USB Programming Cable on DealExtreme $6.60

USB Programming Cable for Kenwood/WouXun/PuXing/QuanSheng Walkie Talkie (referral)

[Thanks for the tip juDGEY.]

I cannot comment on the cable or the included software; I've not used them. At this price though, I may order a set.

PS: I plan to virus scan the CD before executing the software. No particular reason.

Now just $87.40

DealExtreme has dropped the price of the TG-UV2 to just US$87.40

QuanSheng TG-UV2 is price-dropped to only $87.40 !!!

Still with free shipping. Wow.

Click here if you wish:  DealExtreme referral

Plenty of advice for programming software here...

The comments attached to this old post...

http://tg-uv2.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-quickly-program-in-2m-ham-band.html

...have plenty of good advice about how to program the TG-UV2 using software.


(It's not something that I've bothered with, so that's why I'm not posting many details myself.)

New UHF W/T on DealExtreme

TYT TH-F8 $80.20 $69.20 - UHF only (referral)

Nice looking radio. UHF only. TYT website (thank you '5chars'). Let's hope DealExtreme brings in more radios like this one.

Keyboard seems locked-out - just "beep beep"

If your key-presses are being ignored, and the radio just beep-beep at you, then check this out:

Dual Watch mode, described in the manual on pages 18 and 19, permits you to monitor two channels "at once".

Use F+9 to enter this mode and the same F+9 to exit this mode.

Look for "DW" on the display.

NOTE - The rest of the keyboard is locked-out while in the DW mode. It'll just "beep beep" at you. if you press anything other than F+9.

Also, see this post about keypad lock feature:


http://tg-uv2.blogspot.com/2010/08/keyboard-lock.html

Key beeps - how to disable...

Jeremy said...

If you use a programming cable, you can disable the key tones/beeps. There is no way to disable the beeps without programming it via the cable.

Thank you Jeremy.

Many good and valuable comments on the posts!!

Please do not fail to read the comments on each post. Most of the comments posted provide excellent information related to the topic of the original post.

All comments are moderated and thus there's no garbage comments allowed.

Thanks very much to those that provide such valuable comments.

"lost" on display? Ever seen such a thing?

Amir has left a comment stating that his radio is showing "lost" on the display.

I've never seen such a thing.

Can anyone help? Leave a comment on this post.

Price at DealExtreme has adjusted slightly to $94.59

$94.59

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year !!

But be advised that Deal Extreme will be closed for the first week of February.

NOTICE: DealExtreme will temporarily pause from Feb 1st, 2011 to Feb 7th, 2011 for Chinese Lunar New Year Holiday. Please click here for more detail.

This means that no orders will be processed during this period.

Here comes a good news, DX would like to offer you an additional 3% off all orders of $100.00 or more placed between January 28th and February 28th, 2011(GMT+8). Please use the coupon code NEWYEAR3 to get the additional 3% off your order when checking out.

Replacement battery for TG-UV2

I doubt you need one yet, but they are available on the Internet.

Examples:

http://www.radio-factory.com/tguv2-74v-1500mah-liion-battery-15a-tguv2-radio-p-8261.html $22.88,

http://www.newupower.com/products/Battery-for-TG-UV2-Walkie-Talkie-WP0902_1177.html $14.99 "free shipping" (?)

Note, I'm not recommending these vendor because I have no experience with them.

Personally, I'm going to wait a while as I expect that the included battery will probably last for two or three years. And perhaps DealExtreme will have it available before I need one anyway.

Dual Watch mode and locked keyboard

Dual Watch mode, described in the manual on pages 18 and 19, permits you to monitor two channels "at once".

Use F+9 to enter this mode and the same F+9 to exit this mode.

Look for "DW" on the display.

NOTE - The rest of the keyboard is locked-out while in the DW mode. It'll just "beep beep" at you. if you press anything other than F+9.

Frequency entry shortcut (provided the STEP is correct)

mnix1 [DealExtreme forum participant] suggests:

You will also find keying the first 6 digits of the frequency will get the radio to jump to the nearest on-channel frequency - so to get 161.28750 you key 161.287 and the radio will figure out the rest.

