Description
Dimensions: 104*71*25mm (excluding the protruding part such as knob)
Weight: 180g.
Operating voltage: 8-15VDC.
Operating current:
receiving: about 60mA(backlight on), and less than 55mA(backlight off). Now using OLED.
transmitting: about 0.8A (at 12V voltage).
Frequency range: 5-8MHz, 8-11MHz, 11-16MHz (the receiving sensitivity peak is only 40m, 30m, 20m amateur band).
Transmitting: 7.0-7.2MHz, 10.1-10.15MHz, 14.0 -14.35MHz.
RF output: 5 watts @12V
1.8 – 2 watts @9V
See more photos and talk to other owners by joining the group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2208133992821820/
alainf8feo (verified owner) –
Excellent small radio !
I made several contacts today 17/11/2019 with a simple long wire (10 m) and a small tuner 15/40 m
on 3 bands 599 : (Poland,Croatia,and Ukraine) from my garden in SE France
I want try it in Sota and made a lot of qso !
Alainf8feo
José Gomes / CT7AFI (verified owner) –
Received it in 10 days from the manufacturer.
Small and effective 3 Band QRP rig and very well built.
Powered with 12 volts and coupled to an end fed antenna, made 3 QSOs with USA today.
Nice price as well !
Recommended !
Don – WA2SWX (verified owner) –
Received it in good time. Attached it to an EFLW and worked several stateside and four european stations in short order. Sensitivity was good and power levels were on the mark. Control layout was clean and their use relatively simple. Great price point for what you receive. This will be going with me on the road.
Yvon NU6I –
I had a MTR-3B that I loved but after receiving and operating the SW-3B I sold it.
The MTR-3B is a great radio but the SW-3B is so much superior. Can be powered by more than 12v unlike the MTR-3B, selectivity is much better and has AF gain control, no need for an in line volume control. And it is more than $100 cheaper.
This evening I was listening on 7114. Had a LSB station a little lower and a cw station slightly higher that sounded like a keyed oscillator from the 60’s. Still I was able to copy the cw station on 7114 I intended to work.
I work mostly cw QRP and have many QRP radios including the KX2 but this is now my favored one.
Support from Dale is outstanding.
Ilya R3XA (verified owner) –
Nice little rig! Quick delivery & good packaging. Thanks Dale!
Александр R0LHE –
Доброго всем дня!!!!!!…….я ещё только собираюсь приобрести данное QRP радио…..читаю отзывы аладельцев……и я уже понимаю, что я нахожусь на правильном пути!!!!!…… Всего хорошего!!!!!!!…..
Alan Shapiro (verified owner) –
Beautiful rig for SOTA. I’ve had it out on 4 activations and am very pleased with it’s operation, controls, display, keying, and receiver.
Lloyd K3ESE (verified owner) –
I really enjoy using this rig! it’s my favorite rig, ever, for portable QRP ops, and I’ve owned, and used, many.
Delivery from China, pre-covid, took 19 days.
Mine puts out 6W on both 20 and 40m, and 7W on 30m.
Best DX so far was Australia, from Florida, USA, on 20m.
Peter OE1OPW –
Made 310 QSO’s in the CQ WW WPX Contest during 7 hours with a SW-3B and an Endfed Antenna only 7m high. Nice rig with really 5W out. I use it with 13.8V. With this rig QRP operation make fun. Only the change of the CW speed is a little bit tricky.
Mike WO9B (verified owner) –
Recieved my radio in late Feb. Been using it for QRP field ops weekly since, wx permitting. Been operating the CWops CWT’s so you know there is lots of activity. 400 hz bandpass works out fine. The AF/RF adjustments are a very nice feature. I power it with a small 1.1 Ah LiFe battery.
This will be my radio for Field Day 2020. Heading out to a forest near Lake Superior. Looking forward to a wilderness Field Day.
