After running on handies for all of my Ameteur Radio life, I figured it was time for a new radio, this time a base station/mobile rig, & after some looking around I decided on the Wouxun KG-UV950P.
Shown below is the radio as delivered:
This radio has the capability to transmit quad-band, on 6m, 10m, 2m & 70cm. It also has the capability to receive on no fewer than eight bands. Also included in the feature set is airband receive, & broadcast FM receive.
TX power is up to 50W on 2m, 40W on 70cm, & 10W on 6m/10m.
For once with a Chinese piece of electronic equipment, the manual is very well printed, and in very good English.
Here is the radio in operation, connected to my 65A 12v power supply. I have the radio set here monitoring a couple of the local 70cm repeaters.
The display is nice & large – easy to see at a glance which station you’re tuned to. The backlight is also software settable to different colours.
Status indicators on the top edge of the display can be a bit difficult to see unless the panel is directly facing the user though, not to mention that they are rather small.
This radio is true dual-watch, in that both VFOs can be receiving at the same time, this is effected by a pair of speakers on the top panel:
The left VFO speaker is smaller than the right, so the sound levels differ slightly, but overall sound quality is excellent. There is also provision on the back of the unit to connect external speakers.
The dual volume controls on the right hand bottom corner of the control panel are fairly decent, if a little twitchy at times. There is also a fair amount of distortion on the audio at the higher volume levels.
The controls themselves are potentiometers, but the controller appears to read the setpoint with an ADC – this means that if the control is set to just the right point, the selected level will jump around on the display & never settle down.
The radio itself is built from a solid aluminium casting, mostly for heatsinking of the main RF output stage MOSFETs. This gives the radio a very rugged construction.
A small fan is provided on the rear for cooling when required. This can be set in software to either be constantly running, (it’s pretty much silent, so this is advantageous), or only run when in TX mode. The fan will also automatically come on when a high internal temperature is detected.
Here is the microphone. Like the main unit of the radio this is also very solidly built, fits nicely in the hand & the PTT has a nice easy action, which helps to prevent straining hands while keeping the TX keyed.
Conveniently, all of the controls required to operate the radio are duplicated on this mic, along with a control lock switch, & backlighting for the buttons.
Another output speaker is placed in the back of the mic. This one can be activated through the menu system, to either use the main body speakers, the mic mounted one, or both.
A mounting hook for the mic is provided to attach to any convenient surface.
Here’s the back of the radio, with some of the big heatsink fins, the fan in the centre. To the left is the PL259 RF output, this looks to be a high quality Teflon insulated one. On the right are the power input leads & the external speaker outputs.
The external speaker connections are via 3.5mm jacks. I haven’t yet tested this feature.
The control panel of this radio is detachable from the main body, and a pair of adaptors are provided. This either allows the radio display to be angled upwards toward the user, set parallel, or even mounted remotely. A control extension cable is provided to allow the main body to be mounted a fair distance away.
On the left of the radio is the PC control & programming port, & the mic connector. Wouxun *really* like RJ-45 connectors, they’ve used them for everything on this radio.
Also visible here is the tilted faceplate adaptor.
The supplied software to program the radio, while functional, is absolutely horrific. Hopefully someone will add support for this radio into CHIRP. Anything would be an improvement in this area.
Everything considered, I like this radio. It’s very solidly built, easy to use, and sounds brilliant.
TX audio is great, (or so my other contacts tell me).
Unsurprisingly, the unit gets warm while transmitting, however on high power, it does get uncomfortably warm, and the built in fan does little in the way of helping when a long QSO is in progress. I may remedy this at some stage with a more powerful fan. A little more airflow would do wonders.
If the programming software was built as well as the radio, I’d have zero serious complaints.
At full power, the radio pulls ~10A from the power supply, at 12.9v DC.
As for the antenna I’m currently using, it’s a Diamond X30, mounted on a modified PA speaker stand, at ~30 feet above ground. The feeder is high quality RG-213.
When I manage to get the set disconnected, a partial teardown will be posted, with some intimate details about the internals. Stay tuned!
