Jim,
Yes that looks promising; however, the latest TX-500 manual (2/05/2021) has added the voice recorder feature.? Note sure about message repeatability and whether the PTT switch will stop the playback.
73, Henry - K4TMC
Hello again, I read where the TX500 will not likely have a Voice Keyer.
I found the following which sounds pretty good....but I am not familiar?with the compatibility of this solution with the TX500.
Do you think it would be compatible???
Voice Keyer Designed by DH8BQA.? Stores up to 60 seconds of operator voice.? Perfect for contests, QRP operation, use in hotel rooms etc.
?16 ratings 5.0 :? ?
Thanks for your technical insight,
73, Jim / AC3B?
|
As a SSB-only operator, I will be excited to try this new feature in an upcoming contest effort, if true.?
I was informed a few months ago by Lab599 that there was not enough internal memory to support voice recordings.? Hopefully, they have found a way to make it work. I would prefer one less key push.? How about the option to stop the playback by just keying the Mic or using the PTT switch.? The next feature addition should provide some repeatability (3 to 10 sec) of the recorded voice message.
Guess it is time for me to download the latest firmware.
73, Henry - K4TMC
Jim,
Update to the latest firmware v 1.0.5 will give you two sets of voice memory of 20 seconds each.
From Lab599 twitter:
2 memory slots available for 20s: VXM1 & VXM2:
?
Navigate to CW memory menu.
?
Press and hold VXM1 or VXM2 to record. REC icon on.
?
Press again the related VXM key to stop.
?
Press VXM key to Play. PLY icon on.
?
Press VXM key to stop.
|
Thanks for this more detailed information, yesterday I saw a hint in the firmware download page.
Great news indeed! Since I don't own a device yet (still waiting), I just hope that when playing the voice, it's repeating automatically (at least for some time).
To me it's a bit strange that one has to navigate to the CW menu, but there was probably no other menu option available.
Maybe someone who owns a device and updated the firmware can elaborate a bit?
73 Stephan?
|
Hi Jim,
I do operate the TX 500 mostly in CW. I'll try to answer your questions:
1. Not at all. They are quite silent.
2. I'm not a very experienced CW operator, restarted CW less then a year ago. Even listening with speaker: the relays clicks do not distract me from CW. With headset I don't hear them.
3. TX 500 would be a good decision for a CW operator - my opinion. RX is good with all the filter options. And TX - very experienced CW operators might miss full QSK. For me it is not a topic of complaint.
For the KX2 - I can say nothing about it - never owned one.
73, Axel, DL7VEA
|
Hi Jim
can't say something abaout CW, I am just using it not often.
I had a KX2 and have the TX-500. You can't really compare the two. KX2 is full of bells and whistles, internal battery, internal tuner. The TX-500 is more or less a "basic radio".
Both have an excellent receiver. The KX2 is a bit "fragile" and you really have to take care not to break it when operating during portable operations. The TX-500 is more or less a "green radio" waterproof to a certain degree, rugged.
I sold my KX2 because the TX-500 is more suitable for real outside operations.
Digital and SSB are my favorite operation modes, and the TX-500 is doing well.
73, Stephan
--
DF6PA
Licensed since 1978
TX-500, KX2, IC-703, FT-817ND
|
Jim, Update to the latest firmware v 1.0.5 will give you two sets of voice memory of 20 seconds each. From Lab599 twitter:
2 memory slots available for 20s: VXM1 & VXM2:
?
Navigate to CW memory menu.
?
Press and hold VXM1 or VXM2 to record. REC icon on.
?
Press again the related VXM key to stop.
?
Press VXM key to Play. PLY icon on.
?
Press VXM key to stop.
|
Hello all.....brand new member here....and I am not yet an owner of a TX500..
My focus has been portable ops (SOTA, KX3, all SSB), but ?I am just finishing my first level of learning of Morse Code (no words yet....just 40 Koch characters).....Goal is to be ready for my first CW contacts....with a hope by summertime.?
