Walcott Radio - CB Radios, Ham Radios, UHF & VHF, Antennas and More — Attraction in Walcott

Back in 2004 I purchased a Galaxy 99 from this place and the guy told me I needed to have him retune the radio. After the "retune", I took it to my truck and got a radio check and everybody told me I was over modulated and distorted. Nobody could understand what I was saying. Ssb was way off frequency on both transmit and receive. I also noticed the TalkBack function did not appear to be working and radio had feedback issues. I took the radio inside and complained about the issues and the guy said he needed to install a special aftermarket TalkBack board to fix the TalkBack problem. After about an hour the guy brought me back the radio and I took it back to my truck and I was still over modulated and on SSB I was also off frequency on both transmit and receive. Needless to say after paying $550 for everything and still having an unusable radio I was extremely pissed especially after wasting my whole afternoon at this place. I took the radio back inside and set it on the counter and when the guy came out I told him I wanted him to replace my radio with a brand-new unmolested radio or refund my money, and the guy proceeded to call 911 and told me to leave the store and that I was trespassing. I waited until the police showed up and I explained the situation that after spending all of this money I still did not have a usable radio because of the damage they did to the radio. They told me that I was free to leave but that if I refused to leave they would be arresting me. So I ended up leaving with the crappy radio. A couple weeks later I bumped into an old man in Holbrook Arizona named Jack Thurston at the Hopi Travel Plaza and he had a radio shop in the back side of the truck stop. I explained to him the problems I was having with this brand new radio and who the people were that I purchased the radio from and he just started to chuckle to himself. He told me he would be able to fix it for me and so I gave him an opportunity to repair the radio. After opening up the radio, the first thing he noticed was that TR32 was missing completely. Typical hack shop stuff. After a couple hours of tinkering with it, he finally got it to where he was comfortable with it and said it was done. He switched it over to 38 Lower Side Band for a radio check and immediately got a contact in Mexico saying it was loud and Crystal Clear. Needless to say I was very happy with the work that was done. Unfortunately I can't say the same about Walcott CB shop or their so-called technicians. Buyer beware.

In response to the owners false statement, I never requested the dead key to be set at any specific value since that is the technicians job to know how to do his own job and it's not my job to tell him how to do his job. I never requested an after-market TalkBack board. The technician was incapable of tuning the radio without feedback issues and the technician told me it was necessary to install the talkback board to fix the feedback issue which the technician created to begin with and the radio did not have that problem from the factory with the factory tune. I simply allow the technician to do what he recommended but at no point in time did I ever tell him how to do his job since I'm not the technician I'm simply the customer and the technician is supposed to tell the customer what he needs and not the other way around. In this business the customer never tells the technician how to do his job because the customer is always wrong and the technician is supposed to be correct but in this particular instance the technician was a total hack and the job was done correctly at a different shop by a...

So many choices where to buy accessories from these days. No shops readily available to me - so I turn to the web. I have been dealing with Walcott Radio for about a year. I decided to purchase my new antenna setup from them. A Predator 10-K Model K-1-22 for my mobile needs.

I have had nothing but great experiences with the service and support from them. The antenna was priced the best at the time I purchased it about mid-April 2018. The online ordering was very easy and within a few days it showed up expertly boxed to survive the rigors of shipping.

I mounted it (needing it to be removable) onto a 4 magnet portable mount with a Hustler heavy duty SS spring. I am SUPER PLEASED! I have ears that I am still learning the limits of. I can talk too - all reports back are that I sound good and strong without being over modulated etc.

I would highly recommend them for any accessory that you may need.

Update (5/30/2018): I wanted to post an update to my earlier review. I was having high SWR readings from the Predator antenna and after checking all the basics with my system set up I found a few issues. Those were fixed by me and I was still not pleased with the high SWR. I decided to call and ask the opinion of the team at Walcott Radio.

I usually take good notes so I can credit who I spoke to, however, I have misplaced them. While the notes may be gone I do not need them to describe my experiences over several phone calls that I made to talk about the high SWR. Each call I was treated with respect and treated in a way that made me feel comfortable explaining what I was experiencing and what I was looking for. I knew that they themselves could not tune the antenna as I am several states away, however, they had spot on advice and made me feel very prepared for the weekend project.

This may sound like a simple matter, however, cutting the whip on an $85 dollar antenna is not something I take lightly. They not only told me how to cut the whip they also explained the best methods of tuning for proper SWR based on my radio. I had stopped by a local CB shop and was treated like if I was asking the questions I should not even own a radio! Not the case with the team @ Walcott.

I ended up taking just over 8 inches off of the whip and now have an almost perfect SWR reading across 40 to 1 to 19. I took some additional pics of the antenna from the roof looking up. Great experience and will do business...

This place is a joke. They brag about what makes them different is there speedy shipping whenever you order online. I spent a lot of time preparing a $1000 order just to find out that you are the one that pays for the speedy shipping. I quickly canceled my order! I can pay a few dollars more for the radio somewhere else that I drive by and come out a lot better. Maybe offer free shipping on orders that exceed $500. Plus they don’t combine shipping even if the items are packaged in the same box. They will charge you individual shipping rates per item. What is worse is that the speedy shipping option is the only option! So you’re going to pay a lot No matter what. That rhymed maybe that should be their new “set them apart”phrase. Realize the key to good customer service is not lying upfront to your customer. Telling customers your quick shipping sets you apart from the competition. Customers will find out later that they are paying for every bit of that and could do so at any Radio store. The store experience might be different but their online is definitely a bad joke. I will definitely be taking my money elsewhere. As to Walcott’s response to this review. I was a 92Y in the Army “a supply specialist”. I work in the logistics industry still to this day. I deal with UPS, FedEx, USPS, and DHL on a daily basis. I’ve shipped motorcycle lifts from Germany for what you want to ship an order. That order did include an antenna that would be oversized. I shipped a full Akrapovic motorcycle exhaust for a 2021 Honda Africa twin from Spain during Covid for less than what they want to ship a radio and antenna. Me and anyone else who has ever purchased anything online that is of a large size are well aware of shipping rates. My jaw is firmly in place and has been. You guys are just money grubbing. I have no delusions over what shippers are charging for oversized. Many other radio stores offer free shipping on high priced orders. That however involves losing a little profit to make customer relations. Since Walcott probably doesn’t have many repeat customers I guess they don’t care about that. One thing is clear Walcott is not willing to give up any profit for any reason. So yeah stick to that story of the Walcott difference. Everyone knows they’re...