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Reviews For: WOUXUN KG-UVD1P

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : WOUXUN KG-UVD1P
Reviews: 155MSRP: 110.00
Description:
A DUAL BAND [UHF,VHF] HT WITH DTMF AND MULTIPLE FREQUENCY RANGES TO ACCOMMODATE VARYING COUNTRIES PROFESSIONAL RADIO MARKETS
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.wouxun.com/Two-Way-Radio/KG-UVD1P.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001554.1
N0BDW Rating: 2010-06-23
Very happy! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased one of these awesome units from Ed at www.wouxun.us. I was very happy with the transaction and am really enjoying the radio. So much so in fact that I strongly encouraged one of my friends to get one, and then we also purchased one from another friend.

I'm a new ham, so I don't have a lot to compare to, but I've been very satisfied so far, especially for the price!! $107 + shipping
NL7SX Rating: 2010-06-22
220 mhz,functional, lightweight, versatile, .... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My comments pertain mostly to the 1 1/4 M band capability which has long been neglected by the common manufacturers. The Wouxun KG-UVD1P comes in a 220 version/variant that includes two antennas for the low (216-239) and high (240-280)ranges both with 2M operation. The antennas appear broadbanded and the receiver is good for listening to the marine, ok for local FM broadcast, NOAA weather, and other VHF frequencies. 220 operation is efficient and cool at high power. The Lithium Ion battery comes charged and the radio is light in weight. Nearly all details are covered programming wise (no crossband)with a few extras thrown in. The bright green 'receive' led indicates visually if a frequency is in use. SOS broadcasting in an emergency. A white LED for flashlight. If you ever had to search for a keyboard lock key to keep from bumping keys they obviously tried this radio extensively as the lower right key held down activates the lock. Press again for unlock! Stopwatch, voice prompt or not, beep on key press or not, intelligent charger, reverse, scanning, low power operation too, alpha-numeric channel ID, password, DTMF, CTCSS, DCS, and a few other features I haven't learned about yet. Works good on 2M as well. Audio out a bit tinny but satisfactory. This is the first I've to seen of the 'Chinese knockoffs' straight from Hong Kong (EBAY) and this toy is a splendid HT for $120
KJ4CTZ Rating: 2010-06-19
Great Affordable Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased a Wouxun KG-UVD1P Dual Band 2m/70cm radio from http://wouxun.us on Sunday June 13th 2010. I was ecstatic on the ease and speed of communication from Ed Griffin from London North Carolina. I received the radio on Wednesday 06/16/2010 3 days after ordering it on Sunday this I thought was excellent. I opened the box removed all the material and installed the fully charged battery, the SMA to BNC adapter, went outside in the drizzling rain, connected the radio to my new Arrow Antenna, put in the uplink and downlink freqs for AO-51 and moments later had the antenna pointed at the sky. My first call went out and was immediately answered. I cannot say from whom because in my haste and trying to write on wet paper from the rain I forgot the call sign I had just made contact with. However I was extremely pleased as this was the specific purpose I purchased the radio for. Imagine, for $107 a handheld dual band dual receive radio making a contact thru a Satellite more than 500 miles above the earth to someone else in the footprint of the satellite within 15 minutes of unpacking the radio from the box. Obviously I was happy. Not sure what the neighbors thought as I was waving the antenna around in the rain followed by "Doing the Dance" but anyway I was smiling.


Later I compared the Yaesu VX-170 against the Wouxun KG-UVD1P radios in a side to side comparison for operation thru a 2 meter repeater (146.970). William KJ4OWO and Russell KC4YRD were participating in the analysis. First I made contact with these two guys using the Wouxun radio. They asked if this was the new radio I purchased and I said yes it was. I immediately was told that it was a nice crisp sound coming from the radio. I was sitting in my living room in my easy chair and conducted the following tests:
Test 1.
Yaesu @ 5w optional better than standard antenna, KJ4CTZ, 1,2,3,,,,,10, High Power Yaesu VX-170
Wouxun @ 5w std duck antenna, KJ4CTZ, 1,2,3,,,,,10, High Power Wouxun - waxoff "chuckle"
Test 1 Results: were clear to both listeners that the Wouxun was stronger and clear in the transmission.
Test 2.
Yaesu @ 1w optional better than standard antenna, KJ4CTZ, 1,2,3,,,,,10, 1 watt Power Yaesu VX-170
Wouxun @ 1w std duck antenna, KJ4CTZ, 1,2,3,,,,,10, 1 watt Power Wouxun - waxoff "chuckle"
Test 2 Results: were clear to both listeners that the Wouxun was stronger and clearer in the transmission. Not much difference in Wouxun power setting . Yaesu was very static sounding and a definite change in quality.
So far my only 2 complaints with the radio are:
1. In the software you must define TX and RCV frequencies. This should be an automatic function.
2. Once saved to memory, you cannot change the power level. You must go to VFO and make all settings. (There may be a way around this but so far I haven't figured it out.

