-
You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
Wouxun KG-UVD1P Review
- Thread starter Moleculo
- Start date
Radio Performance
Moving on to the actual performance and functionality of the radio...
Transmit and Receive quality is actually really pretty good. I put my Yaesu VX-8 next to it one night and dialed around to a bunch of the local and more distant repeaters to gauge RX sensitivity. It was able to pick up anything that the Yaesu could hear and in some cases weak signals may have been a little stronger on the Wouxun. This difference may very well be attributed to the very broadband antenna on the VX-8, so take this comparison with a grain of salt. The S-Meter on the Wouxun is fairly useless as it nearly always shows everything at full strength. I've talked to a bunch of different stations on the radio and everyone says that the radio sounds good. One station told me that the radio sounded "commercial communications quality" and went on to explain that it didn't have too much bass or treble, but was just clear and easy to copy. At least on my radio, the mic is very sensitive so you have to hold it right up to your mouth - and I mean close.
Unlike some of the big three manufacturers (Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood) this radio never seems to get hot while transmitting. I'm sure it will at some point, but I have keyed down for several minutes at a time and not experienced any heat issues. I don't know what they're doing different to keep it cool, but Yaesu should take note.
The radio has dual receive, or you can switch it to just monitor one band at a time. However, it's not really dual receive: It lets you monitor two different bands but you can only listen to one at a time. If the radio picks up a transmission on one band, the other band will mute until the transmission is complete. You can also listen to FM broadcast, although this function seems like a little bit of an afterthought. The issue with the FM broadcast receiver is that it won't let you use the number pad to punch in the frequency you want. The only way to change frequency is to use the dial or up/down arrows, which takes forever to move across the spectrum. It does have the ability to scan the band to auto program the strong FM stations, which is a slight help.
The radio also has a built in scanner, which will let you scan the VFO or scan memories. You can tag memories to skip while scanning, as well. The downside of using this radio for a scanner is that it scans about the slowest of any radio I've ever used...and I mean painfully slow. It will work fine if you're just going to use it to scan through 4 or 5 frequencies, however if you want to scan all the repeaters in your metro area you're in for a big disappointment.
Next up in the review: Repeater and Memory operation.
Moving on to the actual performance and functionality of the radio...
Transmit and Receive quality is actually really pretty good. I put my Yaesu VX-8 next to it one night and dialed around to a bunch of the local and more distant repeaters to gauge RX sensitivity. It was able to pick up anything that the Yaesu could hear and in some cases weak signals may have been a little stronger on the Wouxun. This difference may very well be attributed to the very broadband antenna on the VX-8, so take this comparison with a grain of salt. The S-Meter on the Wouxun is fairly useless as it nearly always shows everything at full strength. I've talked to a bunch of different stations on the radio and everyone says that the radio sounds good. One station told me that the radio sounded "commercial communications quality" and went on to explain that it didn't have too much bass or treble, but was just clear and easy to copy. At least on my radio, the mic is very sensitive so you have to hold it right up to your mouth - and I mean close.
Unlike some of the big three manufacturers (Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood) this radio never seems to get hot while transmitting. I'm sure it will at some point, but I have keyed down for several minutes at a time and not experienced any heat issues. I don't know what they're doing different to keep it cool, but Yaesu should take note.
The radio has dual receive, or you can switch it to just monitor one band at a time. However, it's not really dual receive: It lets you monitor two different bands but you can only listen to one at a time. If the radio picks up a transmission on one band, the other band will mute until the transmission is complete. You can also listen to FM broadcast, although this function seems like a little bit of an afterthought. The issue with the FM broadcast receiver is that it won't let you use the number pad to punch in the frequency you want. The only way to change frequency is to use the dial or up/down arrows, which takes forever to move across the spectrum. It does have the ability to scan the band to auto program the strong FM stations, which is a slight help.
The radio also has a built in scanner, which will let you scan the VFO or scan memories. You can tag memories to skip while scanning, as well. The downside of using this radio for a scanner is that it scans about the slowest of any radio I've ever used...and I mean painfully slow. It will work fine if you're just going to use it to scan through 4 or 5 frequencies, however if you want to scan all the repeaters in your metro area you're in for a big disappointment.
