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