I have my ham license for more than 35 years now. I have always operated in VHF and UHF. A part from my passion for ham radio I have been professoinaly involved in deploying and testing telecommunication networks for more than 30 years, now. In 2022 I decided that it alredy was the moment to switch to the low bands. So I bought a Xiegu G90 to have a first aproach a low cost, let's say. I must say that G90 is a very nice equipment for outdoor operations. I am very happy with it. I was so amazed surfing the low bands that I bought an IC7300. It is a great piece of equipment with a very good price for value.
I have this radio and it's the Version 4 of the Q900 radio. It is probably the best Military manpack radio you can get for a shack in the box. The internal HF-74MHz tuner works great.
I just bought one of these & have to say it is the worst radio I have ever bought in my 42 years of being licensed ham The over complicated front panel is horrible to use Thank goodness my purchase started rebooting itself & became completly dead.Hooray I was able return it & get a refund
I love my 705, but it'd be nice to see other 10-25W options that are also all band & all mode. If there's issues with this one, hopefully they or someone else gets it right down the road.
Same thought. The display looks suspiciously like a Xiegu G90. All that Chinese stuff gets the same designed by the Central Committee look. And if it has any ties to the Xiegu X6100,it’s probably full of more birdies than an aviary at the zoo. Too bad ‘cause the concept is nice but the radio’s just too Mao for my taste. All I can say is “Swidjin!”
I owned the predecessor radio, the Retevis version of the Q900 called the HS2. I received three of these radios and none of them every worked properly. It’s a great concept radio that is ruined by poor manufacturing and non existent quality control. Maybe they’ve fixed these issues now, but buyer beware!
It reminds me of an old Yaesu series of portable radios. They had a snap on battery pack that took C or D size nicads. When you took the pack off you could add a 25W amp. It did ssb and came in a 144, 440, 6m versions.
Please don't take this the wrong way, I like your videos! I'm looking forward to seeing you RTFM so we can get a better idea of how this performs, and how the menu's work. I find it a little frustrating when reviewers rush through and make statements that are not fair to the manufacturer. Just because the feature works in a different way than you are used to, doesnt mean its broke, bad, or not "what you want to see". First impressions that a lot for your audience take from these comments stick, and I feel sorry for the manufactures when this happens. FYI, the AF button for volume seems pretty obvious after a quick look at the keypad.. The centre "birdie" is the DC / IF sampling point. The "birdie" to the right is not a birdie, but the tuning/RX passband. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing how it goes, and what you think once you have your bearings on it. 73
Well said, I’ve had mine for a couple of weeks and I’ve been doing comments on our Facebook page, you’ll learn a lot more if you find that, than this rubbish.
I’m looking forward to seeing this thing run aprs and dmr. Building a manpack and this seemed like a perfect almost too good to be true rig. Didn’t want to sink 800 on something with no in depth reviews.
That jumper that you pulled out of the box looks like it goes from the battery to the back of the radio so that you can operate it with the battery detached.
Yes! Yes! Yes!: It has receive coverage through 520 Mhz! So I can listen to a lot of local Fire Departments in my area and a good number of NYPD frequencies!
Looks like a nice radio but to many questions. I like my volume knob on the outside of the radio. Plus you take it run it on battery you can hook up the cables for digital and modes. I stick my xiegu radios. They by far are the Chinese radios. The q900 maybe a better choice.
BREAKING NEWS!!!! I have received some help from a ham colleague from Poland. Many thanks Rafal. FT8 is working smoothly with PMR171 and JTDX for three hours now. 😀 The trick is to set the JTDX that way: Rig : YAESU FT-847/UNI (the manual specifies to set FT817) Baud Rate: 9600 (no information about that in the manual) Data Bits : Eight Stop Bits: One Regarding that PM171 is not an experimental rig I would have expected to have clearer and more detailed description of the settings. I will keep trying to get DMR working... Jason, if you don't mind, I will share my findings... EB3CJR 73's
It would have been a much better review if you happened to mention the price range the Power output or I don't know hooked up an antenna and tried it out on transmit and receive.
That a inters ting radio. would like to see power test on all modes and all bands. would like to see POTA with that. also what about run time on that battery ? can buy extra battery ? what type of battery ? looks great !