The above particular example works assuming that the frequency STEP [F+0+1] is set [UP/DN, and then MR to store] to 12.5 kHz.

But in general terms, it's a good suggestion....provided you keep the STEP size in mind.

Antenna from DealExtreme

I received my US$4.69 VHF/UHF Antenna from DealExtreme (referral).

It's marked Diamond RH701.

Mine arrived with a solid threaded metal plug where the SMA was supposed to be. It doesn't fit the QuanSheng TG-UV2 at all. The package was marked "SMA Connector", but it's not true for my example. I believe that this is a simple mix-up with the manufacturer. It's supposed to have an SMA.  I'll contact DelExtreme and see what they can do for me. They're a very good company and this is the first minor glitch I've had with them. They have an excellent claims service.

UPDATE!! DealExtreme is sending a replacement. They are a great company to deal with.

UPDATE 2 - The replacement antenna, same stock number, arrived today (7 Dec 2010). The connector is correct this time. It screws into the TG-UV2 just fine. but the outer shell doesn't fit quite as perfect as the original antenna included with the TG-UV2. But it does fit.

Defective item

Replacement

  

Speaker-Mic from Deal Extreme

I received my US$5.85 Speaker-Mic from DealExtreme (referral).

It works fine.

You have to remove the rubber cover (and screw) to make room for it to plug it. Put those in a safe place in case you wish to reinstall them later.

The microphone body includes an earphone jack of 1/8-inch (3.5mm) diameter, but it is mono (for a mono earphone, not for 'walkman' headphones with a stereo connector).

Hidden 'lock/unlock' feature

The following tip is from Tomasz:

TG-UV2 has a hidden option "lock/unlock" function. I discovered this feature when I tried to enter the frequency 438.000MHz and...there was no such possibility. I didn't know why, but my TG-UV2 was locked and could only operate up to 432.000MHz.
This is solution:
1. turn OFF radio
2. press and hold MON+PTT (both buttons on the side)
3. turn ON and wait about 3 sec for an extra "beep"
4. now you can release PTT+MON
Now the radio is locked, and if you repeat this procedure once more then it will be unlocked (or vice versa).

If your TG-UV2 is not locked, then you can ignore this feature. This tip is presented in case your radio somehow ends up locked (often with "DIS" on the display when you try to transmit on a frequency that should be permitted) and you need to unlock it.

More details and discussion here: http://tg-uv2.blogspot.com/2010/08/frequency-coverage.html#comments

Thanks Tomasz.

Accessories on order

I've ordered a spare V/UHF antenna and a speaker mic from Deal Extreme (TG-UV2 referral).


I'll wait until I receive these items, and I'll make sure that they actually work with the TG-UV2, before posting the details. Hopefully that will be within the next week or two.

Update - The order has been shipped. Delivery usually less than two weeks to my location.

TG-UV2 box (front view)

Click image for larger view.

Price Drop at Deal Extreme

Price US$91.94 (Update now $87.40)  FREE SHIPPING

International Space Station heard directly from orbit

I walked out of work this evening, turned on the TG-UV2 and set it to scanning. Within a few seconds the International Space Station was coming through like gang-busters on 2m VHF. Full quieting. S7 to S9 on the signal strength indicator. Just using the included rubber-duck antenna.

Col. Doug Wheelock, NA1SS was working ham stations in the northeast USA and eastern Canada.

Range using included antenna

Standing outside, on a road in the forest, I was able to get into a 2m amateur radio repeater almost 50km distant. I had to find a good spot and stay still, but my signal was reported to be clear.

I've also heard another repeater about the same distance away.

The thing works!

FM Broadcast Band operational characteristics

The TG-UV2 has some differences in the operation of the FM Broadcast Band.

Obviously it receives WBFM on the FM Broadcast Band, since that's what they broadcast.

The frequency step size on the FM Broadcast Band is fixed at 100kHz. Changing the radio's frequency step size (F+0+1) doesn't affect the step size on the ("F0") FM Broadcast Band.

