New F4HWN firmware V6.0.0 Available

Armel has revealed that there is now a new version of F4HWN firmware available. Version v6.0.0. It features multiBoot, multiconfig, applications overlay and more. Be aware that this version is only for the Quansheng UV-K1 and Quansheng UV-K5 Version 3. If you want to learn more about this version and see installation and feature information click on the video link below. I would have shared the video properly, but for some reason Armel [F4HWN] has made his videos not watchable on other websites, only on Youtube.

The links to Github for this version are in the video description. But here is Armel's [F4HWN] Github page in case you want to check him out. https://github.com/armel. Some downloads are there also.

HF Si4732 Receive Mod With Quansheng K1 (8)

Receiving HF with the Quansheng K1 (8) Mini Kong requires a modification. Those skilled in electronics have no problemo doing the job themselves, but  for us average Joe's it's not an easy thing to attempt with zero knowledge. The guy in the video below, known as OM0ET on Youtube knows how to perform this upgrade easily. See the video of him below using the K1 that he has modified with an active whip antenna. Everyone is asking... How to do it. He has videos I think showing how to do it.

But its not easy, and everyone is asking if the K1 can be purchased with the mod already completed. Well, yes it can. OM0ET posted the link to buy the radio already upgraded but it was a dead link to most people. It was a tough link to find. But it can be found here @ https://rxradio.net/quansheng-uv-k1-hf-mod-si4732-bluetooth-already-installed/

The already modified K1 can be purchased from that link above. The mod has the Si4732 - IOTCU bluetooth upgrades with an extra SW antenna port where the LED torch light usually is. The light is now gone with the upgrade, but that's an excellent trade off. No one likes the light feature anyway. Add the F4HWN or IJV firmware and you are on to a real winner of a radio.

Quansheng Antenna Works Great With DMR

The standard analogue antenna that comes with the Quansheng K5 / K6 works great with DMR signals. I've tested many antennas on my Baofeng 1701 DMR radio [here], and most analogue antennas I have do work quite well on this radio for digital signals. However, it's the stock antenna that comes with the Quansheng K5 / K6 that I use almost all the time now on this radio. Some antennas, even ones that would be considered much better than the stock Quansheng antenna, can be choppy when it comes to picking up some DMR signal replies between received conversations.

Yes. My antenna is wrapped in clingfilm.

But with the stock Quansheng antenna the choppy / broken signals are almost non existent. Even though its quite a small antenna and not considered very good by some people, It works great for DMR. But I also think its an underrated antenna for analogue as well. If you've been looking for a decent, small in size antenna for your DMR, and you own a Quansheng radio, give the stock antenna a go. I don't think you will be disappointed. I'm certainly not.

Quanshengs Are The Measuring Stick

Yes, it's true. My Quanshengs have become the measuring stick. Whenever I get a new radio now I always compare it to my modified Quanshengs. If it can live with the Quansheng or is better [not very often] I know its a good radio. I've tested so many scanner receivers to my modified Quansheng's. Some might pick up a certain signal a little better here and there [again, not very often], but overall the Quansheng radios really hold their own and have been the winners when all the factors are considered.

And I've tested them against many radios new and old. Mostly the old boys, like the Realistic models [PRO 43, PRO 26, PRO 37, PRO 70, PRO 50], Commtel COM204, AOR 8000, Yupiteru 7000, GRE PSR255, GRE 295, Old Unidens, SDR dongles etc. Even some newish models like the ICOM R6 and Baofeng 1701 [analogue mode]. The Quanshengs have never been left in the dirt. Very impressive for a "cheap Chinese radio" as some people call them. I mean, yes, technically they are a cheap Chinese radio. But they are great.

Commtel 204 Superb @ 200MHz

I've been comparing the Commtel 204 @ 200MHz to a modified Quansheng K6 and Yupiteru MVT-7000 on the same frequencies. What I've found is that the Commtel is more sensitive than both models @ 200MHz. I picked up a HAM radio signal on the Commtel and it was some people talking Portuguese. Maybe from Portugal or Brazil etc. I'm in the UK.  I could hear them quite clear on the 204 using a telescopic antenna. I changed the antenna over to the Quansheng K6 and Yupiteru MVT-7000 and could not hear anything but a really feint, totally undiscernible audio. 

