Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

#215296

Hello Group,

I am writing to find out what I can about the "QRZ New Ham Jumpstart Program" "Explorer QRZ-1" radio. Wanting to find out what experience some of you have had with this radio. One of the main things to find out is what the deviation is like. Does it suffer from the low deviation like the boothingys do? I don't need or want any of those on my system. The local group has been very good about using good radios.

I have three people who just got their license issued this week. So of course they are looking for new radios. Trying to help them get started with a good starter radio while looking for something better. Anyone run up any of these to see how they do???

Mick - W7CAT

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#215297

What is wrong with the boothingy's? I have 5 or 6 and they work fine. The newer ones "AR-5RM" I think it is have crappy recieve. The UV-5R works good and is cheap.

#215298

I have tried a few different models boothingys and they ALL have low deviation. I can spot them every time on a net. Either you are lucky, or have never run any of them up on a service monitor. They are known to be low deviation.

Mick - W7CAT

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Childers via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2025 11:39:19 AM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

What is wrong with the boothingy's? I have 5 or 6 and they work fine. The newer ones "AR-5RM" I think it is have crappy recieve. The UV-5R works good and is cheap.

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#215304

It looks like it might be the same radio as the TYT UV88.?
The manual shows max deviation is +/- 5Khz. Not sure how much truth there is to it.?

#215307

Just because they say it, doesn't mean they do it. Also when they say "+/-" and they don't say how much that is. Sure leaves them off the hook. I have measured 5 different models and none of them have the correct amount of deviation.

I hate to suggest to the new hams to buy a radio that doesn't meet specs and then tell them they can't use them.

Mick - W7CAT

Show quoted text

----- Original Message -----
From: "John - KC5AV via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2025 11:27:50 AM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

It looks like it might be the same radio as the TYT UV88.
The manual shows max deviation is +/- 5Khz. Not sure how much truth there is to it.

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#215310

I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese radios by any means. I like my Motorola, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex commercial and amateur grade gear. That being said, another local ham and I each have the TYT-UV88, which I believe that Explorer radio is just a rebadged version of. We've had good results with them and they've looked good on a service monitor. In fact I was using that UV88 earlier today. Several of us are also using the Quansheng K6's with Egzumer and F4HWN firmware with very good results.

?

The biggest issue I've run across audio-wise with new hams and those radios are they are too far away from the mic, talking too softly, mic gain too low, running narrowband on a wideband repeater, or any combination of those. I helped a newer ham earlier today that had low audio. After walking him through a few things, he found out that he had the mic gain too low and was on narrowband. He corrected those issues and was good afterward.

#215312

Hello Terry,

"mic gain too low" I guess that means there is a deviation adjustment?

The boothingys are just too low on the deviation and can't do anything with them so they come up to where they need to be. I have never had one that I tried that had enough level, new hams aside, I am going from what I have checked myself.

Like I had said "I hate to suggest to the new hams to buy a radio that doesn't meet specs and then tell them they can't use them." Sounds like this radio may have promise. Wish I had one to try first. I suppose that I could buy one and if it isn't any good, send it back.

Since nothing is going happen before Monday any way, maybe there will be some other reports when people get back from the Dayton Hamvention.

Thank you for your information.

Mick - W7CAT

Show quoted text

----- Original Message -----
From: "terry dalpoas via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2025 07:54:12 PM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese radios by any means. I like my Motorola, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex commercial and amateur grade gear. That being said, another local ham and I each have the TYT-UV88, which I believe that Explorer radio is just a rebadged version of. We've had good results with them and they've looked good on a service monitor. In fact I was using that UV88 earlier today. Several of us are also using the Quansheng K6's with Egzumer and F4HWN firmware with very good results.

The biggest issue I've run across audio-wise with new hams and those radios are they are too far away from the mic, talking too softly, mic gain too low, running narrowband on a wideband repeater, or any combination of those. I helped a newer ham earlier today that had low audio. After walking him through a few things, he found out that he had the mic gain too low and was on narrowband. He corrected those issues and was good afterward.

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#215314

I can't remember what radio he was using, but it was one I wasn't familiar with. I just looked at my UV88 and it does not have a mic gain, just wide/medium/narrow bandwidth (Menu 28).? Now on my Quansheng K6's, they do have a mic gain adjustment as well as bandwidth.? I don't know if the K6 has mic gain in the factory firmware as I have always flashed them with different firmware as soon as I unboxed them.

