President Randy III Handheld CB Radio - Unboxing and Review

[@silvafox8371]

Another great no nonsense honest and informative review - I'm totally stuck between buying one of these or a unit for my car

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Silva Fox, thanks for commenting and for watching. I have sent you an email to try and assist you make the right choice.

[@skinbeautyproducts1998]

Yep

[@stefvb2032]

I’ve been testing mine with, an Albrecht 43cm antenna(reach about 18km) a vertical Dipol 11m antenna( only listening from Antwerp to US Marchalls in Washington DC) and the Serio Boomerang W,(about 40km)….this Handheld CB radio is awesome…!!! Loud, solid as a rock, long lasting battery use,. Not cheap, but every Euro/Dollar/etc worth it. A handheld for every day use..!

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Stef, glad your enjoying the PR3 and you are doing well with your different antenna choices and distances. It’s the best hand held currently available. I would like an option to control the backlight timing as it can be annoying when operating at night and a normal quick release battery would be good also plus a faster scan option. These are all minor points which I hope the PR4 will have if they make one. We have two of them and have been extremely happy with them. Next on the cards might just have to be a President Lincoln II in the shack…. Am liking the look of that unit and mixing in some SSB. All the best.

[@bluedeval03]

I am curious as to which antenna you found to do better? Just purchased a new aluminum truck and going to pick up a Randy for use in it and looking for antenna suggestions. I have been out of the cb world for a long time

[@richie152]

After watching your CB Antenna tuning upload I have ordered a SWR meter and patch cable. Thanks for a great informative upload. I'm really enjoying your channel. Looking forward to the next. Kind regards Richard.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Thanks for watching Richard and for the feedback, much appreciated. More CB radio material will be coming as soon as we can shoot some more. Let me know how you get on with your initial SWR reading and ending result after tuning. Thanks for taking the time to comment. All the very best.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Rikardo, I had an issue with my other video on the Diamond antenna and had to delete and re-upload it. I have left a message for you on that video and am pinging you on your last comment so you get advised I have messaged you back. Range test will follow soon, keep watching. All the best

[@Patrickjdee66]

Thanks for an excellent review , I bought the radio and love it, your negatives were spot on, my negative would be that when pressing PTT the screen doesn’t light up, it only lights up when pressing the options or changing channel , all the best

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Patrick, thanks for the feedback, greatly appreciated. I agree with you re the PTT and backlight. I have searched the manual high and low and there isnt a solution to that one that I can see. I find it quite annoying that the backlight turns off so quickly and there is not an option to set the time delay. However, what I do is short press on the "CTCSS/DCS" button to re-activate the backlight which seems to work without changing settings like pressing the mode button would. I also tried setting the ECO mode in the settings to OFF but that didn't seem to do much. If your feeling brave and want to mess around with the power output options there is a secret menu you can access. Press and hold the "ANL/NB" and "SCAN" buttons together while turning on the radio. The screen flashes up all items and then you can cycle through the power output options. In order to make changes you then need to press the PTT button and use the up and down arrows to change the settings. I would recommend making a note of the value before changing so you can always put it back. All the best and thanks for watching.

[@Patrickjdee66]

@@NLKMediaGroup thanks for that , I’m not brave enough yet lol all the best mate

[@Patrickjdee66]

@@NLKMediaGroup thanks for that , I’m not brave enough yet lol all the best mate

[@AllBikesGreatAndSmall]

Great review. This has probably swung it for me to get one of these. Thanks

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Kevlar 1878, its the best handheld CB radio around at present. There are not many new handhelds around. I did see the other day that Wouxun are making a handheld CB which is model KG-S72C. Will be interesting to see what that is like. You cannot go wrong with the Randy 3, I have two of them :-) All the best

[@peterwoken8763]

Oh man you got me laughing so. Thank you for the great review and the laughs.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Peter, thank you for your kind feedback which I very much appreciate. Lots more President radios being reviewed, doing another today, all the very best :-)

[@robert9886]

You said beat somebody off. In the states that means something entirely different! 🤣

[@rickd523]