This has happened a few times now when comparing signals @ 200MHz. The Commtel just seems better at that frequency range. It can pick up signals other radios can't. Or maybe it could be that some antennas work better on some radios than they do on others. Some seem better suited to certain radios. For instance, I've found that older antennas work terrible on my Quansheng's, but work great on the older scanners. It's similar the other way around, too. Something to consider. If you're not aware, the Commtel 204 is basically a Realistic PRO 43. Same radio under a different name.

Old Hand-Held Realistic Scanners CB In UK

Old Hand-Held Realistic scanners rarely did CB in UK. It's quite surprising how many of the old handheld realistic / RadioShack scanners never had the CB frequency range out of the box. Especially the UK and European versions. Seems like there were many USA versions that covered CB radio. I've been doing some research lately, trying to find a really nice older scanner radio with a frequency range that covers CB radio [27MHz]. There are a few that cover the CB range, but not many.

My Commtel COM204. This would have been the perfect scanner for me if it had the CB frequencies. Still a great radio.

The main one that's easiest to buy being the Realistic Pro 26. I've had several of these receivers in the past and was never impressed with them. The Pro 26 always had problems and wasn't a nice scanner to use anyway. More about that model here.

I ended up buying a Commtel 204 [basically a Realistic Pro 43], which does not cover 27MHz. There is a MOD that can make it go down to 30MHz, but that requires some soldering. I can always just use my Egzumer Quanshengs for CB if I really want to [they work great], or the Yupiteru MVT-7000 I just bought [also good on CB]. But I really wanted an old-school portable scanner so I could test its CB receive capabilities Vs the newer radios like the Quansheng.

The research made me think; why were there so many handheld Realistic scanners made that did not cover 27MHz for UK and Europe. When it came to base desktop receivers there were loads made that started from 25MHz for the UK and European market. So why so few when it came to the handhelds.

Does anyone know any other Realistic scanner radios other than the Pro-26 that could do CB in the UK? If so comment below. I have found one that I would like to get my hands on. It's the Commtel 216. It's said to be a cross between the Pro 26 and a Uniden UBC-3000XLT. Looks right up my street. Only chance of finding one these days though is used online [eBay, Facebook etc], as the 216 has been discontinued for quite some time. Shame. But I'll still keep a look out. You never know, one might pop up for sale.

Commtel COM204 [Realistic Pro 43]

You can have all the new radio scanners you want. I've got a few Quansheng's and Baofeng's etc. But if you're someone who's owned lots of older scanners over the years, and at some point sold most of them, the temptation sometimes comes back to go out and buy some older radios. The nostalgia can be strong. And there's something different to using an older scanner. It feels a bit more special. A bit like a digital camera that can take 1000 photos on an SD card Vs a film camera that takes 24. That's what's happened to me lately. The nostalgia came for me. I ended up buying two older scanners I've never owned before. Those are, a Commtel COM204, which is basically a Realistic Pro 43 with a different speaker grill, and a Yupiteru MVT-7000 which I might write a little review on soon.

The camera flash makes it look like the radio is in bad condition. But its not.

Anyway, this is just a quick post about the golden oldie Commtel COM204 [Realistic Pro 43]. My first impressions. Despite how popular the the Realistic Pro 43 was, and still is, I've never owned one. I'd heard about how good it was and have recently been reading about it and watching video reviews. So I seen this Commtel 204 up for sale on eBay and thought I'd send the guy an offer. He accepted, so I got the radio really cheap. But he took ages to post the radio.

Well it arrived and had batteries inside so I was able to turn it on and get scanning straight away. Condition was overall very good for a 30+ year old scanner. There are a few problems linked to this scanner. The main one being the keypad buttons can go bad and stop responding. But I think this is only after many years of use. I think / hope my one will be good for a few years yet as it doesn't really seem to have had much use. The keypad responds well.

Using the scanner and I can see why so many people hold it in such high regard. It's considered one of the best older scanners. It has 200 channels to play with. Here are some good points that I have found so far.