#215315

The boothingy's I have run across on the air and the one I have came set for narrowband (N) deviation. I tell them to switch to wideband (W) and they sound great, except for the ones using a Baofeng speaker-mic. Those absolutely must be thrown in the trash! Or, to say it another way using a Baofeng speaker-mic, mmmm mmm mmmmmmmm mmmm mm m.

#215316

First, mic gain and deviation are vastly different things.
But more to the point, as someone else said, it appears these radios, like very, very many others, comes defaulted to narrow band. That means +/- 2.5 KHz deviation. That has become common, since Part 90 in the US requires it.
When you program ham freqs into your new radios, people, MAKE SURE IT'S SET TO WIDEBAND!

Show quoted text

On 5/17/2025 10:10 PM, Teton Amateur Radio Repeater Association (TARRA) via groups.io wrote:
Hello Terry,
"mic gain too low" I guess that means there is a deviation adjustment?
The boothingys are just too low on the deviation and can't do anything with them so they come up to where they need to be. I have never had one that I tried that had enough level, new hams aside, I am going from what I have checked myself.
Like I had said "I hate to suggest to the new hams to buy a radio that doesn't meet specs and then tell them they can't use them." Sounds like this radio may have promise. Wish I had one to try first. I suppose that I could buy one and if it isn't any good, send it back.
Since nothing is going happen before Monday any way, maybe there will be some other reports when people get back from the Dayton Hamvention.
Thank you for your information.
Mick - W7CAT
----- Original Message -----
From: "terry dalpoas via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2025 07:54:12 PM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

 > I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese radios by any means. I like my 
Motorola, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex commercial and amateur grade gear. That being said, another local ham and I each have the TYT-UV88, which I believe that Explorer radio is just a rebadged version of. We've had good results with them and they've looked good on a service monitor. In fact I was using that UV88 earlier today. Several of us are also using the Quansheng K6's with Egzumer and F4HWN firmware with very good results.
 >
 > The biggest issue I've run across audio-wise with new hams and those 
radios are they are too far away from the mic, talking too softly, mic gain too low, running narrowband on a wideband repeater, or any combination of those. I helped a newer ham earlier today that had low audio. After walking him through a few things, he found out that he had the mic gain too low and was on narrowband. He corrected those issues and was good afterward.
 >
 >
 > >
 >
 >

#215318

So I did some comparisons across several china radios, specifically a WLN, a UV6R and a UV5.?? Goal was to make transmit audio some louder.

What I found is that by injecting audio directly into the mic connection, I could achieve > 5khz deviation.?? But with the same condenser mic, I could not.

In one case on the WLN, I messed up the condenser mic.?? I took a different one off a voice recorder playback module that I had lying around, and after replacing on this same radio, where I averaged about 2-3 kc deviation, it was now 4-5+ KC.

So what may be happening is that they have poor quality of condenser mics, and they set gain and deviation for best case being at 5KC.?? What else could you do trying to make a $10 radio?

Andy

On Sat, May 17, 2025 at 10:10?PM Teton Amateur Radio Repeater Association (TARRA) via <tarra=[email protected]> wrote:

Show quoted text

Hello Terry,

"mic gain too low" I guess that means there is a deviation adjustment?

The boothingys are just too low on the deviation and can't do anything
with them so they come up to where they need to be. I have never had one
that I tried that had enough level, new hams aside, I am going from what
I have checked myself.

Like I had said "I hate to suggest to the new hams to buy a radio that
doesn't meet specs and then tell them they can't use them." Sounds like
this radio may have promise. Wish I had one to try first. I suppose that
I could buy one and if it isn't any good, send it back.

Since nothing is going happen before Monday any way, maybe there will be
some other reports when people get back from the Dayton Hamvention.

Thank you for your information.

Mick - W7CAT

----- Original Message -----
From: "terry dalpoas via "
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2025 07:54:12 PM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

?> I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese radios by any means. I like my
Motorola, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex commercial and amateur grade gear.
That being said, another local ham and I each have the TYT-UV88, which I
believe that Explorer radio is just a rebadged version of. We've had
good results with them and they've looked good on a service monitor. In
fact I was using that UV88 earlier today. Several of us are also using
the Quansheng K6's with Egzumer and F4HWN firmware with very good results.
?>
?> The biggest issue I've run across audio-wise with new hams and those
radios are they are too far away from the mic, talking too softly, mic
gain too low, running narrowband on a wideband repeater, or any
combination of those. I helped a newer ham earlier today that had low
audio. After walking him through a few things, he found out that he had
the mic gain too low and was on narrowband. He corrected those issues
and was good afterward.
?>
?>
?>
?>
?>
?>
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#215319

Hello Andy,

Some interesting findings. What would be more interesting would be to find a direct replacement for the mics, specifically a part number. Although not sure how hard it would be to replace it on some of the radios.

