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Having recently acquired this small VHF/UHF UV-998 dual-band mobile transceiver from LEIXEN, here are some informations. Measurements Usage Programming Links This radio is sometimes also named VV-998 ! Please share your own experience with me, so I can improve this page. |
Measurements :
Measurements made with my IFR 2945A service monitor.
Power supply 12.7 V under load on the radio power connector.
Common :
RX power consumption : All backlights ON : 117 mA, All backlights OFF : 99 mA
VHF 144-146 MHz
TX power : 5.6 W / 8.6 W / 21.2 W
TX consumption: 1.25 A / 1.85 A / 3 A
TX frequency precision : + 330 Hz
TX modulation max : 4.5 kHz (position WIDE)
TX modulation TCS (88.5 Hz) : 690 Hz
RX sensitivity : 20 dB @ 0.18 µV SINAD (@ 2.4 kHz deviation)
RX Squelch threshold .: 0.13 µV
RX distorsion : 3 %
UHF 430-440 MHz
TX power : 4.3 W / 9.7 W / 20.1 W
TX consumption : 1.34 A / 1.86 A / 3 A
TX frequency precision : + 990 Hz
TX modulation max : 4.5 kHz (position WIDE)
TX modulation TCS (88.5 Hz) : 690 Hz
RX sensitivity : 20 dB @ 0.16 µV SINAD ( @ 2.4 kHz deviation)
RX Squelch threshold .: 0.12 µV
RX distorsion : 2.5 %
The frequency precision, although important to my taste, remains however in the announced characteristics. (+/- 2.5 ppm, that is 1075 Hz at 430 MHz)
After opening the radio, I saw that there is no way to correct the frequencies. The TCXO has no tuning possibility. It should however be possible via a calibrating software, as the TCXO control pin is connected to a microcontroller DAC output.
The powers measured at 12.7 V under load would certainly be higher at 13.8 V.
The other values are also nominal.
In use, this little set gives me full satisfaction !
It is flexible in use, the programming software allows all the useful possibilities for radio amateurs. Many functions are however dedicated to a more professional management.
The case is partly made of die-cast aluminium and seems to be sturdy. The display is large and readable, compared to many other "low cost" sets.
The microphone has a good grip and has a small built-in speaker which gives good results. It has all the necessary functions, including 2 programmable PTT keys !
In transmission, the modulation reports were all good. The output power is more than sufficient. The set heats up quite a bit in HIGH position if you stay too long in transmission, which considering the size of the set and the lack of fan, is not surprising.
On receive, the sensitivity is excellent as well as the quality of the sound. The small loudspeaker integrated in the set is excellent considering its size!
On high level radio sites, the receiver suffers from desensitization, but less than many ICOM, YAESU, etc... Which is surprising.
A small drawback is the size of the ON/OFF and V/M keys which, located above the microphone connector, are very small and difficult to access.
All in all, this little set has an excellent quality/price ratio!
The VV-998 is programmable via the software available on the LEIXEN website. The VV-998 is not (yet?) implemented on CHIRP.
There is no help available, neither in the software nor online. Leixen has not answered to my emails..
Some choices are not easy to understand or contain errors, here are some explanations.
