KGUVD1P vs TH-UVF1 vs UV5R

John asks which radio he should get. Hans replies:

"Best of the pack: Wouxun KGUVD1P. No real flaws to report. The KGUVD1P is verystrict when it comes to battery voltage though. It will switch off immediately,there's no escape. Switching to low power won't help. Buy a spare battery!

Runner up: Quansheng TG-UV2. Flaws: no DTMF. Not the prettiest design ever (a

matter of taste, of course). Strengths: capable of RX/TX on 350-390MHz. Batterylife is unbelievable.

The stock antennas of these two HT's are as good as they get, no need for areplacement.

The Baofeng UV-5R is interesting because of its price - you can buy two UV-5R'sfor the price of one Wouxun. If you can live with its quirks, you have a heck ofa deal."

Hans also replies on another thread:

"The cheap UV-3R can't be used here on 70cm. Total RX collapse. The UV-5R does alot better and is usable. The Quansheng TG-UV2 does even better, and the champion of Chinese HT's is the Wouxun KG-UVD1P. I hardly notice the influence of a 5+5+10 KiloWatt digital TV transmitter on that one, which is located only half a mile away from my QTH.

Even the best Chinese HT is no match for my Yaesu VX-177 mono band though. Thatone doesn't give a d*** about these signals. And it should, as I can buy fourUV-5R's for the price of one VX-177."

If you don't already follow Hans at his blog, I highly recommend it.

Baofeng UV-3R: 220 Mhz on the Mark II

Neil (W2NDG) does the expanded frequencies mod to his Baofeng UV-3R Mark II and shares his results:

"During my morning commute, my train passes south of my club’s main repeater site. Now this is on a rather high building, in one of the highest points on western Long Island, and is pretty much line-of-site for a 4-5 mile stretch of my train ride. I tested to see if I could key up our 220 machine, and it seems that the effective range was about 4 miles this morning. Now that was just keying the repeater up. I’ll have to check to see if I can actually be HEARD on it."

TYT TH-UV3R: Moleculo Review Tread

Review thread here.

moleculo This TYT TH-UV3r 2m/440 is rapidly becoming one of my favorite little HT's . It really is a nice 2 watt radio #hamrMon, Jun 04 16:23:09 from TweetDeck

moleculo The TYT UV3r and Baofeng UV-3r are completely different radios. The TYT is much more refined and has numbered buttons #hamrMon, Jun 04 16:32:55 from TweetDeck

moleculo Just started my review of the fantastic little TYT TH-UV3r 2m/440 micro HT: bit.ly/Lx3Urk #hamr (not to be confused with Baofeng)Tue, Jun 05 15:46:46 from TweetDeck

Quansheng TG-UV2: CHIRP Support

Looks like CHIRP support for the TG-UV2 may not happen in the immediate future:

"Dan replied to my inquiry with the following: " It depends on the radio, of course, but if it is going to happen, it would take less than a week of development time. "

He didn't venture when that week might occur. And that tiny word "if" looms large.

Ian"

I didn't see a way to vote/show support for a particular radio on Dan's site. He's doing this for free, so whatever he decides to do next is clearly up to him. As a quick data point, the relative Yahoo Group memberships are:

TG-UV2 - 431
UV-5R - 1,126
UV-3R - 3,118

[Updated June 29, 2012 - I meant Quansheng not TYT.]

TYT TH-UV3R: Display and Colors

A quick review on the TYT Yahoo Group... looks like all these Chinese radios are going to be available in colors and I am slightly disappointed it doesn't have the reverse display.

"Noteworthy is the size of the unit is almost identical to the Baofeng UV-3R radios just a little thicker (side by side photos of the Wouxun KG-UVD1, Baofeng UV-5R, TYT and the Baofeng unit). Another photo of the back of the box seems to indicate 4 colors are available. Unlike the brochure photos the display is the standard lcd (not the reverse image as pictured in the ad)."

TYT TH-UV3R: First Look Video

Do I see a standard USB plug on the side of the TH-UV-3R?

Baofeng UV-3R: + Plus in Colors Now

Now in Red, Yellow, Camo, and Blue at the 409Shop.

 

 


Thanks to Steve (KF9ZA) for the tip!

UV-3R: Prevent Transmit

If you are using your UV-3R to monitor frequencies where you do not have transmit privileges, you can program the transmit frequency to "0" or NULL. If you press the PTT, then the radio beeps at you, but nothing is transmitted.