Wesley Matthews (verified owner) –
I second all the positive reviews above. My longest contact was France from Pennsylvania on 4.6 watts using 11.1 volts. Output is much higher than advertised. My power out at 13.8 volts was even higher than K3ESE stated above. 8 watts on 30m. I accidentally tuned for at least a minute without the antenna switch on the right rig and did zero damage to the radio. I wouldn’t test it again on purpose, but it’s very resilient and beginner friendly. Filter width is ideal. Paired with a resonant ended half wave, this is an unbeatable rig for portable ops. Just so capable for it’s tiny size and weight…and the cost….super budget friendly.
I own or owned at least 10 small QRP rigs and this is by far my favorite.
Wes
W3KW
Georges F6DFZ (verified owner) –
I just get my radio today. The service from Dale was perfect, many thanks !
I decided to purchase it because its schematic diagram is similar to the proven Elecraft KX1 and because it possess a RF gain, a necessity with rigs using AF AGC.
This rig is tiny and cute and construction is top notch.. MDS on all bands is about -127dBm, power with a 12V lead battery is 5W, frequency is accurate.
Full break-in is smooth, ergonomics are good.
First QSO’s were very pleasing.
In brief, this is a very good QRP transceiver with well chosen bands and an attractive price.
Georges F6DFZ
Frank Leon –
It is my favourite trail rig ever. It is always in my backpack, wherever I go I take it with me. Quality is perfect, the receiver is sensitive enough and RF gain can reduce the strong signals.
I also like the memories and the internal memory keyer. The power is enough for for most QSOs.
Customer service is perfect, they answer very quickly.
Overall I am so happy with this tiny “creature”. I truly recommend it.
Terry (verified owner) –
When I, just by chance, discovered the ad for the SW-3B
While giving up on obtaining a ‘MTR’, I was somewhat sceptical of its quality and support from (yet another) overseas supplier!
Let me tell you that, so far, I have had better support and faster response than from many ‘domestic’ Companies!
What appealed to me was the fact that it was TINY, had 4-5W TX, had a LCD Display and would run from a wide-range of DC options that I already had!
My SW-3B arrived in about 3 Weeks after Order Confirmation from ‘Venus’ and I discovered that it is a ‘VERY CAPABLE’ (and TINY) CW Radio that you, like me, will want to take with you on POTA, SOTA or just simply outdoors enjoying ham-radio with ear-buds and a few feet of wire!
The SW-3B will operate from an 8-15V DC Source, so that means that you can create a small battery pack from a few just about any Alkaline or Rechargeable Batteries.
The TX Output is varied by the DC input, so you might want to use a ‘buck-convertor’ if you plan on using a larger battery (13.8VDC) and plan on running 3 or 4W or QRPp (or like the idea of saving your finals!).
My SW-3B will happily run 5W with 12VDC!
One of the nice features of the radio is that CW TX is capable even during USB/LSB reception and being ‘Wide-Band’ permits ‘cross-mode’ QSO’s.
There are lots more features that are covered in the (well-written) Manual.
Do I recommend buying this rig?
For a Feature-Loaded 4-5W+ CW Transceiver for under $200 with excellent support…
YES and YES!
Gomes (verified owner) –
This transceiver has excellent features for portable operation. It is robust, small, light, consumes little, is simple to use, and has excellent performance.
The support given by Dale is excellent!
Test SW-3B vs Yaesu FT-817ND in:
https://youtu.be/daUQAneYps8
Stu W2PTH (verified owner) –
Great little radio! It works exactly as advertised, it’s extremely small…..and shipping from China to NJ took 2 day’s! (by DHL) Most importantly, however, is support and Dale is the best. All questions are answered VERY promptly. Definitely a good company to deal with! For the price of this radio, you won’t go wrong.
Jesse –
This radio is amazing…BUY IT don’t even think twice about it honestly. I use it for Sota check out my YouTube channel CDN Rockies Radio Adventurer.
fokball –
Absolutely love this radio. Receive is outstanding. Dale answered all my questions quickly. Very happy with this radio.
