cheap dual band mobile coming to market. game changer?

[troyboy162]

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=266831

the company is Chinese and they have already turned out some highly praised hand held radios for 1/3 the price of their Japanese equivalents. these rigs would be perfect for socal where we have so many 440 repeaters. if the price is as cheap as expected they may be a no-brainer buy.

[4x4mike]

It should be interesting. There are a couple of chinese handhelds that have caught my eye mostly because of price. One think I have heard about regarding these products is usability and difficulty in programming. But for a dual band with detachable face at a cheap price it may be worth it.

[Crinale]

if its that cheap i may just buy one to communicate with you guys..

[troyboy162]

hopefully its in the 125-150ish range, but time will tell. thats still on the steap side for a comperable high end CB, but at least it closes the gap to where people may give some thought to ham for there first comunications purchase.

this radio(given that it lives to the hype) along with a el-cheapo hand held CB would be a combo thats hard to beat for the average wheeler.

[oly884]

Definitely picking this up when it comes out! Thanks for the heads up!

[slosurfer]

somebody bump this when it comes out :)

I'm too lazy to read it, but does it have APRS capability?

[troyboy162]

havnt heard anything about APRS, but i really havnt heard much people using it

[Ric]

when you say Dual band, you mean CB and HAM radio in one unit ????
if so, Id seriously think about getting that...
The only reason I have CB over HAM now, most people use a CB as its cheaper, no license, blah blah blah
and I dont want more junk in the cab area, heck I wint to get rid of what I have now, lol

[Seanz0rz]

dual band as in 2m and 70cm in one radio and with one antenna.

as far as i have researched, there is no unit combining both. and honestly i wouldnt want one, it would likely do each poorly.

i prefer CB because it is idiot proof, but will be using both soon (as soon as i get my ham reinstalled and learn how to use it)

[corax]

when you say Dual band, you mean CB and HAM radio in one unit ????
if so, Id seriously think about getting that...
The only reason I have CB over HAM now, most people use a CB as its cheaper, no license, blah blah blah
and I dont want more junk in the cab area, heck I wint to get rid of what I have now, lol


The FCC won't allow CB (non-license) to be combined with Ham (License required) in a single transceiver. In this case, dual band means 2m and 70cm Ham bands in a single unit. In addition, I heard this can also do cross band repeat, which means:
- you turn it on and set cross band repeat
- go on a hike with your trusty 70cm hand held
- when you transmit on 70cm (as long as you're in range) the radio in the truck picks up the signal and "repeats" it simultaneously on 2m (2 separate antennae needed), so you have all the power and range of your mounted mobile unit & its antenna with the convenience of a handheld

[Ric]

Corax, thankx for clearing that up for me :thumbup:

[4x4mike]

i prefer CB because it is idiot proof, but will be using both soon (as soon as i get my ham reinstalled and learn how to use it)


It isn't all that hard to pick up once you start messing with it. I've got a little binder in the 4runner with all the repeater frequencies and PL codes for CA, OR and NV. I've got them sorted by county along with a county map. If I'm traveling I usually set it to scan but if I wanted to I can key in everything I need. If I pick up on something I want to transmit to or need to transmit to I can look it up real quick, enter my PL code and + or - and I'm good to go. Beats putting a ton of settings into memory.

[Seanz0rz]

yeah i just need to sit down and read. seems like i always have more important things to do though. soon though, maybe this winter.

[troyboy162]

yeah the learning curve is steep. i went from overwhelmed to capable in 2 hours or so

[troyboy162]

this radio is delayed with no known release date :( hopefully it will be out this year and you guys will jump on it so i can stop using crummy old CB

[slosurfer]

bummer, when I saw this thread was bumped, I was hoping it was from someone saying they bought one and it was awesome. :(

[oly884]

bummer, when I saw this thread was bumped, I was hoping it was from someone saying they bought one and it was awesome. :(


Same here, I threw them my contact info to let me know when they get in. I'm definitely wanting one, if not 2 (one for the house).

