Today I received a small (even for my hands) handheld transceiver.
The price from Ali Express was not too high, about €130.
This rig is based on the uSDX transceiver, but built into a handheld type casing with a rechargeable 1100mAh Lithium battery.
I consider this Chines radio as a bit of a toy, so if it won't work for my purpose, it's worth the price for experimentation.
No manual included, so I pushed the power button to see what happened. Lo! and behold ... The thing switched on and showed 14.074 (yes, the FT8 frequency on 20m), ans sound in the speaker. At least it appears to be working.
Now, how to switch off this thing???
The power-on switch now acted as a PTT switch, so no good. long push (PTT), double push ... nope!
Internet to the rescue (almost) I found that the volume control set to level "0" should switch it off. Not quite ... I needed to push the wheel, and then turn it off.
Okay, at least I would not deplete the battery capacity.
The TRX essentially does what the uSDK does, so I am intereswted in how it will work with digital modes, like FT8.
This little radio can receive from 500kHz (?) to 30MHz, and is capable og transmitting on all the HF amateur bands. However, the filters are adapted for the 10-15-20-40m bands, and if I want to use it on other (especially lower) bands, I will need external filters. So the first tests will be on those bands.
I need more testing. I have seen a test by OM0ET on YouTube, and that's why I wanted to try it out, as a fun experiment.
OM0ET also has a video describing some modifications that would make the transceiver more useful, so after an on-the-air test, I might try those mods.
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