| OPTIONAL FEATURES | Menu | |
| APO | Auto Power Off : delay before the set is turned off after the last use. | 01 |
| Squelch level | Default squelch level setting. | 37 |
| Scan Key | Scan mode : CO (resumption after 2s of inactivity on the channel), TO (resumption after 5s even if communication in progress) | |
| Time Out Timer | Maximum duration of the transmission. OFF or from 10 to 120 s | 40 |
| Step | Frequency step increment value, from 2.5 to 25 kHz | 38 |
| Monitor | CTC/DCS, DTMF and CTC/DCS, DTMF or CTC/DCS | |
| Volume | Default volume level value : OFF to 15 | |
| Open Display | Display at startup. ALL (all segments), LEASE TIME, USER-DEFINED, LEIXEN (displays LEIXEN) | |
| Custom display | Text to be displayed when starting in "User-defined" mode | |
| Backlight | Backlight. OFF, KEY (lights up momentarily when a key is pressed), CONT (continuous) | |
| Key lock mode | Pressing the MENU button on the radio for 1 second locks the radio. What should be locked? K+S (keypad + arrow keys), PTT (PTT), KEY (keypad), ALL (all) |
|
| A/B select | Selection of the default memory bank at startup, A or B | |
| PTT set - Per minute | Number of PTT activations/minute.  If this number is exceeded, it is impossible to switch back to transmission before the minute has elapsed. |
| CHANNEL A/B | Menu | |
| VFO/MR | Choice of channel mode at startup, MR = memory, VFO = VFO frequency | |
| MR/CHA | Choice of display at startup, MR CHA = channel name only, Freq MR = channel number + frequency (or name if selected) |
| Menu | ||
| Open beep | Activates the 3-tone beep at start-up | |
| Roger beep | Activate the sending of a roger-beep at the end of each transmission | 29 |
| Key lock | Activate the key lock by pressing and holding the MENU key | 17 |
| CTC/DCS busy lock | Activates the prohibition of switching to transmission if the frequency is busy (works with the BLCK parameter on the channel) | 03 |
| Alarm key | ? | |
| Battery save | Battery saver ON/OFF | 33 |
| Key beep | Beep when an ON/OFF key is pressed | 04 |
| Reset Enable | Allows the possibility of doing a RESET of the station (after start-up, press 2s on the MENU key of the radio during start-up display) | |
| Small font | ERROR ! corresponds to FRONT ! Activates the microphone speaker (ON) or the internal speaker (OFF) |
16 |
| Alias enable | Activation of channel name display ON/OFF. Must also be activated by channel in the "Channel information A and B" tables | 21 |
| TX stop | No transmission. No transmission possible, a beep will be emitted when the PTT is pressed | 42 |
| DW | Double watch on the 2 bands ON/OFF | |
| FM enable | Enables 88-108 MHz broadcast receive ON/OFF | 12 |
| FM DW | Enables double watch of channel activity while listening to FM broadcast. ON/OFF | 15 |
| FM scan | Operating mode of the Up and Down keys in FM broadcasting. ON (scan start) OFF (manual setting in 50 kHz steps) | 13 |
| Keypad MIC | Allows the use of the microphone keypad | |
| Open | ? | |
| PTT A=B | ON = Both PTT buttons can be assigned to the band in use, OFF : PTT up = band A, PTT down = band B | 28 |
| VOX | Menu | |
| VOX Gain Level | VOX gain 1 to 8. Can be disabled by menu 43 (OFF) | 45 |
| VOX delay time | VOX delay : 1 to 4 s | 44 |
| VOX inhibit on receive | Disables VOX in reception ON/OFF | 46 |
SPECIAL functions
| SYSTEM | Settings for sending the identification sequence by DTMF. Only useful with VV-998 sets | Menu |
| Digit time (ms) | Duration of each tone | |
| Digit space time (ms) | Duration of the interval between each tone | |
| First digit delay (ms) | Duration of the 1st tone | |
| Pretime (ms) | Duration before sending the 1st tone | |
| * and # delay (ms) | Duration of codes * and # | |
| ACK decode | Decoding the acknowledgement of receipt | |
| DTMF sidetone | Local DTMF monitor |
| PTT ID | Allows the identification of the station during a transmission by sending DTMF codes or spoken. Validation by channel with PTT ID | Menu |
| Display PTT ID | Enables the option to display the identity of the sending station on the remote station | |
| Voice ID | Validates the option of identification by a voice | |
| PTT ID | Choice of sending the ID at the beginning or end of the transmission | |
| Begin of TX | ID at beginning of TX | |
