Wanted: Chinese 10m/11m with CTCSS

[Marky-boy]

I'm thinking of buying one of these Chinese multimodes. I'm willing to give it a go. I've spend 2 nights on Youtube and the web reading up and comparing notes and what models there are, which are clones and such like, and i have mainly one criteria.. that the set has CTCSS
- so that rules out many sets sadly.
I like the SS6900 and it seems that CTCSS is only an option - and after emailing maybe 4 or 5 UK sellers, those that replied say none of them have the sets with CTCSS fitted, and some er, didn't know.... one seller directed me to an (obviously) higher priced set, the CRT SS 7900 - which is on Ebay at £164 and ticks all the right boxes, apart from the higher price tag. i would prefer the £135 price tag of the CRT SS 6900N, and the general rumour seems to be the Alinco DR135 SSB RX audio seems a bit thin, and i dont really want thin SSB audio, even if it had CTCSS on the set,

no 1 on the list, and I like the lovely cast heatsink on the back of the SS 9900 - rather than the more usual bolted on ones, may help with thermal issues. this looks the one at the moment, the link below is of the nice castrear heatsink.. another plus point possibly.

http://www.pmr-funkgeraete.de/images/pr ... 9071_3.jpg

second, the SS 7900 - it seems similar to the 9900 above and the adverts do mention CTCSS - but the language used it vague and confusing (to me at least) because the phrase " CTCSS/DCS encoder/decoder (included original )' makes no sense. obviously translated from another language i guess.

i don't do much TX - so high RF output power isn't an issue really, but nice AGC on SSB rx would be nice.. and decent looking heatsink on the 9900 is my preference so far, i need to see (hear) some 9900s and owners on youtube before i make a decision, i'd be interested in other peoples thoughts.

£160 is about my limit at the minute, any more money and it makes sense to me, to wait, then jump up another level and get an old transistor HF rig..

[JohnB57]

Bite and bump...

Why do you need CTCSS? Unless you have regular FM contact with another CTCSS equipped station, it's pointless.

[Marky-boy]

10m FM repeaters

[Auldgeek]

Both the SS9900 and SS7900 have CTCSS so long as you are buying new or the latest versions. The early versions did not have CTCSS as standard.
The SS6900 (AT 5555 clone) did not have CTCSS but I did see an optional board on sale at one point. Not sure about the current SS6900 though.
One point to mention about the SS9900 is that although the heatsink looks substantial, they become really hot with use, especially on FM so ventilation is a must. The Alinco also suffers from thermal challenges. I've owned most and I must confess the 7900 (AT-5555N) was my favourite as I liked the display. It's a full size radio mind, whereas the 9900 and Alinco are comapct.

Early versions of all these models suffered from poor SSB AGC but they are mostly sorted now. Reducing the rf gain control a fraction usually cures any left over front end excitement!

[JohnB57]

10m FM repeaters

Fair enough.

I assumed that with you posting on the CB equipment thread, 11m would be your main use. Having looked though, the 7900 doesn't cover that band in standard spec. Is there much 10m repeater activity where you are?

[Marky-boy]

well that makes sense - i like CB equipment and am settling towards a President Lincoln II i'm spending fr too much time than is healthy sat here reading up on the pro's and cons .. i was thinking of the ss 7900 and 9900 - but they look tiny, i like bigger sets, i'm used to Cobra 148 size sets, CB makers seem to think smaller is better, for me, it isn't. a 148gtl dx sized 10m set with repeater shift, ctcss and AM that doesn't suck, is hard to find, even got some Ham sets to look at, but i'm not getting into all that wires and ATUs again.

No 10m repeaters here in Lancashire, but we have a couple of DMR repeaters (I'm a joint repeater keeper for one) and we're discussing adding a 10m FM access to our local DMR talkgroup .. so a CB sized 10m CTCSS box would be needed here..

i do have a 10m set, but old Motorola Syntor (ex USA Police i think) it's a 10m/6m mobile .. but 110w is a bit much, they dont like working on low power apparently, and they're er, 'mobile' in exactly the same way you might say a full sized tabletop 1980 VHS recorder is mobile.. messy too, but what a set !