So....my CW questions...
1. ? How annoying are the TX500¡¯s relays for you? ?
2.? With earbuds or over-the-ear headset do the relays clicks distract you (try to put yourself in my CW-newbie¡¯s shoes)
3.? Would the TX500 be a bad decision for an op that thinks he¡¯ll be a 90% CW user (vs. SSB)? ?
(FYI....so far I don¡¯t use other digital modes....right now I am focused on CW....and of course SSB...)
I am torn between TX500 and KX2....
Thanks for your input! 73, Jim / AC3B?
|
Hello again, I read where the TX500 will not likely have a Voice Keyer.
I found the following which sounds pretty good....but I am not familiar?with the compatibility of this solution with the TX500.
Do you think it would be compatible???
Voice Keyer Designed by DH8BQA.? Stores up to 60 seconds of operator voice.? Perfect for contests, QRP operation, use in hotel rooms etc.
?16 ratings 5.0 :? ?
Thanks for your technical insight,
73, Jim / AC3B?
|
HRO should still honor the original?price. Did they indicate they won't?
On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 5:28 PM Michael < mkoch3@...> wrote: All:
Had a TX-500 on order from HRO for $789 since late December.? Today I looked at the page, and the price has been raised to $899.95.? If there¡¯s any good news, it¡¯s that they must have some in the pipeline to ship.? As for me, I think I¡¯ll have to pass¡. Between the reported problems posted in this group and the new price, it just seems a bridge too far.? May re-visit when the issues shake out. ?
73
Michael WO6Y?
|
All:
Had a TX-500 on order from HRO for $789 since late December. ?Today I looked at the page, and the price has been raised to $899.95. ?If there¡¯s any good news, it¡¯s that they must have some in the pipeline to ship. ?As for me, I think I¡¯ll have to pass¡. Between the reported problems posted in this group and the new price, it just seems a bridge too far. ?May re-visit when the issues shake out. ?
73
Michael WO6Y?
|
Re: TX500: A Five-day Rollercoaster
Willis,
No, I did not install any isolation capacitors on the cables.? The GX12 connector assemblies are too small to put any components inside.? Plus, I assume that adequate isolation, blocking and shielding components are built into the radio.? Maybe just a ferrite choke around the wires will be adequate.?
I just found this cable in my closet.? It has 3 shielded individual wires with a ferrite core molded to the cable.? If I can get the 3 wires to fit the GX12 connector, this might be my solution.? I will remove the existing 4-wire connector to keep the wires as short as possible.
73, Henry - K4TMC
The Lab599 has sent me an video of how to disassemble the unit, take the PCB out and indicated the location of TDA7056AT. But replacing SMD components is beyond me, I will need professional help on this.
The Lab599 has also confirmed that there already has been "several cases."
Henry, do you have isolation capacitor installed on your data cable?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Willis??
|
Re: TX500: A Five-day Rollercoaster
The Lab599 has sent me an video of how to disassemble the unit, take the PCB out and indicated the location of TDA7056AT. But replacing SMD components is beyond me, I will need professional help on this.
The Lab599 has also confirmed that there already has been "several cases."
Henry, do you have isolation capacitor installed on your data cable?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Willis??
|
Re: TX500: A Five-day Rollercoaster
John,
Yes, thanks for the quick turnaround on the service.? I had to leave a day earlier on my trip and missed receiving the package in time to take on the Winter Field Day effort.
Do you have any suggestions how to prevent the situation from occurring again?? The connectors are so small that it is hard to get multiple good shielded cables into an adapter setup.
73, Henry - K4TMC
On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 11:28 AM John Byerly < mtnlion@...> wrote: That is correct. The Philips TDA7056AT audio amplifier seems to be much more susceptible?to being blown than the NXP model. I have one of the earliest TX-500's and use it all?the time, and have had no issue with it or it's Philips audio amplifier.?
Glad I could get it fixed and back to you quickly Henry.
