It probably should be pinned that this TCVR is no longer available. Not only that but the follow on tcvr called the SKY SDR made in Europe is no longer available. You'd have to buy one from Ebay. There are still single band sSB tranceivers available but nearly everything comes from PRC these days . Some of it is ok and some bloody awful. For OK look at CRkits . They have an interesting two band CW tcvr that can be had in fully built up form. And no , I get no cut. :-) LNR do sell CW tcvrs but not anything like this (from the US). Tim Fidler, Nz.
I wonder if this will ever come back on stock. It looks lightweight and portable, which would why it would be preferable to the FT817 to some (me) people. I have the 817ND btw...
Göran Gustafsson I only had the radio on loan for a short time and didn’t have the opportunity to try datamodes. I think the version I had did not have the updated FTDI chipset so I’m not sure if I could have got it working with Windows 10.
Good review! You can get some right angle connectors through Amazon. I use several for various applications with radios, laptop external speakers, and a Blue Tooth Anker speaker if I don't have Blue Tooth on a device. I've wanted either an LD-5 or LD-11, but I'm new to QRP. As both my FT-857D and FT-450AT do 5 watts, it's hard to justify. But, I do plan on getting out portable more. Hopefully, I'll get one soon... Again, great video.
The FT-857 can make a great portable transceiver and can provide a little more power if you enjoy SSB but the LD-5/11 or something like an FT817/818 is certainly lighter if you're doing any hiking to operate. If you're a CW Op then the Mountain Toppers are hard to beat. Portable operation is great fun and can be an interesting challenge. Enjoy.
Hi Michael Thanks for the overview. I bought one of these at Dayton a few weeks ago so Im waiting for it to arrive. Very good to see all the features. Im planning to use it with an Alex Loop antenna. Im going to try to make it up a hill or two so might meet you on the air. Rob G0MGM
Jeff, that was a VERY wishy-washy statement. Have you tried both radios? I think you will find the LD-11 has a better receiver than the KX2, though most of the time in the field you won't hear a difference.
Here in central Europe the LD-11 is available under the Brand Name "Aerial-51" and the model name "SKY-SDR." The European model has some changes including improved knobs and stronger sidetone level for speaker listening. Both radios were designed by and are built by the same company here in Europe. The SKY's instruction manual is more thorough. See: www.aerial-51.com/new-sky-sdr/ . It is not available in Ferrari Red like the LD-11 is. It is sold exclusively by Appello: appello-funk.de/shop/en/aerial-51-sky-sdr-transceiver/index.htm .
Agreed...their manual is much, much better than the LNR offering. Keep an eye out on the Kanga UK site as a slightly newer version of the manual should be available soon with further corrections :o)
There has been some discussion about the use of this radio on CW. Specifically, it does not have full QSK and its T/R relay is rather loud. I would like to share with you my experience using this radio on CW. I had a chance to use the Aerial-51 SKY-SDR in CQWW CW contest last weekend. This radio is [in the meantime] identical to the LD-11 except for the knobs, color and shape of the buttons. Agreed, the relay is loud but I wear headphones during CW contests so it was a not issue. I actually ran the radio at 200 ms delay, rather than 100 ms (it's shortest delay). I will post my results below for my 9 hours of operation, mostly at night, but first I will describe the antenna and QTH to help put meaning to this. My antenna is an Aerial-51 807 multi-band dipole, covering 7 bands. I worked all 5 contest bands 80-10m WITHOUT an antenna tuner. My home is in a valley with tall mountains on 3 sides, having a clear shot only to the south - not very conducive to working DX. :-( You can see a picture on my web site, here: www.dj0ip.de/about-me/my-qth/ Never-the-less, here is what I worked: CQWW DX EXPERIENCE: BAND...QSO....CQ...DXC...DUP....POINTS.....AVG ------------------------------------------- .160.........0.......0........0.......0............0..........0.00 ...80......129......6......40.......1........138..........1.07 ...40........51......8......29.......0..........79..........1.55 ...20.......29.......8......15.......0..........55..........1.90 ...15.........4.......2........3.......0..........12..........3.00 ...10.........0.......0........0.......0............0..........0.