[Auldgeek]

well that makes sense - i like CB equipment and am settling towards a President Lincoln II i'm spending fr too much time than is healthy sat here reading up on the pro's and cons .. i was thinking of the ss 7900 and 9900 - but they look tiny, i like bigger sets, i'm used to Cobra 148 size sets, CB makers seem to think smaller is better, for me, it isn't. a 148gtl dx sized 10m set with repeater shift, ctcss and AM that doesn't suck, is hard to find, even got some Ham sets to look at, but i'm not getting into all that wires and ATUs again.

No 10m repeaters here in Lancashire, but we have a couple of DMR repeaters (I'm a joint repeater keeper for one) and we're discussing adding a 10m FM access to our local DMR talkgroup .. so a CB sized 10m CTCSS box would be needed here..

i do have a 10m set, but old Motorola Syntor (ex USA Police i think) it's a 10m/6m mobile .. but 110w is a bit much, they dont like working on low power apparently, and they're er, 'mobile' in exactly the same way you might say a full sized tabletop 1980 VHS recorder is mobile.. messy too, but what a set !

The SS 7900 is a full size radio. The SS 9900 is considerably smaller.
I've owned both, still have a 7900 (5555N)

[JohnB57]

No 10m repeaters here in Lancashire, but we have a couple of DMR repeaters (I'm a joint repeater keeper for one) and we're discussing adding a 10m FM access to our local DMR talkgroup...

I'll keep an eye on that. I've been involved with DMR since the first UK DMR repeater was installed and I think the most interesting and revolutionary functionality is still to come. And, with respect, it isn't what you're looking at.

Good luck with this though - I can access it with my FT817 when you're up and running.

[Marky-boy]

Hi Killmax ..

i tried and tried, but i couldn't get a sense of how the size of how these Chinese mobiles compare to somethig i was familiar with, like an old 148gtl-dx, so that's interesting info, and *very* helpful..

I still cant bring myself to click 'Buy it now' on a set with Echo built in though,

i like the CB sized sets, for the job i want it for, (at the moment anyway) but i really was about to buy a Lincoln II plus,
when i read a comment under a video of a review saying how he noticed the set has channel numbers and the freq is smaller
and secondary on the display, wel,l that stopped me buying it. i hovered my mouse over the button.

So i was looking at around £260, all in for a Lincoln 2+, and reality stepped in and i realized why i didn't click to buy,
it knew it would be way better value if i simply added a few more quid and just bought a used HF rig.

I would *really* have liked the smaller form factor of the Lincoln 2+ but it's too much money IMHO for what is ostensibly a chinese, channel-centric, set with echo, and although i would enjoy opening a brand new shiny Lincoln 2+, that would be fleeting, so my plans have changed now,

John857 - You'll be doing *damn* well if you make it in on a FT-817 from over there though, of course it depends where (if) we put the 10m site(s) !

[Auldgeek]

Hi Killmax ..

i tried and tried, but i couldn't get a sense of how the size of how these Chinese mobiles compare to somethig i was familiar with, like an old 148gtl-dx, so that's interesting info, and *very* helpful..

I still cant bring myself to click 'Buy it now' on a set with Echo built in though,

i like the CB sized sets, for the job i want it for, (at the moment anyway) but i really was about to buy a Lincoln II plus,
when i read a comment under a video of a review saying how he noticed the set has channel numbers and the freq is smaller
and secondary on the display, wel,l that stopped me buying it. i hovered my mouse over the button.

So i was looking at around £260, all in for a Lincoln 2+, and reality stepped in and i realized why i didn't click to buy,
it knew it would be way better value if i simply added a few more quid and just bought a used HF rig.

