q900 v3 as good as ftdx10 on HF
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- čas přidán 3. 02. 2023
- I wanted a radio for travel, so Malachite seemed ok but not great, then I saw an sdr, but it was $400, too much for just a radio, and then I keep searching, because for that money I can get a good second hand TxRx, so I found q900 v3. Man, this thing is awesome! I bought it with the gps unit, totally useless, but it was free. still I think I paid for it about $650. anyway, very happy with the radio. I did make some contacts, and they said the signal was weak but intelligible. that's about it.
Nice comparison, Coz.
Thanks for the Guoetec Q900 review. I am looking into a new QRP rig and seeing what is out there. I subscribed to you. WG7D
Please give us some more!
I have a Q900. It's surprisingly good. It also has so many features.
I cannot find the Notch function on q900 to save my life! ftdx10 has easier access to needed functions. other than that, q900 v3 beats a lot of modern qrp transceivers by a lot, like REEEEALY a lot.
definitely looking at a Guohe Q900. Also looking at the TBR-119 (the militarized, waterproof version). Same family of radios.
TBR119 is a very overpriced radio. if you take this hobby to that extreme to need mil specs radio, hm!...
Be careful. I have the V3.
- The V4 appears to be the same but with antennas recabled to fix the VHF/UHF antenna problem (see below).
- HF is fine.
- VHF/UHF antennas are on the same SO-239 as HF, which is a bind.
- The Ethernet socket is not connected to anything
- The extra modules are not fully funtional
- With the DMR module installed, VHF/UHF rx is on the SO-239 and tx is on the SMA: ok for satellites, useless for normal simplex and portable
- The firmware is buggy, for example memories are not retained after switching off.
Conclusion: a good concept, but not mature enough for marketing.
I totally agree with you! great concept, slow improvements and updates. I'm not planning getting anything q900 line.
The q900 is a transceiver. How well does it do in transmission modes?
I am glad you chose the 80M band as I am most active on 3928 KHz. It does sound good. I use a Kenwood TS890S for a base station.
I have one on order but haven't received it yet. I plan to use it while on travel. AI7MY
in my last video I tested the 20w ssb on 80, 40, 20 and 10 m bands. I did the math, and 10m reached Utah from where I live, so around 1500 miles (~2400km). as for travel, get u a good end fed antenna. as for power, make sure your source can give plenty of amps, like 6A.
TS890S is really cool.
my radio came after about a month. it was a returned one from the previous owner who hated it, nothing wrong with it. since you're familiar with ham stuff, you'll find the useful features pretty easily.
@@n1coz75 Thank you!
I've seen good reports on this rig...and a lot of "it's garbage" ones. Here's a question. I'm a blind ham. How menu driven is it? Do menus wrap around? And is there provision for direct frequency entry, i.e. entering a frequency from a numeric keypad? I really wouldn't mind a very portable DC to daylight rig like this. While I love my Elecraft KX3, I'd hate for something to happen to it. ...
I'm assuming you're not totally blind. starting from this point, EVERYTHiNG is small, you'll need a magnifying glass. once you figure out where the things are, it gets easier, but again, everything is small. the way you enter a frequency, for 3.950 MHz you have to press 3.950000. yes, you have to press 3 more zeroes for the radio to change frequency. the mode of operation (AM, SSB, FM etc) is one button, and the writing on the display is small. you can use your phone or tablet once connected to q900 via BT, and things are WAAAAY better, all is bigger, easier to see. in conclusion, the radio itself is not simple to operate, but with a tablet, it would be much much easier.
@@n1coz75 That would be a bad assumption. LOL, because I am.
@@n1coz75 All of that isactually very encouraging. Keypad entry sounds like no issue, and to control with a tablet, even something like one of the Amazon Fire tablets, would be just fine. I'm sorely tempted to grab one, like I need more radios.
@@kb5elv you need to be able to install an android app on the tablet to operate the radio. I think amazon fire is locked down by the gods of amazon. I think lenovo and the walmart brand are about the same price and you can install an .apk app on it no issues.
@@n1coz75 It's true that Amazon locks down side loading, but it's not hard to unlock. Or it wasn't last time I did it on a Fire tablet, which admittedly was a while ago. I would like to see how well the app works with Talkback though.
Can it be linked to a pc for cat control as it doesn’t have a conventional vfo it would be easier to change frequency.73 Gm4zji Chris
Hi Chris, I don't know anything about cat control on the q900. currently I'm working on a Linear amplifier, and my focus is only on that. thanks for watching. 73
@@n1coz75 I’ve ordered the q900 now! Saw a video from techminds showing how to have control via pc..thanks for your video and look forward to seeing your amplifier! 73 Gm4zji Chris
Good selection for comparison...keep hacking at the comoarison ...
Q900 audio thru the Bose speaker is aways going to sound better. SDR compared to SDR is not really a comparison. I can get a great receive on a SDR stick plugged into my computer. It's the hardware and how easy or user friendly a radio is. So take the 100 watt rig and plug its receive thru the Bose and then use the Q900 for events as QRP with head phones. Now thats how the two rigs should be compared.
Yes, you can compare sdr vs sdr. I've spent around $1k on sdr dongles and other usb sdr thingies and I can tell u they're not made the same. Some are 8bit and very deaf. Some are 10 to 14bit, badly messed by emi and they don't measure or compare with q900v3. Ftdx10 is known as a hybrid heterodyne +sdr, where q900 is a better design of sdr malachite (don't know the bit resolution, probably 12bit). I was very surprised that q900 pulled very low signals, like ftdx10. Now, the noise reduction of ftdx10 beats q900 by a mile and beyond, but just sdr vs sdr, to my ear they are the same. And I tell you this, the ftdx10 with bose pc speaks doesn't sound better. At the time of measurements, those bose speakers (from thrift store) were at my reach. I don't think I have less quality speakers around. On the same pair of headphones both ftdx10 and q900 sound about the same. The ftdx10 waterfall is way better. At one point I used the ftdx10 water fall to hunt for a low signal, once found and tuned, both radio pulled the signal equally.
But hey, what do I know?!...
There are different SDR designs. For example, the Hermes is only HF because there is no analog mixing. That's a feature, not a bug!