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL..213....24......87.......1........284..........1.33 =========================================== TOTAL SCORE : 31 524 ..QSO = Number of QSOs ....CQ = Number of CQ Zones worked ..DXC = Number of countries worked ..DUP = Duplicate QSO Highlights: Worked PJ4Q, Scott (W4PA) on 40m. Scott is my USA distributor for Spiderbeam and Aerial-51 products. Worked VK6 on 15m. During the last 2 hours of the contest, my run rate was 27 QSO per hour, which honestly is not bad for 5 watts and a dipole. Impression: Despite the over-crowded band condx on the low bands, the receiver's front end was absolutely crunch-proof. Even the "99dB over 9" (hi) LZ9W did not phase it. The DSP filters were really great. Most of the time I ran with 200 Hz bandwidth, but occasionally 80 to 100 Hz when QRM was bad. My only two regrets were that I did not have more time on that weekend and that the high bands were so lousy, in fact 10m was completely dead here. "THIS" is what this radio was designed to do. It is not a toy, it is a serious communications radio. It was designed in IARU Region 1 where we are limited to 2.7 kHz bandwidth below 30 MHz. It was designed for amateur radio, not other services. It does what it was designed to do, quite well. Of course I am quite partial to this radio (hi). The BOTTOM LINE: This is a serious CW radio unless you don't own headphones and the clicks drive you crazy. =========================
I didn't really notice the clicks in the shack but mostly operated portable while I was using the LD-11. Like you I set the break-in delay at 200 - 300mS which matches my sending speed well...I've never been a fan of full break-in so its not something I missed. The filters are good...I operated SOTA with some busy bands and found the filters (4 settings) and the ability to modify one of the filter widths to be one of the radios most outstanding features. I think I had an early version of the LD-11 and I understand processing delay has been reduced which must now make this a great little performer.
KuriosPC Note that there may be other options depending where in the world you are. Kanga in the U.K. and Aerial-51 in Germany may be able to help you out.
Excellent presentation. In fact I believe it is the best I've ever seen. My only concern is the open areas and gaps between the buttons and jacks and the case to the interior of the radio. Seems like condensation/mist/rain and dirt could enter very easily. Other than that it looks like a great rig. Thanks 73
I agree...it's not a sealed unit but then, if I were to be fair, it's no worse than many of the radios I have in this respect. Now, a water/dust proof radio designed for SOTA and portable use...that would be something special. The only thing I have that fits this description is my PRC-320 army radio...but that weighs a ton!
You still have the 3.5mm key/headphone/mic sockets which may not all be in use and the USB socket and external amp switching socket. These are, at least, on the sides of the radio so not exposed to vertical rain...that said...on a SOTA summit the rain is sometimes horizontal!!!
How do you switch from Wide FM dev(5khz max) and Narrow FM (2.5Khz Max) as most UK\EU use Narrow FM on 10m bands,is it supported? Im guessing a USA product will be wide FM (5khz Deviation) for USA market??? B\W adjustable in FM mode ? Does it have CTCSS for 10m and 6m repeaters? Does it TX AM modulation? No 5khz steps in AM mode strange? Does it cover 5-6mhz band TX\RX for 60m ops or already wide banded from stock?? sorry all the questions,mainly asking for UK\EU markets. Nice set.
Good question! Unfortunately I only got to borrow the LD-11 for a few weeks and, other than trying FM to listen to the audio quality, don't recall if there was a an option to switch between wide and narrow deviation. I've only come across deviation bandwidth being an issue when using repeaters which isn't an issue here on HF although I believe their may be one or two 6m repeaters here in the UK now. The LD-11 has a normal menu for modifying day to day stuff but also has a 'super user' menu for really changing fundamental things in the radio so the Wide/Narrow FM may be an option that's tucked away. Drop the guys at LNR Precision a line...they're very helpful.
