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Reviews For: HAMBUILDER HBR4HF TRANSCEIVER

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : HAMBUILDER HBR4HF TRANSCEIVER
Reviews: 5MSRP: $257 ($207 PLUS $50 SHIPPING
Description:
A medium size desktop radio that has 4 bands, 80m 40m 20m 10m ( SSB AND CW ONLY )
Product is in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0052.4
YC3TKM Rating: 2022-10-18
Nice rig for homebrewer Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Disclaimer: I have no bussines connection nor any personal/commercial interest with the manufacturer.

I got my HBR4HFS on early January 2022. The previous owner who sold it had some complaints. I had no radio at the moment. For 2nd hand radio, the price around US$ 70, I think it is a real bargain.

After arrived home, I checked it thoroughly. It has nice metal box, nice display. And after connecting to my power supply , I turned it on, the display show firmware version,followed with the nice analog like s-meter, frequency, mode, but no voice came out from speaker.

I decided to open it (it has guarantee seal on the body screw). No problem, after all, this is a good candidate for experimenting.

It turned out to be internal speaker connector pulled out from where it supposed to be. I plugged it back, and voila, the hiss coming out loud.

I tuned to local stations having ragchewing on 80m. The voice comes out garbled, mostly unreadable. Time to double check everything.

The RX Gain potensiometer was the culprit. I turned it down, the voice became readable, but still with some flaw.

Next, I was trying to TX. It was heard, and some comments that the audio was readable although a little bit muffled.

Time to check with dummyload. Mine has 80m, 40, 30m, and 20m. It sent out almost 100 watt on 80m, and decreasing with higher band. On 20m, it has 30 watts solid. But on 30m, nothing came out to the dummyload. :)

Here the summary on first time impressions:

1. Receiving on 20m has lots of birdies, a broadcasting stations overloading.
2. Easily overloaded with big signals.
3. Had to speak loud to suplied microphone.
4. 30m very deaf and no tx power

Well, time to total overhaul, and these what I've done to it :

1. Replacing the DC cable with bigger one.
2. Replacing all the signal cable with mini coax, especially that come out from si5351 on front panel.
3. Adding RF Gain control from http://www.nd6t.com/uBITX/AGC.htm
4. Replacing every lowpass capacitor (blue coloured) with silver mica capacitor.
5. Disabling internal pre-amp mic, and use MAX9814 pre-amp mic module.
6. Adding a ground shield from bare pcb between exciter board and Final Power Amplifier
7. Replacing the microphone spiral cord with better one, which has ground shield wire over the mic wire.
8. Replacing front mic connector with 8 pin kenwood style, and +8 volt to supply MAX9814 pre amp mic (on TX only)

And the result is wonderfull.

1. No more birdies
2. Still have to reduce RX Gain when big signals come in, but much better than before.
3. Nice punching audio

Everytime I use it, always good comments on audio, balanced tonal between low, mid and high tones.

But I still have no solution for 30m problem. Maybe because the IF Xtal Filter itself is 10Mhz (its too close to working frequency). But I don't bother, because I can't use the 30m bandplan yet.

So, I think this is a good rig for an experimenter/homebrewer. You can tweak it here and there, without worrying too much.

So far, I'm very satisfied. This rig is Bitx based with some modifications. Expect no more... :)
W2VIB Rating: 2022-02-09
BUMMER Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had this little radio as a gift for a week of testing and the results are the following: Excellent receive on all 4 bands. Excellent transmit on 80m 40m and 10m. Poor audio on 20m as only 10 watts not good as prop. bad. NOW AFTER ONLY ONE WEEK A PROBLEM EMERGED...THE FINAL TRANSISTORS 2x IRF520 FAILED. Due to NO problem of myself.I was careful with the VSWR and tuned for lowest on each band with minimum Tx gain setting. The HAMBUILDER People communication with me was very bad and since they do not accept returns I'm stuck with the project of replacing the finals. MY ADVICE IS NOT TO BUY THEIR PRODUCTS AS THEIR QC IS NOT GOOD!
After months of having the wait of getting the finals removed and replaced with one much heftier final power transistor the unit is working again, fortunately a fellow ham did the work and it will transmit again but only usable at night on 80m and 40m days. 20m band is useless as lower power built in make it as unusable as a 5 watt CB set. My experience with two way radios is vast and i can test units with a service monitor and tell junk from quality. My recommendation is to buy Icom and nothing else.
W2CH Rating: 2021-08-28
Not worth the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just received this Transceiver after
ordering it about a month ago. It does
not perform well. The receive audio is
muffled with low output from the small built in speaker. No external jack.
It sounds worst on 20 Meters, USB.
The output on that band is only 25 watts. It is about 100 W on 80 M, and
80 W on 40 M.
Tuning on the bands listed is not easy,
because the RF gain requires some
adjustment as one tunes, and it would
overload to distortion as the received
signals of various strength are being
received.
By comparison, the 20 watt Xiegu G90,
at a higher price perform much better.
Also, at about $600.00, my Yaesu FT-891 performs much better than this
Transceiver.
I would return it if it were possible.
WA7BGA Rating: 2021-05-10
Good little rig for the money. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Been off the air for 15 years and wanted to see if an inexpensive rig would work for me. Biggest problem
was learning how the menu works setting it up to use
a straight key instead of the auto keyer or adjusting if
frequency so received sideband audio is to my liking.
Doesn't come with instructions but their 'support' team
does reply to my emails and usually sends a video which tries to answer my questions. Mine was the 25 watt version which my MFJ845 says it does on 80 and 40.
For 20 bucks more I could have got the 100 watt version.
KE7OPK Rating: 2021-04-09
RIP OFF - DO NOT BUY Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Display generates lines/markings which are confusing. Key up, and the indicator goes TX, but returns to RX only after being keyed up again at "pulse intervals". Lines which do not relate to meter function appear spontaneously. Sidetone is ear splitting, requiring volume adjustments when keying up. Receiver has "birdies". Obviously, the product has potential but the transceiver controller is flawed with software deficiencies. Sidetone is badly distorted if power is increased. Independently of the display, power out is as advertised, and can be used as a stand-alone transmitter. I had the HBR4HFS. Sold it as parts after 10 minutes of testing and severe disappointment. NO support.