As a person who built 2 wolves from scratch - don't buy this chinese knock off. 80% of the components are of poor quality and won't give you the result the author intended.
@ER1FM any thoughts about the ERMAK sdr transceiver kit, or how it might compare to the Wolf? I've been looking at both of these, but might it be better to spend the same money on a "branded" set?
@@redeyegooner That depends, if you’re willing to wait a few months. You can build Wolf-2, should be stable-ish Pcb releases by that time. If not - ERMAK ain’t that bad, just a bit outdated component wise. If that’s not an issue for you - go ahead, pull the trigger both are great radios with minor flaws here and there. Just keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a perfect radio 😅
@@ER1FM thanks ☺️👍 I'm not confident enough to assemble one myself, so will wait and see what I can get ready to go out of the box in a few more months 🤞☺️ I just came across the "Charly 25 all band TRX" by smartradioconcepts while looking fir more information. Wow 🤯 Looks amazing, but priced around 4k unfortunately, lol 😭🤷♂️
I got this transceiver almost a month ago. If you are looking for a REAL HF-VHF-UHF all mode ham rig that can get you on the air out of box, I think you are better off to save up and get an iCOM/Yaesu machine. Owning a lot of those “alternative, non-mainstream” radios such as Discovery TX-500, Xiegu G90, X6100, and uSDX, I must say that this Chinese version of WOLF SDR is NOT (hopefully not yet) a finished product for end-user. It does have a fancy spectrum display, but it will ALWAYS display 0W output for every band despite my external power meter saying otherwise. It has a near 1Khz RX deviation on VHF (2Khz on UHF), the provided settings/calibration has no effect on it except RIT. The RX sensibility is questionable, although I think it can be improved with tweaking some of the values on the calibration menu, but so far I can only get proper reception from local FM broadcast stations or me holding a HT right next to it. I could not hear a 2M VHF ham station that is just 10 KM away with the WOLF, but with the same antenna my IC-746 provided a voice from the same station that sounded like it was on my cell phone. The seller provided ZERO technical support, all he did was ask me to work on it, research the information on github and lower my expectation because he himself is using it as a “fancy radio for broadcasting.” He even said that I should blame the UA3REO for bad design. The only positive thing the seller did was offering me a return and full refund, but I will have to pay the shipping, because he “has a lot of overseas demand.” So if you are one of his “demand” from non-Chinese-speaking world, think twice!
@@HamTechRadioScannerDrones There may be a few satisfied buyers (!). They were lucky that their clone works. But they are only satisfied because they don't know the possibilities of the original. Millions satisfied? If you had really done your research, you wouldn't just say something like that AND support those who developed the original and continue to develop it and NOT those who copy the intellectual property and try to enrich themselves from it (with the cheapest components)!
I think: * Digital Down Conversion (DDC) * Digital Up Conversion Both are ways of handling more frequencies than your native circuitry would handle. In the analog days you'd upmix or downmix to an Intermediate Frequency (IF) that the rest of the circuitry would handle.
Well nearly...The first "D" is for "Direct" it means that on Rx (DDC) the HF is fed directly (well without any conversion actually) to the ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). On the Tx side (DUC) it is the same reversed i.e. the FPGA up converts the signal and applies it directly (again no conversion) to the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). So it means all digital from/to the antenna PA, LNA and filters apart of course. This results in a very clean signal without clock or LO birdies interfering or mixing up with each other as seen on some other SDR rigs like the X6100 for which this is particularly bad. The ADC and DAC run at very high speed (122.8 MHz) so the entire HF band + 50 MHz is digitized this is why no analog conversion is needed. The VHF part (and UHF for Rx) work in undersampling mode and performance particularly for SNR may not be as good as for HF + 50 MHz.
When you say the letter "H," you pronounce it as "haytch" with an audible "hay" at the beginning. The correct way to pronounce the letter "H" is "aytch" without an audible consonant at the start. It's almost as if you are guarding against an accusation of being an East London native, so you're going out of your way to change an internationally accepted convention.
