I’m currently testing the Hytera X1p portable DMR-transceiver. The first thing you’ll notice is the size. The transceiver is small, just like an iPhone 5. With the standard battery the portable is only 21mm thick. Still, the set has a full keypad and nicely coloured display to show the status, channel, battery level, etc.
On the top you will find a rotary dial to change the 16 frequencies within one programmed zone and a volume control dial. The last one works great als is ‘fluid’, compared to my MD785G mobile transceiver which works with steps, where the first step is too loud for me and there are no options in between. This is a big plus for me, since I can adjust the volume level just the way I want.
PTT button right
The other thing you’ll notice when working with the Hytera X1p is the PTT button. All portable transceivers I owned had the button left-sided. The X1p has the PT button right sided, which is a bit strange the first time you work with this handheld. Hytera did this because the X1p is dual-sided. Say what? Yes, dual-sided. It has the speaker on the back and had a microphone on both the back and front. In the CPS software you can adjust which microphone to choose. In my opinion the microphone on the back is a bit more sensitive then the one in the front. When switching to the microphone on the back, the PTT button is back again on the left side.
No default earphone
The X1p has no 3,5mm connector to use your earphone but uses a special (waterproof!) connector for accessoires. From this point of view I can imagine Hytera can not use a regular jack connector for the microphone and speaker. The big disadvantage in here is that Hytera does not sell the connector by itself so there is no way to build your own adapter cable and use accessories you already own. You have to buy a speaker-microphone from Hytera and cut around to use that cable.
The good thing: The X1p had Bluetooth to connect accessoires but I haven’t test this yet. Let’s see if I have a bluetooth headset lying around to to see if that is a good replacement for an earphone. If this (and not the $150.- Hytera bluetooth adapter) works, I’ll update this review.
Small battery
With a small transceiver comes a small battery. Though the capacity of the default battery is quite low it’s good enough to work for a full 8-hour day in a 90/5/5 usage pattern (5% of the time receive, 5% of the time transceive, 90% of the time doing nothing but have the portable turned on). I did not test the battery life with the X1p in scan-modes and assume it will consume more energy thus the battery will last less long. I personally have no problems with this. If you want a small transceiver, you have to accept a smaller battery.
To be continued…
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Hi Frank,
I very much enjoy my X1p too there is however at least one thing to be aware of: crank up the mic gain to the maximum setting (30) or your audio will be perceived as ‘whisper quiet’.
With regard to battery capacity, I can confirm your findings. The battery does indeed not last as long when in scanning mode (which makes sense), but other than that it’ll get you through the day in 90/5/5 modus just fine.
I did a first preliminary test with bluetooth, the good news is it works with a non Hytera headset (I cannot tell for the BT PTT, since that one in my case is the Hytera one but there are alternatives available).
The less positive news it that it seems to be picky with regard to the BT headset one uses. I tried a Jawbone icon HD and while it works, there was no way I could obtain a satisfactory audio output level from it, even the AF received through it was on the weak side no matter (the few) settings I changed and the number of times I paired the devices all over again. I am now awaiting another BT headset from Plantronics, I’ll let you know how that one does.
DMR is really rapidly picking up here in Belgium with a good repeater network already in place. At the same time more DMR devices are being made available and prices are dropping to the benefit of the overall HAM community.
73’s
Guy
As a follow up to my first post, I now have a Plantronics Voyager Pro HD headset paired to my X1p.
With the same settings (Internal and External mic Gain set to 30dB) the audio level has improved both on the receive and transmit side however in transmit it is still rather quiet compared to the internal microphone.
I experimented with enabling the digital mic AGC in combination with setting AGC Dynamic Range min value to 0 dB and AGC Dynamic Range max value to 20 dB. This now seems to provide an acceptable audio level (pressure) in transmit mode although still not the same as when using the internal microphone.
The down side is that with bluetooth disabled, I now have to speak a little further from the internal microphone.
Curious to know how what your experience is. I am going to address Hytera over this to see if there is anything they can do to further improve the bluetooth experience.
73’s
Guy
Hello,
I have connected a BT Headset from Plantronics to my X1p but my problem is, I can hear over my headset but i cant talk. when I press the PTT on my X1P or I activated VOX than use the X1P the internal mic. Do u have a solution?
The audio from the front mic on the x1p is just muffled and bad, not what you expect from a top end £500 radio. Having to use the back mic or use external mics to get around poor quality on a radio costing so much is ridiculous.
If I had a choice I would never buy an x1p again.
Just to follow up on my last comments. Once Hytera found out about the problem – Hytera UK were stars!!! Without going into all the details (Hytera said it was a grey import) they basically gave me a brand new x1p, I have had no issues and it sounds great on the air! There must of been an issue with the original radio supplied to me. The x1p is good but even more importantly im very impressed with Matthew Napier at Hytera UK support.
Big thumbs up x1p and Hytera
[…] *” – skąd my to znamy? ). Żadnego zatem problemu. Co więcej, Frank PH4X na swoim blogu stwierdza, że dodatkowy mikrofon działa lepiej. Ja nie odniosę się do tej kwestii, dla mnie […]