Leixen VV-898 Dual Watch Question

[KD8USW]

Received one of these on Monday from Sainsonic, the 25W VV-898E, overall it looks like it might be worth what I paid for it. It won't just sit their quietly though, picks up a little of everything so it's always squawking....this will certainly be a radio to turn on, use and turn off, no casually leaving it on all evening waiting to hear something, the interference noise will drive you nuts.

My question has to do with the dual watch. It seems to work fine, the only issue is there doesn't appear to be an indicator to let you know if the received transmission in on channel A or channel B. So I'm sitting there, monitoring two channels and my buddy jumps on, I don't know which channel to be replying on. This seems to make the dual watch feature basically worthless and is a major disappointment. I hope I'm overlooking something.

The other disappointment is you can't activate the scan on a channel where the squelch is open. So if you tire of a conversation and want to move on, you have to move to an unused channel to begin searching for something else. No other radio I have works that way. I guess I can live with that.

Rx and Tx quality seem to be quite good, make me think I'll find a job for this one somewhere.

Thanks!

Monty/KD8USW

 

[N4GIX]

My question has to do with the dual watch. It seems to work fine, the only issue is there doesn't appear to be an indicator to let you know if the received transmission in on channel A or channel B. So I'm sitting there, monitoring two channels and my buddy jumps on, I don't know which channel to be replying on. This seems to make the dual watch feature basically worthless and is a major disappointment. I hope I'm overlooking something.

Monty, I have two of the 10 watt versions of the VV-898 and note the same thing. It is unfortunately that they didn't program either A or B to blink or something to indicate which "side" was receiving.

In a low RF environment they work quite well, but the receiver's front end is not very selective at all. It could definitely benefit from better filters. I'll probably end up putting them into service strictly as monitors for my two repeaters so I can maintain 'station control' from other rooms of the house where they won't be over-burdened with responsibility... :lol:

 

[KD8USW]

Monty, I have two of the 10 watt versions of the VV-898 and note the same thing. It is unfortunately that they didn't program either A or B to blink or something to indicate which "side" was receiving.

In a low RF environment they work quite well, but the receiver's front end is not very selective at all. It could definitely benefit from better filters. I'll probably end up putting them into service strictly as monitors for my two repeaters so I can maintain 'station control' from other rooms of the house where they won't be over-burdened with responsibility... :lol:

I had hoped to use this as my beside the couch radio but there is no way that will work with this front end. I'll probably pack this in a backup go bag or cache package pre-positioned at a buddy's house. I ordered a 7A power supply, laptop style brick with a cigarette lighter plug, makes a nice portable package with a roll up antenna and a cheap Baofeng thrown in as a backup. My good Kenwood 2m is in my truck and I knew I should have pulled the level on a Kenwood dual band. Instead I grabbed this and a Yaesu XV-3R....now I'll have to start saving for the Kenwood I should have bought in the first place.

Thanks for confirming my experience is probably the norm with this radio. Still pretty happy with only $70 in it.

Monty/KD8USW

 

[N4GIX]

I wish that the "portable box w/batteries, fans, and antenna was available for separate purchase. I'd buy one in a heart-beat!

I actually had one of 'em installed in my car for a few weeks. I replaced it with a TYT TH-7800 which comes closest to performing like my antique Kenwood TM-V7A...

 

[KD8USW]

I wish that the "portable box w/batteries, fans, and antenna was available for separate purchase. I'd buy one in a heart-beat!

I actually had one of 'em installed in my car for a few weeks. I replaced it with a TYT TH-7800 which comes closest to performing like my antique Kenwood TM-V7A...

What's the scan speed like of the TYT? It's at an attractive price point.

 

[N4GIX]

What's the scan speed like of the TYT? It's at an attractive price point.

It's very fast. Somewhere around 20 channels/second as close as I can figure.

The one significant difference between it and my antique TM-V7A is that the latter would allow me to designate two separate "banks" of frequencies for A and B. Essentially it amounts to having two 'scan lists' so to speak.

With the TYT TH-7800 however, all channels are available to both A and B, so is A is monitoring 146.52 and you are scanning on B, then if 146.52 becomes active, then B will stop scanning on that frequency too.

But, since it effectively doubles the volume, maybe that's not too bad. It will certainly get your attention! :lol:

On the whole I'm quite pleased with both of mine.

 

[TACANTARA]

Leixen VV-898E Dual Watch

I recently installed one of these in my car for use both at work and on local repeaters, so I use the dual watch mode. I found that the A/B indicator does let you know what frequency you're set to transmit on. The "C" button on the hand mic switches between A/B for transmit. I usually have one channel set for a local repeater, and the other for a work-related or local emergency services channel. I have also alpha-tagged everything, rather than try to remember a bunch of frequencies.

I hope this will help answer the question in the OP.

-Tom (KC1FVU) -