@@HamTechRadioScannerDrones I now think I was a bit too definite in my opinion there. Here's a credible internet source that ascribes BOTH pronunciations within Great Britain... Quoting: "In British English, the letter 'H' is typically pronounced as 'aytch.' However, the pronunciation 'haytch' is also considered a legitimate variant. Some people may wonder which pronunciation is correct, and the answer is that both are acceptable. In fact, there is a debate about whether the correct pronunciation should be 'aitch' or 'haitch.' Some people argue that it should be pronounced with an 'h' sound, while others believe it is acceptable to pronounce it without the 'h' sound. Interestingly, there may even be religious associations with the pronunciation of 'H,' as some sources claim that Catholics say 'haych' while Protestants say 'aitch'."
This looks like a really interesting transceiver. They seem to have packed a lot into a very good package, but that makes you wonder
Yes Beta testing requited.
@@HamTechRadioScannerDrones Go on I dare you!
i have the sbitx 40 watts but its been a little bit of a pain ie smoking finals this rig is smokin hot ..jeff..
Thanks .
Will be buying one next week!!
Best of luck
How did it go for you
As a person who built 2 wolves from scratch - don't buy this chinese knock off. 80% of the components are of poor quality and won't give you the result the author intended.
Thanks for the tip
Yes, said the same about the xiegu xg90 when it appeared and it turned out to be quite decent.
@ER1FM any thoughts about the ERMAK sdr transceiver kit, or how it might compare to the Wolf? I've been looking at both of these, but might it be better to spend the same money on a "branded" set?
@@redeyegooner That depends, if you’re willing to wait a few months. You can build Wolf-2, should be stable-ish Pcb releases by that time. If not - ERMAK ain’t that bad, just a bit outdated component wise. If that’s not an issue for you - go ahead, pull the trigger both are great radios with minor flaws here and there. Just keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a perfect radio 😅
@@ER1FM thanks ☺️👍 I'm not confident enough to assemble one myself, so will wait and see what I can get ready to go out of the box in a few more months 🤞☺️
I just came across the "Charly 25 all band TRX" by smartradioconcepts while looking fir more information. Wow 🤯 Looks amazing, but priced around 4k unfortunately, lol 😭🤷♂️
I got this transceiver almost a month ago.
If you are looking for a REAL HF-VHF-UHF all mode ham rig that can get you on the air out of box, I think you are better off to save up and get an iCOM/Yaesu machine.
Owning a lot of those “alternative, non-mainstream” radios such as Discovery TX-500, Xiegu G90, X6100, and uSDX, I must say that this Chinese version of WOLF SDR is NOT (hopefully not yet) a finished product for end-user.
It does have a fancy spectrum display, but it will ALWAYS display 0W output for every band despite my external power meter saying otherwise.
It has a near 1Khz RX deviation on VHF (2Khz on UHF), the provided settings/calibration has no effect on it except RIT.
The RX sensibility is questionable, although I think it can be improved with tweaking some of the values on the calibration menu, but so far I can only get proper reception from local FM broadcast stations or me holding a HT right next to it. I could not hear a 2M VHF ham station that is just 10 KM away with the WOLF, but with the same antenna my IC-746 provided a voice from the same station that sounded like it was on my cell phone.
The seller provided ZERO technical support, all he did was ask me to work on it, research the information on github and lower my expectation because he himself is using it as a “fancy radio for broadcasting.” He even said that I should blame the UA3REO for bad design.
The only positive thing the seller did was offering me a return and full refund, but I will have to pay the shipping, because he “has a lot of overseas demand.”
So if you are one of his “demand” from non-Chinese-speaking world, think twice!
Thanks loads of good info , in my opinion better to get ICOM YAESU KENWOOD ELECRAFT
Sage advice
hi andy (uk amatuer radio group) i've just ordered one, i'll let you know
OK many thanks looking forward to your review.
