| EA2EFI |
Rating:  |
2015-02-27 | |
| a LOTO ( una Lotería ) |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Dam e Mesuie, Hams.. And curious. Do you play LOTO ?
This review will be written in Spanish because is my language and cos there are a lot of good reviews
that you can find here, and in www abt the 898-VV and clones. But the title is good. A LOTO !
Después de mucho buscar, llegue a la conclusión de que un walkie está bien para " portable " pero tiene algunos inconvenientes si piensas usarlo en base o en el coche. Calor, fatiga, alimentación, antena, micro... Así que puse mis ojos en el nuevo - para mí - LEIXEN VV898.
Y fue un leixen y no un clon ( de dynascan, de crt, etc.. ) por aquello de ir a la fuente y comprar la ultima hornada. Recién salidita y calentita ( luego veremos que había " nacido " en octubre del 14, pero bueno ). Llegó a casa sin problemas. No como otros envíos que traen un recargo de ADUANAS. Este no. Tal vez porque es pequeño ó qué se yo.
La caja, desaseada. Como cuando algo esta tiempo en un estante... El contenido muy, muy sencillo.: Factura, manual en inglés, el aparato, el cable, la peana y el micro DTMF. Simple.
La manufactura pobre. El micrófono, liviano, de plástico barato que tiene un retintín como si se tratase de una maraca de juguete, debido al mal encaje de los botones y pulsadores. Y el cable enroscado también de aspecto barato. El jack de 8pins lo miré varias veces porque no me infundía mucha confianza. Pedro, he tratado antes con cosas de este tipo y factura y... Pues bueno, por lo que cuesta, qué vas a pedir !
El cable de alimentación corto y en consonancia con el resto del equipo. Muy mejorable. Aún así, dentro de lo que cabía esperar. Eso sí... en uno de los supuestos menos favorables.
El transceiver, curiosamente, lo menos malo de todo.
Pequeño, compacto, de poco peso - menos que un talki con baterías - sin ventiladores ni partes móviles... Que espectacion.
El tacto y el manejo, vuelven a situarte en la realidad. Es un gadget chino en toda su extensión figurada ( no olvidarse que China va a la Luna - y más allá - y nosotros no salimos de casa ). Pero, esta vez hay que decirlo.: Qué emisora puede uno comprar hoy por 100€ ? (*)
(*) Un Leixen.
Dejando de lado la botonera, el display y pasando al manejo... No es difícil.
Tiene CINCUENTA opciones que no voy a detallar. Solo hablar de un par de cosas.: Si pulsas simultáneamente la tecla de función y el encendido, al soltar, entras en un menú de depuración. Puedes limpiar los últimos ajustes o bien volver a dejar el aparato como venia de fabrica ( reset ). En la parte superior siempre se ubica la memoria y en la inferior el VFO. Hay operaciones que solo funcionan en modo vfo y otras que dependen de una operación o función previa. No desesperar y leer y probar hasta que consigamos domarlo a nuestro gusto. Yo tengo un kenwood te de hace 30 años y tiene mejores menús y más complejos. Así que por ahí nada nuevo bajo el sol.
Es de destacar, la función imprescindible del micro y su botonera tanto para introducir frecuencias como para poder navegar con soltura por las distintas opciones. Otro truco.: Si estas subiendo o bajando frecuencias y pulsas "Up" ó " Down" simultáneamente, los saltos son en ciclos. Es decir.: vas de 145 a 155 ó de 438 a 448 en lugar de funcionar la selección step que tuvieras. Durante la operación de transmitir, es realmente molesta la disposición de estos mismos botones, que se activan sin desearlo y cortan la modulación o hacen que des saltos en la banda o con el sonido, etc. Creo que esto podría mejorar simple mente pegando un taquito de goma en la esquina del micro.
Dicen que no filtra mucho y que se te cuela todo quisqui que ande cerca. Yo no lo he notado, porque vivo como un ermitaño. Pero si digo que la voz, para escucharla bien en un ambiente de ruido, hay que subir la un poquito ( < 4 ) La modulación sale un poco ruda y con clicks que se escuchan también cuando el qrm sobrepasa el squelch. Yo he abierto el micro y le he puesto una bolita de espuma como la de los micros profesionales que salen en TV. Ha mejorado. Pero creo que puede añadirse o sustituir algún componente en el circuito para darle mejor presencia, que dicen que tiene que ver con el tono de los s asiáticos....