[troyboy162]

haha sorry! i check often and the wouxon.us web site updates about every other week. unfortunatly zero info has come out. some specs have been seen on the pictures of the box that make it sound pretty nice. very wide TX/RX range and lots of RX only freebies. If anything this delay means they are polishing the radio so hopefully its epic when its finaly done.

i think im in for one for the house at this point. heck it might replace my kenwood in the truck if its nice enough

[troyboy162]

updating the thread. there is still no news on the wouxon. Its not looking like it will actually go into production now. But....a new contender has arrived
http://www.verotelecom.com/brochure/VR-6600.pdf

the picture make it look like a small package stripped down dual band with some respectable output power. Who knows if this too will become vaporware, but at least there is some hope of something cheap enough to gain a few more converts to HAM.

[4x4mike]

I still don't know about these. I do know that the $80 chinese HT's are garbage. I understand the hard to program issue but apparently they have a very short life because they aren't built very well and basically cook themselves.

Up in this part of the state 70cm is pretty dead. For one we have several military bases so the band is very limited and there are only a few active repeaters. The Rubicon however has a really cool system that operates on 2m and 70cm (on cross band repeat I believe). If you don't have a dual band I'm pretty sure you need to run on simplex otherwise you're balbbing on a repeater that serves a huge area well beyond the trail.

I couldn't be happier with my FT 2800. It's strictly 2m and that's more than enough. It's basically a mil spec heat sink with a screen. No fan and bullet proof. It and the 2900 can be bought for $100-$150 which is a worth while investment especially considering it will retain it's value, can be serviced and has a positive following.

On another side note regarding these chinese radios. They don't have FCC ID numbers on them. It's not talked about much but these are illegal in the states and you run a chance of them never leaving customs. The radios are not very clean/stable so they aren't great at TX.

I guess there is a current movement with professional/commercial radios with agencies moving to digital and other types of radios. This is flooding the market with very high quality narrow band radios which is perfect for most uses. One popular model that is usually $80-$100 online is the motorola spectra. I hear they are very programmable and have neat features that other radios don't have. I don't need one so I haven't researched it much but it's a good way to get into the hobby.

http://www.motorola.com/Business/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Two-Way+Radios+-+Public+Safety/Yesterdays+Products/ASTRO_Spectra_Series_US-EN

[troyboy162]

really? which ones have you read anything bad about? Ive only followed wouxons up until now and they have FCC numbers and great track records. In fact they now produce radios with part 90 stamps to broadcast on business bands.

i like the sound of these surplus radios. Can they be typically be opened up to talk on ham freqs? If not then I dont see them being that much more handy then a tweaked emergency radio

dont you have the winsystem in Sacramento? that the most epic 70cm system in the country

[4x4mike]

I've read a little on pretty much every forum I go on. There is a lot of talk about them locally as well. I forgot what the nick name was but some guys would call it out when someone was using them. I guess they could tell from the audio if someone had one. For the most part I believe it to be just the HT's that came out about 2 years ago.

I bought my FT 60r from solidradios.com, straight from the factory in Japan. It does not have an FCC number. I didn't know about this until it was stuck in customs for 4 months. I filed a PP dispute and the seller shipped out another one and when it arrived the customs label said battery powered LED. I guess it is a battery powered LED, but it's also a radio.

I have had zero problems with my ft60 as it's a super solid radio with a great track record. The pirate group, friends of the rubicon, friends of fordyce, etc, etc all use it (the groups actually own 20-30 for work days and events) so I know I have a buyer if I ever need one.

The surplus radios can pretty much do anything aside from cross band repeat and SSB. By design they need a computer to program but everyone has one of those. I'm not sure on how much they can be opened up but it's pretty much only legal on 2m. I think it will do a little above and below but unless you have a business band license it's useless. The spectra has been around for a while so there are quite a few different models. I'd search or ask around to see which is best. I believe most are around the 100w range.

I think there is a winsys but because of the military installments 70cm is blocked in the valley. I think it's mostly because of Beale AFB, Travis AFB and remnants of McClellan AFB. 6m is a niche little group but that group is much more active than anything 70 cm. For the most part locally it's 2m, 10, 40 and 80.

[4x4mike]

Here is one example. It's a UHF so it most likely can be programmed for 2m (don't take my word on it). It's only 45w but that is probably all you'd need.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-Spectra-Dash-Mount-VHF-Radio-45-W-D43KXA7JA7BK-1126-/370556734718?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item5646e70cfe

There are also 900mhz models which are the newer ones. I think it's 900mhz that most public service agencies use or are currently replacing. These would be less useful for amature radio use.