I just ordered the II with FM here in the U.S. (Oh why not!). Add a Pres. Virginia antenna and wow a very nice rig for the car. Hook up at home base leads right to an amp . Key up for 100 W! How cute ! Also my right just friend the President website says the company started in Paris France in 1969. Hmmm. Cheers ! (awesome bg music)

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Rick, FM is now legal in USA and President are starting to sell AM/FM radios in the USA. The car kit that comes with the Randy is great for hooking up to an external antenna. Its all a bit confusing re President Electronics. 1. Creation of first radio comm company by Claude & Lysiane Schmitz in Paris 1969 2. Albert Bertrana, Manager of technical development joins the company in Paris 1973 3. Creation of the manufacturung factiory for microphones in Barcelona 1975 4. ** First importation of the PRESIDENT brand in Europe from the USA 1976 ** 5. Creation of the Groupe President Electroincs (GPE) head office in Balaruc 1978 Its also says in the logo, President Electroinics since 1978 which aligns with the creation on their time line in Paris, but prior to this the brand was imported from USA to Europe in 1976. If it was 100% French it would raise the question of why a French company would name all of its products after another countries Presidents. Why not "The Sarkozy" or the "The Chirac" mind you calling a radio "The Valery Giscard d'Estaing" might be a little challenging on the marketing front! So yes, the President Electroincs Group is French but it sounds like it was first imported into Europe from the USA in 1976. What that means I dont know. If anyone reading can shed any light on this then please spark up as I would be interested to know. All the best Rick and thanks for watching and for commenting.

[@Stop-this714]

Great preview

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Thank you Terry, much appreciated, all the best

[@baronedipiemonte3990]

There's a few of us Yanks waiting for the FCC to approve FM on our CB spectrum, and President will eventually market an FM/AM for us, and hopefully add SSB as well. Most of us serious users despise those types of belt clips.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Its amazing that FM isnt approved in the states. I hope they get that sorted soon. A Randy 4 with SSB, now that I would like to see. All the best

[@skinbeautyproducts1998]

Reallyyyyy good review! Amazon would have sold this PR3 with the Charger included, because I've currently got it in my basket to buy but have been doing 1 last search if any others come up. I wanna CB Radio that does Am, Fm, and Marine Frequency!!! But I can't seem to find any, nor is there even 1 video on this 😩 I was thinking a CB with SSB would be perfect for all 3 (Am, Fm, and Marine Frequency!!!) The downside for this option for me is that it is not one of the Waterproof Options, Aa some CB Radios are Waterproof protected. Also this one doesn't display the Time ⏰ And should the Electricity stop working, I wouldn't know what time it is. And also it doesn't have; 1) SOS 🆘 Feature 2) NOAA (Weather Feature) I'm absolutely brand new to the CB World, I've been researching, and yet to buy my first CB Radio, as I want to be sure in my purchase, as £190 on Amazon is not small money, but definitely worth the Investment. Thank you for this informative video, I've learnt so much to add to my research, and lol I laughed so hard when you discovered the Self Protection Advantage of having this Model 📳😂

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi, thanks for watching and for commenting. I am not aware of CB + Marine radios so you’re going to struggle with that. Marine band is VHF where CB is HF so you would need to look at a radio that covered HF and VHF with both transmit and receive. Receive only is easy as most scanner will achieve that. The ICOM IC-705 covers HF and VHF but has to be modified (it’s called the MARS mod) to allow for transmitting on CB frequencies. It will receive but not transmit unless modified, but that is an expensive radio and unlikely to transmit on Marine, you would have to research that to see. Plus you would need two antenna as an HF antenna is very different to a VHF antenna. You would be better looking at two handhelds, the Randy 3 for HF 11-meter band and then a Marine radio for the VHF bands. The PR3 does not have the time on the display and you would need to look at alternative options for displaying the time separately. The USA version of the PR3 is called the PR2 FCC and that does have the weather feature but in the UK and EU we don’t have the weather transmitted on those frequencies so it wouldn’t be much use for that. SOS is handled on CB channel 09 usually, a dedicated channel for emergency transmission but I do not think its actively monitored. Hope this helps. ICOM make high quality radios, you cannot really go wrong with an ICOM but they are not cheap. All the best MJ7NLK

[@martinscopes3914]

