WEBVTT 1 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:15.439 The Ham Radio two point zero Audio podcast rip. Thank you for downloading and 2 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:19.239 listening to this podcast. So basically what I do is I take all the 3 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:24.879 audio clips out of my videos and upload them to spreaker and then from there 4 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:31.280 they're spread out to iTunes and SoundCloud and now Amazon Audible as well. But 5 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:35.079 I want to welcome you and thank you for joining the audio section of this 6 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:40.200 series on Ham Radio. I hope you enjoy it, and I would appreciate 7 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:45.880 you leaving us a comment or a review on whatever podcast service you're listening from. 8 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:53.560 Thank you in seventy three, I hope you enjoy it. UV thirteen 9 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:58.560 pro one of the newest baalfang radios. It's advertised as a high power dual 10 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:03.439 band HT, so we're going to take a look at it today. Good 11 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:07.840 afternoon, Welcome to the channel. My name's Jason. I'm KC five HWB 12 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:11.159 is my Ham Radio call sign, and this is Ham Radio two point zero 13 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.079 where we do reviews, news and how twos of things that are new in 14 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:18.159 amateur radio. I've done videos about the UV five R, the UV nine 15 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:21.200 R, the UV ten R. This is a UV thirteen R. I 16 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:26.760 picked this up on eBay and It's advertised as a high power walkie talkie VHF 17 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.599 UHF portable ham radio two way radio, so it sells for about forty dollars 18 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.439 at the time of this recording. It comes with the following items. So 19 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:38.959 this stuff right here is what it comes. Does not come with the CWQ 20 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:44.000 just FYI. So it's got a earpiece here with an inline push to talk 21 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:46.519 button on it, so that's kind of cool belt clip. Of course. 22 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.680 It comes with the antenna which I put on. It didn't It didn't come 23 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.719 with the antenna attached. It did come with the battery attached, but it 24 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:55.920 had a piece of plastic between the battery and the radio so that it wouldn't 25 00:01:55.959 --> 00:02:00.079 run down the battery. It does have USBC charging on the bottom of a 26 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.239 battery right there. In fact, the charging cable, it doesn't have a 27 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:06.560 cradle here, you'll see no cradle at all. The charging cable it comes 28 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:12.840 with is this USBA to USBC cable and a walwart that has a USBA in 29 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:16.000 the bottom of it, just like that right there, so you can plug 30 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:23.080 that in and charge it solely from USBC. So no desktop charger for this 31 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:25.599 radio. This might be the first balfang, I've ever seen that doesn't come 32 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:29.439 with a desktop charger. Now, let me ask you guys this, what 33 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:34.520 do you think about desktop chargers? The fact that this is USBC charging is 34 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:38.280 a very forward direction, forward thinking direction. A lot of the hts today 35 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:44.120 that are on the market, brand new hts don't include USB charging at all. 36 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:47.000 At least the icon ID fifty two has a micro USB charger, so 37 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:51.680 that's kind of cool. It'll charge via micro USB. That's good. But 38 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:55.479 USBC is somewhat of a new thing to the Japanese companies. And finally, 39 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:00.639 the Chinese companies are starting to actually include USBC chargers. So the fact that 40 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:02.840 this one does not have a desk charger, I don't think I care. 41 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:07.960 I think if I had to pick between a proprietary desk charger and a USBC 42 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.560 common charger, I would choose the USBC charger. Now a lot of you 43 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.159 may say in the comments, well why can't we have both? Great question, 44 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.800 ask the manufacturers. Because I don't get to make those decisions. I 45 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.080 would rather have both. Yes, I'd rather be able to drop in a 46 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:23.039 charger, drop a spare battery and a charger and charge and also have a 47 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:27.599 USBC charger, Yes, but if I had to pick one or the other, 48 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:30.400 USBC would be my preference. That's my opinion. You may not agree. 49 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.719 That's okay. Whatever you want to think is just fine. But that's 50 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:37.759 where we are right now. So let's go through the menu of this radio. 51 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:39.000 I'm going to zoom down here just a touch, all right, So 52 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:43.599 that's a little bit bright right there around this area. But you can see 53 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:46.680 the screen, the screens what we're focusing on right now. So if I 54 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:50.639 turn the menu on, it's washed out because I've brightened it up. But 55 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.479 you can see the backlight is the menu right there? Okay, So backlight 56 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:57.759 you can change when it times out, but you can't change the brightness. 