Chris –
Absolutely blown away with the quality and price. If you’re debating buying this radio, just get it. You won’t regret it. This is my primary SOTA rig. DX no problem on every summit. Love it very much.
de KD2YDN
73!
Claudio (verified owner) –
Very very nice and perfect for SOTA activations. Post selling service is fantastic. I had a trouble with the receiver and had it repaired in some days and free of charge.
Paul Kinas (verified owner) –
I purchased the SW3B a little over a year ago. There was a small problem with it, that after contacting Dale & sending the rig back to him he promptly fixed at no additional cost to me. He was very good on communicating with me on fixing the rig. I have used it extensively this past summer and fall for POTA activations. The rig works flawlessly. The adjustable RF & AF controls make working weak stations and pileups a pleasure. I usually power it with a 9 volt LIFoPo battery, and with a base loaded vertical have worked over 300 contacts on POTA on my last 3 activations. The receiver really can dig out the weak stations and DX way down in the “mud”. I have owned the MTR3B and sold it after using the SW3B. It stacks up as good or better than several rigs I own costing several times what the SW3B does. A great rig, great performance, a very fair price, and extremely good customer service from the owner Dale! I’d buy this rig again in a heartbeat… Paul NA9M
Michael OK7SE (verified owner) –
Great little radio!
PROS:
* a good receiver with very low noise floor
* RF gain knob great for attenuating too strong signals
* straightforward operation
* one programmable CQ memory (you just record your message there)
* possibility to disable LCD backlight
* 8 memories per band for favorite QRGs
CONS:
– I am really missing a SWR indicator (to make sure my ANT is OK and I won’t harm the final; or to tune my MLA, etc.)
– cannot call CQ in a loop (each CQ needs a button press)
– I am a bit worried about the tuning knob (don’t wanna break it in backpack, feels a bit wobbly)
Recommending? Definitely.
HB9GWL (verified owner) –
State of the Art CW QRP-RIG ??
BH1UZJ –
It is a tiny and robust CW QRP rig. I got the latest version with OLED screen, so the backlight of the screen is always on, but backlight level can be adjusted. As some reviews on this site and other sites said, the tuning knob wobbles somehow, I worried about it. However I found 3D printed cover and rail for SW-3B and I printed for mine, thus the knob won’t be broken in my pouch or bag. If you want to print cover and rail for yours please visit:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5206123
Adjustable RF gain is really one of the best designs on SW-3B, it is quite useful, especially for operating in cities with S6 plus background noise.
The only feature that is imperative but SW-3B lacks is a SWR meter. At least for me it is better to have built-in SWR.
VY TU DR OM Dale Yu fer ur help.
72 es 73 es 77
DE BH1UZJ/QRP
jack –
I’m interested in building an RF amplifier similar to the one in the SW3B. The one that uses a T1 transformer to match the impedance of the final transceiver.
Does anyone know the specs on this? Turns ratio? Etc.
I assume the mix is type 43.
Jack
WM4X –
I love this rig! I’ve owned a lot of small QRP radios and this one is my favorite. The new firmware allows for any message to be stored and sent, not just your call sign. Also the display has white letters on a black background, very easy to see. Eight VFO memories per band is plenty and the wide filter setting helps with “search and pounce” operations. Also, not sure why anyone would complain about setting the keyer speed. Your hold the CQ button for a couple of seconds and then increase or decrease the speed with your paddles. It’s super easy. My opinion, this is one of the best portable QRP rigs available.
DL5AZZ –
I love it and used it for many many activations. One of the best CW QRP portable radios!
Would love to see another High-Band variant with the 10m band.
73 Alex
Will – AF7EC –
The SW-3B is an under-appreciated gem in the crowded QRP CW transceiver market. I can send CQ forever and it doesn’t even get warm. It sips power — I can run it on three 18650 batteries for days. Receive quality is good for a radio of its class. Skip the cheap knock-offs and get an SW-3B!
72 / 73 and blessings!
Will B.
AF7EC