QRP BS188 SDR HF Transceiver (RS918 clone) issue

[Robbie1984]

G'day everyone I've been having an ongoing issue with the BS188 SDR HF radio I purchased not long after obtaining my amateur radio license nearly 7 months ago at first I thought it had something to do with the power output however after by dumb luck earlier today (Thursday arvo) while looking through storage tubs of mine in the old garden shed came across an unused power lead (with fuse) which yielded positive results with a stable volt output of 13.8 volts so that minor issue of power has been resolved so I'll explain below
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ISSUE​

Every time I want to tune the BS188 using its tune feature button so it has a good swr on 40 meters LSB or 10 and 15 meters USB its transmit red light instead of being a solid flickers instead and no readings appear this happens quite often with only about a 1% off chance that it actually does check SWR sometimes of which reads a perfect 1-1.5 from the wire antenna I've got setup

The same issue is also occurring when it comes to using the microphone the transmit red light instead of being solid flickers with no swr or power readings coming up but does also give that brief tx with a perfect swr on 40 meters then back to flickering light and no readings
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall it is a quite solid budget HF rig but I'm at a loss as to why the above 2 issues are happening I am leaning more towards the fact it has faulty components in the tx, swr and tune features especially the microphone itself therefore making it a faulty unit overall but it does have a really nice receive not as good as my Tecsun s2000 shortwave receiver has

A side note before anyone says anything whilst giving a POV in hopes the problem is possibly a major fault

1. Yes the wire antenna I've got running is a genuine one set for 40m-6m i got it from Sigma Euro-Comm in the UK

2. I only have a small area in the front yard to string a wire antenna

3. Not in the financial position to shell out $$$$$ for an expensive HF set

 

[Robbie1984]

G'day everyone I've been having an ongoing issue with the BS188 SDR HF radio I purchased not long after obtaining my amateur radio license nearly 7 months ago at first I thought it had something to do with the power output however after by dumb luck earlier today (Thursday arvo) while looking through storage tubs of mine in the old garden shed came across an unused power lead (with fuse) which yielded positive results with a stable volt output of 13.8 volts so that minor issue of power has been resolved so I'll explain below
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ISSUE​

Every time I want to tune the BS188 using its tune feature button so it has a good swr on 40 meters LSB or 10 and 15 meters USB its transmit red light instead of being a solid flickers instead and no readings appear this happens quite often with only about a 1% off chance that it actually does check SWR sometimes of which reads a perfect 1-1.5 from the wire antenna I've got setup

The same issue is also occurring when it comes to using the microphone the transmit red light instead of being solid flickers with no swr or power readings coming up but does also give that brief tx with a perfect swr on 40 meters then back to flickering light and no readings
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall it is a quite solid budget HF rig but I'm at a loss as to why the above 2 issues are happening I am leaning more towards the fact it has faulty components in the tx, swr and tune features especially the microphone itself therefore making it a faulty unit overall but it does have a really nice receive not as good as my Tecsun s2000 shortwave receiver has

A side note before anyone says anything whilst giving a POV in hopes the problem is possibly a major fault

1. Yes the wire antenna I've got running is a genuine one set for 40m-6m i got it from Sigma Euro-Comm in the UK

2. I only have a small area in the front yard to string a wire antenna

3. Not in the financial position to shell out $$$$$ for an expensive HF set

Update I have restrung the antenna by putting balun onto the pool skimmer attached to my front downpipe extended it as high as possible then have ran the wire 7.6 meter wire with rubber fixture to middle of the yard and used rope to string it up as high as possible onto another extendable pool skimmer affixed to a fence post behind native bushes that mum planted well over 30 years ago still same issue

However the culprit may lie with the radio itself lacking an inbuilt ATU as a quick tune of a 15 and 40m frequencies using the orange dial/tune button showed the swr to be close to just over 5 and no power reading just a quick VSWR which went up before disappearing so the BS188 must have a inbuilt safety mechanism that prevents transmission if the SWR is too high