New TX-500 VARIANT

Equipment Radios & Power
1

New prototype radio from Lab599. Pics from social media

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Is that a man sized KH-1?

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No other details other than those above Iā€™m afraid.

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https://youtu.be/uDRNwSzjn40

OH8STN has a video on it.

Looks to be no VFO? Interesting looking rigā€¦

Todd KH2TJ

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Fantasticā€¦ itā€™s a video of someone reading the press release. With hundreds of sycophantic followers posting ā€œgreat videoā€ comments.

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There is still a lack of a classic handheld HF transceiver such as Mizuho, Youkits TJ2B, Tokyo High Power HT-750, etc. :roll_eyes:

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Lab599 fanboys are almost as rabid as the elecraft covenā€¦ I sincerely hope they havenā€™t used obsolete parts in this radio like they did in the original tx-500.

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What were the obsolete parts? I have a tx-500 bought for the function and form which is as good as I hoped. I do feel lucky as I havenā€™t had any issues although some have and had a ā€˜mare getting a repair done. I do like my FTDX10 and did consider a 817 when I looked to purchase. Horses for courses and with your own needs defined youā€™ll buy what you need. I had an Elecraft KX3 but didnā€™t like it and had no contacts whatsoever, seriously. Bought the TX-500 did my first SOTA and boom, QSO central.

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The audio amp chip (TDA7056AT) is now obsolete and extremely difficult to find. They seem to be being killed by high SWR conditions and RF getting back into the radio via the mic cable etc. Most suppliers who say they have them ā€œin stockā€, donā€™t. Any promises of back orders are bogus as the part is no longer manufacturedā€¦ I managed to purchase two of the remaining three that Utmel had in stock just in case.

Itā€™s a very nice radio and I use mine a lot but Iā€™m a lot more careful about antennas with this rig than any others I own.

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Good to know, cheers chum I wasnā€™t aware of that.

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To be fair, from what Iā€™ve read, the failure rate is pretty low but itā€™s worth keeping an eye on the swaaarghā€¦

There is an equivalent IC, the FAN7040, but thatā€™s also unobtainium.

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I just received three from Utmel last week.
It cost more for shipping than for the parts but it is just nice to have them on hand.
I have used my TX500 with many different antennas and have never had any issues.
I am wondering if there were just a few bad chips.
Anyway, I really like my TX500. I also have a KX3/PX3 and a IC-705.
They all have their own pluses and minuses.
Larry
n0sa

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Between us, weā€™ve just about cleaned them out, Larry :rofl:.

Iā€™ve not had many issues with the radio apart from some RF getting in via the mic cable on the higher bands. That was on a SOTA activation with a less-than-ideal antenna. SSB was unusable with the CMR compression engaged as it was magnifying the issue. It was fine with CMR disabled.

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Interestingly a similar audio amp from the same product line & manufacturer, TDA7052, is used in the KX2 and that too is marked as no longer in production.

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I just looked on the Elecraft site and while shipping is delayed, I couldnā€™t find anything about no longer in production. Where did you find that info?

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The TDA7052AT is still in production, although given the datasheet is dated 1994 itā€™s getting on a bit.
The TDA7052 is discontinued, no alternative given (not even the AT)

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I confused the chip Ronan mentioned with the one used in the KX2 (TDA7052A) and the TX-500 (TDA7056AT). I only knew of the KX2 chip as Iā€™d investigated how to get more ooomph into my headphones as with my phones, the volume is low. The KX2 uses a TDA7052 to drive the speaker but the headphones are driven from the Texas CODEC.

If you check with NXP (Philips), both of these audio power amp chips are 30yr old designs no longer in manufacture. But it seems the 7052 seems much more readily available still. Normally large volume users are notified when devices are going obsolete and get the chance to do lifetime buys. Elecraft know how many a year they use and buy enough for current production and for spares based on their production/repair knowledge whilst they design a replacement part into the KX2 etc.

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He means the TDA7052 is no longer in production.

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Farnell, Mouser and Digikey all show it as obsolete.

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I guess everything becomes obsolete, eventuallyā€¦ Even me :face_with_diagonal_mouth:ā€¦ although Iā€™m pretty certain that Iā€™ll be cloned and available on AliExpress with free shipping, so donā€™t fret.

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