The Puxing PX-777+ (UHF band) that I bought last fall has a problem with the transmit audio. It cuts out for several seconds even though the carrier stays live. I think that it's been that way for a while, but I hadn't noticed it because I don't hear my own audio.
Yesterday (Friday 8/2/13), I was talking on the "dot one" (W0EF UHF) with KL7MR (Mike), when he mentioned that my audio was dropping out. Other people had told me this before, like KD0NNE (Jim). He told me that back in mid-June, and I had blamed it on the cheap speaker mic, or that I was going under overpasses on the freeway. He didn't make it clear if the carrier was dropping out or not. And, then, I have a few HTs that I swap out between home and the car. It's difficult to track them in my mind, as they are moved from car to living room to home office based on whim. So, I went with the "bad speaker mic" theory and swapped out the mic in the middle of the exchange (QSO). When the trouble persisted, KL7MR said that it must be the radio itself, which is completely logical. When he told me that the carrier was staying, but the audio was dropping, it was obvious that my UHF Puxing was no longer in the rotation.
Back in August of last year, before I had taken my exam or even had any interest in ham radio, I had bought this Puxing PX-777 Plus from asiaradiosales.com -- a place that I do not recommend. I paid about $75 for it, which isn't that bad. My intention when I bought it was to use it as a GMRS walkie-talkie, and I really didn't (nor do I now) care about the Part 90 certification issue. I was reasonably sure that it wouldn't create problems, because there's nothing magical about ham radio frequencies. If it's certified for ham, it should be fine on GMRS, unless you're worried about the politics of the FCC. And I've been licensed on GMRS since the mid-90's, so it's not that I don't care about "the law". When Maxon stopped making the 210+3, GMRS as a real unlicensed alternative took a real blow. The blister-pack GMRS/FRS radios that were sold by the million didn't have semi-duplex capability, which means that they couldn't work on repeaters (both ways, at least). The Puxing PX-777 also cost less than half of what a Maxon 210+3 cost nearly fifteen years earlier. Suddenly, GMRS was a more viable option; not just for me, but for everyone.
So, the UHF radio was supposed to be a GMRS radio that was more powerful than the blister-packs (and with repeater capability), and also more "disposable" than the Maxons. I soon discovered, however, that the 4W output that the specs boasted was actually only about 3W, where the Maxon is a solid 5W when run on a power supply or car battery. If you're just using the NiMh batteries, it's 4W for the Maxon. Okay, but the Puxing weighed less than a third of what the Maxon 210+3 weighed and had three times the mAh, both of which are important considerations when hiking. Long battery life and low weight were important, and on UHF the power output isn't as important as your antenna and your clear signal path. My plan was to use the Puxing as the portable, and the Maxon as the base back at the campground or in the car.
Once upon a time, in the late 90's, there was a GMRS repeater in town that was run by some two-way radio company that cell phones have now probably made obsolete. They shut it down after nobody would pay $50 a month to use it. I can't blame them, but there were probably ten people using it on a regular basis. If the price had been, say $10 a month, then they probably could have made a profit instead of getting nothing. Nobody operates a repeater to get rich, so they were bound for disappointment. Still, this meant that I had experience with repeaters, and how much your range could improve using one. To cut a long story shorter, this lead me into ham radio because I learned that I lived near a UHF ham repeater.
So, I got my license after some minor ordeals (scheduling exam and getting callsign issued), and got on the air as a UHF-only ham in late October. My first time on the air, as nervous and completely clueless as I was, was using this same Puxing PX-777. It was in my car for months, and taken out of the car at night to be set up in my living room to try out new repeaters, see who was on which repeater, or just listen. Really, my entire ham radio world existed through that radio for months.
