Wouxun

[RadioGuy3007]

What are your thoughts on these types of armature radios? I am looking at getting one for when I start out.

 

[N4KVE]

Simple. You get what you pay for.

 

[n2ops]

Wouxun KG-UV6D

Love my Wouxun KG-UV6D! Great radio, esp for the price. I get 12 hours on a charge, And no cost for the software. Thought you'd like facts vs an editorial.

 

[Sportster77]

I've been usinga GU-16 commercial radio for about a month now and am very pleased with it.

 

[robertmac]

As mentioned before, You get what you pay for. They do have good transmit audio and reception. Just keep the dxmn roger beep off. However, they are lousy scanners. They have lousy dual watch. Cheap shouldn't be the major factor unless you live on the street. Go with Alinco, Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom as their radios have much more flexibility, especially scanning and dual watch. If you haven't already, read eham.net reviews. You will get as many views as people responding to your question. Do some research and see what features you require in your particular area. Determine just what it is with ham radio you want to do. At least by buying a full feature hand held you will have all the features you require [although you may not need them right now, you may in the future]. And the big 4 mentioned above all have radios at just about the same cost of the Chinese radios. If you are worried about the cost of accessories, just remember that a lot of the Kenwood radios will work with the same accessories that work with the Chinese radios.

 

[LtDoc]

I think post #5 pretty well says it. Wouxun radios work. If they have the characteristics that you want/need then I would think they are a viable option. The biggest 'characteristic' that make them usable for me is that Part-90 certification, I have a use for that. If you don't, then it's certainly not a 'plus' then, is it? And I have to say that my wallet likes the price of them more than others...
- 'Doc

 

[nanZor]

The image rejection of the double-conversion receivers isn't the greatest. Users that monitor up to the 480-485mhz band are also prone to interference from the UHF T-band services if they are active in your area as an example.

 

[KE5YOU]

I have a KG-UV3D. It is a great little radio for what it is, a simple analog HT radio. For my purposes it does everything I need it to do. However it certainly isn't a replacement for my old VX7. The Wouxon will not take anywhere near the abuse that radio did nor is the overall quality anywhere near that radio. But for something to start off with or something simple and cheap that you want cry over if it get damaged or broken they are great radios.

 

[K4IHS]

I bought a KG-UV2D just to have an extra radio. Turns out I like it better then my Icom portable. The only thing I don't like about it is the battery will go dead while the radio is turned off. So... I just take the battery off the radio when not in use. You can't go wrong with the price on them. i should buy a couple more!

 

[N4KVE]

I took a 2 hour trip to a hamfest with a couple of guys. One handed me a Wouxun. I had heard his radio on the air, & it sounded fine. I asked to play with it, & after an hour of frustration I handed it back as all I could do was enter the receive freq. I couldn't figure out how to set the offset, or PL tones. Another fellow had a new Icom, & within minutes I had the radio working on the repeater. So why was I able to program the Icom within minutes [never saw this model before] but the Wouxun was impossible to program? If I was on a canoe trip I would carry one so if I lost it, or if it got soaked, I wouldn't care. I certainly hope volunteer firefighters whose life could depend on their radio, don't use these part 90 radios for work. Wouxun should figure out how to program a radio from the keypad w/o the owner having a heart attack, & lose the flashlight, & roger beep.

 

[rapidcharger]

What are your thoughts on these types of armature radios? I am looking at getting one for when I start out.

Not a good "first radio".
Please search/browse the forum on the subject.

 

[LtDoc]

Oops, missed the part about a 'first radio'. I wouldn't recommend a hand-held of any brand as a 'first radio', they are just too limiting. An HT is for close work and doesn't have the range as other radios do (antenna is the limiting factor). They may be about the size of a cell phone but I don't think that's any sort of recommendation, it's more a handicap. An HT can be carried around easily. It also needs to be maintained. That means another set of batteries, a charger and if you're half way 'normal' an after-market antenna that's 'better' than the one that came on it. It also means that there are going to be more than one or two occasions where you won't be able to communicate, just no 'range'.
- 'Doc

 

[gunmasternd]

Get a mobile radio, handhelds are basicly scanners in my book. Your going to need the extra power to talk to people on repeaters in your city.

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

What are your thoughts on these types of armature radios? I am looking at getting one for when I start out.

Since I don't own any of the "Big 3," I have nothing to compare my KG-UVD1P against. However, if you don't have a lot of cash when starting out, you really can't go wrong with a Wouxun (or even a Baofeng for that matter).

Yes, as Moonboots indicated, they can be a little hard to program by hand at first. I just recently made a little cheat sheet for mine that I tuck in behind the battery. Came to find out when I posted about my "grand, money making idea," there are already professionally made cheat sheets available online.

I can hit pretty much all the area repeaters, and the audio reports are almost always favorable. You do need to have the little mic hole pretty close to your mouth, but I've never had to shout into mine like some people say they have to do.