Vero UV-X5: Preliminary Pricing

From a Vero Telecom e-mail posted on the UV-3R Yahoo Group:

"Item:UV-X5 Tri-band dual display two way radios with 2W output power
Frequency range:136-174&400-470&245-246Mhz
MOQ Price:100pcs---USD38.00/PC(Ex work price)
Sample Price:USD43.50/PC(Ex work price)
Shipping cost:USD29.00 for 1pcs ship to USA by DHL"

I would obviously expect street pricing to be higher. It will be interesting to see who will be selling this unit, how much higher the price will be, and if it will be re-branded by the sellers.

Baofeng UV-3R: FM Broadcast Range

Someone asked in the comments if the FM Broadcast receive frequencies could be expanded. I had read in this thread that 65-108 MHz is the FM Broadcast band in Eastern Europe. So are there regional versions of the UV-3R? In the thread, people report difference coverages.

For something like this, I would assume it is much easier to have one version that has the wider range that covers all regional FM frequencies.

KF9ZA's Go Box for Ham Radio ARES - RACES

Another project to add to the ever growing list. He's got a list of links for the parts he used to build his Go Box here. I would, of course, throw in a UV-3R.

Baofeng UV-3R: Modification Service

Everyone seems concerned about jobs leaving their countries and moving to low cost regions. Due to the imperfections of the UV-3R, it is creating work for folks outside of Asia...

Frank (DD9UG) has a conversion service for your UV-3R. He will fix the harmonic problem, swap out the LEDs for a color of your choice, or tweak the antenna.

Baofeng UV-3R: Expanded Frequencies 222 MHz

Pat (WA6MHZ) expanded the capability of his UV-3R to include 222 MHz. His results:

Upon measuring the Power Output of the UV-3R+Pus on 223.5, I find the power is greatly reduced, On 2M and 440, I see +33dBM, which is 2W. On 223.5, I only get +12.26dBM, which is pretty lame. That come out to be 0.0168267406W, or roughly 16mW. So there must be some Filters messing with us. But I can hear it in my Kenwood TM-331A mobile rig just fine, so for short simplex it will work. Also to some repeaters where U have a good shot at it. The stock antenna is optimized for 2M & 450 so I need to score a Triband antenna so I have a chance of getting out with the 16 Milliwatts.

RX sensitivity is pretty good. Measured at -119dBM minimum discernable signal.

Measured TX frequency (223.5) 223.4988120 Mhz

So it WORKS on 222, KINDA!

In a follow-up post is a link to an app that will auto-mod your .ini file to open the frequencies. He has successfully used the program with a UV-3R Mark II and a UV-3R + Plus. Head on over to Mark's (VE3PZR) page and check it out.

Instructions:

How to update your UV-3R Mark II to support 220mhz Ham Band

 Some models of the radio are able to support a much broader range of frequencies if you store a special memory file into the radio.

Follow these steps:

[1] Install UV-X4 programming software

[2] Run the UV-3R-soft-Modder program to update your UX-X4 software to add some extended Band Plans

[3] If you have an existing memory file, re-run the soft-mod program to change the Band Plan that is embedded inside the .3R memory file.

[4] Load the memory file inside UV-X4 and write the memories to your radio and your radio will now have 220mhz added to your radio!

Tech TIP #1: If you are unable to write a memory file to your radio, power-on while holding down the VOL button. It will reset your radio back to factory and you will be able to write the extended frequency file.

Tech Tip #2: 2 memory files are included. Both files have 220mhz included but during tests with other hams, we found that my radio gave better 220mhz results if we lowered the UHF instead of raising the VHF frequency range. I suggest testing both methods with your radio to verify results.

Baofeng UV-5R: Performance

First some good news.. no spurious transmissions on the harmonic (unlike the UV-3R):

"Looking at a scope there is no unwanted 2nd harmonic on 145 Mhz" Jaap (PD0JDG )

And some notes on the power output:

"I measured mine with a Welz wattmeter and a 50 ohm dummy load. I get a little more than 5 watts on both 2 and 440." Brent (WB4SPA) 

"I measured power output with digital swr/pwr meter. Maximum Power output is 4watts on both vhf and uhf. I got swr of antenna suppleid with uv5r as, 1;1.5 on 143.000mhz vhf and 1:1.5 on 475.000mhz uhf. And on all other freq swr is more than 2." Puranik (VU3KOD)

And Steve (WB8GRS) has some squelch, sensitivity, and power output measurements.

TYT TH-UV3R: Import Communications

Ed is quickly living up to his new, broader name of Import Communications. He has updated his website with a place holder for the TYT TH-UV3R (or UV-3R - it is listed both ways). The site says coming soon, but no date or price.

Chinese Radios - The Center Part II

A commenter on yesterday's post about which Chinese manufacturer is really making all these radios pointed me to this link at Kightradio. (He is the one offering the TYT TH-UV3 for sale.) There are multiple updates on the page:

03/19/12 "The TYT TH-UV3 Dual Band HT is on the way to me now. I will update everyone as soon as I receive them."