It was later that I got my VHF PX-777, and my dual -band Baofeng UV-5RB. The UHF model got lost in the shuffle. Maybe I'd be UHF in the car for a few weeks, and VHF at home. Or maybe I'd be dual-band at home and VHF in the car. More often than not, though, the UHF radio stayed home so that I could use it listen to the morning net on W0EF UHF and try to hit the more elusive UHF repeaters in the area at night. While the Baofeng is dual-band, it's output on UHF is a paltry 2W. The monoband UHF Puxing was still the "work-horse" until I got the FT-7987D months later.
There isn't a real alternative to simply "retiring" the UHF Puxing. It's not worth repairing, and trying to get warranty service is hopeless with asiaradiosales. I bought it as a "disposable" radio, so I shouldn't be surprised when it's time to be disposed of. Still, it didn't really even last a year, since this issue has probably been there since (at least) June. There's no point in throwing it away, though. It can still be used as a receiver, and it can probably still make short transmissions just fine. If it had been the VHF model, I would have just given it to one of my brothers as a throwaway VHF marine radio -- again, I don't care about the certification issue -- and as a weather radio. But the UHF radio doesn't have good alternative uses other than GMRS. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it long-term. Maybe keep in it my trunk for the odd instance where somebody might like to use a walkie-talkie to talk to someone in the car.
I've thought about what to replace it with, if at all. Not another Baofeng, because I want at least a little juice on UHF. Not a more powerful cheap Chinese mobile, because I've already got the Yaesu FT-897 with plenty of power and all modes. I looked at a lot of Chinese HTs, with a special look at the HiGrade models that advertise higher output power. I very nearly bought this HiGrade hand-held at $60 (including shipping) because it's so thin, has incredible battery life, and advertises at least 5W output. The problem is that I already have all of the Puxing accessories (antenna and batteries), and they wouldn't be compatible with HiGrade. The lack of a display on the HiGrade 2.0TS is also a discouraging factor. It's nice to know which repeater you are on, and to have a keypad to control scanning and change the menu on the fly. On the other hand, the lack of a display makes the battery life a lot longer and makes the radio much less fragile. I'm definitely keeping it in mind, and I just hope that the price doesn't go through the roof while I'm considering it.
Nope, instead I'm getting another UHF PX-777 (though not a "Plus"). I ordered one from 409shop.com for just under $70, including shipping, a SMA-to-SO-239 adapter, and an earpiece that I'll probably toss in a drawer. The "Plus" just adds a scrambler, and maybe ANI, and I don't need that. I believe that the "non-Plus" PX-777 is certified, too, in case the radio police get concerned over it. 409shop has pretty good customer service, so if there is another issue with this model I think that I could get an exchange. Asiaradiodales.com, however, is now pretending that they never sold me a radio and is not likely to do anything whatsoever to fix this. And, lastly, I already have compatible batteries, antennae, and software for the Puxing -- all of the stuff from the "retired" one.
It also helps with the sentimental reasons to replace it with another that's just the same.
So, my new radio line-up, if anyone cares, this:
- Home office: Baofeng UV-5RB dual-band with mag mount antenna on the baseboard radiator until heating season. I can hit the major repeaters in town (both bands) from my desk while I work on the computer, or listen to the morning net on W0EF UHF as I go through my routine.
- Living room: Puxing PX-777+ VHF, with the mag mount Nagoya MAG-79EL-3W on the baseboard radiator, until the radiator gets warm again. I can hit the major VHF repeaters in town from my couch and check out MURS activity while I listen to or play music. Also have the VHF/UHF scanner to watch the six meter repeater for any signs of life.
- Bedroom / kitchen: The "retired" UHF PX-777 with the stock ducky for monitoring or to talk to someone until I can switch to a better radio in another room. It can hit about five repeaters.
- Car: Puxing PX-888K dual-band with the Browning BR-180 on a trunk lip mount. I can hit the major repeaters in town, and I'm still finding out which of the further ones I can reach from which area.
I will have to keep an eye out for suitable replacements for the radiators once the cold weather begins. Some piece of sheet steel salvaged from somewhere would work, I imagine. Either that, or restrict myself to the Yaesu and cut my home "ham time" down dramatically during the late fall and winter.
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