57 00:03:58.360 --> 00:04:02.000 The one above ten seconds says, right, what does that mean? I 58 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:06.479 suspect that means it just stays on constantly. I don't know what bright means 59 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:10.439 because the whole thing is bright. There's not a way. When I saw 60 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:12.240 bright, I thought, oh good, there's a way to dim it. 61 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:15.039 But no, there is no way to dim it. And that's just kind 62 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:19.959 of where it is right there. Menu starting at zero right there and ending 63 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:27.079 at forty two. So a squelch menu two point five killer hurt steps. 64 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:32.439 That's good. Transmit power is high. There's high and low, no midpower. 65 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:36.360 Okay, we're going to test that on a power meter. Power save 66 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:43.319 three vox level. Bandwidth is wide. It'll do narrow FM. So that's 67 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:47.600 good. Backlight. We went through their d weight. I don't know what 68 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:54.680 that is. Beep, now we can turn that off. Good time out 69 00:04:54.680 --> 00:05:00.759 timer, receive dcs, receive CTCSS. That's strange that it's it's set in 70 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.399 there. I don't know why that's set in there. That's strange. Transmit 71 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:08.600 is said. Also turn that off. Voice you can turn off and on 72 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:12.000 a lot of people ask about the voice when I do these review videos. 73 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:17.439 It's got a lot of different things in here. Forty two different menus. 74 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:24.360 Offset is your offset for repeater work. Direction is plus or miners. That's 75 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.680 good. Instead of giving you the symbols, that actually says plus the word 76 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:32.839 and minus the word and then none the word instead of zero a positive or 77 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:42.839 a plus symbol or a negative symbol. Channel memory delete channel memory nine hundred 78 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:47.279 ninety nine memory channels. Okay, so guess what that is? Awesome for 79 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.399 a bal Fang nine hundred and ninety nine memory channels that is something I have 80 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:56.439 not seen on a Balfang before. Most of your Balfang radios have like one 81 00:05:56.519 --> 00:05:59.800 hundred and twenty eight memory channels. The UV five R, the UV e 82 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:02.600 eighty two, the UV ten R. Believe he even had one hundred and 83 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:06.759 twenty eight memory channels. Your ty T thh three fifty, the UV eighty 84 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:10.360 eight, the RT eighty five from rut of Us. Some of those have 85 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:13.199 two hundred channels, some of them have one hundred twenty eight. The nine 86 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:15.399 hundred ninety nine memory channels is a feature we don't see much outside of the 87 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:21.240 world of Ocean the Wokson Wuksen Wakson radios. Every time I say ocean, 88 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:25.480 someone comes along and says, no, it's o'shang. Every time I say 89 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:28.360 Oshang, someone comes along and says, no, it's o'shan. You know 90 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:30.319 what, I don't know what it is. It starts with a W. 91 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:32.800 That's what I know. But those radios, typically your UV eight Delta, 92 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:38.399 UV eight Echo, the new UV eight Hotel, the UV nine series, 93 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:41.879 all the different UV nine radios, those have nine hundred and ninety nine memory 94 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:45.519 channels. But I've yet to see a Balfang with a nine hundred ninety nine 95 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.600 memory channel bank. So hey, we're making progress. This is a step 96 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:53.600 up. The Balfang has a USBC charger and it has nine hundred ninety nine 97 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:57.160 channels in memory. I'm not complaining about that at all right now. So 98 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.639 let's take a look further here. Still got a dark screen because of the 99 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:03.240 bright backlight. You can't turn the backlight down. That's really the only drawback 100 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:10.600 I found so far. Alarm mode seek so it'll scan for CTCSS tones, 101 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:15.000 it'll scan for DCS tones. TAIL. I don't know what that means. 102 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.839 One thing I just discovered to hold to change from channel mode to frequency mode 103 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:25.360 to VFO. You just hold down this menu button two second press, maybe 104 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:29.879 a long press VFO right there, VFO right there, so you can vafot 105 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.560 like that. Good, Change it back to channel mode, go back into 106 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:36.240 the menu. So oh it started, you know. Okay, So I 107 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:42.040 don't know what tail means. It might say in the manual. I can't 108 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.639 imagine something that I would really need that much of, So I'm not going 109 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:50.000 to really worry about it right now. But rpst r PRL Roger. It's 110 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:53.360 got a Roger beat. Okay, we know it's a real radio. Now 111 00:07:53.360 --> 00:08:00.480 it's got a Roger beat, received tone, open set languages, English, 112 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:03.920 hopping, our X. I wonder if it has a spread spectrum bandhoppy. 