The signal strength bar graph is inactive on the FM Broadcast Band. It's just not there at all.

But the squelch is more-or-less functional.

And the Frequency Search [VFO, F+UP for example] mode stops and stays stopped when it finds a signal. But this is typically slightly off-channel, so you'll have to complete the tuning yourself. Never heard of AFC I guess...

Also, if FM Broadcast Band frequencies are stored in memories, they will not be scanned in Memory Scan mode. It doesn't matter if they're marked "S" for scanning; they're still not included in the scan list.

The little "x" when selecting a memory

Here's another little helpful feature that you might not have noticed.

After you have dialed up a frequency into the display register, and then press F+MR to program it into a memory slot, the display may have a little tiny "x" next to the memory number (just to the right).

The little "x" means that the memory slot is not currently empty. If there isn't an "x", the memory is presently empty.

TG-UV2 is apparently a current product and apparently still in production

http://www.qsfj.com/en/Product_info.asp?ID=55

One prominent review website had mentioned that the TG-UV2 was "not in production". I believe that information was incorrect; as the TG-UV2 appears to be a current product. The review website has since been corrected.

TG-UV2 is built and tested to MIL-STD-810 ??!!??

Oh my gawd.

http://www.qsfj.com/en/Quality.asp

QC of finished product: Our company has established corresponding procedure and certificated file. Carrying out dynamic management and control according to GB2828, sample Ⅱ standard and our corresponding certificated rules. Meanwhile, it should undergo rigorous environment tests. Such as aging test, high & low temperature test, temperature concussion test, solar radiation test, caught in the rain test, fall down test, shaking test and so on. They are tested strictly in accordance with US-MIL-810C, D, E standard and the reliable tests guarantee the high Q&C to ensure them to make a stable specification & excellent performance in all kinds of working environment.

VHF FM Marine channels

See the Wikipedia link just below for a list of VHF FM Marine channels and their associated frequencies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_VHF_radio#Marine_VHF_Channels_and_Frequencies

Inserting TG-UV2 radio into charger base

The radio goes into the charger base much easier once you realize that the radio (actually the battery pack) has little grooves and the charger base has little guide rails that slot into the grooves. You have to align the grooves with the guide rails.

Pay attention to this little unmentioned detail and it becomes much easier.

By the way, a battery pack alone (all by itself) can also be charged in the same charger base. The magic grooves make it possible.

Slick design.

Sensitivity -122 dBm

Specification says: "-122dBm" for 12dB SINAD.

That's just about 0.18uV, which is pretty good.

Using the included rubber-duck antenna, the receive performance seemed to match this promise. I was listening to 2m repeaters at the range limit that I'd expect for a radio with good sensitivity.

Audio quality - receive mode - speaker

Not bad! It is supposed to have 0.5 watt of audio power and the speaker sounds quite reasonable.

As a test, on the FM broadcast band playing music, I cranked it up and it sounds like a good pocket radio. But it's not hi-fi by any stretch. I'm just trying to convey that it's not bad.

As far as I know, the FM Broadcast band is mono only. There's no sign of stereo output and no mention of 'stereo' anywhere.

Included antenna

It's one of the new fangled SMA-type connectors, strengthened with an added threaded cap. I'm not sure if the antenna-to-radio interface is an industry-standard design or not.

Geesh, the last time I bought a Ham radio walkie-talkie was in 1984 (an Icom IC-02AT bought in Hong Kong).

The antenna looks fine and does work (obviously), but others have reported that aftermarket antennas provide better RF performance. I can't comment since I have nothing to compare the included antenna against.

Belt clip and battery

The battery is held in with a nice clip on the bottom of the unit. Very nice build quality.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the belt clip might interfere with the removal of the battery. But it doesn't.

The belt clip lifts out of the way with your fingers, and the battery pulls out easily once the clip is unsnapped.

If you're careless, then you can let the belt clip slide out from your grip and it will snap against the metal chassis of the radio (exposed when the battery is removed), but overall there's no problem.

