The Aursinc SHARI is a Chinese ripoff clone of the genuine SHARI by N8AR. There are numerous problems and issues with it.?
First and foremost, according to FCC, it is illegal for sale in the US because it can be programmed outside the ham bands but is not FCC authorized for operation there.? This is discussed extensively in FCC Enforcement Advisory document DA 18-980.
This information has been communicated to Amazon but they are apparently ignoring it.
The NiceRF SA818S used in the SHARI products has custom firmware that will not allow it to be programmed outside the ham bands.?
Second, neither the original AURSINC clone using the SA818 or their new clone unit using the SR-FRS use a low pass filter on the output. ?I have verified by measurement that the original clone does not comply with FCC Part 97 (amateur radio rules and regulations)
It violates the rule for spurious emissions so it may not be used by amateurs in the US.? The sputious emissions requirement is,?¡°the mean power of any??supplied to the antenna transmission line must not exceed 25 ?W and must be at least 40 dB below the mean power of the fundamental emission¡±
?According to our measurements of the original clone using the NiceRF SA818,? the second harmonic of the Aursinc ¡°SHARI¡± was only 33 dB below the carrier.? The required spurious level for the 32.3 dBm output power of the unit we tested is greater than 48.3 dBc (32.3+166=48.3).
Here is a plot of the spectrum we measured from the original clone.
We have not measured the new Aursinc clone using the UHF SR-FRS module.? However, we did acquire the VHF version of the SR-FRS module and measured it without a low pass filter.? The measurement as shown below shows that the second harmonic is less than 10 dB below the carrier.?
Unless the UHF SR-FRS module is drastically different, I would expect similar non-compliance without a low pass filter.
The Kits for Hams original SHARI uses an LTCC low pass filter from mini-circuits.? They are expensive.? Around $3 for UHF and $4 FOR VHF.? Every kit we assemble is tested for output power, frequency, deviation and spurious/harmonics.? SHARI's second and third harmonic is typically greater than -60 dBc.? All other spurious is typically greater than -70 dBc.?
Another major difference between the original N8AR designed SHARI and the Chinese clone is the quality of the Type A male USB connectors.? ?In the first prototypes of the SHARI PiXX we used some Chinese connectors.? During testing we experienced intermittent USB operation on one of the units.? An investigation determined that the problem was caused by the design of the terminals on the Chinese USB connectors.? In a Type A female USB connector the terminal is a flat piece of metal with a ridge (running lengthwise).? The 4 terminals are located in grooves in a plastic ¡°holder¡±.? In order for the terminals to contact the mating terminal in the female connector, the ridge must be higher than the groove.
In the Chinese USB connecter used in the Aursinc clone, these ridges barely rise above the groove.? In addition, the connectors are tin plated.? Also the front of the ridge is not smoothly formed.? It has a sharp edge that will scrape material off the mating terminal during each insertion.? They cost less than 5 cents each.
The USB connectors used in the Kits for Hams SHARI PiXX are from CUI in Japan.? They cost around 50 cents each.? They have a well defined smooth, stamped ridge and are gold plated as shown in the following photo.
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Here are some more problems with the Aursinc clone SHARI.
- The SMA RF connector barrel is press-in to the body.? The SHARI SMA connector barrel is threaded into the body because early-on we found some of the press-in ones were coming loose.
- The SR-FRS module used in the Aursinc clone uses some different commands for programming so the SA818-prog program will not work with it.? However, there are no "FILTER" commands so you can not control audio filters or pre/de-emphasis.
- There is no VHF model.
- It blocks the ethernet connector when plugged into a Pi4
Aursinc plagarized written material word-for-word from our web pages and used it in their Amazon information even though it is not correct for their product.
?Finally, to add insult to injury, Aursinc brazenly refers you to the SHARI group for setup documents and support.? Here is their answer to a question about support.
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?We will not support the AURSINC clone.? However, I believe we provide outstanding support for all of our Kits for Ham products.
Steve - N8AR
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Steve-N8AR