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Reviews For: Powerwerx DB-750

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Powerwerx DB-750
Reviews: 19MSRP: 299.00
Description:
Dual band VHF/UHF, 750 channel commercial transceiver with
10 memory banks. Freq. range: 136-174, 400-490 MHz. 50W VHF,
40W UHF power output, Single Receive or True Dual Receive
(V+V, U+U, V+U), Optional Remote Head Mounting Kit. Part 90
certified.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.powerwerx.com/two-way-radios/mobile-radios/db-750x-dual-band-commercial-mobile.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00193.1
KD4TWP Rating: 2021-07-27
Junk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got 2 of these from HRO Atl a few years back and they worked fine until 3 months after the warranty ran out, then mine in my Truck VHF side died UHF side still works. same as others Powerwerx said they would give me $100 for trade on a new one. NOT! then a few days ago the one in my wife's car the receive audio went dead. so has anyone ever fixed these problems? Both seem to be a normal thing for these radios.

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Earlier 3-star review posted by KD4TWP on 2016-01-22

pretty much had the same complaints as most others but after 1 1/2 years the VHF transmit side of the radio has died. It does have UHF transmit. does anybody know where to find a schematic for this radio? I looked at the powerwerx site and www all I see is the manual. or does anybody have a schematic?

update it is now 2021 and both radios still junk im using one for a scanner.
i called tech support for powerex and tried to get a shop manual or schematic something to help my tec trouble shoot them. and you wont believe this but even the tech doesnt have one!! unreal!! he said they dont do much to any work on the radios here in the states and only the factory does the tech support. unreal never again.
KD2ARB Rating: 2020-01-04
Not well made Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio needs much to be desired.The VHF final blew out 3 years after use.Ive had this radio for 7 years.No squelch control,just confusing buttons&doesn't help when you are driving.Radio gets very hot even just on receive.Got a Kenwood V71&should have gotten this radio from the beginning.Not reliable&just Chinese junk.Dont like to bad mouth any radio.The radio still keeps running after the radio is turned off!
KG7AV Rating: 2019-01-25
Poor Lifespan Time Owned: more than 12 months.
In 2014 I wrote a review and gave the rig a 5 for overall value. Now 2019 and the VHF Tx failure issue has visited me too. For $20 less I can get a new Kenwood V71. For a $350 price point I expect a lifespan of more than five years.
KL1JP Rating: 2017-12-04
Great Radio For The Price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Powerwerx DB-750::
I have eight (8) of these radios – used for our commercial (blue dot) licensed frequencies in a variety of Alaska remote locations. These are used hard, by mostly inexperienced labor and geologists and contract drill crews. I have 4 of these mounted inside small Pelican cases on both Rotary and Diamond drill rigs where they receive maximum vibration, dust, grease and abuse. I’ve only had one fail, an audio issue. When I called Powerwerx about this, they promptly responded with an RMA. I have zero complaints about these radios although I do wish they had a more standard audio in/out configuration. Using these as an APRS station is difficult.
W0CIA Rating: 2017-01-11
Will buy any more... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Powerwerx DB-750
I have three of the radios, no more!!! First problem was my error, the audio amp died because I
plugged the speaker in to the stereo port and grounded the other amp..
2nd problem, the xmit side of the VHF side died two times...I sent one of the radios back and Powerwerx sent me a new one at a reduced cost.. The other one I used just for UHF..
The last problem, the radio in the car will not xmitt if the temp drops below 10F... I exchanged that radio with the one from the house and the same problem.. If it's a minus 10 below, I need to "Pre-heat" the radio with a hair dryer before I drive away to get the xmitt to work....I now have a Kenwood 2 meter radio and it works when the temp is in the minus range.. Last, Intermod in my area of Northern Minnesota is heavy with the DB-750......
IZ3ZVO Rating: 2016-06-03
Good radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I hold a unit of "Polmar DB-50M", that is a clone of Powerwerx DB-750, and both are inherently the same transceiver as Anytone AT-5888UV dual band. I hold also a unit marked as Intek HR-2040, which I use in the car whilst I keep the Polmar at home. The radio performance is the same. I have never heard the intermods that are often reported by the users of these transceivers. TX and RX audio are very good, but the minimum volume is too high, so in the night the transceiver audio RX is too high. The TX power is as declared by the producer. The manual is not very clear and some functions get discovered by trials and errors as it does not describe them properly. The AM reception in airband is usable. The scanning speed over memories is very scarce and that may be partially compensated by scanning on the two VFO simultaneously. The microphone of the unit marked Polmar is quite uncomfortable if compared with the Anytone/Intek/Crt microphone.
I believe that this transceiver is technically more than acceptable and that it has very good value given the price. For simple local QSO and repeaters activity it is fully usable without any issues both in the car and at home.
The unit I received was provided without program cable, so I built it by myself using just a piece of old lan cable with RJ-45 connector and a USB-to-TTL board found in e-commerce at less than 2$ including p&p. Here is the programming cable schematic for homebrewers: http://iz3zvo.altervista.org/build-program-cable-anytone-at-5888uv-intek-hr-2040/
N6JSX Rating: 2015-11-04
Issues abound Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this DP750 in my SUV for now almost 2yrs. Recently, more things have happen that is really souring me on this radio.

1. For unknown reason the display changed color from Orange to Green.

2. I discovered CTCSS does not work or is not truly present in the 750. Discovered while Scanning when SCAN stops on distant (off PL/CTCSS) repeaters allowing audio to be heard.