Next up in the review: Repeater and Memory operation.
YOOHOO !!! 
: I am stoked, you can work the Satellites with this radio very easily !
I just worked the AO-27 on a low pass and I actually made 2 QSO's and told them I was using the Wouxun and they were impressed !
I'll try to get a recording of it on a good pass and post it up !!
: I am stoked, you can work the Satellites with this radio very easily ! I just worked the AO-27 on a low pass and I actually made 2 QSO's and told them I was using the Wouxun and they were impressed !
I'll try to get a recording of it on a good pass and post it up !!
That was the deciding factor in my decision to purchase one. I can't wait for it to arrive so i can put it through its paces. I did extensive research before deciding on this radio, and I'm looking forward to see what it can do.
Repeater Operation
Since this is a no-frills type of HT, there aren't really any quick access repeater functions. Most HT's have buttons that let you quickly change the shift or tone, as well as auto offset/shift functions that know how much offset and which direction to shift depending on the frequency you're operating on. Not in this radio - you do it all manually.
While the radio does have quick menu button combinations to get you to often used functions, the menus you need for the repeaters aren't any of the combinations assigned to the 10 numeric buttons. You can still get there quickly punching in "MENU 23" and "Menu 24" to set the offset and shift direction. "MENU 16" will get you to the transmit CTCSS tones. If you can't remember that, you can just hit the MENU button and use the dial to find the menus you need.
There is another review for this radio on the internet that says that the display always shows "+-" regardless of the shift direction, but my radio does not do this. Mine shows the proper symbol associated with the shift direction. The radio does support both CTCSS and DCS and it will also let you use different tones / codes for transmit and receive, which is nice.
The bottom line is that all of the repeater functionality you need is present, it's just a little cumbersome to get to. Programming your local repeaters in using the software will save you a lot of time.
Since this is a no-frills type of HT, there aren't really any quick access repeater functions. Most HT's have buttons that let you quickly change the shift or tone, as well as auto offset/shift functions that know how much offset and which direction to shift depending on the frequency you're operating on. Not in this radio - you do it all manually.
While the radio does have quick menu button combinations to get you to often used functions, the menus you need for the repeaters aren't any of the combinations assigned to the 10 numeric buttons. You can still get there quickly punching in "MENU 23" and "Menu 24" to set the offset and shift direction. "MENU 16" will get you to the transmit CTCSS tones. If you can't remember that, you can just hit the MENU button and use the dial to find the menus you need.
There is another review for this radio on the internet that says that the display always shows "+-" regardless of the shift direction, but my radio does not do this. Mine shows the proper symbol associated with the shift direction. The radio does support both CTCSS and DCS and it will also let you use different tones / codes for transmit and receive, which is nice.
The bottom line is that all of the repeater functionality you need is present, it's just a little cumbersome to get to. Programming your local repeaters in using the software will save you a lot of time.
Getting really excited about this after reading all the reviews online. Just ordered mine from www.wouxun.us and looking forward to getting it.
Several folks have said that it uses the same type of mic/speaker/ptt connection as Kenwoods; does anyone have a good recommendation for a TNC to use with this radio for APRS work?
Thanks!
73 DE KC2KOA
Several folks have said that it uses the same type of mic/speaker/ptt connection as Kenwoods; does anyone have a good recommendation for a TNC to use with this radio for APRS work?
Thanks!
73 DE KC2KOA
It's a bit of a pain but the cigarette lighter cable (comes with the radio) plugs into the base charging unit (base accepts ac and dc voltage cables), the radio could be kept in the base and used.
It is the same mic configuration as the Kenwood TH-F6A; I confirmed it with my own mic cable from the same radio. For APRS, you could just use MFJ's little TNC - the MFJ-1270X. You could also just use MIXW with some simple cables and the radio on VOX to trigger TX.
Wow. That vox trick works? So basically I just need some software, a couple simple wires and a computer and I'm good to go?
Getting back to the review after a vacation and some time away from home using this little radio quite a bit.
Yeah, it will work using MixW's TNC serial port bridge. I've actually done this with another radio, although instead of using VOX to trigger PTT, I used CAT.
