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A good deal(er)
10 August 2012 | by 
If you are a UK amateur and you like Chinese radios you’d probably never think of buying them from anywhere other than direct from China or Hong Kong, most likely using eBay. Ham radio dealers in Britain are widely regarded (rightly or wrongly) as rip-off merchants who work out the price by replacing the dollar with a pound sign and then adding on a bit more for good measure. Their pleas that the UK price includes VAT and the cost of providing a warranty usually fall on deaf ears.
In one of the discussion groups someone mentioned buying a radio from a British firm called Sinotel UK. I went to their web site and saw that they carried several models of hand-helds from China, including a new one I hadn’t seen before: a TYT UVF9 (pictured right.) But what particularly caught my attention was their prices, which were little more than what I have been paying buying on eBay. Their cheapest model, the Vero Telecom UV-X4 (similar to the Baofeng UV-3R) was just £29.99 (yes, a brand new dual band radio for 30 quid.) A UV-5R eas £34.99. The radio that had caught my eye, the TYT UVF9, was £47.99. It would cost me $68.50 from 409shop and I’d have to wait a couple of weeks for it.
I am not associated with Sinotel UK and have not even bought anything from them but if I want yet another Chinese handy to add to my collection I probably will.
4 Responses to “A good deal(er)”
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- Matt W1MST, Managing Editor
So often people post only when they have a gripe with a company or service. It’s great to take the time to offer public kudos when it’s deserved.
I would also like to thank Julian for pointing this new firm out. It’s nice to get away from the UK rip-off cartel. People though still need to vote with their wallets!
I do trust all of the ideas you have presented to your post. They’re really convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are very brief for starters. May you please prolong them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.
As a stydying Foundation licensee I have just bought my first bit of radio amateur kit in the shape of the TYT-UVF9 from Sinotel. I have to say the service was excellent and the MD – a keen radio amateur himself- was most helpful in advising me ( I was going to go for the Baefeng UV5R). Cost wise £47.99 plus P&P and it arrived within 24hours.
Any advice on operation/setting upgreatly received.