anyone using the BlackBox VHF mobile?

[joetnymedic]

i've got and had quite a few radios in my day. I'd personally opt for a brand name radio where you can at least go to a semi-local shop who will know something about the radio if you run into a problem. I think you just limited your resourses with your purchase but its your money. hope you get what yu want out of the deal. good luck.

 

[K9WG]

thanks! Went to your link and as far as I can understand this radio is FCC Part 90 compliant.

Please correct me if I read this wrong.

If you look at the pictures submitted to the FCC it is a different radio then is pictured on the BlackBox web site. The FCC submitted radio(s) appear to not allow "No PC required" programming.

 

[jm3691175]

pics?

If you look at the pictures submitted to the FCC it is a different radio then is pictured on the BlackBox web site. The FCC submitted radio(s) appear to not allow "No PC required" programming.

Not sure about the pics or where to see them but the FCC id# on the radio matches what I entered.
I have only put in a couple county freqs on receive only and seems to be a very sensitive receiver.
This unit is picking up both tower and mobiles when my scanner with the identical antenna is barely breaking squelch on the tower side of comms.

 

[BluFusion]

I just bought the UHF version of this radio, and just now stumbled across this thread. Whilst I haven't received it yet, I have to say I looked high and low for a radio which equaled its feature set and was unable to find anything.
High on my list was the bandsplit: I need to cover frequencies at 411mhz and at 477mhz. While I will have to swap antennas to swap between these, at least at high power, having one radio is a plus.
I wasn't able to find ANY other commercial radios that cover this.
I have also had very good experiences with other, previously unheard of radios out of china. I purchased a few ultra-cheap UHF handhelds and have had no problems with them and they perform great.
If anybody can suggest another radio that can give me at least 410-480mhz bandsplit, CTCSS/DCS tones, narrow channel spacing, alphanumeric display and ANI, I'd consider getting it to compare the two. As it is, I've ordered this radio already (well, the UHF one). I will be happy to post a review when it arrives. If I have any problems, I'd also be happy to send it back and buy a more well-known brand.

Just for your information, I have done some digging thanks to the FCC registration information provided here and have come up with the real manufacturer of these radios.
Search here: OET -- FCC ID Search
for T4K 5188U1
and you will find information on the original FCC testing by the original manufacturers, including images showing their brand: SoonTone.

Anyway I'll see how it goes when it arrives. Should be fun playing with it...

 

[deathwinker]

Need same specs

I am a Comms Tech for the local Search and Rescue, and have been running into the problem of interfacing multiple organizations for Mass-Communications. I am a GROL license holder and going for Amateur Extra, so I know that I can use this product for my SAR team. I like the fact that I can manually program frequencies without having to go through a dealer. The SAR unit holds its own PS license that will go as channel one, but when we have other teams interfacing as an Incident Response unit, it would be nice to have the ability to change my freqs on the vehicles as well as handhelds. I would really like to know, before I go and blow the taxpayer's dollars, if this device is the "real-deal". I have never heard of Blackbox, and am afraid this design will be too good to be true. Any advice?

 

[BluFusion]

It certainly seems real enough for me.
I bought it as I'm a comms tech for a volunteer group who frequently do remote area search & rescue. While we frequently do communicate with other agencies, every agency down here in South Australia uses a government-owned trunked network, so it won't allow us to do that. We do however have trunked radios that allow us to do everything we need.

I have had the chance to use it at several events and it performs admirably. Unfortunately I haven't yet been able to push it to its limits, but it seems like it's up to the challenge.
Blackbox is clearly just a brand slapped on it by the U.S. reseller, however I've had positive experiences with other ridiculously cheap no-name radios in the past so I have no reason to doubt this one at all. A lot of people get very worried about cheap chinese products and just assume that they're rubbish; while this may be the case, there is an increasing number of products in all fields and industries coming to market that really do outperform their expensive name-brand equivalents. Think about HTC - the taiwanese phone manufacturer that was all but unknown only a couple of years ago.

Anyway to flat out answer your question, go for it. It is up to the task and sounds like it will do just what you want.

 

[techsender]

So who actually has one of these radios (either V or U) in their hands and what do you think ? What was the street price ?

 

[kg4uad]

20khz (medium band) channel spacing? Ive never seen that before. wonder if thats a euro standard.

kg4uad

 

[kg4uad]

Appears that the radio also does not have "priority" scan, and on the portable version you must utilize ch 16 to scan just like a gp300.

 

[Scannerhead1983]

I have had pretty good luck with some of the chinese radio's. I got a motorola GP338 on ebay, UHF portable that is almost identical to the HT1250UHF, for about less than half the price for a used HT1250. The only issue at hand is that they are not type accepted for use in the US through the FCC. And most Moto shops won't touch them for service, since they are technically an "illegal" radio for operation in the US. You will come to find though that they offer good features to them. Most even come with the CPS, Which I know is also technically not legal, And the programming cable. So for the price, if you know how to navigate through CPS... It's a pretty good deal. So long as you don't brick your radio by incorrect operation of the CPS.