I would *really* have liked the smaller form factor of the Lincoln 2+ but it's too much money IMHO for what is ostensibly a chinese, channel-centric, set with echo, and although i would enjoy opening a brand new shiny Lincoln 2+, that would be fleeting, so my plans have changed now,

I have a bit of a soft spot for 10/11m radios and have had many through the shack over the years. From the current crop of Chinese radios, I still own a SS 7900, SS 6900, Lincoln II + and an Optima MKIII. I've also a couple of Lincoln MK1s and a Superstar 3900F. The best performer in terms of receive is probably my 3900F. With a couple of exceptions, all of the modern chinese transceivers have their issues but they all perfrom a simialr function and a few represent incredible value for money. While prices have crept up in recent months, you are still looking at around the £150 mark for a decent performer. £ for £, the SS 6900 which is a clone of the Anytone AT-5555 probably represents the best value at around £135 new but it's not to everyones liking and has a rotary click clarifier that drives some folks nuts. The very latest model has decent receive performance but like all sets coming out of China, the AGC performance can be poor. They have improved these sets in recent years and they are now ok but you still need to reduce the RF Gain a notch to settle it down under noisy or busy bands. For an extra £20, the SS7900 is a nice set. Large display and minimal controls. Again, the latest version is by far the best and has CTCSS.

To give you an idea of size, my SS 7900 which is Cobra 148 size is 23.5 X 20 X 6cm, compares to Lincoln II + which is 20 X 16.5 X 5cm, both excluding their heatsinks. The Lincoln II is not the smallest by any means but the display is not great. The frequency readout is actually pretty small. No idea why President chose to do this.

The Lincoln II, is a bit of an anomaly. I think everyone was so disappointed with the MK II when it was released as the MKI was such a great all round radio and President have now went through 4 versions, the latest now has 12m of course which is a great bonus for Licensed Amateurs.
Is it worth £260? Nope and even though I have one here, I would recommend to anyone they look elsewhere.

To be honest with you, for not much more than £260, you could get yourself into a decent used Amateur HF transceiver. There's a FT-450 (not the D version) on sale at my local emporium for £319 and I'm sure you could get something private for a bit less. Also the IC-706 is another option. Personally, I don't like them but they have their fans!

So I guess it's down to what you want out of your radio and how much you want to spend. I would certainly recommend the SS7900 as a decent full size set and it covers the 25-30Mhz after modification and for over £100 less than the Lincoln. Save your cash or save up a bit longer and get yourself a decent HF set!

[Marky-boy]

Sold my HF rigs a while ago, FT 101 ZD and FT 920, and now i miss having a gen cov rx, so although my old WKS CB was monitoring the freq i like, it wasn't enough, and although i didn't really want another HF rig, especially in the front room, i did end up a finding an little old HF set quite quickly. i don't care for the IC-706 too much either, i borrowed one years ago, although they sound nice & work well.

It makes no sense (to me) to pay slightly less for a chinese CB than to get a known make HF rig instead, i'm not going to get too carried away with HF gear at this QTH anyway, it's too noisy and solar min is approaching.

I saw a 3900F which i liked, it was familiar looking, looked a decent size, and it didn't seem to have echo built in (good) and it might even be from the generation before the Anytones clones appeared everywhere.

Alinco DR 135 and clones seem pretty cheap and looked almost as big as 148s, but the black controls looked very plasticky to me, with talk of SSB/AGC quality issues a few years back i stareted looking at the 7900.

I really like the 7900, it was the best of the bunch for me, but it was hard to tell what the size is though, i wish i'd have known it was Cobra sized or it may be sat here now, i liked the display too and the AGC seemed nice and slow, the receiver sounded nice, as far as i could tell on Youtube and is reasonably priced, this is still interesting to me. i may try one anyway soon then Killmax, Thanks for the info.

The 9900 looked good though, plenty of reviews on Youtube too, nice cast heatink, the only thing that stopped me was that the reviews said it was small, or i might have this rig sat here too.