Very nice scan speed. It has hyperscan, so scans fast. Has a good receiver for such an old scanner. And the receive is very tight and solid. No fake signals, no hissing / stopping in weird places were there's nothing [unlike the Yupiteru!]. Just a really nice well balanced scan.

AM / FM button. This is great for people who love airband. And this radio is well known for its very good air-band reception. One press of this button swaps modulation from AM to FM. I have no use for it though really as I'm not into air band.

Very easy to use. It's so easy to save channels, perform a channel scan etc. Compared to some scanners out there, this is one of the nicest and easiest to use. There is one little flaw, though, that I will mention below in the no-so-good points.

Great squelch. The squelch is very well behaved on the Commtel COM204. No choppiness like on my Quanshengs. This is because a manual squelch can be set lower. Whereas a modified Quansheng, with a digital / on screen squelch has a lowest setting of 1. But this is still too high for a lot of signals. As a result they come through choppy / broken. I did find a fix for this. Another method is to just disable the squelch altogether when you have a signal that you want to listen to for a while.

Good speaker. Some people have said the speaker on this old scanner isn't great. But I think its actually quite good for an older receiver. I mean, some of the old scanner that are held in such high regard, like the AOR 8000, has a terrible speaker. This one is much better.

Well built. This radio feels great in the hand. Especially with batteries in, which gives it that extra weight. It's a fairly small but sturdy well built older scanner that seems like it would take some knocking around and keep on working.

No so good points

All scanners have them. With this one, firstly the light. The light is terrible. It's like the little amber light you get in those early Casio watches where it just lights up the side of the screen. 

Second, but a bit unfair. The keypad doesn't light up. So for people who use this radio in dimly lit areas, like me, it can be a bit annoying.

Third. The beeping. The beeping is a slight annoyance. Each pressing of a button on the keypad is followed by a beep. This can not be turned off without modifying the scanner. That mod I believe requires the opening of the radio and doing to soldering work. So there's no way I'm doing that! Also, the low battery warning is also a beep with the screen flashing on and off at the same time.

Fourth. It takes 6 AA batteries. This is a world away from the newer radios, like the Quansheng K6, that have a lithium Ion battery that lasts ages. Charge it once and it that's it. It's good for easily a week or two with my usage time. And even after around two years of use, they are still going strong. And also, with some of the older radios such as the Commtel, they use a battery holder. And they can be hard to find for sale if a replacement is needed.

Fifth. One thing I can't figure out with this radio, is how to perform a manual scan without saving the frequency to a channel first. I don't think it has this feature. For instance. If you just type in a frequency in manual mode, it won't let you continue after the first 3 digits have been typed. It thinks you are trying to go to one of the 200 channels. The only way I could input a full frequency was in program mode.

And with that you have to save it to memory. After that you can press the "direct" button and start manually scanning the frequency range starting from the saved channels frequency. From there its plain sailing. But I suppose this is just a quirk of older technology. If I'm doing something wrong, and someone knows how to do this without having to save to memory or start a manual scan from a channel, post a comment below.

Sixth. Mono headphone jack, which is a sign of the times with the early to mid 1990's scanners. But there is a workaround. Just put the headphones in your ears, plug them into the 3.5mm jack on the scanner and pull the headphone connection jack out a little bit until you find the sweet spot where you can then hear sound through both ears.

Am I glad I bought it?

Absolutely. Despite a few minor niggles that are common with old scanners [they all have a few things] this radio is definitely a keeper. It's a solid radio. I really like it. I can live with the poor light, the 6 AA batteries and the odd programming annoyance [which is easy to get around]. This is what makes it an older scanner. 

I have to give it a lot of credit, it's over 30 years old, and really there still isn't that much bad to say about it. Still works great. And no doubt, It's good points far outweigh the few bad points that were really [mostly] just how things were 30 years ago. A bit more tech-primitive. And in many ways I prefer that. I've been using up to date stuff for a while now, so It's been great stepping back in time using this scanner. 

If you're looking for an old school scanner radio that has a fairly wide frequency range: 66-88MHz, 118-136.975MHz, 137-174MHz, 220-512MHz, 806-999.9875MHz, has excellent airband, and excellent receive in general, give this one some serious consideration.