Review Of The 5W (tr)uSDX QRP Transceiver (2024)

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I was thinking a lot lately to order the PCB and the components to build one. The only thing that made me postpone my decision, was the lack of equipment I had to fine tune it. That made me think that I will not be able to bring it up to the specs.

I decided that the best for me would be to order one that is already adjusted and properly tested. It seems that Andrei can read my thoughts, because I woke up with the delivery man in front of the house, with an unexpected package.

Don’t forget to checkDL2MAN web pageto always stay up to date with thelatest list of approved sellers for the (tr)uSDX. Especially that lately there are a lot of shady transceivers available on the market that will never be able to do firmware updates since the manufacturer did not respect the license. Talking about the firmware updates, always check for the latest one as Manuel and Guido seem to improve it constantly with new features.

My friends atroWaves no longer sell the (tr)uSDX transceiver.

In the video I’m talking mostly about my opinions about this little transceiver. The best part of the (tr)uSDX is that it has five HF bands available. If you like QRP and portable work this is the perfect choice so far. I usually don’t like any digital amateur radio equipment. I did followed all the work and development of the (tr)uSDX transceiver on Manuel’s YouTube channel.

It has been a lot of hard work behind done by Manuel and Guido. For a beginner in amateur radio, this little QRP transceiver is just perfect. I would also recommend you to read the Users Manual. Many of the questions people usually ask, have answers in the manual.

I did not had much free time lately, but I do listen on the (tr)uSDX every time I’m at the desk working on my laptop. I also made my very first QSO on this tiny transceiver. For sure I will remember it all my life. The overall opinion is that it’s worth having one. Even if you have fancy equipment to use, it’s still great to have one for portable work. It’s so tiny that it fits in your pocket. The fact that you can also power it via USB it’s a plus, even if the power is only 500mW.

I’ve been playing a lot with FT8 and similar modes, as it works great for digital mods as well. It has CAT control that goes really well with all sort of software. For me the CAT control was great when using Log40M2, as I didn’t had to input the frequency all the time in the log. The software will always autocomplete those fields with the info received from the transceiver.

If 5W are not enough, you also have the option to connect it to an external power amplifier. I do have the JUMA PA-100D HF linear amplifier at 100W on my wishlist already. And if 100W won’t do for you, then the new JUMA PA-1000+ is what you are looking for.

I will not go into the programing side as I don’t know much about that. As I was saying, I prefer analog equipment. But I do appreciate very much the fact that they managed to get so much, out of such a small and simple processor. There are only three things I didn’t like. I do understand the reasons behind the choices made though, so I’m not actually complaining about it. First is the SMA connector, as I would always prefer a straight BNC instead. I do understand the space limitations in that little package.

The second thing is the use of the USB connector. A USB C would be great in the future designs, since it seems to become an international standard for the phones as well. Right now in my area, the other types of USB cables simply disappeared. They only seem to sell USB C. I ended up ordering one online.

The last one is the power connector. I know that because of the space limitations is harder to use a 6mm one that is more common for most power supplies or battery packs. It took me a little, but at the end I managed to replace the power connector with a 6mm one.

The fact that I have nice words about the (tr)uSDX QRP transceiver, has nothing to do with my friendship with Andrei from roWaves. I’m writing this part months after receiving the transceiver and I will say that I am more than happy about it. The power output seems bigger in reality compared to the PA efficiency table on top. On the 40m band I actually have around 7.2W output power. Is great fun in SSB and digital modes. It connects really nice and communicates with most amateur radio software available via CAT control.

Sadly I still didn’t had the free time to learn the Morse code so far. But making tests in CW I did realized how much fun that is. If you are looking for a cheap portable transceiver, I would really recommend it. Is not perfect is true, but even with a few limitations that it has, is an excellent transceiver especially for beginners. Have a look at my logbook, as it fills up with QSO’s and so far they are all made using the (tr)uSX transceiver.

73 DE YO6DXE