Ok will do,I asked same question to guys with KX3 in early development,they came back with a updated firmware for UK\EU use concerning wide and narrow FM Dev,as here in UK 4m Narrow fm,10M Narrow fm with some mixed wide FM on old HF kit,6m wide or Narrow on 6m repeaters.USA hams boycotted Narrow FM,so maybe why USA products dont have it from start in early development.Thanks anyway for getting back 73's. Rob
This very easy to accomplish. You must enter the service mode and there in the service mode menu you can adjust the transmitter bandwidth of each of the modes. Simply set the FM TX bandwidth to whatever you please, then exit service mode menu to save.
Brilliant, so if want 9 kHz B\W for NFM RX and TX 2.00khz to 2.5khz peak deviation on NFM we are ok from service menu yes? A lot of kit tends to be able to reduce the FM bandwidth on RX as well for narrow FM generally its 9Khz or 6Khz wide is this possible too? like I explained a lot of places in world are now using NFM (2.5khz)in 27,29,50,70mhz,145mhz esp UK and Europe so be nice option to be able to select wide or narrow FM in mode select,it will def make product more attractive for export markets. Thanks Richard for reply. Rob
Michael Sansom Hi Michael,well the problem in UK is most 10m\ 6m kit originates from USA market on wide FM 5 khz,but the amateurs in they infinite wisdom decide to be different and go with Narrow FM 2.5khz without really looking at why and what kit is interoperable.It has created a lot of confussion and lack of understanding operating radio here ie wide fm going into narrow fm repeater and vice versa. Also some of the radios that can switch,only do the TX side causing more confusion as RX side not switched.It got so messed up on our local 6m repeater with narrow and wide kit,arguements caused on air but not understanding the radio kit or instruction manauls not saying the whole truth,the repeater keeper finally saw sense and talking to him and switched the repeater back to wide fm TX and RX,another issue here most repeater websites dont state if wide or narrow and that can lead to confussion guesing or not knowing by operator. Operators can get so confused they are turning mic gains up and down,over dev'ing into repeater,under dev'ing into repeater. WE get same issue on 2m VHF band and UK NFM cb radio band. Like I said in USA\Can Markets its not a issue as Narrow dev not used in 10m FM band and 6m FM band in those areas so no issues that Im aware of?? That's why I raised the question should product become available in UK and EU market ,its a feature that's often overlooked.
gsansoucie so your telling me I have to wait longer, when the general and extra is for the cool stuff? Gay! Why don't u say aprs and sota is only for advanced licensed ppl so I'm fucked to only fuck with simplex when I'm not going to build complex atennas and million dollar rigs. I shouldn't have to be forced or dictated it's like saying fuck you peasant I just want to have fun shove shit together and go. Really all the classes of licenses really is too regulate more ppl by the fucking FCC but enough u gotta keep it cordial with international good will etc. I really believe using amatuer radio should really be used by anyone without restrictions just sign ur name and dont fuck up. On commerical and public safety freqs no one that extra shit since it's mainly ten codes, police officers aren't told ohh fuck you, you need a million dollar college course to do Morse code, they simply get to fuck with encrypted freqs.
Mike Bentley Ouch, is that what they’re now selling for here in the UK. I guess you have to weigh up the value but at that price other options definitely come into play. Horses for courses and all that :o)
Chris, my 'loan' unit came configured to just cover the amateur bands and the advantage of this is that, if you keep tuning down at the bottom of the band you loop back to the top which can make tuning around quicker. However, you can go into an admin menu and change this option and I know SWLs are doing this to open the LD-11 up as a short wave receiver (swling.com/blog/2016/05/the-new-lnr-precision-ld-11-transceiver-is-essentially-general-coverage/). The LNR Precision product description rather cryptically says "11m CB band in some conditions!" I'm unclear if you can transmit outside of the amateur bands or if the band pass filters would slightly reduce performance on 27MHz.If you're US based drop Ryan at LNR a line or, alternatively, if you're over here in EU land then contact Dennis at Kanga UK...both should be able to confirm coverage and function in the CB portion of the band (which I assume you are referring to by 27MHz). Come back and let us know the outcome...