| End of TX | ID at end of TX | |
| PTT ID over time | ||
| Voice announcement | Choice of voice language English or Chinese. | |
| Voice time [MS] | ? |
| DECODE | Menu | |
| Group ID | ||
| Primary ID | ||
| Auto reset time (ms) | ||
| DTMF beep | ||
| Auto ack | ||
| Strip CTC/DCS | ||
| Display 14 bit ID |
| Wireless change chnl | Allows remote reprogramming of channels in a VV-998 fleet |
| Function enable | Validation of the reprogramming function |
| Wireless start | ? |
| Start ID | Code that triggers the reprogramming |
| Master Enable | Validation as master station |
| STUN | Function allowing to deactivate remotely the reception or the emission of the station. (theft, jammer..) | Menu |
| Activation enable | ON/OFF | |
| TX inhibit | ON/OFF MUST be checked even if the STUN function is not used, otherwise no transmission |
|
| TX inhibit activation | Code DTMF à envoyer pour désactiver l'émetteur | |
| RX inhibit | ON/OFF MUST be checked even if the STUN function is not used, otherwise no reception |
|
| RX inhibit activation | DTMF code to send to deactivate the transmitter |
| LEASE | Function managing the duration of the lease of the station. Useful to manage a lease of stations. | Menu |
| Activation | ON/OFF | |
| Remainder prompt | ||
| Time-Out | Date and time of the end of the lease | |
| Time of system | To set the date and time of the station to the computer time |
| Communication password | Change your password ? |
| SQL base value | Setting the Squelch Scale Range |
| RSSI 400 | RSSI value squelch opening on 400 MHz |
| RSSI 136 | RSSI value squelch opening on 136 MHz |
| Enable change | Check to save changes |
Key Assigment
| Key Assigment | V/M and MENU function key settings |
| Long press | Delay in seconds for a long press |
| P1 long | Selection of the function for a long press on the V/M key |
| P1 short | Selection of the function for a short press on the V/M key |
| M short | Choice not available |
| MENU enable | Allows the use of the MENU button |
| Autodial memory | Programming of 16 memories for sending "autodial" DTMF sequences accessible by the microphone using the CALL button | Menu |
| Long press time | Duration in seconds for a long press | |
| P1 long | Choice of function accessible by a long press on P1 (V/M key) | 24 |
| P1 short | Selection of the function accessible by a short press on P1 (V/M key) | 25 |
| M short | Modification not possible. (default, key lock) | 17 |
| Menu enable | Check to activate the menu |
BAND SELECT
CHANNEL INFORMATION A et B
The UV-998 has 2 channel banks A & B. These banks can be completely different or the same.
In this later case, the banks can be copied with the help of the "To B channel" when programming bank, and vice-versa.
| QT/DQT Dec | QT = Quiet Talk, DQT = Digital Quiet Talk equivalent to TCS (Tone Coded Squelch) |
| Band Width | NARROW / WIDE sets the maximum excursion according to the channel spacing. 2.4 kHz or 4.5 kHz max |
| Scan Add | ON / OFF The channel will be added to the list of scanned channels |
| Tail Cut | ON / OFF Allows you to limit the squelch noise at the end of a transmission |
| APRO | OFF/COMP/SCRAMBLER/RX SCRAMBLER/TX SCRAMBLER enables the modulation compressor, modulation encryption |
| VOX | ON/OFF activates the VOX |
| PTT ID | ON/OFF activates the sending of the station identification on a transmission passage. Parameters to be set in menu 27 |
| DTMF | ON/OFF enables the use of DTMF |
| CH Alias | Channel name, maximum 6 characters |
| Alias open | Allow the channel name to be displayed |
| Reverse | Allows Reverse operation (TX/RX frequency swap). Parameters to be set with menus 30, 31, 32. |
| Talk around | Enables the Talk Around function (communication on the output frequency of a relay). This parameter is to be used with menu 40. |
| Custom QT/DQT | Entering a special TCS frequency |
| To B channel | Copy from channel bank A to B (and vice versa) |
| CH clr | Deletes ALL channels |
| CH up | Raises the content of the channel by one notch |
| CH dn | Lowers the content of the channel by one notch |
| CH del | Deletes the channel |
Liens :
Leixen download center
Aliexpress seller (recommended, proceeded to a shipment of a defective microphone)
Manual in PDF OCR format