a tube driver/PA? Was that a homage to "fuller sounding audio" as the audiophiles go out of their way to do with tube amps? Maybe they just needed a bunch of other stuff to fill up the void! ;-)
Dino Papas And void is something these have a lot of inside, they are huge. I often wonder if they just wanted to be able to say they made a radio that was bigger than a Tram Titan. Yeah I think the tube PA section was mainly to please the diehard tube crowd. However if you want "tube sound" then the audio amp is what really needs to be tube. Not that they are lacking in audio. They use a pair of transistors in push pull for plenty of punch.
Was this "dak" related in any way to the DAK that sold gadgets and blank cassette tapes? I had a 100mw walkie talkie that was sold as a Pocket CB from the capital letters DAK. Often enjoyed the wall of text ads in magazines back then.
I am rather polarizing! Sorry! I am not rude though when I am talking about these things I always have a smile on my face. I guess I just do not like fake things. So if something looks like a million bucks on the outside I expect guts on the inside that are the equal of the outside! I am not one that thinks price=performance or quality. That said if something is expensive it should be the best in every way but especially in design, quality control and quality of the parts used. Sadly this is usually not the case! I am not keen on things that waste space or materials. I am a form should follow function sort of guy. I do not mind things being over built but prefer them over built where it counts not just expensive cosmetics. I like radio porn(eye candy) but I would never own a lot of the most highly sought radio's myself because of cost vs performance and the dwindling supply of parts to keep them going. I am a poor hard working college student. Money and Space are limited. I would rather have a Uniden Grant XL, freq. counter, and compact switching power supply over a Cobra 2000 as an example. Far cheaper to acquire, better or equal performance, takes up far less space, and can be used mobile or base station. True the President Lincoln is a great 10m radio but it is not great just because I won one! LOL I almost never own the best of anything I usually try to avoid that because the price point for the very best of anything is usually not a good deal. I only own the President Lincoln because my Dad owned it. I was born the same year he bought it 1998! LOL All the best guys!
Nothing annoys me more when something is a Paper Tiger "Big Box Impressive Outside" cheap gut's inside! It is right up their with electronics with a big weight inside to make them feel hefty and solid! If you need the space go for it make it however large you need to make it to fit it all in. Do not pull the potato chip bag though where the bag is 95% air with 5 chips inside. Lucky for us shipping cost's have crippled the " Small Cheap Board" in a huge metal case lie.....Same thing goes for weight shipping cost and material cost for lead along with ROHS has eliminated the meaningless weight bolted inside! LOL You would never catch me paying what the market will bear for a Cobra 2000 when you can do the same thing for far less with a Cobra 148GTL, freq. counter and a better external power supply. It will take up less space and you can mate it to a far better speaker! If you want you can lie on air and no one will know!! LOL In fact I chose a Sears Road Talker Slant Face in Mint NOS no box condition brought up on a variac slowly for $175 as my 40CH SSB base. It was still in the foam and had all the acc's in plastic missing the 12V cord. The box rotted away around the foam and plastic the seller showed me the box and asked me if I really wanted what was left of it! LOL Classic Cybernet inside no modifications never been touched!
I own a DAK Mark X,Browning MK III,& Browning MK IVA.I have a really hard time deciding which radio I prefer between the MK IVA & the DAK when it comes to AM talking but the DAK hands down is a far better SSB radio.I'd take my DAK X over any CB Radio I have ever owned which includes the Hand Wired TRAM D201.I may have gotten a good one but it's an Audio Monster on transmit with the original Black DAK Astatic D-104 (Not a copy like so many). I have owned a couple of the DAK Mark IX models & they were loud but a far different radio from the Mark X.Only issue I have ever had is blown bulbs in the meters & those small function bulbs which does not hurt the way the radio performs.I use a ClearSpeech DSP Speaker with it & all of my CB & Ham Radio gear & it makes a world of difference.The DAK Mark X is the most beautiful CB Radio ever produced in my opinion as well.Put it & as many others that you want on a shelf & turn them all on & the DAK will get more attention than anything else on the shelf no matter how large the shelf or the number of radios on the shelf.It's a beauty & a keeper as far as I'm concerned & I'm blessed that mine is all original & nobody ever even unlocked the clarifier.I don't own or use export CB's & have no use for any of them.I don't need or want mods done to my CB's either.I don't need extra channels,roger beeps,echo boards,or any noise toy crap.Radios were made for talking & not all of the crap that they put in them these days.Good loud clean transmit audio is King.The noise BS & illegal amplifiers has ran more folks from CB Radio than anything else.It's not because of cell phones but morons & garbage on the CB band.
Just because you own an object does not make it the "Best Darn (insert object pronoun here)". LOL I own a President Lincoln and while it is a very able radio I do not fool myself into thinking it is some how the best CB/10M radio ever built! LOL It is the classic "My dog is better than your dog just because he's mine!"!!! In fact a glowing report from an owner of an object is less valuable than a glowing report from someone that does not own the object. More valuable is a negative or less than glowing review from someone that previously owned an object. LOL Your tube audio will only help you out with other really broad band radio's the important parts of your radio are essentially the same as mine. So almost identical circuit design and similar parts. So if you delete the tube portions of your radio you essentially have a Cybernet radio in a BIG SHINY BOX with BIG METER's. None of that matter's to the radio's on air tx or rx performance. Science is not my God but my God loves Math, Machines, Electronics, Chemistry and the like!!! He is not so fond of marketing, advertising, lawyer's, antifa, the current Pope, Hillary Clinton, or my Chorizo lasagna recipe! LOL I do not mind what radio I use as long as it is SSB and was built before I was born! LOL
As I said but I guess that you missed it,I have owned hundreds & hundreds of CB's since I started in CB Radio in 1965 & as far as I'm concerned the DAK Mark X that I currently own is the BEST CB Radio I have EVER used or operated.It's a matter of opinion & my opinion is the only one that matters to me.Never had another radio that performs like it does nor have I operated anyone else's that does.I have used & owned many Amateur Radios such as my current main HF/6 meter rig the ICOM 7600 that blows it away but I don't own any Amateur Radios that operate on 11 meters nor will I.I have had some CB's that were really good * many that were pure garbage so I'm talking from a lot of 1st hand knowledge not what others said or heard just my own 1st hand results.I think the MK III Browning is a highly overrated transceiver & I've had many CB's that were better all around than the MK III yet it's considered the cats meow to so many.I have owned 4 or more of them so it was not just a one shot chance at a bad one & they are not bad just not great.I make all of the receivers better including that ICOM with the use of ClearSpeech DSP units.Makes most any radio a much better radio as least on the receive side.That's the last 2 cents I have & Thanks for sharing yours.