F+0+0 = END.OFF or END.ON

I thought perhaps it was an End-of-Transmission beep ("Courtesy Beep"), but it doesn't seem to do that even when END.ON. There's no beep.

But careful listening (on another receiver) reveals that this selection (END.ON) does slightly extend the transmission time by about 0.5 seconds past the release of the PTT button (as compared to END.OFF).

So everything is there for a Courtesy Beep except the beep itself.

A totally-silent courtesy beep...  Nice.

Overall quality

I don't want this to be a review, but I have to mention that the apparent quality of construction is fine. The plastic case appears to be of the highest quality. The fit and finish is excellent.

The user interface (keypad, display, button logic) is pretty darn good; once you get used to it (takes only a couple of hours), it all makes perfect sense. I hope that this blog helps; that's the purpose.

My particular unit has a stray particle of dust inside the LCD display. It looks like a white dot.

Repeat after me; Cdn$99 delivered. It's fine.

The white LED flashlight ("Jacklight") has a bit of an air of new Grundig (eton) about it. I half expected to find a hand-crank on the side to keep it charged [joking]. But the LED flashlight is really the only 'stray' abnormality on what is otherwise a very nice, "professional" looking radio. (And to be perfectly fair, it's a very useful addition and fairly bright. But still... What next? A toaster?)

Overall, I'm very impressed.

Repeat after me: US$93 with free shipping.

Charger base and Li-ion battery

The radio's keypad is mostly covered-up when the radio is dropped into the charger base. Basically, the charger base is to be used overnight to recharge the radio when it's not being used.

When inserted correctly and charging, the base LED is red. When fully recharged, the base LED is green.

The AC adapter for the charger base is included. It's not approved by anyone (not UL, not CSA, not CE) - nothing. The AC adapter (the one I received) is clearly marked "INPUT: 110V" (with a decal). It's an old school transformer design (not switching power supply) judging by the weight.

The battery seems to be pretty good so far. It's a lithium ion (Li-ion) battery and is supposedly rated for "2000mAh" (2 amp hours). Replacements are apparently available on the Internet.

DTMF (touch tone) pad not included

A DTMF (telephone 'Touch Tone') function is NOT included. This may be a big consideration for many folks.

If you really want a DTMF pad, then see the Wouxun KG-UVD1P referral in the right side advertising column (Deal Extreme, US$120 price class). I've no experience with that other radio.

Keyboard Lock

Press and hold F to lock and unlock the keypad.

The display has a little key symbol (just left of the battery indicator) to indicate that the keypad is locked.

If the radio appears to be locked-up, check this feature.

Scan memory channels (include or exclude)

Each memory channel can be included or excluded from the Scan list.

For example, if you program-in your local Weather Radio frequency into memory channel 199 (for example), then you can 'lock out' memory 199 from the active scan list so it won't be heard while scanning memories.

The Scan indicator is the tiny little "S" in the bottom right of the display (easy to miss if you don't read the manual).

Use F+MR to alternate the setting on a per-memory basis. 'S' will be scanned. No 'S' will lock-out that particular memory channel.

ALSO WORTH NOTING:

This radio uses the stop, listen and proceed method of scanning. In other words, it stops on the busy channel for about four or five seconds, then takes off scanning again even if the conversation was interesting. You have to reach over and press PTT (escape) on the next go-around if you wish to listen to a particular conversation.

It scans, but it's not a good VHF/UHF scanner.

I'm not sure exactly how many channels per second it covers, but about 5 per second. If all 200 memories were programmed and scanned, it would be a poor scanner since the go-around time would be so long that you'd miss too much.

Be careful with RESET

Reset the radio with F+0+9. Erase all your programming work.

If you accidentally see RESET on the display, then just wait for a few seconds and it will go away on its own. Don't panic.

Channel name feature

Six characters. "SPRING", not "SPRINGFIELD".

Very nice alpha-numeric display with at least 14-segments per character. No cut-corners on the display. Nice!

