Saturday, July 28, 2012

Hong Litong HL-UV8R

So the question was asked if the $58 Hong Litong HL-UV8R was a tri-bander. Hans and others said that it
was a mono-bander that was available in various flavors. Hans even offered this mini-review:

"These are mono-band radios. Unless something improved over the last year or so,
these are NOT recommended.
My experience with this radio:
- TX audio muffled
- LCD hard to read
- Battery life disappointing (rated 1500mAh, but actually 1200mAh)
- Charging takes ages
- Parts started to fall off within a month or so
- VCO/VXO locking problems"
There is, of course, a Yahoo Group for the UV8R. (Not to be confused with the UV-8R.) No one on the UV8R group seems to know much about the radio.




And now, we have Donald who says:
"got mine yesterday. 
hong litong hl-uv8r:
2 meter,220 and 440
just a little bit bigger than uv3r
easy to program
5 watts 440
6 watts 220
loud rec audio
keypad lights up
100 channels
only has hi and low power out
mine came with bad charger.
im going to exchange it for another.
$44 cant beat it, if i can get one that works right."
That's surprising and based on all the other comments, it would mean something has changed.

11 comments:

  1. I still have reasons to doubt Donald's comment. If you look at the sticker on the back, you can see that there seem to be 4 possible frequency ranges. Only one of them would be marked.

    I also wonder how he managed to measure power output while his charger was defective.

    For various (sometimes vague) reasons, none the people claiming to have one were able / willing to post a detailed review when asked for,

    However, I've been wrong before, and stickers on stuff made in China can be confusing (to say the least).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you. Maybe if we were more "frofessional," we could figure it out for sure.

      Delete
    2. the hong litong uv8r covers ALL the frequencies listed on the back of the radio(whats so hard to understand there)it does + or - splits.it has rx and tx tones.hi low power.it has great battery life ie' scan listen to fm radio and talk hi power allday at work with more battery power to go.
      as for checking the defective charger ill just say DOHHHHH....
      thats how someone would find out it was defective!!!!!
      it does what all the sub $50 chinese ht's will do,nothing great it just works.not the greatest reciever, squelch not so great.mine does NOT do 7 watts on any freq. ive used this ht for week so far no problems just the bad charger but i rigged up a different charger.
      donald from uv8r yahoo forum.

      Delete
  2. Still waiting for a decent review (pictures, measurements). Oh wait, AliExpress already dropped the listing, so it doesn't really matter anymore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AliExpress - Current Ad

      http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Full-frequency-walkie-talkie-HL-UV8R-small-sized-UV/709139_559696977.html

      IMHO, Unless you want 220, the UV5R is the way to go.

      Delete
  3. I just received one of these from www.ahappydeal.com for $35 and mine if indeed a tri-bander. The stock antenna is dual band but I can bump a local 224Mhz repeater with it. I'm going to build a 220 j-pole for it.

    The charger is 220v which is why the output voltage is low on 110v. If you buy a 110v to 220v step-up transformer ($6 bucks on eBay) you'll get a good charge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too have the same model radio, just received it on Saturday (10-6-12). My charger when plugging it into a wall outlet the LED remains green, never once has it change red. Does this mean that the charger is defective? or do I need to order the step-up transformer? if so, which one to order. Maybe a picture or model would point me in the right direction. Please if someone can comment...

      Delete
  4. aonde encontro o software "honglitong uv8r"?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have this radio and my computer died and so did the software. I have the cable, can anyone get me to software or advise where I can download it?
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have a hl-uv8R and it does tri band, I am wondering where to get software and a cable to program the radio thanks paul

    ReplyDelete