2016 Radio Checkup Clinic


The NSARC meeting held on May 4, 2016 provided the opportunity to do basic testing of members’ radios using a HP8921A Communications Service Monitor. There was an enthusiastic response from the members in bringing in equipment for test. Our members Alex VE7DXW and Adam VA7OJ ran the radio testing session.

HP 8921A Communications Service Monitor
HP 8921A Communications Service Monitor

The summary test results are given in Table 1 below for those who missed the meeting. These should not be regarded as definitive due to the informal nature of the tests. This year, only VHF/UHF radios were presented for testing.

Table 1: VHF/UHF Radios
Radio Frequency Carrier Freq. Error Po (Nominal) Deviation CTCSS Dev. Sensitivity1
MHz Hz W kHz Hz μV
Kenwood TH-F6A 146 -50 2.3 4 600 0.22
Kenwood TH-7G 146 -900 2.2 4.0 ≈ 800 0.28
Kenwood TM-421A 440 -270 30/14/5.1 BAD MIC3 800 0.15
Wouxun KG-UV9D 146 -1800 2 4 750 0.2
Icom IC-92AD 146 -6 2.8 5.53 800 ≈ 0.2
Icom IC-V8000 146 +200 65/25/10.8/5.6 4.2 850 0.14
Yaesu VX-5 146 -450 3.1/1.6/0.6/0.18 4 700 0.2
Yaesu VX-6 146 +200 1.8/0.4 5 1000 0.16
Baofeng GT-5 146 +6 22 4.5 700 ≈ 0.25
Baofeng UV-5R 146 -30 5.2/1.6 3.5 700 2.33

Notes:

  1. 12 dB SINAD.
  2. LOW setting not working.
  3. Out of spec.
   

This page last updated: 2016-05-10