Memory Operation
Before I go into details of how the memory function works, I'll cut to the chase and just recommend spending the extra $18 on the cable and software. It will make your life much easier. Don't get me wrong: it's not that difficult to program the radio, but it could be better.
The instructions for memory programming are in the manual under the heading, "Setting Memory Channels: Setting Co-Channel and Dis-Channel (MEM-CH)---MENU 27". I don't know what a "Co-channel" and "Dis-Channel" are, but after fooling around with the radio and following instructions, it becomes apparent that they're talking about receive and transmitting channel. I'll try to provide some simpler instructions than the manual gives.
First, turn up the radio volume because you're going to need to hear the voice prompts. Now, input the receiving frequency, complete with any tone or DCS squelch setting. Then, you hit the MENU button and select the MEM-CH menu by either rotating the dial on top or just punching in 27 on the keypad. Hit MENU again to select the memory channel number setting and rotate the dial (or use the keypad) to select the memory number you wish to write. Hit MENU again and the radio says, "Channel Memory, Receiving Memory" on the voice prompt. Now, if the transmitting frequency is the same as the receiving frequency, you can just hit MENU twice and the radio will respond by saying, "Channel Memory, Transmitting Memory." Otherwise, hit the PTT button to exit the menu, input the transmit frequency complete with any CTCSS or DCS setting and go back to the same menu, and repeat the process above to write the transmit frequency. (MENU, select MEM-CH function, hit MENU, select memory channel number, hit MENU again).
One important thing to understand about the memory programming is that the radio does not seem to use the offset direction or shift direction setting to handle the transmit frequency - you have to input it manually using the procedure above. Other settings like TX power level seem to take effect. You can also name the memories using a menu setting that is very easy to understand.
The quickest way to enter memory mode is by hitting MENU then TDR. You can also use the MENU settings to toggle the frequency display between memory number, frequency, or memory name.
Next up in the review, a few interesting features and a summary of my feelings on this radio.
Yeah, it will work using MixW's TNC serial port bridge. I've actually done this with another radio, although instead of using VOX to trigger PTT, I used CAT.
Memory Operation
Before I go into details of how the memory function works, I'll cut to the chase and just recommend spending the extra $18 on the cable and software. It will make your life much easier. Don't get me wrong: it's not that difficult to program the radio, but it could be better.
The instructions for memory programming are in the manual under the heading, "Setting Memory Channels: Setting Co-Channel and Dis-Channel (MEM-CH)---MENU 27". I don't know what a "Co-channel" and "Dis-Channel" are, but after fooling around with the radio and following instructions, it becomes apparent that they're talking about receive and transmitting channel
. I'll try to provide some simpler instructions than the manual gives.First, turn up the radio volume because you're going to need to hear the voice prompts. Now, input the receiving frequency, complete with any tone or DCS squelch setting. Then, you hit the MENU button and select the MEM-CH menu by either rotating the dial on top or just punching in 27 on the keypad. Hit MENU again to select the memory channel number setting and rotate the dial (or use the keypad) to select the memory number you wish to write. Hit MENU again and the radio says, "Channel Memory, Receiving Memory" on the voice prompt. Now, if the transmitting frequency is the same as the receiving frequency, you can just hit MENU twice and the radio will respond by saying, "Channel Memory, Transmitting Memory." Otherwise, hit the PTT button to exit the menu, input the transmit frequency complete with any CTCSS or DCS setting and go back to the same menu, and repeat the process above to write the transmit frequency. (MENU, select MEM-CH function, hit MENU, select memory channel number, hit MENU again).
One important thing to understand about the memory programming is that the radio does not seem to use the offset direction or shift direction setting to handle the transmit frequency - you have to input it manually using the procedure above. Other settings like TX power level seem to take effect. You can also name the memories using a menu setting that is very easy to understand.
The quickest way to enter memory mode is by hitting MENU then TDR. You can also use the MENU settings to toggle the frequency display between memory number, frequency, or memory name.
Next up in the review, a few interesting features and a summary of my feelings on this radio.
I thought Yaesu manuals weren't the best, anyone know why it has the morse code when you turn it on, I am sure it is "MR" -- .-.