Lincoln 2 was the also on my list, still more compact than a 148, but after i noticed the channel focussed display nd i saw a discussion about raspy SSB audio i went off it,

I wish the manufacturers would ditch trashy features like echo though, and drop the price or add speech processing, the decision to include echo and sideline the freq in the display make this a CB set, yet it's priced higher that the others, alot of lettering on the front too.
Just a pity i never found this old HF set sooner, then i would be able to open it xmas day, will have to wait till Santa / Parcelforce call

[Marky-boy]

so 2017 arrives, and I am getting so i daren't buy a HF rig anymore,
I bought a Kenwood TS 450-S just after xmas, it arrived this morning, beautiful set.
- I'm returning it tomorrow, as it went deaf between me unpacking it, and testing it for 5 min and my returning home about 2 hours later.

A President HR2510 i bought just before xmas had AM stop working an hour after it arrived. i then sold it for spares or repairs.
an Amateur radio dealer we all know has a TS450 for another 50 quid, and it will have some kind of warranty, i asked him,

but i'm starting to think perhaps i should go with my original idea and buy an SS 7900.
OK, it's not a HF rig, but it's new, never been tweaked and (shouldn't) instantly go tits-up after being sat in the front room.

i had another rig, a TS 850 SAT several years back too, which turmned out after a few weeks to have capacitor issues and it died,
and the pretty FT 920 AF i bought in Stoke-on-Trent to replace it was flaky too. both i sold at a loss and sold them as 'needing repair'

should i SS7900 & have done with it ?

[Auldgeek]

so 2017 arrives, and I am getting so i daren't buy a HF rig anymore,
I bought a Kenwood TS 450-S just after xmas, it arrived this morning, beautiful set.
- I'm returning it tomorrow, as it went deaf between me unpacking it, and testing it for 5 min and my returning home about 2 hours later.

A President HR2510 i bought just before xmas had AM stop working an hour after it arrived. i then sold it for spares or repairs.
an Amateur radio dealer we all know has a TS450 for another 50 quid, and it will have some kind of warranty, i asked him,

but i'm starting to think perhaps i should go with my original idea and buy an SS 7900.
OK, it's not a HF rig, but it's new, never been tweaked and (shouldn't) instantly go tits-up after being sat in the front room.

i had another rig, a TS 850 SAT several years back too, which turmned out after a few weeks to have capacitor issues and it died,
and the pretty FT 920 AF i bought in Stoke-on-Trent to replace it was flaky too. both i sold at a loss and sold them as 'needing repair'

should i SS7900 & have done with it ?

I think you are cursed mate. Avoid and take up knitting instead!

Seriously though, sounds as though you have had some unfortunate bad luck. Unless you absolutely know the seller of secondhand kit, avoid buying privately unless it's cheap or you can thoroughly test beforehand. Buying from a dealer while not guaranteed to be trouble free, will at least have some sort of warranty, especially if you stick with decent ones!

Having said that, I never follow my own advice and have just purchased three radios privately and only one is from a trusted TM1 member. The other two are a gamble and from abroad but I couldn't resist! You know how it is

As said before, the SS7900 is a decent enough radio. All down to what you want it for.

Good luck with your next purchase anyway.

[Marky-boy]

Thanks for the wishes of good luck kilimax, i'll need it as I'm surely cursed mate, and to think i have that beautiful TS 450 that arrived this morning, re-boxed up in the front room, ready for the return, i'm as sick as a parrot

SS7900 wil be brand new and won't have 20 year old Electrolytics eating it from within, that's my logic. It's probably flawed somewhere, but that's where i am at the moment, as you say, warranties and returns isn't it. I know i should really buy the 7900, but i know honestly that i'll just be wishing i just got a working used HF rig instead. No more used Ebay HF rigs for i don't think, too much faffing around for me, it might just come down to something as daft as either the flip of a coin or what's available at the 'proper' dealers when i get my money back, or which way the wind is blowing, not like the HF bands are going to be much good for the next few years.

I wonder how much a good set of knitting needles costs !