LDG RT-100/RC-100 Combo Review Part 2

If you want a fit and forget ATU that works then this one is for you. Since installing the ATU I no longer think about tuning up as it does it automatically and seamlessly. As many readers know I operate primarily using DigiModes. These are normally less than 30 watts and my Yaesu FT-450D can be adjusted to operate on any power level between 5 to 100 watts.
The ATU is rated at 30W on high duty cycle modes like PSK or JT65 for instance. I always have the power levels set less than this as it is not necessary to have high powers to work world wide DX.

As mentioned in the previous article I have not been able to get my UNUN end fed antenna to match on 80m at all despite the ATU being right at the feed point. So for now I have dismissed 80m until I make a suitable antenna. But the ATU is superb on all other bands to 6m and it tunes automatically without any user intervention. This can be overridden with the TUNE button on the RC-100 (essentially hold it down for more than 1 second when transmitting and it will force a tuning cycle).

So just to underline this is a fantastic piece of equipment and ideal for matching a multiband antenna to your feedline/rig.

LDG RT-100 Remote ATU Review

I have 2 LDG ATUs now, the Z-100 Plus and the other day I ordered the RT-100/RC-100 combo from Martin Lynch. I was fed up with having to press the CS button on the FT-450D that I had configured to send a 5 watt carrier to get the Z-100 Plus to tune! I have never found a way of configuring Ham Radio Deluxe to "press" the CS button. There isn't a CAT command defined by Yaesu for it.

On to the remote tuner.

The RC-100 Controller and the RT-100 Tuner

Dx PS30SWII Switching power supply - review

The additional power supply arrived yesterday and I had chance to connect it to the HF rig and try it out.

DX PS3-SWII Front Panel

Construction

The power supply is housed within a black coloured compact aluminium box which is essentially a huge heatsink. 

It measures 190 W x 69 H x 181 deep (millimetres) and weighs approximately 2.3 kg. The front panel housing all the controls and some connectors is held to the box with 4 screws.

The rear panel comprising a pair of screw terminals, a fuse, a selector switch, mains power connector and a small extract fan is similarly attached.

Watson W-30AM Power Supply

I've had this great linear power supply for a number of years now and it has served me well. Since getting higher powered rigs I've come to the conclusion that the fan noise is now unacceptable.

Supplying 10 Amps to the FT-450D whilst it was
transmitting 35 watts.

The Watson W-30AM is a bench power supply supplying 30 amps continuous (35 amps peak) at 13.8 Volts.

Diamond V-2000 triband vertical review - a replacement for an older Diamond X-50 dual bander

My old Diamond X-50

The new Diamond V-2000 in situ
The 6m inverted V is pointing
east to Europe

Diamond X-50

As mentioned in a previous post my dual band colinear had suddenly gone deaf. When taken down it was found to be a Diamond X-50. I had totally forgotten what make or manufacturer it was. It was still in excellent condition when it was brought down from its home for the last 15 years atop an 8 foot long pole.

I investigated it and found that the PL259 had a slight amount of corrosion despite it being wrapped in self amalgamating tape and in turn being inside the lower pipe of the antenna.

Diamond V-2000 triband vertical antenna

I received the new antenna and assembled it. This one now has two set screws holding the support pipe to the base of the antenna so Diamond have listened to the criticism on internet forums about the the previous 1 set screw fixing. Now it is really strong and gives you confidence.

Avair AV-601 review

I have had an old AEC SWR-50A for the last 35 years and it has finally given up the ghost. To be quite honest it was never really good and now its adjustment potentiometer was shot. I needed another more modern VSWR/Power meter.
I opted for the Avair AV-601 as it covered frequencies from 1.8MHz up to 525MHz that covers most of the radios I have.

I ordered it from Martin Lynch on a Sunday evening and it arrived yesterday 08/07/2015 in a padded bag. I opened it and the cardboard cover for it was a little battered but the meter was inside a large padded bubble wrap sleeve and was fully protected.

Front panel

The instrument itself comprises a large metal box, solidly built and is dominated by a large multipurpose meter. There are 4 rubber feet on the bottom, it is finished in black with silk screen printed lettering. The instrument weighs 720 grams and measures 150mm wide x 50mm high x 100mm deep so should fit in a convenient location in the shack. The RF and power connections are all on the rear panel so make allowances for these connectors.

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 9 - The S Meter

Hmm. The rig has a LCD display and part of it is the S meter. I don't know what it is supposed to represent as your guess is as good as mine.
Sometimes the meter can show 9 divisions which, presumably, represents a signal of S9. There isn't any +10 +20 db symbol as there are on many other rigs.
In practice you can see all 9 divisions lit up and hear masses of noise as well as the other station.

Other times you can see all 9 divisions lit up and there be absolutely no noise. Then you can get a 5 division light which is a perfectly readable signal with no noise and then another same reading which is barely discernible.