Of course still looking for some information about the? Explorer QRZ-1 radio. Looks like I will purchase one tomorrow to find out how it does.

Mick - W7CAT

Show quoted text

----- Original Message -----
From: "wj9jrg via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2025 07:08:04 AM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

So I did some comparisons across several china radios, specifically a WLN,
a UV6R and a UV5. Goal was to make transmit audio some louder.

What I found is that by injecting audio directly into the mic connection, I
could achieve > 5khz deviation. But with the same condenser mic, I could
not.

In one case on the WLN, I messed up the condenser mic. I took a different
one off a voice recorder playback module that I had lying around, and after
replacing on this same radio, where I averaged about 2-3 kc deviation, it
was now 4-5+ KC.

So what may be happening is that they have poor quality of condenser mics,
and they set gain and deviation for best case being at 5KC. What else
could you do trying to make a $10 radio?

Andy

On Sat, May 17, 2025 at 10:10?PM Teton Amateur Radio Repeater Association
(TARRA) via groups.io wrote:

Hello Terry,

"mic gain too low" I guess that means there is a deviation adjustment?

The boothingys are just too low on the deviation and can't do anything
with them so they come up to where they need to be. I have never had one
that I tried that had enough level, new hams aside, I am going from what
I have checked myself.

Like I had said "I hate to suggest to the new hams to buy a radio that
doesn't meet specs and then tell them they can't use them." Sounds like
this radio may have promise. Wish I had one to try first. I suppose that
I could buy one and if it isn't any good, send it back.

Since nothing is going happen before Monday any way, maybe there will be
some other reports when people get back from the Dayton Hamvention.

Thank you for your information.

Mick - W7CAT

----- Original Message -----
From: "terry dalpoas via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2025 07:54:12 PM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese radios by any means. I like myMotorola, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex commercial and amateur grade gear.
That being said, another local ham and I each have the TYT-UV88, which I
believe that Explorer radio is just a rebadged version of. We've had
good results with them and they've looked good on a service monitor. In
fact I was using that UV88 earlier today. Several of us are also using
the Quansheng K6's with Egzumer and F4HWN firmware with very good results.

The biggest issue I've run across audio-wise with new hams and thoseradios are they are too far away from the mic, talking too softly, mic
gain too low, running narrowband on a wideband repeater, or any
combination of those. I helped a newer ham earlier today that had low
audio. After walking him through a few things, he found out that he had
the mic gain too low and was on narrowband. He corrected those issues
and was good afterward.

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#215320

I know a Kenwood KMC-17 works well. They probably cost more than the radio itself, lol.

#215322

Mick
This is all the filings they did to the FCC lots of info here.

Kory

Show quoted text

On 2025-05-18 11:43, Teton Amateur Radio Repeater Association (TARRA) wrote:
Hello Andy,
Some interesting findings. What would be more interesting would be to
find a direct replacement for the mics, specifically a part number.
Although not sure how hard it would be to replace it on some of the
radios.
Of course still looking for some information about the? Explorer QRZ-1
radio. Looks like I will purchase one tomorrow to find out how it
does.
Mick - W7CAT
----- Original Message -----
From: "wj9jrg via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2025 07:08:04 AM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

So I did some comparisons across several china radios, specifically a WLN,
a UV6R and a UV5. Goal was to make transmit audio some louder.
What I found is that by injecting audio directly into the mic connection, I
could achieve > 5khz deviation. But with the same condenser mic, I could
not.
In one case on the WLN, I messed up the condenser mic. I took a different
one off a voice recorder playback module that I had lying around, and after
replacing on this same radio, where I averaged about 2-3 kc deviation, it
was now 4-5+ KC.
So what may be happening is that they have poor quality of condenser mics,
and they set gain and deviation for best case being at 5KC. What else
could you do trying to make a $10 radio?
Andy
On Sat, May 17, 2025 at 10:10?PM Teton Amateur Radio Repeater Association
(TARRA) via groups.io wrote:

Hello Terry,

"mic gain too low" I guess that means there is a deviation adjustment?

The boothingys are just too low on the deviation and can't do anything
with them so they come up to where they need to be. I have never had one
that I tried that had enough level, new hams aside, I am going from what
I have checked myself.