Here you go. This ones says 146-174 (2m band range). I've seen these for $40.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTOROLA-SPECTRA-MOBILE-RADIO-MIC-128-ch-45-WATT-VHF-FIRE-POLICE-HAM-/160676030871?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item256909a997

[troyboy162]

northern sacramento only for winsystem it looks like. thats a bummer...They have almost continuous coverage for all of socal and all interconnected. You could talk to us at the hammers haha

http://www.winsystem.org/Site_Plots/winsystemPlots/winsystem/Loomis-01-RF-Coverage.jpg

[4x4mike]

Interesting. I'll have to check that out. I only have 70cm on my HT and have never had a contact.

As mentioned above we have bases around here so 70 cm is blocked. I'm not sure why, maybe they use it? Anyways you can see Beale on the map. Travis is in Vacaville/Fairfield and McCellan is near North Highlands. I live just above the 50 symbol east of Sacramento.

[troyboy162]

updates on the radio. Wouxon.us is saying February-March for sales and a pre-order has turned up in china for $2000 yaun. First hand accounts of the radio are saying no APRS mode is available. Lack of APRS is not really a deal breaker but the $2000 yaun = $300 USD apparently and if that is the final price on US soil its not going to make much stir. Anyhow the radio is coming...just no one knows exactly when or if its going to be the value everyone expected to blow the other radios out of the market.

http://translate.google.com/translate?act=url&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.jdzj.com/products/2011-7-12/6424695-1.html

[4x4mike]

$300 is no deal. An 8800 or 8900 can be had for cheap on the used market or the ham swaps. APRS is a cool feature but I hear it takes a lot to keep going as well as to organize all the data points. If I had the time or need for another antenna I'd consider APRS.

HRO is starting to carry some Chinese radios. Once they flood the market the price should go down. Hopefully this is a good radio and money won't be wasted.

[corax]

Meh, that's not a bad price, but for $300 I'd rather buy a new Alinco (http://www.alinco.com/usa.html) DR-635T/E (Japanese made remote mount/vhf/uhf/cross band repeat)

[troyboy162]

agreed...300 + shipping is too much unless it proves to be exceptional. I like my Chinese cheap junk, but its probably just going to be good. Exceptional for the price is what my fingers are crossed for lol

[corax]

this is the email I got this morning. If it really is going to be part 90 certified, I may pick one up even though I just got my Yaesu 8800 . . .

Dear Customer,

Here is the latest news on Chinese dual-band mobile radios.

Wouxun Dual Band Mobile - KG-UV920R

On June 21 I was informed that Wouxun would supply a small number of these radios to selected dealers (max of 10). At that time they also quoted a dealer costs that I thought was outrageous. The dealer costs was almost what I have always considered the retail price would be. In an email I told them sternly that with any dealer markup at all, the radio would not sell in the US and I would decline to purchase samples.

Wouxun response was that when full production began, the dealer costs would be lower. Since I've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars building a market for this company over the past few years, I decided I would not let others bring this radio to market before I did. I reluctantly placed an order for 10 radios, figuring I would sell them at costs, to get them to market.

After my order was shipped, Wouxun informed me that these sample radios must NOT be sold for less than $320-$330. They went on to say "If we found you or your dealer's end price was lower this range without our permission in advance, then we will stop supplying this model to you."

For the past two years, I've repeatedly told Wouxun that this radio must sell for no more than $250-$275 for it to be competitive with the big three Japanese companies. It appears this advice has fallen on deaf ears.

These pre-production radios lack some of the features the full-production radios will have. These will not be FCC Certified for Part 90 use. They will have narrow band capability but will not have the 2.5 kHz tuning step required for Part 90 radios beginning in 2013. The frequency range will be RX:136-174 & 350-480 and TX: 136-174 & 400-480. They did not indicate if any wide-band receive, such as 118 MHz AM, would be available on these pre-production models.

Although these radios may lack some of the bells and whistles we've expected, I imagine they will still be good dual band radios for the ham market. BUT, I still don't feel they are worth $325.