On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 7:35 AM Henry Pollock - K4TMC < kilo4tmc@...> wrote: Re individual incident...maybe not.
I managed to blow the audio amplifier chip in my TX-500 a few weeks ago just before the North American QSO Party SSB Contest operating from a portable location (Atlantic Beach, NC).? Lab599 Service USA quickly analyzed and repaired the TX-500.
--
|
Re: TX500: A Five-day Rollercoaster
That is correct. The Philips TDA7056AT audio amplifier seems to be much more susceptible?to being blown than the NXP model. I have one of the earliest TX-500's and use it all?the time, and have had no issue with it or it's Philips audio amplifier.?
Glad I could get it fixed and back to you quickly Henry.
On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 7:35 AM Henry Pollock - K4TMC < kilo4tmc@...> wrote: Re individual incident...maybe not.
I managed to blow the audio amplifier chip in my TX-500 a few weeks ago just before the North American QSO Party SSB Contest operating from a portable location (Atlantic Beach, NC).? Lab599 Service USA quickly analyzed and repaired the TX-500.
|
Re: TX500: A Five-day Rollercoaster
Re individual incident...maybe not.
I managed to blow the audio amplifier chip in my TX-500 a few weeks ago just before the North American QSO Party SSB Contest operating from a portable location (Atlantic Beach, NC).? Lab599 Service USA quickly analyzed and repaired the TX-500.
Background: I had my TX-500 mounted to the side of an Elecraft KXPA100 with an external speaker and Heil HC4 mic element attached through the stock mic/speaker/PTT adapter. I also had a homemade adapter cable connected to the REM/DATA port providing PTT out to the KXPA100.? This connector also had wiring to PTT in, in which I had connected to a footswitch.? Although not being used, I had wires for the Audio In and Out.? All of the wires to the REM/DATA port were about 3 ft long and unshielded.? The 8 ft long footswitch cable was connected to the 3 ft wires via two 2 ft long alligator-clip leads.? The external speaker (MFJ-281) had a 4 ft shielded cable.? All of these wires were laying around loosely on the operating table.? The antenna was a PAR EF-QUAD in horizontal orientation about 30 ft from the operating position and was connected through 75 ft of RG8X.? Everything was working well, I made several POTA contacts on 40M that Saturday morning running around 50 watts from the KXPA100 (TX-500 Power at 50%).?
BTW, For those of us phone guys who don't carry a CW key everywhere we go, we use the "TUNE" feature, or some combination of buttons, of most other radios to generate a CW tone to adjust actual power out and check SWR.? There is no "TUNE" feature discussed in the manual.? After a reading of the manual I found the Menu Feature #24 Type Tone which discussed exactly what I needed.? But there was no reference to where to go in the manual for instructions on how to initiate the "TONE".? After doing a word search of the pdf file, I found the instructions in the Receive Settings section (last item) of the manual; not exactly where I was expecting transmitting details.
Event:? I increased the TX-500 Power to 75% and proceeded to check power output of the KXPA100.? On 40M I had around 90W, on 20M it was 100W and on 15M it went to 100W and a loud POP.? Not having enough time before the contest start to troubleshoot the issue, I packed up the TX-500/KXPA100 and all the wires.? I proceeded to operate the contest with my Elecraft K3/100.
Post Event:? After arriving back home I reconnected everything on the kitchen table.? I determined that the TX-500 receiver and transmitter were still working OK, and the audio out from the REM/DATA port was OK.? The only problem was no speaker audio from the MIC/SP port.? I packed the TX-500 and sent it to Lab599 Service USA.