Like I had said "I hate to suggest to the new hams to buy a radio that
doesn't meet specs and then tell them they can't use them." Sounds like
this radio may have promise. Wish I had one to try first. I suppose that
I could buy one and if it isn't any good, send it back.

Since nothing is going happen before Monday any way, maybe there will be
some other reports when people get back from the Dayton Hamvention.

Thank you for your information.

Mick - W7CAT

----- Original Message -----
From: "terry dalpoas via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2025 07:54:12 PM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese radios by any means. I like myMotorola, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex commercial and amateur grade gear.
That being said, another local ham and I each have the TYT-UV88, which I
believe that Explorer radio is just a rebadged version of. We've had
good results with them and they've looked good on a service monitor. In
fact I was using that UV88 earlier today. Several of us are also using
the Quansheng K6's with Egzumer and F4HWN firmware with very good results.

The biggest issue I've run across audio-wise with new hams and thoseradios are they are too far away from the mic, talking too softly, mic
gain too low, running narrowband on a wideband repeater, or any
combination of those. I helped a newer ham earlier today that had low
audio. After walking him through a few things, he found out that he had
the mic gain too low and was on narrowband. He corrected those issues
and was good afterward.





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#215325

It is interesting. I must have missed it, I didn't see anything in the report related to transmit audio levels of any kind. It looked good otherwise.

Mick - W7CAT

Show quoted text

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kory Oldham W4RZ"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2025 10:12:41 AM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

Mick
This is all the filings they did to the FCC lots of info here.

Kory

On 2025-05-18 11:43, Teton Amateur Radio Repeater Association (TARRA)
wrote:
Hello Andy,

Some interesting findings. What would be more interesting would be to
find a direct replacement for the mics, specifically a part number.
Although not sure how hard it would be to replace it on some of the
radios.

Of course still looking for some information about the Explorer QRZ-1
radio. Looks like I will purchase one tomorrow to find out how it
does.

Mick - W7CAT

----- Original Message -----
From: "wj9jrg via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2025 07:08:04 AM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

So I did some comparisons across several china radios, specifically a
WLN,
a UV6R and a UV5. Goal was to make transmit audio some louder.

What I found is that by injecting audio directly into the mic
connection, I
could achieve > 5khz deviation. But with the same condenser mic, I
could
not.

In one case on the WLN, I messed up the condenser mic. I took a
different
one off a voice recorder playback module that I had lying around, and
after
replacing on this same radio, where I averaged about 2-3 kc deviation,
it
was now 4-5+ KC.

So what may be happening is that they have poor quality of condenser
mics,
and they set gain and deviation for best case being at 5KC. What else
could you do trying to make a $10 radio?

Andy

On Sat, May 17, 2025 at 10:10?PM Teton Amateur Radio Repeater
Association
(TARRA) via groups.io wrote:

Hello Terry,

"mic gain too low" I guess that means there is a deviation adjustment?

The boothingys are just too low on the deviation and can't do anything
with them so they come up to where they need to be. I have never had one
that I tried that had enough level, new hams aside, I am going from what
I have checked myself.

Like I had said "I hate to suggest to the new hams to buy a radio that
doesn't meet specs and then tell them they can't use them." Sounds like
this radio may have promise. Wish I had one to try first. I suppose that
I could buy one and if it isn't any good, send it back.

Since nothing is going happen before Monday any way, maybe there will be
some other reports when people get back from the Dayton Hamvention.

Thank you for your information.

Mick - W7CAT

----- Original Message -----
From: "terry dalpoas via groups.io"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2025 07:54:12 PM
Subject: Re: [repeater-builder] Explorer QRZ-1 Radio

I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese radios by any means. I like my
Motorola, Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex commercial and amateur grade gear.
That being said, another local ham and I each have the TYT-UV88, which I
believe that Explorer radio is just a rebadged version of. We've had
good results with them and they've looked good on a service monitor. In
fact I was using that UV88 earlier today. Several of us are also using
the Quansheng K6's with Egzumer and F4HWN firmware with very good results.

The biggest issue I've run across audio-wise with new hams and those
radios are they are too far away from the mic, talking too softly, mic
gain too low, running narrowband on a wideband repeater, or any
combination of those. I helped a newer ham earlier today that had low
audio. After walking him through a few things, he found out that he had
the mic gain too low and was on narrowband. He corrected those issues
and was good afterward.

--
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Explorer QRZ-1 Radio