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Reviews For: Venus DR4020 QRP Radio for Digital

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Venus DR4020 QRP Radio for Digital
Reviews: 3MSRP: $146
Description:
A 4 watt radio for digital modes on the 40 and 20 meter bands. Connects to a PC via mic and headphone jacks, transmit is keyed via VOX. BNC antenna connector. 10-14VDC. 5 memory channels per band.
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.venus-itech.com/product/dr4020-digital-qrp-radio/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034.7
KF5GYX Rating: 2023-03-08
The most awesome digital radio for JS8. I LOVE this rig! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I LOVE this thing. I've owned an 817, 857, 897 but I keep coming back to this thing. Yes, the vox might be a little slow, but I've not had any issues. My record is Texas to Paraguay (almost 5000 miles) with an inverted vee with Js8.

It's just so simple to use. I have mine velcroed to a 4ah SLA (which helps weigh it down), going to a USB soundcard. It's just dead simple. I literally rewrote the manual for them in English. It's got 5 memories but that's more than enough for JS8 and FT8. Push the button once to swap between 20 and 40m and off you go. For the price, size and SIMPLICTY of a setup you just can NOT go wrong....
N0GQ Rating: 2021-01-18
Great little radio for the money. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got a wild hair and I purchased the assembled radio direct from China, with almost no reviews or other info, thinking $150 was a pretty good deal if it worked. The rig is remarkably small, but has a great receiver, and is very well made. Trivial to use, almost don't need the manual. Mine arrived in four days via DHL from China (to Colorado). Mine had a problem with VOX. Dale at Venus was extremely helpful, and offered to repair or replace it, but instead I chose to mod mine for serial DTR transmit, which I personally prefer over VOX. Simply cut the PCB trace between Q6 and the PTT pad, then drive the PTT pad with 3.3VDC to toggle TX/RX. I use mine with JS8Call and an RPi4, and have zero trouble making contacts all over North America with it, and even hear a bit of DX. Giving it a full five stars in spite of the VOX problem because Venus was so helpful in diagnosing and offering to repair/replace. I like it so much I'll probably buy a second one.
KC1DKC Rating: 2021-01-09
Simple and inexpensive radio for digital QRP. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased this radio in assembled form, the kit is around $30 cheaper. It arrived in less than a week direct from China using the DHL/Fedex shipping option. Setup couldn't be simpler- just connect the two audio cables and antenna, power it up and you're ready to go. I've had it for a few days now and it seems to work quite well. I've made several QSOs on FT8, including one in Europe. It works with JS8Call as well.
Complaints: The voltmeter on the display doesn't read accurately, it started off at 22 volts and now reads 6. Doesn't appear to affect operation. Don't get the raspberry pi soundcard option, it's just a very cheap usb adapter.