Thoughts:? I know this is a new radio design and there may be unknown issues that develope over the early usage of the units.? So, now with possibly two audio amplifier failures, is this an issue or just two isolated instances?? I don't know.? Was my setup with all of the unshielded and long wires the path for RF from the nearby antenna the real problem?? If so, why didn't the event also eliminate the audio out from the REM/DATA port?? Was mounting it so close to the KXPA100 the problem?? I bought the TX-500 because of its unique packaging and features and plan to keep it.? I still have other radios to use if the TX-500 is not suitable for high RF environments.? It is still a great little rig for portable outdoor usage.? Since I left early for the beach, I was unable to use the TX-500 in this past weekend's Winter Field Day event.? My next opportunity to use the TX-500 will be at the end of the month during the CQWW 160 SSB Contest from the beach house.? When the weather gets warmer, I really will use the TX-500 alone in some outdoor setups.
Sorry for all of the details above, but wanted to provide information that might be useful to others with a TX-500.
I welcome any further thoughts or questions from others.? My next TX-500 project is an attachable battery pack.
73, Henry - K4TMC
Some of you might have been seeing my posts on the Facebook group, but I think I'd shared my though on the transceiver here as well.
As the leading SOTA activator in Taiwan, I think it is definitely one of activator's dream radios, sturdy body, weather-proof, nice screen for both indoor or outdoor, and most importantly, it has perfect user interface, functions that needed for filed operation is very easily accessible.
However, my experience with my particular unit is kind of a rollercoaster.
I ordered directly from Lab599 and I asked them to ship it without the box in order to avoid some tax and customs issues. I ordered in September, Lab599 shipped it in late October and after almost 100 days, it finally arrived Taiwan. The delay was of course due to the pandemic.?
Although radio was packed in multiple layers of bubble wraps, upon arrival I discovered that the BNC connector was dented, and after powering up I found the "B" icon is always there and the radio couldn't remember any of the user settings. I open the radio and found a broken socket for the CR2032 battery. The Lab599 team is very responsive and helpful, they offered to send me a replacement unit but I may have to wait for another 90+ days for it to arrive. They also sent me video instruction on how to replace the BNC jack and the battery socket and promised that doing that on my own would not void my warranty, I opted the latter and installed new jack and socket, problem solved.
Just when I though my TX500 was about to sail to a new life, I encountered another?swirl. After several QSOs on phone and FT8 at home, I took it for its first field operation yesterday, I used a load GP with adjustable coil, at first everything went well on 40-meter band, and then I switched to 20, tune my antenna to perfect 1.0 SWR and began to TX on FT8. All of sudden, my own FT8 TX came out from the speaker with the monitor off, I stopped and only to find out the speaker is not working anymore, there is just no sound coming out, I tried reset, re-flash the firmware, taking the internal battery out and put it back on, as well as using the headset adapter to rule out the problem on the speaker-mic, but the radio just went dumb, even the internal buzzer for the key beeping became silent. The RF capability? (TX and RX) seem to be intact judging form the panadapter and the FT8 QSO that followed.
I have contacted the Lab599 on this matter and I think I may have to get and wait for the replacement afterall. But again, nice radio! I hope this is just an??individual incident.
|
TX500: A Five-day Rollercoaster
Some of you might have been seeing my posts on the Facebook group, but I think I'd shared my though on the transceiver here as well.
As the leading SOTA activator in Taiwan, I think it is definitely one of activator's dream radios, sturdy body, weather-proof, nice screen for both indoor or outdoor, and most importantly, it has perfect user interface, functions that needed for filed operation is very easily accessible.
However, my experience with my particular unit is kind of a rollercoaster.
I ordered directly from Lab599 and I asked them to ship it without the box in order to avoid some tax and customs issues. I ordered in September, Lab599 shipped it in late October and after almost 100 days, it finally arrived Taiwan. The delay was of course due to the pandemic.?
Although radio was packed in multiple layers of bubble wraps, upon arrival I discovered that the BNC connector was dented, and after powering up I found the "B" icon is always there and the radio couldn't remember any of the user settings. I open the radio and found a broken socket for the CR2032 battery. The Lab599 team is very responsive and helpful, they offered to send me a replacement unit but I may have to wait for another 90+ days for it to arrive. They also sent me video instruction on how to replace the BNC jack and the battery socket and promised that doing that on my own would not void my warranty, I opted the latter and installed new jack and socket, problem solved.