Lo peor de todo es que ha estado funcionando 30 minutos.
Después, se ha vuelto loco y ya no obedece. Le programo algo y se lo pasa por el arco del triunfo, emite portadora pero no modula, me corta cuando le da la gana, y cada cinco o seis minutos emite un pitidito, como diciendo..: Función, Función, Función. Así que sin más, voy a devolverlo.
Pero, aunque no gaste yo mucho en loterías... En cuanto me devuelvan la pasta, me pido otro igual.
Si vuelve a estropearse, diré bien alto que es una Puta M.!
Si no, que me tocó un limón. Pero que una vez superado el SHOCK, es un juguete al que no le confiaría mi vida, pero que me entretiene.
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| N5CNN |
Rating: |
2015-01-31 | |
| Don't Waste Assets On This One |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Obtained three of these for evaluation and review in 2014.
Problems mentioned in previous posts in all test units. Software and manual -- nightmares.
Of the three, one crapped out. However, three attributes:
Unit will operate on two bands.
Push button volume control on microphone.
Small size.
NUTS! Don't waste your money or time assets on this one.
Bob Hutchinson, N5CNN
Wireless Industry Association
n5cnn@wirelessindustry.com
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| KF5FEI |
Rating: |
2015-01-19 | |
| Neat Baby Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Picked one up at a local hamfest last weekend to stick in a go box for use where more power and an elevated antenna are necessary. Included cable worked fine with my previously installed Prolific drivers and was able to read from and write to the radio via Chirp and the factory software.
However, I was not able to export the file from the latest daily build of Chirp and manually edit / add frequencies from my local list as I had done for other radios. It seemed to choke on an invalid tone setting for my UHF frequencies when I tried to import the file.
I was able to open the factory config file with Notepad, edit my list to match their format and paste it into their file. The factory software was happy with the edited file and it uploaded and functioned just fine.
On-the-air testing reported the audio sounding tinny compared to my various other radios. I enabled the compander and this seemed to make it worse. I'm going to look into the mic mod later to see if this corrects this.
Overall, this looks like a decent inexpensive radio which will work for what I need. |
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| K3NXU |
Rating: |
2014-12-15 | |
| Compact Crossover Xcvr |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I consider The Leixen VV-898 a Crossover transceiver fitting a niche market. Small size with plenty of features make it great for a Go Box, boat or small vehicle. The original manual was updated in September, making it a bit more fluid. Sensitivity is very good, but an occasional stray pager might appear if you're in a Metro area.
It's also being supported by CHIRP, which will make programming life a bit easier. 10 watts seems to gets me anywhere I want to go. For local work, I keep one on top of my PC with a small mag mount.
Will it compete with the Big 3, no. I personally don't believe it was meant to. But what it does, it does well.
Here's a full review:
http://www.miklor.com/COM/Review_VV898.php |
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| N9SIU |
Rating: |
2014-11-20 | |
| Good mobile radio for the price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought my mobile radio about a week ago and so far I have had good results with it. My radio is sold under the Jetstream name and model number is JT-270M. Jetstream sells this radio with the programming software and programming cable for $139.00. It does put out a good ten watt signal and the audio is good. However the intermod is a problem in the city but in a non-urban area it is crystal clear.
It is a good radio for the price but you can not compare it to the other big brands. I like the size because it fits just fine in my Mini Cooper console. |
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| G3UCA |
Rating: |
2014-10-27 | |
| Good for the money |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Programming with the lead is no problem.I have written a program with every U.K. two meter repeater in it. I am willing to send a copy to any one requiring it.My problem is finding a way to print the program......can any one help with this?
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| PD0AC |
Rating: |
2014-10-27 | |
| RX nightmare |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Fun radio if it would cost much less. TX is quite reasonable, if you don't mind spitting out some harmonics. Build quality is sub-par, manual is a joke.