A suggestion from Robert KB4FUZ was to program 2 channels into memory for common frequencies (one for low power and the second for high power). This would most definitly work as the radio is capable of storing 128 memory channels.

BTW, the FM digital radio works very well too with broadcast stations and when someone breaks the squelch of the repeater or simplex coms the FM radio is muted and locked onto the Amateur transmissions. Did I mention the radio even has a built in Flashlight and a female voice for feedback on keypad actions that you can actually tell to shut-up? LOL

If this was a full review (which it is not) I would have to give the radio a 4.5/5.0

KJ4CTZ
Ken Peakman
W1MSG Rating: 2010-06-17
Great on Satellites Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Ok I finally received my adapter ( sma-f to bnc-f ) so I decided to give the FM Satellites a try with my Arrow antenna. It worked flawlessly and I heard reports that my audio was Great ! So I still havent found anything you cant do with this radio !
N4WQF Rating: 2010-06-17
Wouxun KG-UVD1P, I was pleasantly Surprised!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been in the market for a new dual band handheld radio for several months now. I was looking for something that was small yet versitile, something that would work for normal repeater use, foxhunting, satellites and still be affordable. I found all the features I was looking for and more in the Wouxun KG-UVD1P at www.wouxun.us for a very reasonable price. It was almost too good to be true but for the price, I had to try one.

The unit includes the tranceiver, a 1300mAh battery, a high gain antenna, an intelligent drop in charger, belt clip, user manual and warranty card.

Signal and audio reports from other hams were surprisingly good. The audio from the receiver is crystal clear and the receiver worked better than some of my other name brand handhelds. Manual programming is straight forward but to make things easier, I purchased the USB programming cable. Accessories are very inexpensive and to top it off, the radio came with an 18 month warranty.

Next time you want to buy a nice handheld radio, consider the Wouxun KG-UVD1P. This is a business located in the USA.
WD0FIA Rating: 2010-06-17
Cheap price, great quality! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I own multiple portables, VX-6R, V-8, U-82, F11, F21, plus Motorola GP300's. Each has good and bad qualities. The Wouxun compares well against any of them.

I have had several comments on my 224.82 repeater about how good the KG-UVD1P sounds compared to my VX-6R.

My wife has received comments on VHF about the audio quality compared to her P110.

Battery life is very good. Programming software is free, and functional. Programming cables are the same as for Kenwood, and priced low.

The VOX feature is handy. We use that while on the motorcycle as a intercom. The earpiece / microphone that came free with the radios works great for that under our full helmets.

We got 2 from Ed at www.Wouxun.US for under $240. I don't think $120 is bad for a FCC accepted part 90 radio!
KD8DVR Rating: 2010-06-15
Very nice radio, at an even better price! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A ham friend of mine has on and loves his. After seeing it I wanted one. After Hamvention, where another friend got his, I ordered mine immediately from China. (2m/70cm version)

The Audio is crisp and clear. The stock antenna performs better than most HT rubber ducks, although it really shines on 70 cm.

I did get the programming cable and software, although the software is outdated, so I downloaded the newest version from Wouxun.

The options you can program are unbeleivable! Since it is designed as a commercial rig, there are some programming flaws that are not too ham-friendly. There is a learning curve. Fortunately most of the weirdness has a workaround. No auto repeater function, you must program the transmit and receive freq individually, as well as pl tones.

Mine has survived a few "drop tests" with no operational or visible results.

Battery life is pretty darn good. Due to my running around the house all the time, I am HT intense. Local repeaters require high power, and I can generally yak most of the day before a recharge. On low power, you could go all day no problem. I dso not know the current dray of the radios, as they are not listed in the manual. I know, this is surprising, and odd.

I love the backlight.. the keypad and display are lit well, with the white showing thru the black buttons, like some cell phones do.

The Radio does NOT have dual receivers, despite the dual display. Whichever frequency has activity first wins. Still... in most cases this is not a drawback.

As a plus, the radio DOES have dual transmit stages! This is probably why the radio "talks so darn good"

I love it....


