Puxing PX-777 UHF output power

As I detailed previously, my first ham radio (Puxing PX-777 UHF) was mortally wounded. I replaced it with another Puxing PX-777 UHF, which I bought from 409shop.com. I've bought several things from them over the years, and they have good customer service.

Yesterday, the radio arrived and I unboxed it. There was nothing different about the radio cosmetically from the previous one. The antenna has the word "Puxing" embossed on it, which is different from the original, I suppose. I did a reset by pressing the "menu" button while turning on the radio, then choosing "reset" and "full" by way of the "enter" button. This is the best way to wipe out all of the preset frequencies and settings, which are useless anyway. I connected it to the PC and loaded the file used in the old radio. I also added my callsign in MSK and set a couple channels to use that call on the PTT ID.

I noticed two things right away that are significantly different in this radio from those made a year ago. First, the squelch can be adjusted. Before, you could set it to any level, but it would still operate at the same factory programmed level. Now, changing the squelch setting has an effect on the operation. The second thing is that the signal level meter actually works. On the previous model, it was either full bars or nothing, regardless of the signal level. These are things that should have worked before, of course, but it's nice that Puxing is working on improving their product.

The thing that I really hoped Puxing had improved, however, was their RF output power on UHF. Sadly, this was not the case. While being rated at 4w, my old radio put out just under 3w at FM ham radio frequencies. The new radio put out only two watts RF. So, I contacted 409shop to see about an exchange.

First, they asked me if I had the power setting on "high". I had even mentioned in my initial email to them that the power was set at "high", but this was the dance that they decided on. I responded that, yes, the power level was set to "high", and that the "low" power level was 1/2w.

Then, they got serious. They told me that the output is 3.9w, and sent me a picture:

If you look closely, you can see that the frequency being measured is 400.000 MHz, and is shown at 3.9w.
They also sent a low power picture at the same frequency, measuring 3w, but I see no reason to include that. The problem with this is that you can't operate at 400 MHz. Sure, my new radio checked at 3w RF output at 400 MHz, but it also checked at 1.5w at 470 MHz. The power output decreases as the frequency increases. This fits in with an RF output of 2w at 440 MHz. In reality, 409shop's effort to disprove my claims simply served to show that my claim was reasonable.

Just as an aside, I wonder about 409shop asking me if the radio was set on "high" power. Even if it was set at "low" power, 2w is less than their ideal figure of 3w for "low" power. How would an output of 2w at "low" have shown that there was no problem with the radio? If anything, it would have confirmed a problem. 409shop.com was simply being dishonest and stalling.

My option is now to pay for the return shipping to 409shop in Hong Kong and try to get a radio that has 0.9w more (on 400MHz), or to keep the radio and make the best of it. Realistically, 409shop probably selected a unit that had the highest RF output of the lot for their test. The odds are that I will not get a substantially better output in an exchange, and that I will be wasting my time and money on shipping. This is a problem with Puxing, which is why I don't understand 409shop's deception. Puxing misrepresents their RF output power on UHF, and 409shop merely uses that false information in their sales material.

At this point, my strategy is to make time work on my side. 409shop has a one year warranty, and the odds are that something will go wrong with this radio over the next year. The last one didn't last a year, but I bought that one from asiaradiosales, which is terrible. Not only don't they offer a year warranty, they sent my radio without an antenna and charged me full price (plus shipping) for the replacement antenna. Oh, and it took them two months and three emails to get that from them. Either way, this new radio is covered by a warranty and I can get it replaced with another. Maybe Puxing will improve their product over the next year.

I'm quite happy with my VHF model PX-777, but the same thing is apparent with that one: the lower the frequency, the higher the RF output. On the lower end of the repeater frequencies, the output is actually over 5w.

There are very few Chinese UHF handheld radios (HTs) with 5w output power, regardless of what their specs say. But the selection of VHF models is staggering. It's unfortunate because UHF has always harder to get into, and the introduction of the Chinese HTs was a great opportunity to get more people on that band. Still, there are a lot of people with dual-band Baofengs that have a chance to work on UHF, even if the repeaters need to be closer to them for satisfactory performance.

In all honesty, I can't recommend the UHF version of the PX-777. I bought a new one because I had all of the accessories from the initial misguided purchase. While some of the glaring defects have been corrected, 2w is not enough power unless you are using a beam antenna or have a good repeater close by. A dual-band Baofeng will be arriving soon, and I'll evaluate that for UHF performance.