Hi good review.is the Antenna a TMC fitting. It would if was a BNC . I’m shore there be TMC TO BNC connector if it is a TMC. I’ve not bought yet just interested in it . It would all so be better if it took AA rechargeable batteries.how many hours would you say the battery would last say if you were talking for a evening at home on a out side Antenna. Thanks

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Martin, Yes the antenna is a TMC fitting. You can get the adapter from kcb.co.uk and click Antenna, then enter K07 in the search. Yes agreed AA or 18650 would have been good, propriety battery is a pain but you can get additonal batteries at the point of ordering. Spare battery is about £35 and can also be obtained from kcb. The battery is quite good and I have not noticed issues with it draining quickly. However, I tend to use the radio with the car kit that is provided so its normally hooked up to the mains. I have not used it exclusively on battery and timed how long it lasts. Battery is not conveniently swappable. You have to undo the screw on the belt clip to remove the back. Its not a problem to do but is not a quick clip and pop a new one on. Thanks for watching, all the best

[@cjeremie]

hahaha "randy" also has similar connotations in australia LOL Enjoying your reviews

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi CJ, thanks for watching and for your kind feedback. President also make a radio called the “Johnson” which in the USA carries on the funny name theme. Lots more President radio reviews coming up soon. All the best, 73’s MJ7NLK

[@JohnEvans-ks9mm]

Hi after watching your video which is excellent by the way and reading the reviews I took the plunge and purchased the Randy 3. I travel all over the uk but haven’t yet heard anyone talking on any of the channels and I seem to be talking to myself 😂. All I get is a lot of squelch noise. I have it set to FM UK but nothing. Do you think I’ve been supplied a duff CB or do I have to set anything else up 1st. Many thanks and keep your videos coming. Regards John

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi John, thanks for watching and for commenting. The Randy 3 with the rubber duck antenna will work well for approx 3 to 5 miles based on strong simplex communications. If you want to get out further then a larger antenna will greatly help. Also, the ASC (auto squelch control) will cut out weaker signals and only allow strong signals to come through. Turn ASC off and you might be able to pick up signals from further away. There are CB radio nets online and on Facebook which will tell you what channel and time people are communicating in particular areas. If your mobile in vehicle then using the car kit to attach to an external antenna really does make a big difference. My favourite vehicle antenna is the Diamond 10 meter which I did a video on. It really does depend on where you are and how many people use CB in that region but if your looking for skip (DX long distance) then get up high, with a decent antenna, around mid day so the ionosphere is charged and signals are bouncing well and turn the squelch down low and see what you can find. I find Sunday mornings around 11am to 1pm can be successful. Flick through all bands AM, FM and FM UK, don’t just stick on FM UK. The USA really only use AM and I can sometimes pick up DX from the states. Great to hear we have a new CB’er and stick with it, the Randy is a fine radio. Thanks for watching, all the best. MJ7NLK

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Just to clarify, when I say 10 meter, that’s the frequency band not the length of the antenna :-) CB radio is the 11 meter band but the Diamond 10 meter band antenna at full length adjustment does well for CB. Any antenna on the roof will really help lots. There are loads available for a lot less money (the Diamond is expensive). Even a thunderpole orbitor would do nicely on a mag mount base. Don’t forget to tune the antenna (again I have a video on how to do this). If using the car kit and attaching to an external antenna you should remove the rubber duck and ensure you only have one antenna attached.

[@JohnEvans-ks9mm]

@@NLKMediaGroup thanks for replying, that’s useful information, I suppose I thought it was going to be like the early 80’s and was going to struggle to find a clear channel 😂, looks like the mobile phones have ruined it maybe. Once again thanks for getting back to me

[@RodeoJoe1981]

Do you know which style connector for a speaker microphone this radio takes? I tried to order one and the spacing between the 2 posts was wrong

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Joe, they are two seperate sockets on the Randy 3. The speaker is a standard 3.5mm audio jack. I have just connected one of my Randy 3's up to an external speaker using a standard cable and it worked as expected. The plug has two black rings on it and the metal shaft is about 14mm in length. It was a male to male 3.5mm standard shop purchased stero cable. However, the President external speakers you can buy HP1 and HP2 have the same plug but with only one black ring as they are mono. Either way, a mono or stereo cable works fine for me. The microphone is a 2.5mm jack. I dont have an external microphone that has a jack input so could not test that for you, mine are all XLR type microphones. I hope this helps, thanks for watching, all the best

[@o00scorpion00o]

You Know, for some mad reason "without the beard" you remind me of "Q" from Star Trek Next Generation !

