Aquario RP70 “Mini” AM/FM/SSB Radio With NRC

[BC Coyote]

many of us are watching this thread.

Yup! Sitting on the edge of my chair I am..... Hard to believe they could make a SSB rig that small. Hoping for good reviews so I can have an excuse to buy one LOL!

 

[CDX8412]

Ok, a couple of quick observations…

I think the TX audio may not be up to many people’s standards, but I have to install it in my car and try it from the road. I think this may be the biggest complaint people might have about this radio.

It doesn’t seem to have much (if any) audio drive. It does have some VRs for ALC and AMC, but I would be very cautious about turning them. These pots are delicate and I don’t think you will see much improvement by messing with them. I think this radio is at its potential as it comes.

Volume doesn’t go low enough for my liking. A volume setting on ‘01’ is still too loud. ‘00’ will mute the audio completely. I have found this issue on other Chinese radios. Probably not so noticeable in a mobile installation.

I will say that the “AI NR” seems to be much better than the “NR” (it has both forms of noise reduction, but only one can be used at a time). The NR adds the usual “watery” sound, but the AI NR really reduces the band noise and still allows the RX audio to come in well. I am actually impressed with that feature. I am running it at ‘9’ and it reduces the white noise significantly, but still passes readable audio without that weird digital effect. The band is pretty dead this evening, but there is occasional skip coming in, and it does ok with that.

It has 3 power output levels. My Ameritron AWM-30B shows around a 2 watt/4 watt/ 6 watt carrier on the various levels. PEP seems to be around 15 watts on the highest setting. Seems like it might be a good driver for a KL-203.

The RX sensitivity seems pretty good, but most new radios have decent RX sensitivity these days. It hears what my other radios hear, and with that AI NR, it’s actually a better copy than my other radios on those weak signals.

The internal speaker is pretty small (as is the radio), so the radio can really benefit from an external speaker.

My radio has an odd jumper wire stretching across the circuit board between two surface mount components. Some sort of bodge job I guess. One of the MOSFETS doesn’t seem to have any thermal compound on it. It might be a driver ? I don’t know, but the final has compound and a sil pad. More knowledgeable folks will figure out what’s going on there.

I own an Anytone AT-5000. The LT-310SDR is no AT-5000. Don’t expect $200-400 performance out of this little radio.
Again, I need to squeeze a small radio into a tight cubby in my car. This is probably the radio for that. I am willing to accept mediocrity in exchange for size.

 

[AudioShockwav]

Thank you for the review.
It looks even smaller with the cover off and lots of users today are looking for a compact radio in crowded cars.
Have you played on SSB yet?

73
Jeff

 

[CDX8412]

Have you played on SSB yet?

Not really.

What I did was listen to AM/FM/USB/LSB TX audio while the 310SDR was on the bench. I would say that TX audio is a disappointment. It sounds the same across all modes…very “boxy” or “stocky” or “mid-rangey”…pick your description. I will still put it in the vehicle and do some further testing.

I would recommend that those interested in this radio hold off buying one unless you just want another radio to test and don’t get bent out of shape when a radio falls short of expectations.

Here’s an obscure reference…anyone remember the Superstar 4900B 10m base radio? It looked great but had poor TX audio. Seems like deja-vu all over again.

 

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Something doesn't look right:
* The video that Shadetree Mechanic posted of the RP-70 showing the board.
* And the picture CDX8412 posted.
They are two different boards, it's possible that it's an upgraded board as this radio has been out for a while.

The jumper on CDX8412's radio looks like it's bypassing a circuit on that board that may be the cause of the bad sounding audio. Why a jumper on a new radio, with traces on the board cut for the bypass?

@CDX8412
Any chance you can show the bottom side of that radio to see where the jumper (in your picture) is coming from, as it does disappear to the other side.

It would be interesting to see if these radios all come modified with this jumper or jumpers.

73

 

[CDX8412]

Any chance you can show the bottom side of that radio to see where the jumper (in your picture) is coming from, as it does disappear to the other side.

I think it would require disassembly/desoldering to get to that side of the board, and that is beyond my pay grade. And while the radio wasn’t too expensive, I don’t want to screw with things too much. You know the old saying…”if it ain’t broke, we can fix that”.

This Luiton radio does have differences from the Aquario models that I have seen on YouTube. The Luiton has some different menu options, so I guess there have been some hardware and firmware changes. My board has ‘MiniSSB v1.4’ printed on it.

Also of note, my radio and microphone have no brand name on them, nor does the box the radio comes in. The spot on the case where you would normally see a label with a model number and serial number has no label there.

I have a buddy who should get his next week. I can compare notes with him, but he ordered it the same day I did, so it will probably be like mine. I guess the extra shipping fee I paid got me to the head of the line.