Ah that feeling when you witness your beloved QRP radio about to be superseded by a newer, better version that may make yours less valuable, less cool and potentially obsolete after only a year or so of ownership¡priceless.
Just kidding. From what I can see so far from Julian¡¯s excellent videos is that this admittedly interesting looking new radio really only seems to make sense if ManPack employed using a 1/4 vertical for ¡°local¡± groundwave comms. Remember it¡¯s QRP. If you tend to set up shop and use wire antennas for distance I can¡¯t see much benefit in the MP.?
On Sun, Feb 18, 2024 at 7:19 AM, bobsayers2000 via groups.io <
bobsayers2000@...> wrote:
Hi? Randy,
Good question as of now as so little information is yet available! There are a number of YouTube videos showing it - most of what follows is gleaned from them and I have no special source of information, so very happy to be corrected or shot down in flames!
The biggest difference is the format - the MP is a little like the current 500 turned 90 degrees on one edge, so that it becomes like a large ('ish) handheld.
No loudspeaker is fitted, a speaker/microphone is supplied.
All connectors are waterproof types, and are all at the "top" end, along with the antenna connector (sufficiently strong to mount a whip).
The BP Battery Pack can still be used, and mounts on the "back" of the radio.
The display is again a high-contrast monochrome type, but obviously now has to fit across the width of the new front panel.
For resilience, NO VFO knob is fitted (it will be interesting to see how long it is before a third-party manufacturer brings one out) so frequency changes are made via the up/down keys, and presumably also those on the microphone.
An Interface Unit will be available which clips on clothing at chest height and carries ports for data and audio in/out. It will be interesting to see if this unit reaches production in the form of the images shown, as it appears not to have the same environmental protection as the radio itself. A lot of discussion so far has centered around use portable with the radio in a backpack, where of course the display cannot be seen. Personally, as a long-time IC-703 user I have always found voice prompts useful when the radio is used in this way, and I hoped they are introduced on the MP. I don't have a "normal" TX-500 at the moment, perhaps someone could confirm if this feature is available there?
Best regards,
Bob, G8IYK
On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 at 14:30, Randy K7RAN
<k7ran@...> wrote:
What are the differences between the TX-500 and TX-500MP?