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Thanks for that, at least it wasnt a Klingon, will take that :-) All the best and thanks for watching. Nice to see you have a Malahit radio as well. I use one as a frequency counter as the waterfall scope is great.

[@ferdinandfrozenstein]

Wow, this is funny about what the name Randy means in the UK! Interesting that they haven't realized that at the President marketing department... Nice review, however. Next time please use the orange backlight colour when showing the display, otherwise it's not visible. And also, please learn a bit about Chechen Republic and Czech Republic!! They are slightly different! :-)

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Ferdinand, thank you for taking the time to comment, much appreciated. I do think the Orange color would make it easier to see, will make a note of that. Apologies for any confusion over CZ. I googled the country code and it gave me: [The Czech Republic, also known by its short-form name Czechia and formerly known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe.] So I meant Czechia / Czech Republic. We are looking to do a range test on the Randy 3 (we have two of them) and also have some larger 50cm rubber ducks to try out. Just waiting for the weather to improve before we can give it a go. All the best

[@samreitzes4922]

how do you turn the backlight off

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Sam, there is no option that I am aware of that turns off the backlight completely. However, ECO mode in the menu saves battery power and the backlight is not on for as long with the different options, if that helps at all. Worth playing with the Eco setting to see if that helps. Option 3 reduces RX power mode to low so watch out for that. If in mode 3 and set to high power mode and you turn off the radio and then back on it auto switches to low power mode. All the best and thanks for watching

[@samreitzes4922]

Thanks

[@kennethbening9994]

What mode would I set the radio to if using iy in the United States?

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Kenneth, if using an EU radio in expanded mode then the band block A is the same frequencies as the US CB radios. Starting at 26.965 channel 1 and ending 27.405 channel 40. Hope this helps and thanks for watching

[@christophersmith1155]

please explain the european frequency spectrums and with which modes to us americans one day please.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Christopher, in a nut shell it goes something like this. Europe have a standard 40 frequency range (CEPT bands) for CB which is the same as the US 40 freqencies. Some countries also have additonal bands on top of the CEPT bands. UK have their own 40 FM channels as well as CEPT. Germany has 80 channels + CEPT. Poland have their own 40 channels + CEPT. So, everyone uses CEPT (same as US) and dependent on which country you set the radio to it will have an additional mode for the additional channels in that region. When expanding a radio the channels are then in blocks of A, B, C, etc and the order is not sequential: 26.965 is channel 1 on band block A on an expanded radio. (Standard) 27.4150 is channel 1 on band block B, (Superior) 26.5150 is channel 1 on band block C, (Inferior) and then we have D, E, F etc. The first three band blocks are known as Block A standard, Block B superior, Block C inferior. Why they couldnt have put them in order I dont know. But an expanded EU radio in band block A matches the US standard 40 channels. Hope this helps. Thanks for watching and for commenting.

[@christophersmith1155]

yes thank you

[@xlreppeed]

wish it had ssb

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Absolutely, PR4 with SSB would be great. It would need a bigger battery as would need to run a higher wattage. Some of the Chinese hand held radio push 10watt so it’s possible. Let’s hope President read this at some point when deciding what to add to the next version. We will be buying the President Lincoln II soon which has SSB. Looking forward to that. All the best

[@matthewdavies2057]

Where can I buy one in the USA?

[@NLKMediaGroup]

The Randy 3 is the European model. The model for the USA is called the Randy 2 FCC so you will need to search on that. I do not know the exact differences between the Randy 3 and the Randy 2 FCC as I dont have a US model to test. Please bear that in mind and also check out my most recent video on tuning and modifying the Randy 3. All the best

[@richarddutton1981]

do you mean Randy II (2)? Randy 3 doesnt seem to exist in my internet searches.....

