Wouxun KG-1000G Actual Power Output

[donniefitz2]

I decided to spend the money on the KG-1000G and it recently arrived. One of the main selling points for me is the advertised 50 watts of power. In most cases, I don't need that much wattage, but I like knowing I have it if needed. 

As with all of my radios, I did a power/SWR test on this one. I was really surprised at the result. 

I'm using a 13.8v, 23amp power supply, 50ohm dummy load (100 watt max) and a Surecom SW-33 to measure. I get that this SWR meter isn't the best, but it has been accurate and served me well so far. Also, same results using my antenna (Diamond X50NA). 

Anyway, here are the results from my testing. These results are consistent on other frequencies:

467.725 - High Power: 36 watts (WTF?)
462.725 - High Power: 37 watts
467.725 - Medium Power (level 1): 16.5 watts (should be 20)
462.725 - Medium Power (level 1): 16.5 watts (should be 20)
467.725 - Low Power: 4.3 watts
462.725 - Low Power: 4.5 watts

Now, I get that radios will vary in their output and I totally expect that, but 37 watts? Really? I could live with 40 or 45, but this is disappointing. Most dual band radios will have lower output in the higher UHF range, but my assumption was that this radio is optimized for GMRS and would be tuned to output something close to 50 watts. 

I have contacted the vendor and I'm waiting for a response. Maybe it's just a fluke or something (hoping so). 

Has anyone else tested the output of their KG-1000G?

[Sshannon]

What was the SWR at each of those frequencies and settings?

[donniefitz2]

Well, because I was using a dummy load, SWR was 1.01. My antenna is also 1.01 on the 467 frequencies and 1.2 on simplex. 

[Sshannon]

I agree, seems disappointing. 

[donniefitz2]

Just now, Sshannon said:

I agree, seems disappointing. 

It really is. But, I think I'll hold off on judgement until the vendor gets back to me. There is a lot of good about this radio too. I'm hoping I just happened to get a poorly tuned unit. 

[Sshannon]

2 minutes ago, donniefitz2 said:

It really is. But, I think I'll hold off on judgement until the vendor gets back to me. There is a lot of good about this radio too. I'm hoping I just happened to get a poorly tuned unit. 

Did you look at the notarubicon video of the same unit?  I think he tested it for power output (I could be wrong). @OffRoaderXtracks that YouTube channel pretty closely . Maybe he can comment.

[donniefitz2]

LOL. Yeah he's a big fan, I hear. I think he did test it and from what I remember, he got something like 49 watts, which is awesome. But, Ham Radio 2.0 sort of tested one too. He didn't say much about the power output, but you can see on his meter it looked like it read 35 watts on 467. I could be wrong though. 

[mbrun]

I decided to spend the money on the KG-1000G and it recently arrived. One of the main selling points for me is the advertised 50 watts of power. In most cases, I don't need that much wattage, but I like knowing I have it if needed. 
As with all of my radios, I did a power/SWR test on this one. I was really surprised at the result. 
I'm using a 13.8v, 23amp power supply, 50ohm dummy load (100 watt max) and a Surecom SW-33 to measure. I get that this SWR meter isn't the best, but it has been accurate and served me well so far. Also, same results using my antenna (Diamond X50NA). 
Anyway, here are the results from my testing. These results are consistent on other frequencies:
467.725 - High Power: 36 watts (WTF?)
462.725 - High Power: 37 watts
467.725 - Medium Power (level 1): 16.5 watts (should be 20)
462.725 - Medium Power (level 1): 16.5 watts (should be 20)
467.725 - Low Power: 4.3 watts
462.725 - Low Power: 4.5 watts

Now, I get that radios will vary in their output and I totally expect that, but 37 watts? Really? I could live with 40 or 45, but this is disappointing. Most dual band radios will have lower output in the higher UHF range, but my assumption was that this radio is optimized for GMRS and would be tuned to output something close to 50 watts. 
I have contacted the vendor and I'm waiting for a response. Maybe it's just a fluke or something (hoping so). 
Has anyone else tested the output of their KG-1000G?

Yes I have tested the output power on the radio previously and found power levels to be acceptable. For the sake of this post, I just hooked it up to my dummy load, confirmed input voltage was 13.8vdc and achieved 49.0 watts on 462.6500 and 47.3 watts on 467.6500, 16 watts +/- on the upper mid power setting, 8 watts +/- on the lower mid power setting and 4 watts +/- on lower setting on both of the above frequencies.

BTW, do make sure that 13.8v is what the radio is seeing while transmitting, not just when idle.

Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[Sshannon]

2 hours ago, mbrun said:

Yes I have tested the output power on the radio previously and found power levels to be acceptable. For the sake of this post, I just hooked it up to my dummy load, confirmed input voltage was 13.8vdc and achieved 49.0 watts on 462.6500 and 47.3 watts on 467.6500, 16 watts +/- on the upper mid power setting, 8 watts +/- on the lower mid power setting and 4 watts +/- on lower setting on both of the above frequencies.

BTW, do make sure that 13.8v is what the radio is seeing while transmitting, not just when idle.

Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Very good point!  If the voltage sags when transmitting, that could explain it.