The receiver section is a Halloween nightmare in an urban environment. Even 10 meter signals managed to leak through the (probably non-existent) front-end, so expect a lot of intermod / out-of band signals to ruin your day.
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| K1VK |
Rating: |
2014-10-08 | |
| It's cheap and it works |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had mine for about a month. I purchased the cheapest one I could find on ebay. I paid DHL the extra $8.99 to get expedited shipping. It took about a week to get here from China.
Bad decision on price. The unit came with no programming cable and no manual. But thanks to the information on this thread, I was able to get the unit powered up, running and programmed in about 2 hours. Still, buy it from Hong Kong where they at least have the programming cable.
I had a Kenwood USB programming cable from a previous commercial radio, thanks to ON2NSV. The programming software comes from the manufacturer's web site. Logging onto their site is frustrating. Google translate does a pretty good job. You can eventually find and download the software in .rar format. It is in English. It is password protected.
From GW6EWX, USER=ham PASSWORD=89812345. You can change these settings as an option after you get the package open. The windows are similar to those in Chirp, if you are familiar with that package.
Connecting the Kenwood cable to the radio worked fine on my WIN7 desktop. WIN7 went out to the internet and found the necessary Prolific USB driver software. It then loaded the software. The software came up with a COM3 port as shown by Device Manager. After getting the communications software installed, I unplugged the USB cable, rebooted the computer and plugged in the cable again.
The next step is to load the programming software using the GW6EWX user and password. The first thing to do is go to the connection dropdown and make sure that you have COM3 selected. Do not select the LIVE button on the bottom of the window.
I programmed up a dozen local repeaters along with their CTCSS codes on both 2 and 440. Writing to the radio successfully means that you have selected the correct COM port along with the proper communication protocol.
If you want to do manual programming, there is a good write up by VK3XRA. Going to his website gives some useful tips.
When I got on the air, local hams said that the audio was too loud. Backing away from the mic several inches fixed that problem. There does not seem to be a mic gain control in the menu items, but I have no translations of what the menu items are supposed to do. It would great if someone could post a link for the manual.
Receiver selectivity is poor. A strong local repeater will interfere with the receiver if a weak one is 15KHz away. This is a problem that was solved by manufacturers years ago. Not sure of why this radio has the problem. Turning the squelch up helped a bit.
The first impressions are: (1) cheap, (2) works, (3) very small, (4) adequate power, (5) poor mic design.
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| WD0DMO |
Rating: |
2014-10-03 | |
| It's OK |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| So far I've spent about a month with this little guy and it is ok if you consider what they had to leave out to be able to sell it for the price they are asking. If you're in the city it has bad intermod problems but out and about in the car outside of the city I can get to most repeaters and havn't had one bad audio report. Programing is where I have the biggest problem, it is not intuitive at all but once you figure out the sequence it is not bad but it is tedious. I havn't tried out the software but I only use a few repeaters and a few simplex frequincies. For the price you can't go wrong, just don't compare it to you $300+ radio from the big three I think you'll be satisfied with it. |
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| G0APM |
Rating: |
2014-09-28 | |
| It's OK |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Needs some time spent reading the User Manual. The programming software makes things much simpler and less time consuming. Soon filled up the memories with everything I need and setting channel names is perfect for identifying repeaters. Adjusting the key assignments was easy and has simplified operation (assuming I can remember what they are later).
Added a small piece of foam in front of the microphone electret insert to tame the rather top heavy audio and also used a permanent marker on the mic LED's to dim-down (a little) the over-bright keypad display.
Into a dummy load I measured at 10W setting 13.8V:
400MHz 11W - 470MHz 7W
136MHz 10W - 174MHz 12W
At 430 & 440MHz about 8W
At 144 & 145MHz about 11W
On the road performance is acceptable. RX audio is surprisingly good. VHF seems to suffer with breakthrough and UHF seems generally much better in all areas. No bad reports of TX audio. I don't seem to be suffering any of the scanning issues mentioned previous.
It's a bit of a toy really but fits perfectly in the car ash tray which is very convenient.
Something weird happens when setting the volume to 0. Sometimes it mutes, other times it goes to about half volume (even though says 0), no quite worked that out yet, obviously a bug.
It's fun and I can't take it that seriously but so far experience is fair.
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