Hello, I have been reading the forums here for awhile now and registered recently. I've been busy researching for a low cost and idiot-proof way to kick start my new found love of pirate broadcasting.
I wasn't willing to try to assemble a kit, and the pre-assembled kits were a bit expensive. I had already read the mostly bad reviews on HLLY/CZH units but was willing to give it a try since the seller looked fairly reputable (fmuser).
The package arrived at my door from China in only 4 days via DHL which was suprising since shipping was included in the price. So I rip open the box and get stung by a big crazy fire ant from abroad! I didn't even care much about the pain, because I was so excited to see the transmitter..
The unit turns out to be a CZH-10a instead of the CZH-15a i ordered. I was a little bummed at first, but figured the 10a must be more expensive for a reason. I agreed to keep the 10a instead of have to mail it back to China. After seeing some Youtube videos of both transmitters and reading a lot reviews I'm really happy I got the CZH-10a unit by mistake. It has adjustable power 1-99 where the 15a only has Hi/Lo. The signal seems really clean and it has excellent range. With the cheap car antenna it gives a 1.5 mile radius. I can't wait to test the range when I get a better antenna setup like a 1/2 wave dipole.
One problem I did have only because I am a complete newb is that the bnc antenna wasn't compatible with the type N connection on the tx. So I went to Radio Shack and bought what I thought was the right adapter.. a PL239, oops nope. They don't even sell a type N to BNC at RS so I bought the pl-239 to N and finally it worked.
I've been running my tx for few days just testing it out with my car parked in my driveway and I'm really happy with it so far. I can't wait to take the show on the road!
One of these days I may give in and get one of those chinese jobbies just to see how well they really operate. Would make a handy unit to have when going to parties to broadcast at remote locations.
Post by Ozone Express Radio on Sept 29, 2012 21:10:40 GMT -6
In my pile, I have two of those transmitters. I can't say too many bad things about them.
One is a 10 watter and other than my leaving the top cover off while poking around in there during a broadcast and it overheating and frying the output MOSFET, its been a solid unit. With a decent LPF its pretty clean and it sounds decent too.
The other .5W unit I use fed into a homebrew 175W pallet amp and its done well too.
Hi group! Just joined the forum. Saw a post about the CZH-10A -- Just got one. Works good! Be careful tho....when you first power it up you have the full 10 watts ouput. Can't turn it down until you access the power adjust from the menu, and the unit is transmitting 10 watts until you get there. So be SURE your antenna system is working with a nice low SWR before you fire up this unit. Otherwise, you'll blow the final transistor before you even have a chance to play with it! (And of course, the final transistor isn't covered by the warrenty!)
What I like about this one, aside from the price, is the elegant look and that it's fully adjustable to any power level up to 5 watts AND that there are audio connectors at the back of the unit! I always found plugging a mini patch cable to the front of the transmitter to be very annoying and not to mention, it looks like shit. The guy is asking $120, but I'm sure if you offered $80 - $90, they'd take it. Shipping is included.
I like the fact that it can be controlled by a PC. However, I've already been burned with an HLLY 1.5 watt transmitter that claimed to have an 'SMA-type' connector on it only to receive it and realize that it is a proprietary connector type designed specifically for the rubber ducky antenna that it is designed to use. Not very helpful if you want to connect it (easily anyways) to an external antenna system. You'd have to take the unit apart and solder on a BNC connector as finding any adaptor that will work with this unit¡¯s connector will prove to be impossible.
Same as the one above, but can do 15 watts. What I don't like about this is that it only has two power settings. Either 1 watt, or 15 watts. I don't like that restriction. However, it does have RDS capabilities. Always trade-offs with these things.
Neg the bugger on Ebay for an inaccurate description and get your money back. Inaccurate descritption is grounds for Ebay to refund you out of his account without his having to agree to a refund, according to their new rules.
Neg the bugger on Ebay for an inaccurate description and get your money back. Inaccurate descritption is grounds for Ebay to refund you out of his account without his having to agree to a refund, according to their new rules.
Cheers!
Hey cmradio,
Yeah, unfortunately the purchase was before they implemented this new policy. At some point, I'm going to try to modify it. I ordered a surface mount BNC connector from Ramsey (oddly, I could not source these in town) as it was easier to just pick up the phone and call Ramsey to order it rather than sift through hundreds of pages and part numbers and hope to christ they send the right part. Ramsey is very good about stuff like that. The price of the part was in line with everything else I saw online so...hopefully it does the trick.
Because of the proprietary antenna system, this transmitter essentially becomes a toy...and an impractical one at that because anything with speakers close to that thing (as it's putting out over a watt of RF energy through that little rubber ducky) will hum badly (as is the case will all these rubber ducky Chinese transmitters). Connect an external antenna with low loss cable and it goes away.
Anyways, I have a bunch of TX's laying around, so no hurry for that. But I do like these newer TX's with LCD menu displays that sell at a fraction of the cost of other traditional suppliers.
However, I always advise, if you're going the Chinese transmitter route, make sure you have a spectrum analyzer and order two of them since they're so darn cheap. Because it's not a matter of 'if', but 'when' it will have to be replaced.
Not sure I love em BUT beware of lack of service and support from FMUSER.NET or whatever they call themselves. I have a FU-15A that died in 6 months and no USA support and they will not even respond with a parts list or schematics to repair the unit. They will not even respond to my emails and requests for help. So If ya buy one be prepared to have no support or comms with the MFG. All tey want is the $$ and no support after the sale.
If anyone has a parts list or schematic for a FU-15A/CZE-15A unit please email me at wd8ajj@yahoo.com
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