Lousy radio retailer apparently gives up

This morning I got an email from PayPal saying that my money had been refunded by 446shop.com.

There was no communication from 446shop itself, as per usual. The last time I had heard from them, it was a very brief email telling me that, in spite of telling me that the order was on the way for weeks, it actually wasn't and they would ship it now. No date was given for shipping, and certainly no tracking number. In a few days, it will have been one month since I ordered from them. There is only a 45-day dispute window with PayPal, so I told them that I would initiate a dispute by 9/22 regardless of where the item was in their mysterious process. That would have left over two weeks to ship something that takes ten days, assuming that they actually did ship it instead of dithering.

So I will not be getting the HiGrade UHF radio after all. Maybe someone else will offer a good UHF HT (hand-held) with an actual 5 watts of RF. Come to think of it, HiGrade's spec on that RF output was probably as bogus as 446shop.com is.

Please remember that 409shop.com is completely different from 446shop.com.

Lousy radio retailer responds

I got an actual response back from 446shop.com this morning! My package was sent to Canada instead of here, so it wasn't on it's way after all and waiting wouldn't have helped. They are sending another of the Higrade 2.0TS UHF radios.

I'm interested in this radio because it's thin and light, has an exceptional battery life, and should have decent RF output on UHF. It also looks like it has USB charging. Generally, though, LiON batteries need some kind of intelligent charging, so I doubt that a generic USB connection would be advisable.

Since this looks like it's the template for BaoFeng UV-B6, it might be that BaoFeng batteries will be compatible with the HiGrade 2.0TS. There's a history of HiGrade providing the designs, which are then essentially "open-sourced" - probably involuntarily. Look at the HiGrade HG-UV7 and tell me if it reminds you of a BaoFeng. It must just be that BaoFeng had the superior marketing and retail outlets. It's actually fairly difficult to buy a HiGrade radio of any kind. BaoFengs of all sorts are available from thousands of sites. Amazon and eBay have multiple sellers, Google shopping has dozens of retailers, they are sold by every domestic ham radio website and brick-and-mortar store. Other brands, such as PuXing, TYT, and Wouxun, are easy to find, but they are not omnipresent like the BaoFeng radios are. Even Chinese retailers don't carry HiGrade, and you don't see them on eBay.

The RF output is stated at "greater than or equal to 5W", and it's mono-band UHF radio. That can only mean 5 watts RF output on UHF - not the 2 watts that you find on a "4 watt" BaoFeng. With a "real" mobile antenna, the HiGrade 2.0TS should work well in the car with the extra power. I won't be looking at the display while I'm driving, because there is no display. I don't have a voltage adapter, so I'd be operating strictly on batteries. That could actually help in terms of noise, though. What gives me pause is this:

• Spare or replacement batteries aren't sold online
• Antenna jack is SMA male, instead of SMA female like most.
• There's no display, so it's hard to know what channel you are on.

In about two weeks, I'll get this radio and be able to put much of the speculation to rest. It may be that there really is a cheap UHF alternative out there, which would be nice. Aside from mobile units that cost $100-200, you are stuck with sub-5 watt UHF radios, or Japanese HTs for hundreds with only 5 watts. Don't believe the "specs" on the Chinese radios when it comes to UHF. As the frequency increases, the output power decreases, so that 4 or 5 watt rating is really only claimed for the low end - which civilians aren't allowed to use. But even then, the actual output is significantly lower. Even on the higher-powered mobile units, a stated 10 W output is really only 8 or less. While power generally matters less than elevation on UHF, it takes more than a couple of watts to be clearly heard in less-than-ideal conditions.

Lousy radio retailer: 446shop.com

On August 11, 2013 I placed an order at www.446shop.com for a HiGrade 2.0TS UHF HT.
I had tried to buy it earlier, but the website wouldn't let me create an account. No matter what I filled in, I got a dialogue box with the word "ERROR", and no explanation. I had to email the website and tell them that people can't buy anything from them. This was my first hint that 446shop was not a first-class operation. Later, when I came back, I still couldn't create an account, but I could buy the radio as "guest".

My second hint came when I saw that they wanted $20 for shipping. Now, the excellent 409shop.com has free shipping. While "free" shipping isn't really free, 446shop charges more for other radios than 409shop does. Unfortunately, 446shop was the only one selling the HiGrade. Note to HiGrade: Get a better retailer!

My third hint came when I received my "tracking notice" for my $20 shipping charge. There was no link, only a long string of letters and numbers and the words "Hong Kong Post". I looked up the Hong Kong Post package tracking website on my own, and entered the "tracking number". No such tracking ID. I waited two days. Still no tracking info. I emailed the contact at 446shop (adam.boys@hotmail.com) and told him that the tracking number didn't work. Certainly, a "sub-hint" came in the form of noticing that a 'serious' businessperson has hotmail for their address. I thought it would be straightened out. Instead, Mr. Boys sent a stupid reply stating that he had already sent the tracking number. Obviously I knew that, since I had told him that the number didn't work, and sent him his own email with the tracking number in my original message to him. The issue wasn't that I didn't have a tracking number; it was that the number didn't work. I apprised him of these facts. He once again responded that he had already sent the tracking number.

In the interim, I ordered a female-female UHF cable adapter from another retailer in Hong Kong. Shipping price: $3! Not $20. It arrived eight days later. Not eight working days, but eight days.

Meanwhile, it's been fifteen days since my radio was shipped from the same city, and it still isn't here. What kind of shipping does $20 buy in Hong Kong? It cost me $16 to send my Puxing back to 409shop in Hong Kong. I sent it six days ago, and it hasn't arrived in Hong Kong yet. I know that because I can track it.

On top of that, I asked 446shop for the link to the software for the radio. There is no external keypad or any way to programme the radio without software. No response. Instead, I contacted HiGrade directly and they sent me the software the next day. I also told them how unfortunate it was that they had a terrible retail partner.

Please don't confuse 409shop (which is excellent) with the execrable 446shop. I have seen lemonade stands run by kids handle their business better than 446shop.com. Really, the only thing that they have succeeded at so far is taking my money, and that's only because PayPal handles that.

So let's sum up. 446shop.com:

• has a screwed-up website that won't let you create an account.
• has dramatically higher shipping costs
• provides noticeably worse shipping for that higher price 
• offers no customer service whatsoever, even on things that cost them nothing

I absolutely can't recommend 446shop.com, even if the radio arrived tomorrow and had no problems. Contact the manufacturer directly and ask for an alternative retailer, or inquire at 409shop.com if they can get it in the future. It may take time to go through an alternate route, but it will take a lot of time to go with 446shop, too.