Quansheng TG-UV2: Some thoughts, and a continued evaluation

Started by hank scorpio, August 02, 2015, 01:46:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

hank scorpio

I originally posted this over at Survivalist boards, but I thought I'd place it here as well.

I've owned this radio for over a week or so:

http://www.amazon.com/Quansheng-TG-UV2-Handheld-Portable-Radio/dp/B007H4VU1U/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1438537545&sr=1-1&keywords=quansheng+tg-uv2

and I've done quite a bit of work with it. Up front, I'm happy with it and it's well worth the price, especially now that it's come down a bit. I own several chinese HTs(UV-5R, UV-5X, UV-3R, KG-UV6D, and KYD IP-670)and have experience with most of the common ones out there. So far, this radio is much better than the Baofengs and worlds better than the Wouxon 6D. There's very little info about this radio, other than many reviews on eham.net, which are nearly all positive. I won't rehash those, but I will attempt to cover this radio from a survivalist perspective.

It weighs much more in the hand than the Baofengs, and is much more sturdy in construction. It feels closer in my opinion to the build quality of an FT-60. The battery latch is on the bottom of the radio, which is a much sturdier design than the UV-5R. The UV-5X has a latch on the bottom as well. The battery itself is 2000mAh, and I've worked three days on standby with the factory charge, recharged two days ago, and still have a full battery indicator. Unlike the 5X, IP-670, and FT-60, I cannot check the actual voltage left in the battery. That's not super critical though, as so far the battery has been more than stisfactory. The factory antenna is the same type that came with the Wouxon, and is the same reverse-SMA as the baofengs. It also shares the same Kenwood type plug for programing cables and accessories, so anything that works for the Baofeng will also work on these. One reviewer stated the radio is IP-55, and while I have not found that anywhere else to confirm this, the radio does have a rudimentary amount of intrusion protection with the plug and the battery.

The screen is smaller than the Baofeng, but the display is efficient. The manual programming is simpler than with any of the other Chinese HTs, but the functions take some getting used to. There is no separate menu as there is on the other radios, all of the functions are achieved with pressing the "F" key along with predetermined key strokes. You can either memorize them or make a cheat card as I did. Chirp does not support this radio at this time.It use it's own software, and as soon as I can get Ubuntu squared away I'll figure out the programming software.

So far it's reception is fantastic, even with the stock antenna, and my signal reports have all been excellent on the local repeaters(each are at least 20 miles away). It has 3 power settings, 1w, 2.5w, and 5w. While I do not have the equipment to test this radio beyond power output(spurious transmissions, etc) so far the power output is true to form, with a 5W output on VHF and just below that on UHF, which is normal. It's scan speed is slow, but it can receive traffic in bands that other radios cannot, which is a definite asset(figure this out on your own). It is a very different radio from the Baofeng/Wouxon/etc radios that all seem to use the same basic interface and firmware. This radio is definitely more professionally oriented by build quality and features. My only complaints lie with the lack of Chirp support and the fascination the Chicoms have with putting LED flashlights on their radios.

For the Survivalist, these radios are far and above the others in the same price range. I'd pick this model over any of the others. From our perspective it offers similar affordability and even greater flexibility/versatility in a much superior form factor. This is not a review, as there's no way to honestly review anything of this nature in the short term, but simply an overview and some thoughts compared to other radios in it's class. Just thought I'd pass the info along, any questions feel free to ask.

NCGunDude

I like my Pofung UV-B5's, and own 3 of them. As far as cost, the last UV-B5 I bought was $30. I see they've come down in price a couple of dollars since then. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BXVOKTW

Chirp support is critical, but I'm sure support for the Quansheng is a release or two away. You may even find another model setting supports yours. I use Ubuntu with no issues. My understanding about the UV-B5 is it's a chicom rip-off of a Kenwood design, and its guts are an SDR. It works well in cold weather and doesn't require any warm up time, unlike my car audio system. The RF front end can get overloaded, the UV-B5 less so than the UV-5R and UV-82.

Good radio introduction, since you're not calling a review. I tried a UV-82 and it had a better feel in my hand than the UV-B5, but the front end overloading was a problem, although it may have worked better on Narrow setting. I don't recall if I tried it.

The Ft-60 has a 4A battery pack option. Have you seen anything like that for the Quansheng? I have battery eliminators for the Pofung's, which plug into DC accessory plugs.

G/L with the Chirp support. I find it essential for programming multiple radios.

hank scorpio

The radio itself has been around for a few years, but due to it's higher price point it's been largely overlooked. Spare batteries are inexpensive on Ebay, and I even found a battery eliminator for mobile use in a vehicle(I'm not really a fan of this setup, but it exists). The TG-UV2 really is its own animal, as nothing I've tried works on Chirp. Quansheng does have it's own software, and it's free. I've played with it and it's simple, but as of right now I'm having an issue opening ports in Ubuntu(I'm new to the OS).

Most of the Baofeng/Wouxon/Puxing radios are similar in how the memories are mapped from my understanding, so they are each relatively simple to program from the same root. Dan Planet has an active request to develop in the daily builds for this radio, and hopefully they will.

I'm hesitant to call something a review I've only used for a week. It works, but further testing(and rough use) is required. We'll see in time.