Hi again, I decided to give a second try to PMR171 testing DMR in deeper detail. I used the programming software to create a codeplug. I have defined two of the closest DMR repeaters in my area (10Km and 5Km), with the most popular TG in the area. I used two other rigs to compare with: Anytone D578UV (proven track radio) and Baofeng DR1801 (low cost DMR WT, less than 60€). Once PMR171 is configured in this way I can tell that DMR is more stable, but it still suddenly sotps receiving, while the others rigs continue receiving. A part from that, PMR171 does not show the caller ID or the Talk Group that is on the air. Even the low cost DR1801 shows Caller ID and the TG. Summary: setting the DMR channels with the programming SW the performance improves a little bit, but it is still unpredictible. Tomorrow I will share the test results for AM and SSB modulatinon in TX mode.
I don’t want to be mean, but this video told me almost nothing that I wanted to know. I’d like to see whether it had RIT activated, for example. I’d want to see HF activity on an antenna. Can the waterfall be adjusted? It seemed to be showing only ten kHz or so. Were those really spurs, or indicators? Your hasty bumbling presentation is…less than I expect from a proficient operator. As I consider your other videos, maybe that’s what I should expect from you? Can you learn the equipment you review, and do reasonable testing of its features? I’m not here just to hear you talk. Grumpiness over :) Thank you for showing us a new (?) radio, at least one I’d never heard of. I doubt I’ll get one, as I think a G90 and a handheld would be a better field carry, and it looks awkward to operate, but it’s nice to see it’s out there.
I watched it to the end and did see that, as I do with all of your videos. It was a great video and a very nice looking radio. I always enjoy your content. I just thought that you might have missed it.
If I had to guess, perhaps the thought process was if you're using the battery, you are likely backpacking, or in the field, therefore there is no need for access to those ports ? Then when operating from the Wallwart, as a Base station, you are afforded the luxury of an external speaker, etc. ? Didn't say it was ideal, but my best guess ? Who knows ? But with so much included in this radio, I wonder if in DMR mode, if there is any encryption offered, as you sometimes find with strange radios ? My point, is many U.S. Law enforcement have gone to encrypted Moto-Turbo, aka. DMR ! So was wondering if this radio offers a way to defeat that encryption ? As I thought the Chinese bought Motorola some time ago, which had the proprietary encryption key they wouldn't share while U.S. Based ? They could likely sell more than they could make ! 🤔.....? Just Say'n !
It has some interesting features. The clamp on battery that covers connectors strikes me as a bit odd. I'm not a hiker anymore so a 20w radio isn't for me and it is a bit expensive if you choose the available options plus shipping. More testing is required. Looking forward to the follow-up videos.
10:47 -- the spike in the center just means they're not doing anything fancy for DC removal in the FFT on I and Q when they generate the waterfall. Left of the DC spike are "negative" frequencies, right are the "positive" ones. You'll see the same with an RTL-SDR or other general purpose SDR. The one on the right is not a birdie, as you can see it doesn't show up on the waterfall. It looks like the marker for the tuned frequency for demodulation.
Play with it for few hours and get familiar with it--THEN do a review. I like mine and ordered it soon after it hit the market. Also have the Q-900. The 171 has the same function but with a knob and the battery is bigger. You have to use the menu, select your entry then use the knob to make changes. You can order an aftermarket knob for use with the Q-900. I call it a 705 + (has tuner and bigger battery and 20 watts) Or a G-90+. Battery included, with power supply/charger AND VHF/UHF. Display is a liitle small but visible outdoors. Maybe a software HDMI output in the future--they make some neat small monitors--have a neat one to pair with my HamClock. Now there's a combo!
Hi, I also own one PMR171 from 3 days ago. As I said in one of my posts, this is not an experimental rig, so it is expected to have a more detailed manual. I have been able to get FT8 working after receiving help from ham radio collegaues. I am in touch with Guohetec guys through whatsapp. I have to say that they allways answer to my claims, but the only guidedance I got is the manual and a youtube video. I alraeady hade them both and they do not tell the way to set FT8 properly. DMR is still not working, well, to be honest, some times it works, some doesn't. Guohetec guys admitted that they have received more complaints about DMR and they are about to release a new firmware. They do not test their products before releasing?