Wouxun says I can't sell these for less than $325. They did not say that I can not include a FREE HT with the purchase. (Rest assured, they will raise holy crap about it, but I'm used to that) So here's my plan. I will place the limited number I have on sale for $350 and include a free KG-UV2D HT in the deal. I'll profit nothing at this but we'll see what happens.

Anytone Dual Band Mobile - AT-588UV

For the past two years, I have consulted with Anytone as they developed their dual band mobile radio. Anytone send a non-working model of the radio for me to show at the Dayton Hamvention (Wouxun would not send anything). Anytone is now sending a working model (for free!) and says full production will begin in early August. Anytone has quoted a price that lets me know this radio will retail in the $250-$275 range. It will be Part 90 Certified and will have some wide-band receive ranges, including AM aircraft. I look forward to working with this company and expect their mobile to be a big seller.

TYT Quad Band Mobile - TH-9800

This radio covers 10 meters, 6 meters, 2 meters and 440 (only FM mode). TYT sent a semi-working model for me to show at Dayton. It would light up with menus working and etc. Those who played with the display said it is a clone of the Yaesu FT-8900. I have a close contact at TYT and am told they are working hard to get this radio into production in October.

Conclusion

I will continue to do my best to bring quality made Chinese radios to the US market and will only send these emails when necessary.

This particular email is going to about 5,000 people so please don't expect a quick response if you send me a question.

Regards,
Ed Griffin

Wouxun.US & Import Communications
www.wouxun.us (http://www.wouxun.us)
www.importcommunications.com (http://www.importcommunications.com)

[troyboy162]

wow thats alot of good info. Very disapointing on the wouxon. I wonder if its just too small a market for the Chinease to make them cheap enough? I really had hoped the KG-UV2D guts could be matted to larger amps and have a price under $200. I just want ham to be a realistic alternative to the $40 CB radios out there so I can hear what people are saying :)

[Crinale]

Once I get my rig running the way I want it I'm planning to add a ham, but I have a lot of other stuff to spend the money on right now

[troyboy162]

No info known on this one but its the first cheapish mobile dual band to be available
http://www.446shop.com/views.asp?hw_id=172

[Crinale]

that looks like a really attractive feature set for that price.. Definitely keep an eye on that one to see how it fares

[4x4mike]

Bumping this post for another offering, the Baojie BJ9900.
http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=116535

It appears to be a Yaseu 8800 clone, even the main body case looks the same as my 8800. The face and buttons are different, as is the mic. It's a dual band, with N style antenna connector, remote face bracket, removable face plate with different back light colors, backlit buttons (my 8800 doesn't have those) and it does cross band repeat.

Initial reports are that it's a major PITA to program. Getting the software and cable are a must and even then there are some hurdles. My 8800 has a ton of features and it's not bad to program which is nice because you actually get to use the features you paid for.

409shop has the 9900 for $250 shipped. HRO has the 8800 for $339 shipped with a remote mounting kit after the Yaseu $100 rebate. For me the Yaseu was worth the extra money because it's tried and true, serviceable, comes with a warranty and I'm familiar with the brand.

[troyboy162]

I saw another 8800 clone and it was about the same price. I agree its not enough savings to get overly excited about. At least there is some competition finally.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk

[Seanz0rz]

I have no problem spending $36 on a "higher end" Baofeng UV5R+ vs. a similar Yaesu for 100 or more. But my mobile station, I would only ever plop down 300 or 500 or whatever on a Yaesu or Kenwood or the like. I don't see the value in going cheap on the one that I use much more often and expect it to hit another station a few dozen miles away.

If they were really cheap, under 100, I might consider putting one in my other vehicle. But again, it would have to be REALLY cheap!

[troyboy162]

I'd like to see a striped down dual band with at least 45 watts on both bands for <$125 shipped. skip the DTMF tones, skip the cross band repeat, heck you could skip the dual monitor and just keep it a pure single radio, so long as the price reflects it.

I really thought the Chinese were going to make a full feature radio at half price or lower, but they keep trying these supposedly great radios at not enough discount to make the switch. I dont know crap, but the baofengs at $35 have more features then %99 of us need. I cant see why bigger amps and some more plastic make that a ~$250 radio. I dont know, maybe if I didnt already have one I would try these at 250.

[Seanz0rz]

Especially when you can get a used yaesu or Kenwood for the same price.