Press and hold the 8 key and enable 2 m and 70 cm bands
And only the 20 watt model does vhf/uhf
Thanks
Yes, I like a follow-up.
Stick with Yaesu ,icom ,kenwood,elcraft
As you said ic 705 not buying anymore radios bought two ic 705 have the Aor ar 6000 that's enough for me the aor 6000 is absolutely excellent
I will check it out thanks.
Interesting rig
Yes
Thank you for this UA-cam. Can you also do a version of this radio with receiving VHF and UHF please? 73
Sorry I don't have this Radio .
I am interested in this, currently running, a FT991A, would be interested to know if its worth the money, so will be watching this with interest.
Yes me too.
a good home brew project.
a bad idea to buy this as chinese clone due to bad quality issues - some had luck most got dissapointed
Not true millions very happy buying from China
@@HamTechRadioScannerDrones There may be a few satisfied buyers (!). They were lucky that their clone works. But they are only satisfied because they don't know the possibilities of the original.
Millions satisfied? If you had really done your research, you wouldn't just say something like that AND support those who developed the original and continue to develop it and NOT those who copy the intellectual property and try to enrich themselves from it (with the cheapest components)!
I just got mine today brand new and is drifting frequency on TX. Any ideas?
Hi sorry I don't have this device.
I think:
* Digital Down Conversion (DDC)
* Digital Up Conversion
Both are ways of handling more frequencies than your native circuitry would handle. In the analog days you'd upmix or downmix to an Intermediate Frequency (IF) that the rest of the circuitry would handle.
Thanks interesting
Well nearly...The first "D" is for "Direct" it means that on Rx (DDC) the HF is fed directly (well without any conversion actually) to the ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). On the Tx side (DUC) it is the same reversed i.e. the FPGA up converts the signal and applies it directly (again no conversion) to the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). So it means all digital from/to the antenna PA, LNA and filters apart of course. This results in a very clean signal without clock or LO birdies interfering or mixing up with each other as seen on some other SDR rigs like the X6100 for which this is particularly bad. The ADC and DAC run at very high speed (122.8 MHz) so the entire HF band + 50 MHz is digitized this is why no analog conversion is needed. The VHF part (and UHF for Rx) work in undersampling mode and performance particularly for SNR may not be as good as for HF + 50 MHz.
Are these Chinese sellers reliable, I see there are 2 guys selling this and I am massively interested. Any ideas??
I would stick.to Yaesu , Kenwood , Icom
what are the physical dimensions of the radio?
It's in the manual
@@HamTechRadioScannerDronesI don't have the manual, do you have a link for the manual?
When you say the letter "H," you pronounce it as "haytch" with an audible "hay" at the beginning. The correct way to pronounce the letter "H" is "aytch" without an audible consonant at the start. It's almost as if you are guarding against an accusation of being an East London native, so you're going out of your way to change an internationally accepted convention.
Weird ,lol OK
@@HamTechRadioScannerDrones I now think I was a bit too definite in my opinion there. Here's a credible internet source that ascribes BOTH pronunciations within Great Britain... Quoting: "In British English, the letter 'H' is typically pronounced as 'aytch.' However, the pronunciation 'haytch' is also considered a legitimate variant. Some people may wonder which pronunciation is correct, and the answer is that both are acceptable. In fact, there is a debate about whether the correct pronunciation should be 'aitch' or 'haitch.' Some people argue that it should be pronounced with an 'h' sound, while others believe it is acceptable to pronounce it without the 'h' sound. Interestingly, there may even be religious associations with the pronunciation of 'H,' as some sources claim that Catholics say 'haych' while Protestants say 'aitch'."
@@Randy-xs4wmI think it's more weird to say the name of the letter *without* using the sound that it makes.
when people say get a life.... like they have to you ALL YOUR LIFE... repeatedly.............. G E T ONE
vweery nice but 20 watt if that was a 50 watter i would be interested big time wonder if it has an atu .. jeff .. m0prf
Think it has got atu.