Cheap chienese radios

IRISH RAIL

Anyone tried the 136-174 radios from e bay
looking at them for a while now,
maybe worth trying them out for the sake of a few quid.

The_Conductor

IRISH RAIL wrote:

Anyone tried the 136-174 radios from e bay
looking at them for a while now,
maybe worth trying them out for the sake of a few quid.

I've bought a few- both VHF and UHF. They're decent enough- I had one with a problem circuit board and another with a bad battery. They are cheap though- with the exception of shipping, which can work out at twice as much as the radios themselves. Its not even worthwhile buying several- the shipping goes up in multiples. Guy who sells them does package them well, and ships fairly promptly- 10 days or so from China- pretty good!

If you accept that you get what you pay for- and are happy to play around with them- you're getting a great deal.

Ps- none of them are dual band, despite the ebay adds, they are either VHF or UHF, not both. Scanning can pretty hit and miss- and power output if anything is understated......

If you're buying a pair- make sure you look at his other auctions and get replacement aerials for them too- the default stubbies aren't up to much, its only 7 dollars for a decent one- go for it.

S.

Ps- strictly speaking you need a licence to operate the UHF handset (the VHF one is exempt).

OKenora

I got a handheld - £15 plus £15 p+p, still £30 all in for a handheld is cheap.

Feature wise it's not great, even working a repeater can be a bit of a pain. It has no 1750 tone, which could be a problem for some, but does have CTCSS.

Build wise it seems very solid and I like the stand in charger it comes with.

Reception wise, possibly not the most sensitive handheld ever but I have not used it a lot and this initial impression may be wrong.

Ps- strictly speaking you need a licence to operate the UHF handset (the VHF one is exempt).

I would highly doubt this statement, seeing the VHF one is capable of transmitting in bands used by the emergency services, air traffic control, the gardai, licensed amateur bands, commercial PMR bands and marine bands just to name a few.......

watty

All of them need an Wireless Experimenter Licence.

I've seen 4 kinds only one had any kind of decent build quality.

It was something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/VHF-UHF-TRANSCEIVER-RADIO-136MHZ-470MHZ-3-FREE-GIFTS_W0QQitemZ280145427684QQihZ018QQcategoryZ14956QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

TBH unless you want a 1 band HT to rip apart to embed in something you are far better with Icom/Yaesu/Kenwood. Also those may have full 100kHz to 900MHz scanner and SSB built in on some models.

The Alinco are overpriced for what they are.

The UHF ones are only legal on 430..440 with a licence. They are illegal on 446MHz as they are not type approved as PMRs.

The VHF ones can't be licenced as VHF marine as they are not type approved.

Since Wireless Experimenter licence covers homemade and modified gear that operated only within licence, these sets can only be used on Wireless Experimenter licence.


I have a FDC (Feidaxin) and a Jingtong left in with me for repair. Volume control gone on both within a month. Rubbish sets.
http://reviews.ebay.com/Feidaxin-FD-150A-450A-Programmable-Handheld-Radio_W0QQugidZ10000000000971664

All of these cheap Chinese radios are illegal in USA even for a HAM, as imports there must meet FCC.
http://reviews.ebay.com/Cheap-Import-Two-Way-Radio-BEWARE_W0QQugidZ10000000001234998

They would also be illegal in UK for startup licence. I think OK on a full licence.

The Puxing is not too bad:
http://www.pxdz.com/english/index.asp

There is also Quansheng
http://reviews.ebay.com/Quansheng-TG-K2AT-K4AT-Programmable-Handheld-Radio_W0QQugidZ10000000000910884

I had a yaesu VX1, wish I had not sold it. I have Alinco Dual band DJV5, but although the Yaesu FT817 is a lot bigger, I never use it now, using the 817 as my "HT" now. I have 2700mA batteries in the 817ND and unlike the HTs does SSB. If you have a very big pocket it will fit. It does not do full coverage, having a gap between 6m and BandII FM and a gap between 2M and 70cm (only part of marine covered). But for receive I have a VR500 which does 100kHz to 1300Mhz no gaps all modes (AM, SSB, FM, wide/narrow etc). It's very very small, but not as good performance as my Bearcat for 137Mhz weather satellite.

IRISH RAIL

I would highly doubt this statement, seeing the VHF one is capable of transmitting in bands used by the emergency services, air traffic control, the gardai, licensed amateur bands, commercial PMR bands and marine bands just to name a few.......

Jesus who are they kidding there, they should be banned if thats the case,
you will always get some muppet trying it out at the airshows or something never ceases to amaze me the levels of stupidity out in the outside world.
might pick up a vhf set and leave it in the charger.
ps I hate the shipping charges on e bay its scandalous.

RoundyMooney

OKenora wrote:

I
I would highly doubt this statement, seeing the VHF one is capable of transmitting in bands used by the emergency services, air traffic control, the gardai, licensed amateur bands, commercial PMR bands and marine bands just to name a few.......

Agreed. As watty has said, to transmit at all, within approved frequency ranges, and within erp constraints, an experimenters license is essential.

IRISH RAIL

believe it or not theres a review of these in this months radio user!

The_Conductor

Shock horror.....
Thats me popping into Reads tomorrow.

The_Conductor

Heres a really good article covering most of the radios available on ebay at the moment here.

IRISH RAIL

lovely ill give it a go and take the risk cant be that bad