Just checked it out. One thing that I do not like is in the description it says "WFM (receive only)". That would make me assume that the radio will not transmit in wide band. Can you confirm if this is in fact true? Certainly looks like a nice radio especially for the price.
People that tell you to read the manual before shooting your video are the same people that wear a facemask while driving alone in a car, which also happens to be the same people that wear condoms to bed when they live alone.
For the product is a gift box, the freight is relatively high, but click the link below the video to contact customer service can get freight reduction
Hello friend. I live in sao paulo Brazil. Sorry, but I have to ask because I'm not very good at the English language. I am analyzing the possibility of purchasing this equipment, PMR-171. I would like to know if this equipment is good and what are the negative points of this equipment. I am very grateful in advance.
It has usb ports on the back, can it run FT8 via WSJT-X? Is there any software for PC’s or smartphone for control via Bluetooth or USB as the AliExpress web site suggest?
Hi there .. is CB available on all models or did you ask for it to be included ?? In all pics of frequency on this model I have seen on the web CB was not on any of them.
You joke but a few of my CBs have a cw key port. And I'd you want a speaker while the battery is on the radio use the phones port near the antenna jacks
Thanks for the video. Re. the band labelling... we have 70MHz here in Region 1, so the button '74' would seem to be mislabelled. I would be interested to see how you get on with DMR, esp. on a real repeater as opposed to a hotspot. The q900 version of this has issues so I am curious to know how this performs.
The battery latches to the bottom like the old army radios. Back in the day the old army PRC's had a giant-ass dry cell with a port that plugged into the radios. By "today standards" those batteries were trash, and the radio was only like 50-80MHz. Anyway, this looks like an HF Baofeng. I wouldn't pay over $200 for one. That being said, I haven't seen one of these for sale yet.
Smiling! 900 dollars on Banggood, (got to love the humor in that). Overpriced for a radio like that, I think. That kind of money will buy you a much better radio from a major radio manufacture.
Just a thought, my x6100 has birdies all over the place when there’s no antenna connected. Once an antenna is connected the birdies seem to go away. I’m not sure if this radio will do the same thing or not, but it would be worth a test just to see. 73, de NH7TR
It is a rehash of the Q900. heavier, with a wheel and surely with the same distortion problems in ssb in some bands with voltage raised to more than 12v. PA power menu is resolved? many possibilities but minimum feedback from the author with the community and its failures not resolved at the moment.
Well... Something to keep in mind. The problems with the q900 have not been resolved, but they are solved on your new transceiver. A great market philosophy for the future. This will generate great confidence in the users of the Q900 who will surely buy the new one. It's irony of course.
So when battery is on no access to anything on the back ? No digital modes when on battery ? Looks like the Q900 with a make over and a knob. on front.
The main feature of PME-171 is backpack type, which is very suitable for field use. At the same time, it can also be used as a fixed station and a vehicle station. We also equip PMR-171 with a power amplifier, you can check the shop inside the connection
Hi all... After realizing that PMR171 has a very bad performance and considering the poor (to say it in a polite way) answers from Guohetec I decided to push the panic button and I have returned the radio. I must say that I put a lot of excitement buying this radio, but it was finally a delusion. All in all, in the end I have only lost some hours of my life testing the radio and trying to get it work properly. I have also learnt that it is safer to play with well known rig manufacturers. See you soon. 73s
the beam in the middle on the waterfall is .. how should i explain it, i saw it before when i used a USB-sdr stick with an sdr software may well be matter of configuraiton. So all the action happens between the middle and the right end, and may be mirrored on the left... not necessarily a defect, but very badly configured SDR its not a heterodyne, its just bad software configuration. Basically the waterfall is close to useless in that configuration. One can only hope they fix this, and learn from xiegu how to do it. --- next time when you do audio tests with your HT - put microphone near the test-subject, and step into another room before speaking. It is not important that you can hear it, it is important that your audience can hear it.
What an unfortunate product name. Why these companies refuse to Americanize their brands prior to marketing here completely baffles me. And this name might just be the goofiest one yet.
This is a thing today and I have heard that they use a randomizer to create oddball names to create extra work for the patent and trademark office. That's why you see company names you can't pronounce on Amazon, Wish, etc
@@dhinfomediait's really just this honestly. No active patent, can't sell on Amazon. Random string of letters is easy to patent. Throw in real words, much less likely to get rubber stamped instantly