[donniefitz2]

5 hours ago, mbrun said:

BTW, do make sure that 13.8v is what the radio is seeing while transmitting, not just when idle.

Good point. I'll hook the power meter up and see where the voltage is when transmitting. I do have another power source I could try as well. 

[donniefitz2]

I hooked up the power meter and tested again. It's holding between 13.7 and 13.9 volts while transmitting on high power. It's also drawing 10.1 amps on high power transmit. Still seeing a max of 35-37 watts out. 

My guess is that this unit just isn't tuned properly. I'm guessing these radios have a tuning menu hidden behind a magic key combination. It would be nice to get access to that so I don't have to send it back in. 

[mbrun]

@donniefitz2 I would seek replacement. Sounds like you received a dud.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[donniefitz2]

Yep. Hoping to hear back from the vendor soon. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll follow up when I find out more.

[RepairMan]

Please provide an update when you hear back. I've got the same problem and emailed buytwowayradios.

[donniefitz2]

Oh, yes. Forgot to update this. 

I went to all the trouble to send it back, costing me $35 for return shipping. The return process with BTWR was quite disappointing. Zero communication from them about the situation. One day, I just got UPS notification saying I had a package coming from them. 

Wondering what happened, I called and a guy there explained that my radio was fine. The power output was where it's supposed to be. 

Once I received it back, I tested it the same way I did before and got a max output of 25 watts. Figuring that they (BTWR) were right and my equipment is probably at fault, I added a small jumper wire to my meter (previously I used adapters to connect it directly to the radio and dummy load). Adding this wire completely changed the output reading and it showed 45-47 watts. 

So, my little meter (SW-33) was at fault all along. I bought the bigger one (SW-102) and it reads 40-45 watts, which is about what I expected. 

I will say this, people here have gone on about how great the service is at BTWR. That was not my experience. Like I said, absolutely no communication during the whole process. But, in the end, the radio seems to be working the way it should. 

[MichaelLAX]

I am just curious...

I am not a customer of BTWR, as I have never purchased anything from them.

Did the returned radio have any written explanation with it?

But other than you sending the radio back to them and them sending it back to you, what did you expect?

[haneysa]

My KG-1000G xmits 50 watts according to my MFJ cross needle meter. I have a different meter on the way to verify.

[donniefitz2]

5 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

I am just curious...

I am not a customer of BTWR, as I have never purchased anything from them.

Did the returned radio have any written explanation with it?

But other than you sending the radio back to them and them sending it back to you, what did you expect?

Good question. I would have expected some type of acknowledgement of the ticket that I originally submitted (not even a confirmation email). Maybe some acknowledgement that they received the item and most of all, an explanation of the results of their tests. They provided no explanation and had I not called to ask, I would have just blindly received my radio back and been like, WTF? Nothing was provided in the box but the original radio. 

Not trying to be harsh, but, I keep hearing people say that these guys have great customer service and I was expecting something more I guess. 

[MichaelLAX]

I hear what you’re saying. 

Thank you for taking the time to explain it for me. 

It's kind of like when I order a burrito with an extra portion of chicken (which I pay extra for) and then wonder if they really added the extra chicken! 

Now I order the extra portion of chicken on the side and insert it into the burrito myself! 

[RepairMan]

I measured my KG-1000G with my Surecom SW-102 with a 50w dummy load and got 38.5W. The radio is hooked straight to the battery and the screen reads 14.1V when it starts up. When testing my MXT-400 I got the 40 watts that it's supposed to have.

I'll be sending it back soon for testing/repair/replacement.

[donniefitz2]

1 hour ago, RepairMan said:

I'll be sending it back soon for testing/repair/replacement.

I'm interested to hear your experience. 

I re-tested with the SW-102 (newly purchased) and a 50ohm dummy load and got 40-45 watts. That was with 14.1 volts (23 amp power unit). 

[WROY767]

@donniefitz2

Thanks foe this informative post. You provide to us more details than BTWR seems to have to you. 
 

One of the guys in my BeepNet GMRS group is having the same issue and I’ll forward this to him in the am  maybe his radio isn’t a dud after all  He too is using the SC stuff and bought from BTWR  

A question I had, having to pay that much (or at all) for return shipping. That seems excessive. What’s their policy on that?

[mbrun]

I measured my KG-1000G with my Surecom SW-102 with a 50w dummy load and got 38.5W. The radio is hooked straight to the battery and the screen reads 14.1V when it starts up. When testing my MXT-400 I got the 40 watts that it's supposed to have.
I'll be sending it back soon for testing/repair/replacement.

When testing, also make sure that voltage into the radio is 13.8vdc at the radio input during your power tests. While the voltage can be good at power up, it typically drops during TX, and this is when it matters most.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[donniefitz2]

9 hours ago, WROY767 said:

That seems excessive. What’s their policy on that?

That's what my UPS store charged me to insure and ship it back. The policy appears to be, you pay shipping. 

4 hours ago, mbrun said:

When testing, also make sure that voltage into the radio is 13.8vdc

I had it set to where the voltage sat right at 13.8 on transmit for my tests. 

[donniefitz2]

On another note, I am quite pleased with the install in the Discovery 2. Mounted the face to an otherwise useless area on the dash and put the main radio under the drivers seat.