NOTE: If you stop typing, then after several seconds it will revert back to the normal mode and you will lose any effort you've made to enter the name. So don't stop typing until the name is entered using MR.

VOX feature

VOX = Voice Operated Transmitter (speak to transmit).

F+5. UP/DOWN to select and adjust. MR to set.

Works fine, except it has a delay of about one second. So you would have to say "Ahhh..." to key the transmitter before saying anything important.

Might be useful for those forced to use headsets, but otherwise can be ignored.

See manual for details.

Voice Scrambler not included

Available under F+8. But it is an option and is not included with the basic unit. Setting SCR.ON has no effect. So leave it set as SCR.OFF.

Earphone jack

There are sockets on the right side for a Speaker-Mic. They're covered with a rubber flap. The rubber flap is help in place with a Phillips head screw that looks like it could be easily removed (not confirmed) if you wanted to use a Speaker-Mic most of the time.

The tempting (standard size) 1/8-inch socket is for the microphone, not for your Walkman headphones. The speaker would plug into the slightly-smaller socket. Sorry. It's intended for Speaker-Mics, not your stereo Walkman headphones. But some Speaker-Mics have standard 1/8-inch headphone sockets...

Deal Extreme sells a Speaker-Mic (Referral) for under $10, but I've not yet bought it and tried it to see if it'll work with this radio. It probably does, but I've not confirmed it yet. [See later post above.]

Display Indicators - observations

The "WX" indicator on the display is not for weather band. It allows arbitrary receive and transmit frequency pairs as described in the manual (F+Led button). I'm not sure why it ended-up as "WX" on the display.

The APO indicator (bottom middle) has no function whatsoever.

Keypad sound (bell symbol in top right) is always on. I've not found any way to turn off the keypad beep.

Overall, the display is great because there's none of the short-cuts of left-off digits anywhere. All significant digits of the entire frequency (8 digits) or memory channel (2.5 digits) are shown under all circumstances. Very nice.

Mistranslations in manual

Using F+1 sets the transmitter output power level (5 watts, 2.5 watts, 1 watt). They call it the "Power switch" in the manual; but that term usually refers to an On/Off power switch.

The manual uses the expression "Frequency deviation" to mean the Transmitter Frequency Offset (for use with repeaters). This is the automatic frequency shift (such as 600 kHz for 2m FM repeaters) applied to the transmitter. The term (Frequency) Deviation is usually used to refer to the magnitude of the modulation in FM transmitters.

NOTE: The bandwidth control (Wide versus Narrow) is F+0+7 and it appears to affect receive bandwidth (?), and transmitter deviation. The manual mentions both "25 kHz" or "12.5 kHz" (receive?), 16K0F3E and 11K0F3E (16 and 11 kHz transmit bandwidth), and 5 kHz or 2.5 kHz transmit deviation. See manual pages 12 and 32.

Family Service Radio channels

NOTE - The TG-UV2 does not meet the legal requirements of the FRS/GMRS rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service#List_of_FRS_channels

Channel spacing is 25 kHz, with a jump from channel 7 to channel 8.

But set the 'Channel step'(F+0+1) to 12.5 kHz to hit the exact frequencies.
(Merci Louis!!)

You can even program-in CTCSS and DSC codes for both receive (using F+2, BAND to choose mode, UP/DOWN) and transmit (using F+3, BAND to choose mode, UP/DOWN). Tables are in the manual (page 10 and 11).

Keep the Receive codes off if you simply want to listen-in to all local transmissions.

2m Ham band - band plan

This is the basic, traditional, commonly-used band plan for the 2m Ham band. At least as is used in North America. It is not intended to be a complete list, just an introduction.