I liked my first radio so much that I ordered a 2m/220 version from Ed at:
http://www.wouxun.us/

It also is performing great. althought there is no 220 activity in my area, the cost of the radio was worth it. There is NOW a low-cost @@ rig avalable... WITH 2 meters! This could get 220 rolling again!
WB4SOG Rating: 2010-06-05
Great Radio! Great Price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been a ham since 1971 and have had my share of HTs over the years. I have used converted Motorola Walkies all the way to several Icom handheld rigs up to an IC24AT. When the IC24AT died, I bought a Yeasu FT-170, but later found that I missed having 440 also. My FT-170 is one of the Chinese built radios, and I overall was very happy with it. I started to buy a FT-60, but then saw the KG-UVD1P and it had many functions that I desired in a radio, but did not want to deal directly with a Chinese seller. Then I heard about Ed at WWW.WOUXUN.US selling them from his business KMA Antennas in North Carolina. Ed bought a number of these radios and sold them at Dayton. I dropped Ed an email and he promptly answered me and said he would have another shipment arriving soon. I placed my order for the radio along with an AA battery pack and the programming software and cable. Before the unit arrived, I downloaded the software from the Wouxun company website and pre-loaded and saved 99 Ham repeaters and simplex frequencies on both V and U. Ed kept me up to date on the progress of my order, and the radio arrived in less than 2 weeks. In less than 10 minutes after unpacking the radio, I had programmed it and was receiving excellent transmit audio reports on the local repeaters. When I took the KG-UVD1P to a local ARES demonstration at a Hurricane Expo, I was able to compare the Wouxun's performance side-by-side with several Yeasu dual-banders. The Wouxun held its own, in fact several of the guys asked if I would program their radios if they ordered one also.

Ed's price delivered was actually less than the other sellers from overseas, and the customer service was great. Ed even offered to loan me his personal radio for the ARES event if mine did not arrive in time!

I found the radio to be easy to program, easy to use, and especially for my over 60 years old eyes, the display is easy to read.

The fit , finish and performance is equal to or better than my single band FT-170. I am very happy with the radio, and have been asked to demo it at our next ham club meeting. The long term durability is unknown at this point in time, but my experience has been that if a piece of electronics works this well out of the box, it will probably last. At these prices, it is almost disposable if you were to get only a couple years of use out of it!
AJ6B Rating: 2010-05-12
Excellent Handheld! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First, I would give this thing a 6 out of 5 if I could.

Secondly, receive: Let me tell you a little story, I was working communications for a mountain bike race a few days ago. I was on a dirt road, on top of a mountain, next to a weather radar site, trying to communicate with the club's 440 machine. I was having trouble receiving the machine on my Kenwood tribander (TM-742A) and could NOT receive on my Kenwood triband handheld (TH-F6A). I had brought my Wouxun along to play with between riders. I fired it up, just to see what it sounded like.. and wow! I could actually hear the machine (and others on simplex) I was shocked. How could this $100ish thing from China actually perform better then my $350 handheld or my $1000 mobile rig?! I ended up running the rest of the race from the Wouxun (as I could not stay in the car and the F6A didn't work.) The medic next to me was a new ham. She had a VX7 and it was marginally receiving as well. She listened off my radio and responded on hers.

Third, battery. After my initial charge on Friday and working the above race all day. I left my handheld on for about 4 hours each day and did about a 10 minute QSO. This evening the battery finally quit out. So overall, I believe I got about 22 hours of receive with a high-power (4W) QSO here and there. Not bad for a $20 battery?

Fourth, programming. It was actually not that difficult to program. I would recommend using their software to do the programming. You can switch between channel mode and frequency (VFO) mode by pressing Menu->TDR. Make sure to use narrow (12.5khz) FM. A and B can have separate offsets. I set A to a 600khz offset and B to a 5Mhz offset for easy programming. The unit does not have auto-shift so you will have to select your shift up or down manually. Also, always make sure you do not transmit where you are not licensed.

Fifth, purchasing. I purchased mine from Ebay from 409shop (or 409shop.com) for $122. It came USPS registered about 8 days later. Make sure you triple check what you are purchasing. Some on Ebay include serial programming cable, some include the USB programming cable, and some do not include any cable. There are also different frequency models. I did find out you can buy them in the US for $129 from totalradioservice.com.

Sixth, I am going to buy two more for "spares" and keep the expensive triband at home. I also am going to pick up the dual base charger which allows you to keep a spare battery charged. The units do come with a 1400mah battery. There is a 1700mah battery available as well.

Seventh, I used all my Kenwood speaker mics and programming cables.

Eighth, purchase the reverse SMA adapter as you will have trouble finding it.
JA1ML Rating: 2010-05-11
Fine little transceiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The workmanship is comparable to ICOM, Kenwood or Yaesu. It is a terrific bargain for the price. Purchased state side from Http://www.certifiedelectronics.org

Yoshi