Just when I though my TX500 was about to sail to a new life, I encountered another?swirl. After several QSOs on phone and FT8 at home, I took it for its first field operation yesterday, I used a load GP with adjustable coil, at first everything went well on 40-meter band, and then I switched to 20, tune my antenna to perfect 1.0 SWR and began to TX on FT8. All of sudden, my own FT8 TX came out from the speaker with the monitor off, I stopped and only to find out the speaker is not working anymore, there is just no sound coming out, I tried reset, re-flash the firmware, taking the internal battery out and put it back on, as well as using the headset adapter to rule out the problem on the speaker-mic, but the radio just went dumb, even the internal buzzer for the key beeping became silent. The RF capability? (TX and RX) seem to be intact judging form the panadapter and the FT8 QSO that followed.
I have contacted the Lab599 on this matter and I think I may have to get and wait for the replacement afterall. But again, nice radio! I hope this is just an??individual incident.
|
Yes, I can confirm that the viewing angle is narrow.? I had mounted my TX-500 to the side of an Elecraft KXPA100 for a compact setup.? The package looks great; however, I noticed that with the pair sitting flat on a 30-inch high table, I found the display disappointing when sitting down to operate, requiring the tilting of the complete setup to improve the display view.? Another option to improve the viewing angle is to raise the TX-500/KXPA100.? With the TX-500 alone sitting on the table, those little fold out feet on the back provide a good viewing angle when sitting down, with some adjustment forward or backward on the table surface.? I can provide pictures if anyone is interested.
73, Henry - K4TMC
On Mon, Feb 1, 2021 at 7:35 PM Glen Jenkins WB4KTF < wb4ktf@...> wrote: Doug, I have BOTH the Icom ID-5100A (barely 3 months old) and the TX-500 (<5 weeks old).? The Icom display is washed out and the test and buttons are not very DARK even after I adjusted the settings to make it readable.??In other words, I fully agree with the display quality of your two ID-5100As, they are not very good.
The TX-500's display is better, darker and crisper inside and outside the house.? I estimate that the viewing angle for the display is about +/- 30 degrees off of straight on.
-
Glen - WB4KTF, Austin, TX USA
|
Re: Firmware Update - and Prolific Driver v1.5.0
You should go with the one on LAB599 website.
I own the TX-500 and Xiegu G90, USB chips supplied by these independent manufactures are not exactly the same, despite they all named PL2303. So just go with whatever the??manufactures?provide.
73 de BU2EQ Willis
|
Doug, I have BOTH the Icom ID-5100A (barely 3 months old) and the TX-500 (<5 weeks old).? The Icom display is washed out and the test and buttons are not very DARK even after I adjusted the settings to make it readable.??In other words, I fully agree with the display quality of your two ID-5100As, they are not very good.
The TX-500's display is better, darker and crisper inside and outside the house.? I estimate that the viewing angle for the display is about +/- 30 degrees off of straight on.
-
Glen - WB4KTF, Austin, TX USA
|
Firmware Update - and Prolific Driver v1.5.0
I want to install the latest TX-500 Firmware update.? LAB599 has the PL2303 Firmware Driver as v1.5.0 on their website.? Yet Prolific's latest PL2303 Driver is v1.12.0.
When I tried to run the v.1.5.0 driver install, it wanted to Modify, Repair, or Remove the currently installed version.??What are you guys doing??
Also, should we be running the USB Driver exe file that LAB599 has on their site or the LATEST one on Prolific's website?
I assume that I have to install this USB drive before the Firmware update will function.? I tried plugging in the supplied USB cable but nothing happened, the Firmware update program could not find the USB cable, anyway.
Glen - WB4KTF, Austin, TX USA
|
Stephan HB9EAJ
DF6PA
Michael
Glen Jenkins WB4KTF