 

[Citywide173]

thanks! Went to your link and as far as I can understand this radio is FCC Part 90 compliant.

Please correct me if I read this wrong.

I see an application, but no grant, which says to me that it is not Part 90 certified.....further, the photos are of a different radio case at minimum and possibly an entirely different radio.

 

[WISCOMM]

We have been a Blackbox radio dealer for about 3 year. We have several hundred of these Blackbox mobiles in the field with only ONE warranty return. And that unit was replaced by Blackbox no questions asked.

My only personal issue is the microphone, I would like to see them introduce a non-DTMF microphone with a little more heft. Any ham or radio farkle will quickly overlook the mic issues.

Craig
Wiscomm

 

[K9WG]

We have been a Blackbox radio dealer for about 3 year. We have several hundred of these Blackbox mobiles in the field with only ONE warranty return. And that unit was replaced by Blackbox no questions asked.

My only personal issue is the microphone, I would like to see them introduce a non-DTMF microphone with a little more heft. Any ham or radio farkle will quickly overlook the mic issues.

Craig
Wiscomm

Craig

Since you are a Blackbox dealer perhaps you can clear up some confusion. Looking at the FCC certification number(s) on the Blackbox mobile information sheet, the FCC certification does not match what is in the FCC database. What is listed and pictured in the FCC OET database is a different model. Why is this?

 

[WISCOMM]

I cannot speak for the manufacturers certification process, but the FCC number on the actual radio is as follows:

FCCID# VHF - U7GblackboxMV

Units hold valid FCC, CE and RoHS certifications.

Thanks,

Craig
Wiscomm

 

[mmckenna]

It does have a grant under Part 90. You need to click on the Display Grant button.

While it is advertised as a 60 watt radio, the model submitted for test couldn't even do 44 watts.

Grant is for Wide and Narrow FM.

Manufacturer is shown as Klien Electronics.

The lab doing the FCC certification tests is out of China (no surprise).

Picture of the radio on the FCC site looks different than the one above, but the FCC id is the same...

FCC IDENTIFIER: U7GBLACKBOXMV
Name of Grantee: Klein Electronics, Inc.
Equipment Class: Licensed Non-Broadcast Station Transmitter
Notes: TWO WAY RADIO- BUSINESS BAND FREQUENCIES

Grant for the VHF radio shows a UHF radio in the pictures....

If you compare the picture in the FCC grant to the pictures of the Alinco DJ-03T and DJ-06T, it is plainly the same chassis and control head. Only difference seems to be the color of the power button.

We've all known for a long time that the FCC isn't usually paying attention, and can usually be bought outright by the highest bidder.

 

[mmckenna]

20khz (medium band) channel spacing? Ive never seen that before. wonder if thats a euro standard.

kg4uad

It's on most Motorola radios, or at least it was up until a few years ago. The Jedi line of radios I've worked with all have this option. Not sure if it's used in the US or not. I've only used the 25KHz and 12.5KHz options.

 

[andymercer]

Use

I use Black Box radios for my farm operations and emergency services operations.
As per the radio it is a great deal good rugged radio: Reception very clear and I have talked several miles with a 60' tower on a black box base station.
Mobile to mobile is also good on handheld: Very light weight.
The only problem I have was I bought a mike so I did not have to remove the radio from my belt each time I had to talk.
I was promised a accessory clamp to hold the mike but did not receive any with all the radios I bought.
The company I bought them from had no answer why the clamp was not in the box except " it is a manufacturer problem."
I was disconnected once while talking to the customer service rep.
Some items advertise you will not get with the radio though they say you will.
Other than this it is a good radio.

 

[johnls7424]

I have a pair of Blackbox Bantam VHF radios. They work very well. Static free for the most part. Had some issues with the programming software. Had to actually call Klein Electronics and have the customer sales representative walk me through how to properly download it. The software they use is for windows 98 processors. A bit outdated if you ask me. With the proper reprogramming of its software it works fine on Windows 7. The radios in and of itself are good. Battery life is decent. If your ever going to buy radios from Klein electronics just go for the most expensive ones " bantam" series. They are small, lightweight radios. The regular blackbox radios ( I don't own but have seen) are bulky and heavy. It is definitely worth spending the extra couple of bucks and buy the Bantam series of the Blackbox radios.

 

[wildfiregod]

Don't do it.

We purchased these radios 3 or 4 years ago and have had nothing but problems with them. They don't receive half the time and they don't transmit or if they do the key hangs and locks the channel open. We sent them in several times to be fixed and they say they reprogrammed them and updated the firmware but it didn't help. Our village is under a mile across and i can't even talk across the field behind my house with them. (clear line of sight on level ground). The only reason we ended up with these is because our fire board is cheep and didn't want to pay for the good radios i recommended. If you have the choice stay far away from these radios there junk.