113 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:07.680 It won't let me turn it on because I'm in memory mode, presumably, 114 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:09.439 or maybe I have to set up a specific channel. So it made have 115 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:16.120 spread spectrum bandhopping. Reset all forty one, sink off and go back there. 116 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:18.839 It did come with the manual, And here's the manual right here. 117 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:28.319 SINC is on enable single band two line display a display alias on the frequency 118 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.240 off is normal display status. Gotcha? Okay, So sync changes it to 119 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:37.320 channel seven or frequency. So I turned SINC on and now it says a 120 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.879 frequency on both top and bottom. I turned SINC on and it has a 121 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.240 channel number. Presumably you can go in there and name those channels, maybe 122 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:46.519 in the software or something like that. I don't know what that means. 123 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:54.960 And this tail squelch tail squelch elimination is what tail is. This function is 124 00:08:54.039 --> 00:09:00.320 used to eliminate the squelch tail noise between handhelds that are communicating directly with no 125 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:05.159 repeater reception of fifty five hurts or thirteen point four one thirty four point four 126 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:09.679 hurts, tone bursts, mutes the audio long enough to prevent hearing any squelch 127 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:13.200 tail noise. That's what that says right there. Okay, so this manual 128 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:18.960 has a decent description of what all of these menus are. That's good. 129 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:22.720 I'm impressed with that as well. Okay, so hey, so far, 130 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:28.879 I'm really liking this UV thirteen pro you know, for it for a forty 131 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:33.240 dollars radio, it's about fifteen twelve, fifteen eighteen dollars more than a UV 132 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.039 five bar depending on where you find the UV five R and what time you 133 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:39.720 find it. Yeah, that's that's a pretty good, pretty good things so 134 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:41.120 far. So I like all that. Let's go around the sides of it 135 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:45.240 because I want you all to see what it looks like all the way around. 136 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:48.039 All right, brighten this back up again, so the screens washed out. 137 00:09:48.440 --> 00:09:52.200 It's got two buttons above, one button above, one button below the 138 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:56.440 PTT. That's your PTT obviously. Okay, so that's your flashlight. Short 139 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:01.720 press on the bottom button is your flashlight. Long press opens up the squelch 140 00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:05.679 just like that. Short press on the top button turns on the FIM stereo. 141 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:13.919 Okay, short press turns it off, long press sets the alarm. 142 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:18.159 Okay, so that's pretty common. It's got the standard K type connector on 143 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:22.039 the side here, which is where you're inline PTT that it comes with plugs 144 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:26.600 into. You can also put a speaker mic in there. Bottom of it 145 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:31.159 looks like this. That's how you take the battery off. There's the USPC 146 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:37.279 charger. It does have these three prongs across the battery, so it is 147 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:41.960 set up for a desk charger. You can actually probably put a desk charger. 148 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:43.480 Put this in a desk charger. It doesn't it just doesn't come with 149 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.759 it. So if you find something that matches the voltage on a desk charger 150 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:50.840 from another manufacturer, maybe another model of Balfang radio, you might be able 151 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:54.279 to use that with it. I have not looked the belt clip attaches to 152 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:58.360 the battery now I've mentioned in previous videos. I'd rather it attached the body 153 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:01.840 that way. If you buy multiple batteries for it, you can you don't 154 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:05.279 have to buy a separate clip for each one, but on this one you 155 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.120 would have to. You'd have to buy a separate clip for each one because 156 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:13.879 it connects to the battery. Now, which you'll notice first off is there's 157 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:16.320 no FCC approval stamp. Stamp of approval, I should say, this is 158 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:20.600 a CE stamp right here, and C is at least I'm pretty sure that's 159 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:26.279 CE. I've seen that before, and C is the UK version of the 160 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:31.679 FCC, So this might be accepted in England in the United Kingdom, but 161 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:35.360 as of right now, there are no FCC stamps on this radio. So 162 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:39.039 that's take that for what it's worth. So I'm not going to really probably 163 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.720 use this very much. This is a brand new radio again. I got 164 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:46.080 this off of eBay. I will put a link in the description so that 165 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.960 you guys can find where it was at the time of this recording. It 