While I'm sure there are better quality radios out there, I'm glad I went with the KG-UVD1P when I got my license. It hasn't disappointed me yet.

 

[AC2OY]

I'm only to chime in on what I know about my Kenwood HT, found some new repeaters last weekend and one guy was "amazed " when I told him I was using a TH-F6A on high power(five watts) he said I sounded like I was using a mobile radio. I hit a repeater in Wayne NJ from Belleville NJ. I also was told the audio quality was very good. Check out different radios. It costs more than the one you mentioned but I doubt you will be disappointed.

 

[AF5JQ]

I certainly hope volunteer firefighters whose life could depend on their radio, don't use these part 90 radios for work.

The Fire/Rescue/EMS agencies around here started experimenting with these radios almost a year ago and we haven't had any problems at all out of them. Yes, they are difficult to program by keypad, but that's why they provide free software. We just program every tactical channel, interoperability frequency, etc. into the radio and then lock the menu functions to keep non-tech-savvy folks from accidentally changing things.

As far as durability, they will stand up to dust, steam, and water spray. If you drop it on the concrete, the battery will come off but it snaps right back in. In our experience the UV3D actually holds up better than the UV6D, especially in regard to the antenna. The thinner antenna on the 6D has a tendency to bend at a slight angle over time, which doesn't affect receiving or transmitting but at the same time it just doesn't look right.

Obviously the battery life depends on the amount of time you spend transmitting, as that's when the most current is drawn. On average, ours have been going a little over 24 hours on a single charge.

Moving on to accessories... any speaker/mic or headset wired with a Kenwood-style 2-pin connector should work. Pryme makes a very nice heavy duty microphone that sells for around $40-50. Also, most of the Wouxun radios have a small LED flashlight built in that works surprisingly well in near total darkness.

The only drawback I've found (besides the already mentioned programming difficulty) is the not-so-great scanning mode. You cannot change what channels are in the scan bank without reprogramming the radio from a computer, the scanning itself is slow and disables the dual receive function, the backlight stays lit the entire time it's scanning, and pressing any button on the keypad will make it stop on whatever channel it happens to land on.

Speaking of the dual receive function, the radio does not listen to both VFO's simultaneously. Rather it constantly switches back and forth between the two, so whichever one it picks up traffic on first is the only one you hear.

The last negative comment I have about the radios (which admittedly is just a personal dislike) is that the alphanumeric display is limited to 6 characters, which means you may have to get creative in naming some of your channels.

All things considered, these are very good radios for the price, and are quickly gaining popularity with the area amateur operators because of it. Lastly, you really shouldn't be comparing the performance of a 5-watt portable radio with a "rubber duck" antenna to that of a 25- or 50-watt mobile rig. They're each suited for different uses, and there's certainly no rule that you can only have one radio.

 

[LtDoc]

Wouxun programming. At best, I think you could say it sucks. I did have to do that programming from the buttons to start with, but soon found that the free software to do that programming is probably the best investment you can make. Considering how and when I use it, doing the programming by computer just isn't that much of a problem. I can forget doing it on the 'fly', but in most cases I don't have to worry about it. I'm sure that's not so for others. For roughly $150 I don't think I went too far wrong (the UV6). The 'UV2 was cheaper and is also just as usable.
Why do I have a Wouxun HT instead of the 'name' brands? Cost, that simple. An HT isn't what I'd consider my 'main' radio but it certainly fills a 'blank' space. YMMV...
- 'Doc

 

[Spankymedic7]

As mentioned before, You get what you pay for. They do have good transmit audio and reception. Just keep the dxmn roger beep off. However, they are lousy scanners. They have lousy dual watch. Cheap shouldn't be the major factor unless you live on the street. Go with Alinco, Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom as their radios have much more flexibility, especially scanning and dual watch. If you haven't already, read eham.net reviews. You will get as many views as people responding to your question. Do some research and see what features you require in your particular area. Determine just what it is with ham radio you want to do. At least by buying a full feature hand held you will have all the features you require [although you may not need them right now, you may in the future]. And the big 4 mentioned above all have radios at just about the same cost of the Chinese radios. If you are worried about the cost of accessories, just remember that a lot of the Kenwood radios will work with the same accessories that work with the Chinese radios.

I agree with Mac. Personally, I like the Wouxun radios. Granted they're lousy scanners, dual watch isn't great, but they are much more durable than others that I've owned. I like the straight forward, no nonsense operation...no fancy bells and whistles.

Like Mac said, research the various brands. Match the radios' specs against your needs/wants in a radio.

 

[RESlusher]

+1 on what Cory said!

 

[jhooten]

I got around to programming the KG-UV920P. On the base antenna it works as good as anything else in the station for the local repeaters and could hear the simplex guys with comparable signal strengths. Next to put it in the truck and take a trip down RF alley to see how it does in an area with lots of strong signals. The audio is good with plenty of volume. One of the local guys asked if I was on my Kenwood or the Yaesu when I was talking to him.

Programming it is the same as the handhelds, use the software.