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Cheap 2M radios ?


tommcb6016

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Our flying club has had enough of PMR radios and have made the decision to go to 2M :-)

I was looking for cheap ones looking to buy 3 or 4 to start with, had a look on ebay for Jing Tong but couldn't find anything.

Are there any other cheap-good 2M radios around OR does anyone know where I can get hold of Jing Tong stuff ?

Thanks :-)

Tom

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I have quite a lot of experience from running these far east radios for bike comms, they do tend to be good value, but I've had issues with build quality and consistency.

One of the bike guys has just nabbed a VHF/UHF radio so he can listen to the marshals on 2M at race meets and also flick to the PMR channels for talking the rest of us.

I run a WINTEC PMR that runs at 4w not the 0.5w and it works very well, but I can see me getting a UHF/VHF as it would be and ideal solution to clubs (not that I know any more than I have read here!) that still run PMR, clubs that now use 2M (because of the poor range of 0.5w I guess) and civil aircraft channels for XC.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WOUXUN-KG-UVD1P-DualBand-Radio-VHF-UHF-Earpiece-USB-/140405961861?pt=UK_ConsumerElectronics_SpecialistRadioEquipment_SM

This is the one he has, even has an FM radio (that mutes for RX) and a torch! 8)

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I have some of these wouxun radios and hey are brilliant, fm radio vhf uhf, so ya dont really need another radio. build is good compared to the other china stuff, i can comunicate clearly 15 mile away from home , it is line of sight more or less with these radios, but 15 mile inside house to inside house would take some beatin from a 5 watt hand held. i got kenwoods which dont come close

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I don't need UHF as I don't intend doing my FRTOL any time soon, so I'm going for the Puxing P888's http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150477294278&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT Going to order 3 later on so will let you know what there like when they turn up!

Just hope my MA headset will work with this.... might have to adjust some dip switches..

Oh and hope I don't get stung for import duty! :?

Cheers,

Tom

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I don't need UHF as I don't intend doing my FRTOL any time soon, so I'm going for the Puxing P888's http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150477294278&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT Going to order 3 later on so will let you know what there like when they turn up!

Just hope my MA headset will work with this.... might have to adjust some dip switches..

Oh and hope I don't get stung for import duty! :?

Cheers,

Tom

If you think one has a dud mic, it's just they forgot to make the hole in the case, common mod on the 888's, but you don't know while you use a headset so might not affect you.

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  • 1 month later...

Well the radios came and I avoided paying import duty :-)

I have a question though... when I plug in my headset the radio goes straight to transmit :-( (I may have been nieve thinking it would just work) can I change dip switches in my MA headset to solve this and if so how do I figure out which ones to change ?

Also the two other people I got them for don't have dip switches so I need to figure out how to make and adaptor for them :-( I think I've seen something like this before on another post.

Any help would be very appreciated as I currently have three nice looking paperweights sat on my desk :-(

Cheers,

Tom

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK... I found the manual for the headset and tried a few settings but the radio still goes straight to transmit when I plug the headset in :-( I guess I need to make an adaptor to re arrange the wires ?

I'm ok with a soldering iron and can get the plugs from maplins but I have no idea how I need to wire it to make it work.

As far as I can figure the MA jack has a 3 part 2.5mm jack and a 2 part 3.5mm jack (excuse the lack of technical terminology) the Puxing has 3 parts to both the 2.5 and 3.5mm jacks, having disassembled the mic/speaker that came with the radio I've found... speaker on the back and tip of the 2.5mm not sure what the middle (ring?) does. The 3.5 is mic on the middle (ring?) and ground on the back when ptt is pressed on my mic/speaker the two speaker parts and the ground are connected I don't know what the tip is on the 3.5mm

Does that make sense? :?

I need to find out how the MA headset is wired so I can make an adapter (or three :( )

Hope someone can help :-)

Tom :acro:

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Ok having just read the other post that Alan had linked I think I've answered my own question...