So he could have the TYT TH-UV3 any day now. We do live in interesting times.

02/20/2012 "Baofeng UVD-5R Dual Band 4 watt HT was just released for sale in China. This is a nice little Dual Band rig but as of now, the menuis only in Chinese. This is howthe first UV-3R started out and then they made the english menu later. I would like to note that this radio looks exactly like the TYT F8 Radios. In talking with TYT I found out this is a COPY and not a radio made by TYT and sold to Baofeng. TYT has a patent on the case so we will see what TYT does about this later. So if you buy one of these on the internet, BEWARE, its menu is ONLY IN CHINESE and hard to figure out. I have one to test and I am having the menu translated and I will update you later on this.

Dual Band mobiles are not anywhere close to being released. I would not look for them at Dayton this year. Maybe if we are lucky, a few months after Dayton but this is just my personal guess with info I hear in talking with the MFG's every few days."

We know that are now versions of the UV-5R that do Chinese only, Chinese & English, and English only. And he has been told that Baofeng is ripping off TYT's case. More interesting is his claim that the dual band mobiles (KG-UV920R anyone?) won't be available for a few more months.

No Date "We attended the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and the Canton Export Fair Oct 15,2011

We will be updating the site in a few days with all the New Goodies we found at the show. Lots of exciting things in the works so be sure to check back with us and get updated.

We are in China now so if you have any special radios you would like us to purchase for you, contact us and we will be glad to purchase for you.

Call 405-227-9980 (Our time is opposite the USA time so when its 11 am in the US, its 11 pm in China) Please call late evening your time to reach us.

We can get you the latest versions of Wouxun,TYT, Baofeng and others at Hong Kong Prices."

Pretty cool that he offers to ferry radios back from China. Shipping and wire transfers can make a good deal go bad very quickly.

11/11/2011 "Wouxun is going to raise the price effective now of the KG-UVD1p & UVD3 about $22.00 This is because of dealer requests to add 2.5 steps to those models. Its seems more like a move on Wouxun's part to increase the retail price like they have been wanting to do for sometime. They also increased the min wholesale order to 500 units. This is going to put the Wouxun HT's in a higher price class and TYT and others will have the advantage. Hong Kong will have a much lower price and attract more customers. As far as the Dual Band mobile, I would not look for it anytime soon and when it does come out, I am anxious to see the price. Wouxun is not aware of other companies working on Dual Band Radios because they pay little attention to their competition."

Build your brand and demand higher prices. It is the American way!

Chinese Radios - The Center?

The Baofeng UV-3R is a re-branded Vero Telecom UV-3R.

The Vero Telecom VR-2200 is a re-branded TYT TH-9000.

The Baofeng UV-5R (which I cannot find on the Baofeng site) is similar to the TYT TH-F8.

When the UV-3R came out, I thought VeroTelecom was going to be the actual manufacturer - if not the design house, too. The UV-3R was availible as a Baofeng UV-3R, Magiksun UV-3R, Comtex UV-3R, and a Zastone ZT-UV3R. Vero Telecom was going to be the source.

Now it appears that the VR-2200 is actually a TYT TH-9000. And the UV-5R looks like it has it origins in the TYT TH-F8.

Is TYT going to be the center of the ham radio world for China manufacturers?

Does ICOM buy Yaesu radios and re-brand them? Is Elecraft reselling Ten-Tec rigs? The game is different in China. Maybe they just like to keep us on our toes. I am going to need a map.

Baofeng UV-5R: A Rainbow of Screen Colors

We had colorful UV-3R radios, but now we have colorful screens on the UV-5R. Picture via K6FIN as part of his unboxing and review of his UV-5R.

TYT TH-UV3R

The TYT TH-UV3R is getting the once over by the UV-3R group.

Baofeng: Value

From a post by Soxy on the Transmission1 forum:

"if any rep from baofeng monitors this site is'nt it about time you got these radio's right.after the uv-3r mk-1 then the mk-2 and the mk-3 and now the uv-5r there are still major issues.come on get it right and stop ripping your customers off and coming out with useless excuses."

I'm not sure why this bothers me so much. The outrage? The grammar? The lack of specifics (relating to the "useless excuses"? The incorrect model names? The sense of entitlement? The sense of powerlessness?

No one is making this person buy these radios. Most reasonable people understand that, in the real world, there are trade-offs. Pay less, get less. He can't be bothered to use capitalization or do any proof-reading for a few sentences, but someone else better darn well make a perfect product and make it super cheap.

I did not reply on the board as I generally prefer to avoid feeding the trolls. Since logic does not appear to be his strong suit, trying to persuade him with more logic is likely to fail.