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Richard, the Randy 3 is available in Europe and the Randy 2 FCC is a restricted version of the Randy 3. You won't find the Randy 3 for sale in the US as its not been approved by the FCC. The Randy 2 FCC version has had the expansion options removed, weather option added and the car kit adapter (which comes in the box with every Randy 3) was also removed. If you watch my Randy 3 Revisited video you can see what the Randy 3 is capable of, pushing up to 12W. In europe we had a Randy, Randy 2 and Randy 3 which are different to the US varients which tend to have FCC after their names. So the EU Randy 2 (an old radio) and the Randy 2 FCC are completely different with the Randy 2 FCC being based on the EU Randy 3. It can get rather confusing :-) All the best and thanks for watching.

[@billaustin1513]

Wish it had Bluetooth so I could use while riding my motorcycle

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Bill, yes that would be amazing to have Bluetooth as well. Would open up the radio for many additional uses. Fingers crossed President read comments and take that onboard. All the best and thanks for commenting

[@Team-fabulous]

These handheld are simply far too expensive. If Baofeng can produce digital VHF/UHF radios for £60 the sooner they produce 27 mhz radios the better.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Baofeng radios can be purchased for £30 but they are UHF/VHF radios and not 11 meter band CB radios. The Randy 3 is expensive, there is no question about that, but you get what you pay for and President make some great radio equipment. You could compare the Baofeng UV5R to the Icom ID52E which both cover UHF/VHF with wildly different price tags (£30 vs £530) but if you purchase both and use them you can see, feel and hear the difference, they are in a totally different league. If you want a cheap way into Ham Radio then Beofeng is a great choice, you really cant go wrong but order from Amazon where you can return if there are any issues with what arrives. I have various Beofeng radios and for the money they don't usually disappoint. It would be amazing if they could open up the radios to cover the HF bands but I suspect the electronics used couldn't support that. A good idea though, fingers crossed we see an all band, cheap, Beofeng at some point in the future. Thanks for watching, and all the best.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

P.S. I like your video on the Sommerkamp TS-340DX. Some nice old school radios on your channel. Have subscribed, keep making the content, keep CB alive :-)

[@desbelfastireland9982]

HOW MANY WATTS,,,

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Desmond, the President Randy is rated at 4 watt maximum and in reality outputs 3.8 watts dependant on the mid point channel selected. This is to meet the legal requirements for CB radio which must be 4 watts or less. Thanks for watching. All the best.

[@michaelricketts4743]

You can set the low and High power It will go down to 1 watt on low power and up to 5 watts on High

[@michaelricketts4743]

You can also turn the modulation up and down

[@Hamdalorian]

I love how you struggle to say randy 3 with a straight face.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

I do like your channel name, Hamdalorian, that is pure genius. 73 from MJ7NLK :-)

[@NLKMediaGroup]

I liked it so much I have subscribed to your channel. all the best

[@Hamdalorian]

@@NLKMediaGroup Thank you!

[@Loran1972]

Aux USA, Randy est un prénom masculin, certes, mais surtout c'est le nom d'un président comme l'ensemble de tous leurs émetteurs... vous devriez le savoir...

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Yes I am aware it follows their usual naming scheme but is still amusing for us in the UK as it has another meaning. It still makes me giggle. Thanks for watching and all the best.

[@chrislj2890]

Little known fact, the Randy was named for former U.S. President Bill Clinton. 😉

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Ha ha, brilliant, the next version of the Randy is going to be called the Lewinsky. :-)

[@AJ-qn6gd]

President Randy why didn’t they just call it President Clinton !

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi 22AJ55, thanks for commenting. Yes when the antenna is attached is should be called the "Clinton" and when detached the "Lewinsky". I talked about this on my President Walker CB Radio video so check that one out as well. All the best and thanks for watching

[@martinscopes3914]

Just imagine if it said President Trump the sales would be zero LOL.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Martin, I said in one of my other videos, the radio would need to be large, orange and have no filter to be called "the Trump". LOL

[@iainet]

Did someone challenge you to think of as many negatives as possible.

[@NLKMediaGroup]

Hi Iainet, thanks for watching the video, much appreciated. Its a review so needs to highlight the good and the not so good. This is a great handheld CB radio, probably the best you can currently buy but its not perfect, nothing ever is. If your looking for a handheld CB then you cant go wrong with this one. All the best and thanks for taking the time to comment.