166 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:54.440 is thirty nine ninety nine. It's got an h SMA female on the antenna 167 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:58.679 and SMA mail on the actual radio self. So let's put it on the 168 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.759 meter and see what it does. To use the trust e MFJA eight forty 169 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:05.240 nine, as I have done in many other videos in the past, and 170 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:07.600 I'm gonna put this thing into VFO mode. Okay, So now I'm at 171 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:11.679 one forty six five two zero. I know you can't see that in the 172 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:15.480 camera, but you're just gonna have to trust me. That's one forty six 173 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.120 five two zero. Wonder if the camera there it goes okay, the camera 174 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:22.039 just if I get it close enough. Okay, So VFO one forty six 175 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.440 five two zero. It has as I said a minute ago, it has 176 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:30.480 two power settings, power levels high and low. So on low we're going 177 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.559 to be looking at one and a half watts on low. That's where it 178 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:35.200 is right there. Okay, good, we're going into a dummy load right 179 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:39.720 now. Change the power to high and we're about three and a half watts. 180 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:43.919 Now. Again, this is advertised as quote high power walkie talkie on 181 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:50.279 eBay. And if I look at the eBay listing here high low t X 182 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:54.240 power selectable high power is five watts. Now, I would not exactly call 183 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:58.159 a five white ht high power, but I didn't make this listing, so 184 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:03.039 just bear that in mind. Okay, So three and a half wats one 185 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.519 forty six dot five two. Now we're going to go to four forty I'm 186 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:09.399 gonna go to four forty one zero, four forty one zero. You can 187 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:13.120 see that right there. High power is about two point eight watts YEP. 188 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.279 That's high power and about a half a watt on low on the four forty 189 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:22.200 band, so not really performing the way that it advertises it will. But 190 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:28.000 if you've looked at my last few Balfang videos, that's that's become kind of 191 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.360 a common thing. It's possible there's some calibration that needs to be done in 192 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:35.840 this MFJ meter. But if I put my yazoo or my icon on this 193 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.559 meter, they read right, is right about what they're supposed to be reading. 194 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.080 If I put my UV nine D mate, which is a ten D 195 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.799 HT, it reads about nine point five to nine point eight watts. So 196 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:50.480 I'm fairly confident that this meter is accurate because on the higher end radios it 197 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:54.000 seems to read exactly what it's supposed to. On the lower end radios, 198 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:58.279 it tends to read like one to one and a half watts less than what 199 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:01.720 these radios are advertised as. So do I think this is a good radio? 200 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:03.480 Yes? I do. I really think this is a good radio, 201 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:09.120 at least once it gets an FCC certification. Okay, if they're if they're 202 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:13.840 planning on certifying this specific model. But it's got an excellent menu, it's 203 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.279 got nine hundred and ninety nine memory channels, it's got USBC charging compatibility. 204 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:22.519 It has the standard kinwoodport on the K connector port on the side, so 205 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.559 you can put your standard ptt earbuds in it, speaker mis and whatnot. 206 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:31.519 But I think that Balfang is moving in the right direction with this transceiver, 207 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:35.320 and I think it would be I'd like to put it on a spectrum analyzer 208 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.120 to kind of see how spurious the emissions may or may not be. I'd 209 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:43.279 like to do some real world testing with it to see what people think about 210 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:48.039 it, but I might wait until there's an actual FCC stamp on it to 211 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.960 do that. Maybe we'll do some tests, some dummy load testing with it 212 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.240 again later on. I don't know who has this. Have you guys seen 213 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:58.120 this yet? The UV thirteen pro I think I think perhaps they had a 214 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:03.200 UV thirteen prior to twenty twenty two, but this one's advertised as a new 215 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.320 twenty twenty two models, so they've updated something. And quite frankly, it's 216 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:09.120 the first HT I've ever seen from Balfang with nine hundred and ninety nine memory 217 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:11.879 channels in it, so that impressed me. That did that impressed me. 218 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:16.480 I thought it was cool to have that many channels in a forty dollars radio 219 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:20.240 from Balfang. Let me know what you think about it comment below seventy three 220 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:20.320 and thanks for watching today.