It’s been almost a year since I wrote about the Chinese built HF amateur radios. These radios are showing some signs of having issues, and there’s a pretty good reason for that.
EBay, Amazon, Ali Express, and other online sites have been flooded with these HF radios claiming all sorts of neat features, but are showing signs of problems now that the community has had time to play with them. As it turns out, there is a really good reason they aren’t all they were cracked up to be. They are cheap and illegal knock offs of something better.
Pictured above, are two popular radios that are actually mere clones of a really cool radio developed by two ham radio operators, DL2MAN and PE1NNZ. Together they worked to bring this radio to market, the (tr)uSDX.
The biggest issue with the clones, other than the moral bankruptcy of stealing someone else’s hard work, is a lack of firmware updates. The (tr)uSDX will require occasional updates to fix operating issues as they arrise. Since the clones have no legitimate serial numbers, no updates can be installed, leaving the problematic clones behind.
After careful review, long hours reading/watching articles/videos from actual users, I’ve decided to purchase one myself…the original, not the clone. So how do I know the difference? Easy…one of the creators has a website listing authorized sellers. They are available as kits, or assembled units. I chose the later, as I hate winding torroids, and this radio has 13 of them.
Some of the features…
5 bands (80, 60, 40, 30, 20)
Multi mode (AM, FM, USB, LSB, CW)
Easily set up for digital modes and CAT control
Small and light weight (90x60x30mm – 140g)
Can be run on as little as 5 volts (output max 0.5 watts)
In fact, what really convinced me was Gilles, the Radio Prepper considering it the perfect prepping radio.
Interested yet? If you are, here are some reliable sources to buy from:
AliExpress Link: UpTech Store
eBay Link: uellyqh store
Online Shop Link: newdiytech.com/
Amazon (US) Link: Amazon