Puxing 3.5 sleeve is ground so that goes to MA 2.5 ring

Puxing 3.5 ring is mic so that goes to MA 2.5 tip

Puxing 2.5 tip and sleeve are speaker so they go to MA 3.5 Tip and sleeve (does it matter what way around?)

MA 2.5 sleeve isn't connected to anything?

This is where I got a bit lost.. on the Puxing when ptt is pressed the two speaker (2.5 tip&sleeve) and ground (3.5 sleeve) are connected, to activate the ptt circuit.

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Tom, PM me your email address and I will send you something that will solve all your problems. One of the outputs from the Puxing is 5V DC. You don't want to put this through you headset as it has it's own power supply already.

I have several PX777's on VHF and UHF that work perfectly with both my MicroAvionics headsets thanks to Alan K's help.

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Fanman,

I cut the 5v (black wire) off and put some small heat shrink over the end. I wont know for sure if it works until I have a chance to use it in anger :-)

My next mission is to try and make a cable for the aux input on the headset to take an audio input (ipod)

It's some kind of locking bayonet plug but couldn't find anything in maplins and don't have a clue what pins are what on that one :shock: maybe I'll leave it for now :lol:

Tom :-)

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All done and it seems to all work OK :-) had a bit of trouble soldering the small wires up! and when I got it all working and realised I hadn't put the plastic covers over the wires *~#!!$

Thanks for taking the time to help me out Alan it's very appreciated :-)

Tom :-)

I've soldered a few connectors in my time and it still catches me out not fitting the cover occasionally :oops:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I thought the wiring diagram would be the best approach, no probs.

Cheers,

Alan

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  • 7 months later...

I've been looking at all the cheap chinese 2m radios on Ebay (some of the makes look like a rack of Scrabble tiles).

Has anyone got any experience of any of these radios that have connected to a Microavionics headset without having to resort to electrical surgery?

I'm looking at Puxings but don't like the thought of having the same problems Tom had with his.

Yaesu's are too expensive for me and are full of features that I don't need.

Cheers

Dan

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This reply is for Dan specifically but of interest to others.

I have been having a long look at the ads for all the cheap Chinese radios Puxing/Weierwei/Wouxun/TYT/FDC and have concluded the original radio that they have all been copied, sorry developed, from was of Kenwood origin. A lot of reviews on various sites of these radios refer to 'Kenwood' copy.

Kenwood is a long standing name in amateur radio (more years than I care to think).

The point is that Kenwood were always back to front with their speaker/mic connections, bearing out what has been found on this thread. So an adapter is needed to interface with Microavionics and equivalent headsets that meet the Yaesu/Icom arrangement of 3.5mm plug for speaker and 2.5mm plug for microphone.

I also notice that all these radios use the small SMA type connector for the antenna, which is a bit of a drawback in my opinion.

Kenwood was very much USA oriented and I have recently discovered that that Bendix-King handheld airband radio is also back to front with speaker/mic connections. I wonder if this is/was a USA-Europe difference all along?

Cheers,

Alan

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This reply is for Dan specifically but of interest to others.

I have been having a long look at the ads for all the cheap Chinese radios Puxing/Weierwei/Wouxun/TYT/FDC and have concluded the original radio that they have all been copied, sorry developed, from was of Kenwood origin. A lot of reviews on various sites of these radios refer to 'Kenwood' copy.

Kenwood is a long standing name in amateur radio (more years than I care to think).

The point is that Kenwood were always back to front with their speaker/mic connections, bearing out what has been found on this thread. So an adapter is needed to interface with Microavionics and equivalent headsets that meet the Yaesu/Icom arrangement of 3.5mm plug for speaker and 2.5mm plug for microphone.

I also notice that all these radios use the small SMA type connector for the antenna, which is a bit of a drawback in my opinion.

Kenwood was very much USA oriented and I have recently discovered that that Bendix-King handheld airband radio is also back to front with speaker/mic connections. I wonder if this is/was a USA-Europe difference all along?

Cheers,

Alan

Thanks for that Alan.

It seems to me that we're the ones with it back to front

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