Frequency (MHz) and Transmitter Offset direction (600 kHz)

Simplex:
146.400  None
146.430  None
146.460  None
146.490  None
146.520  None Simplex calling frequency
146.550  None
146.580  None

Repeaters:
146.610  Negative “-”
146.640  Negative “-”
146.670  Negative “-”
146.700  Negative “-” AFSK (not voice)
146.730  Negative “-”
146.760  Negative “-”
146.790  Negative “-”
146.820  Negative “-”
146.850  Negative “-”
146.880  Negative “-”
146.910  Negative “-”
146.940  Negative “-”
146.970  Negative “-”

Repeaters:
147.000  Positive “+”
147.030  Positive “+”
147.060  Positive “+”
147.090  Positive “+”
147.120  Positive “+”
147.150  Positive “+”
147.180  Positive “+”
147.210  Positive “+”
147.240  Positive “+”
147.270  Positive “+”
147.300  Positive “+”
147.330  Positive “+”
147.360  Positive “+”
147.390  Positive “+”

Simplex:
147.420  None
147.450  None
147.480  None
147.510  None
147.540  None
147.570  None
 

How to quickly program in the 2m Ham band

Note - You can use an optional cable and your PC to program and load the radio. Or you can use the following method to make the process more efficient if you need to program your radio with the 2m Ham band manually using only the radio itself.

My approach: With 200 memories, there's plenty of room to simply program-in the entire 2m band plan (all the commonly-used and traditional simplex frequencies and repeater frequency pairs, 40 channels). And there's plenty of room left for your local exceptions, and any of the 15 kHz splits that may be used in your local area.

I'll type in the (basic) 2m band plan in the next post (above).

PRELIMINARY STEPS:

Using the VFO and BAND buttons, set the radio into F1 mode.

Dial-in (for example) 146.400 MHz (the bottom of the traditional 2m Band Plan).

Using F+0+1, set the Channel Step to 30 kHz (matching the 2m channel spacing)

Using F+0+2, set the transmitter offset (they call it "Frequency deviation" in the manual, which is just plain wrong) to 0.600 MHz (you'll need to enter 00600 since it accepts 10's of MHz). Each channel can have none, "+", or "-" offset. And you can subsequently adjust each memory channel's offset individually too...

Make sure the other 'per memory' variables, such as power level (L, M, H), are set the way you want.

With "F1 146.400 00" MHz (and no offset) on the display, use F+MR, adjust the memory pointer to your base memory channel (I started with 001), use MR to store and MR to confirm.

Now you can start cranking through the frequencies and channels.

REPEAT THESE STEPS:

Adjust the F1 frequency up one 30 kHz step.

Using F+4, make sure the transmit frequency offset (600 kHz = N, +, -) matches the band plan. This only needs to be adjusted a few times for the whole list.

Use F+MR, and then UP to adjust memory pointer to the next memory, and MR to store and confirm.

Repeat.


Using this method, you can program-in the 40 channels of the band plan in just a few minutes.

How to stop the Scan mode - use PTT

Short answer: The PTT button on the side is also an "escape" button.

When scanning through frequencies or memories, there seems to be no way to stop the scan mode. The manual is silent on this detail.

Here's the secret: Use the PTT button to escape from scanning modes (halt the scan).

Don't worry. The transmitter does not transmit when the PTT is enabled as the escape button for scan modes. They designed it this way, but forgot to mention it in the instruction manual. You can confirm this by placing the radio into scan mode and then press and hold the PTT button and you'll see that it is not transmitting.

The next time you press the PTT it will transmit. So be careful with double-pressing...

Frequency coverage

FM Broadcast band "F0" - 88 to 108 MHz (receive only, PTT = short beep)
VHF High "F1" - 136 to 174 MHz (covers 2m Ham and VHF Marine for example)
UHF1 "F2" - 350 to 390 MHz
UHF2 "F3" - 400 to 470 MHz (covers 70cm Ham and FRS/GMRS)
UHF3 "F4" - 470 to 520 MHz (transmitter disabled, PTT = long beep and "DIS")

Does NOT cover VHF-AM Aircraft band. Doesn't receive AM signals anyway.

QUANSHENG TG-UV2 VHF/UHF FM Transceiver

I ordered mine from Deal Extreme (a Hong Kong based Internet retailer that I've had very good luck with).

The QuanSheng TG-UV2 was about US$93 with worldwide shipping included.

All in, delivered to Canada and in my hands, for under Cdn$100.