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---
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title: Lab599 Discovery TX-500
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summary: >
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A nice radio for portable operation.
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date: 2022-11-04
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coverCaption: TX-500 in action on a stone
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showBreadcrumbs: true
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showReadingTime: false
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showWordCount: false
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---
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This is the third HF transceiver that I bought. I was looking for a while for
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an alternative to the FT-891, because I wanted something leightweight for my
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little hiking tours.
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## Low quality mic?
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It's like many plastic mics on other radios, it definitly feels a bit “cheap” and
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it was the first (and only; until now) thing that broke. I haven't noticed the broken
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mic until I tried to call CQ in the mountains and I fixed it on the same day. I haven't
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been out since then...
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I bought a Laravel mic from Amazon and I already got a spare in-ear plugs from Sennheiser
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which I combined with the [adapters from Robert W2ENY](https://w2eny.com/tx500/) (including
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a hand-held push-to-talk button adapter (like the Heil HS-2 but smaller).
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This is pleasing to use and you got the sound directly in-ear. Though, the Laravel mic has
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no punch and I'm not using this for the moment.
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## Original CAT cable settings
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| Setting | Value |
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| :--- | :--- |
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| RIG type | KENWOOD |
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| Baud rate | 9600 |
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| Data bits | 8 |
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| Parity | NONE |
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| Stop bits | 1 |
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Firmware version 1.19.01 or later includes a second CAT protocol named Lab599 which adds
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support for DIG mode switching commands (MD6). It uses the same settings as the KENWOOD mode.
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I use these rigctld commands:
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### KENWOOD mode
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~~~console
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$ rigctld -m 2014 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -d /dev/ttyUSB0 -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -P RTS -s 9600 -vvvv
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~~~
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### Lab599 mode
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~~~console
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$ rigctld -m 2050 -r /dev/ttyUSB0 -d /dev/ttyUSB0 -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -P RTS -s 9600 -vvvv
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~~~
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## Power output at 10%
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Since someone asked on a mailing list to verify his measurements
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and I had my tinySA in reach I also created these measurements and
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I do not want to hide them :)
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As always, take these with a grain of salt!
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| BAND | FREQUENCY | TONE SETTINGS | TX500 | tinySA |
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| :--- | :--- | :--- | ---: | ---: |
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| 80m | 3.530 MHz | NORMAL | 0.8 W | 1.72 W |
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| | | DUAL | 0.6 W | 0.48 W |
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| 40m | 7.130 MHz | NORMAL | 0.8 W | 1.40 W |
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| | | DUAL | 0.6 W | 0.41 W |
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| 20m | 14.285 MHz | NORMAL | 0.7 W | 1.40 W |
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| | | DUAL | 0.6 W | 0.44 W |
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| 15m | 21.245 MHz | NORMAL | 1.3 W | 2.13 W |
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| | | DUAL | 1.1 W | 0.60 W |
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| 10m | 29.080 MHz | NORMAL | 1.7 W | 2.86 W |
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| | | DUAL | 1.5 W | 0.90 W |
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## PA500
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Since the TX-500 does not have a built-in tuner the PA500 is well
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worth the investment. It got it's
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[own page]({{/* ref "/equipment/accessories/diy599-pa500/" */}})
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in my equipment collecion.
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