3. Mic RJ45 connector has become flaky. Due to the rather short mic cord with stiff curly stretching it constantly pulls on the side mounted of the mic jack, I'm getting reports of severe mic white noise and audio drop outs. I hope I have a solution in adding a 3' CAT5 cable & RJ-adapter from the radio to the mic stopping all jack stressing keeping the RJ45 cord in a constant and fixed position eliminating all curly cord pulling on the 750 jack. The mic cord is too short for most center console to driver OPs.

Two more Scan mode program screw ups.
A. Each time you key the mic ALL scanning stops and the user must reactivate the Scan. 750 does not auto restart scan on PTT exit or keep scanning on the other side BUT SKIP the memory being used on the other side.
B. Scan to skip memory shown on the other side so the user does not get blasted with dual audio from the same memory on BOTH sides.

RX intermod is very bad, period. I frequent a repeater in Dayton 146.820 and 50mi away where I live we have a local repeater 146.835. (Both are wide coverage repeaters) Depending on where my SUV is physically, I cannot hear the other repeater when the near repeater is keyed. I've never had this issue with any other (numerous) mobiles in 35yrs. DP750 is not for mobiles but as a Base it would be good.

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Earlier 1-star review posted by N6JSX on 2015-06-20

To add to my previous review and to confirm others claims.

The RX has issues with adjacent repeaters (to both at 15/20 spacing). Adjacent repeater spillover kills your intended RX (i.e. 146.820 gets swamped by 146.835 as I nearing home, blocking 146.820 RX or talking on 146.490S and getting swamped de 146.520 QSO). Just this alone is a traveling mobile killer. RX is just TOO sensitive to near frequency or near proximity signals - in-band rejection is near non-existent.

Forget long QSO's your thumb will get numb or cramp holding that ULTRA stiff mic PTT. My gosh this mic is big (biggest had mic on the market) in my big hand too. Then to have a SUPER stiff PTT and no way of changing it (disassembling the mic I found no way to alter the PTT mechanism).

On the fly memory tone/ctcss (any item) changing is virtually impossible. So keep your notebook/cable handy on trips.

The killing of other side SCAN mode on each PTT is still a nuisance!

THE ONLY redeeming factor to this radio is I get good audio and signal reports with thumb cramps.
IU0CXU Rating: 2015-05-24
Strong and reliable radio! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I own the model known as Polmar DB 50-M (trade name in Italy) and for the moment there is no malfunctions or problems.
The programming software works great and seems very simple.
Good audio report.
The cooling fan driven by thermostat it's very quiet and never annoying even in a warm outside temperature!
Used combined with the Tigertronics SignaLink Usb for Echolink applications works very well.

Recommended for all those people who do not want to, rightly, overpay for a mobile radio
W6YDE Rating: 2015-04-04
Difficult at best Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Hello, I own two of these Powerwerx DB-750X VHF/UHF transceivers, purchased from a ham convention. I purchased one to use in my garage and the other to run mobile.

You will need the software to unlock the radio and program it. An additional cost not listed or mentioned at time of purchase.

The radio are impossible to run mobile while driving. There is no squelch pot or knob. The squelch is controlled by a menu. Access to this menu is by way of a push button the is located right next to or very close to the volume. This push button is 1/8" square and recessed. You will need a ball point pen or some other device to push it in to access the menu setup function, each time you what to adjust the squelch. If you accidentally push the wrong button or grab the microphone to hard and push a button, there is a 90% chance that you will lock up the radio or change the frequency. You will need to reconnect it to a computer and the software program to clear the problem. Microphone push to talk button is very hard to keep depressed and the microphone cord is too short and if you turn your head, you will pull the microphone out of your hand.

You will need to adjust the squelch often, during a simplex mobile to mobile contact... because these transceiver pick up ever traffic light's "mother board" controller, every gas station's telemetry and taxi cab you pass. I can't believe that this transceiver was not beta tested in a mobile application, before it release.

My garage transceiver lost its final in a short time and the manufacturer would not believe me, when I called for a return authorization. Manufacturer blamed the problem of no RF output on everything from the antenna to faulty coax and connectors, plus my inability to operate the transceiver correctly. I returned the transceiver and they repaired it without any written reply or comment.

If you only have $350 to spend and like or need this kind of rig, then go for it. If you want something that works right out of the box and with a squelch knob, do a little more looking around.
K6MIB Rating: 2015-02-06
Great for the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Some quick points for people having problems or complaining, this is a commercial radio that does ham freqs. I have not seen a single advertisement for it that does not clearly state you will need to software to unlock the radio so stop whining about it being locked out of the box. In the real world of commercial radio we seldom need to adjust squelch, that is why there is no squelch knob, if you are not running decode PL then just set it high enough to block background noise, if you need to constanly adjust it then it is not set right.

Customer service from powerwerx is great, I have made two calls so far, both resolved in less than 5 minutes
1. you set the tone encode and decode and then in another column you have to tell the radio to be in the ctcss/dcs "mode" to use those tone settings.
2. (my fault) could not figure out how to put in a receive only freq, turns out a little farther over on the programming screen there is a transmit inhibit check box, easy
3. the ticking noise / interference when scanning on one side, solution, use as short a remote cable as possible and use CAT6 shielded cable, problem solved.