There is no consistency to it.





The squelch control is no better working in 9 steps. I've found that it is best to set it at maximum 9 to avoid it opening every few seconds when set at 1.

All in all the S meter is a waste of space and the squelch control could do with better calibration,

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 8 - The volume controls

Dual concentric volume controls
are on the right hand side of the control panel

The volume controls, as there are two of them on the KG-UV950P, are appalling. Wouxun seem to have not paid any attention to the criticism that it has received both in the press (RadCOM Sept 2014 and internet forums).
The positioning of the controls are fine. They are dual concentric controls the rear larger one controls the VFO B and the smaller forward one controls VFO A.
The criticism is that it is impossible to fine control the volume especially at low settings.

Let me explain.

• The controls appear to be rotary encoders with end stops at either end to "feel" like a conventional volume control. There are no click stops like a conventional encoder reinforcing the suggestion.
• There are 16 steps reflected in the display. When going from Vol 0 to Vol 1 the output to the internal (and external) speakers is quite frankly too high. If you are operating at night time you WILL disturb others.
• Maximum volume appears to be reached at about Vol 4 or Vol 5. The other settings are unnecessary.

I know this rig is intended to be used inside motor vehicles where the ambient noise is loud anyway but most other manufacturers (that I am aware of) have no issues of giving continuously variable volume settings.

Dear Mr Wouxun,
Please fix the volume control firmware setting as it is annoying and drives this operator mad.

G8YPH

Incidently when you turn the rig to FM RADIO mode (broadcast radio) the volume is at a more acceptable and controllable setting.

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 7 - Out of band transmission WARNING

Out of the box this rig is capable of transmitting out of band, assuming you have a resonant antenna, which I found odd especially as it was of UK spec.
There is a Windows program available from a few dubious sites on the internet called KG-UV950P-FrqLmt
I downloaded a copy of this software to have a look at the system defaults on my rig.

 KG-UV950P-FrqLmt executable

As can be seen 

• on the 144M band the rig can transmit from 136 to 179MHz. 

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 5 - Scan settings

The rig is capable of scanning the VFO or any memories you may have programmed in.
As a default SCAN A (VFO A) and SCAN B (VFO B) are set to scan all channels from 001 to 999.
I changed my settings so that VFO A could scan all the memories I had  programmed and VFO B to scan VHF/UHF local repeaters near me.

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 4 - FM Broadcast settings

Wouxun KG-UV950P transceiver.

Once again when running the KG-UV905P 2.5K programming software if you click the FM Broadcast Memories tab you see this.

FM Broadcast Memories tab with a few
frequencies I have programmed.

The rig is capable of tuning broadcast FM radio channels on VFO A only. On the FM Broadcast Memories tab there is the ability of programming up to 20 channels with your favourite FM frequencies between 76MHz and 108MHz FM only.

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 3 - Configuration and VFO Programming

Maybe I should have had this section first as it is very important other wise everything defaults to Chinese.

Configuration Tab

Whilst running the KG-UV950P 2.5K software click the Configuration tab.

Out of the box settings

As can be seen there is a lot of options here but I have mine now set to this

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 2 - Memory Programming

Cable connection

The programming cable has a USB connector at one end and an RJ45 plug at the other. Plugging into the rig involves removing a protective rubber bung from the rig port and pushing the connector in. The other USB plug end is simply inserted into a spare USB socket on the PC. On Windows 7 it is recognised as a COM port with a Silicon Labs driver. On mine as seen below it is COM4. Note this can change if you subsequently plug the lead into another USB socket.

KG-UV950 2.5K software

First you connect setup the software to talk to the COM port. This is simply done by clicking Memories>Port and checking the port you have installed. Have a look in device manager in Windows if you are not sure.

Wouxun KG-UV950P review - Part 1

The Wouxun KG-UV950P has been part of the radio shack since around November 2014. In that time I have been pleasantly surprised by it.

The rig as fitted in G8YPH radio shack

Specifications

The brief specifications are:

• Quad band FM/AM transceiver for amateur bands
• 10m 10 watts output from 28-30Mhz
• 6m 50 watts output from 50-52MHz
• 2m 45 watts output from 144 to 146MHz
• 70cm 35 watts output from 430 to 440 MHz
• Dual VFO
• 8 bands receive the 4 amateur bands + 350MHz + 800MHz + Airband AM + Broadcast bands 87-108MHz
• Twin band simultaneous reception
• Duplex Communication (Cross-Band mode useful for 10m to 6m repeater work for instance)
• Same-Band repeat on to combined radios (yes 2 UV950s can be linked to become a full repeater system)
• Voice scrambler
• 999 memory channels (maybe too many)
• SOS alarms
• Full CTCSS/DCS compliant

Arrival

The radio is made in China and came boxed in a very substantial, well padded cardboard box from Martin Lynch and Sons. I paid £239.95 including a shipping charge of £10.00