After a recent change in cars I was reluctant to reinstall the FT-7800 because it would involve drilling holes in the interior panels.  I thought it best to let the car get over 100000km before I did that. 

I was also enjoying having the FT-7800 as a base station rig so used the VX-5 for a while for the occasional chat on simplex or the Auckland 6625 repeater but I wanted something I could leave permanently in the vehicle and that would allow me to use a speaker mic.

While commuting I mostly listen to podcasts rather than ragchew so I wasn't looking for a huge investment in new gear... just something that was small so it would fit into the CD storage cabinet on a Honda Accord, could connect to a mag mount antenna on the car, could be programmed with a few of the commonly used frequencies and allowed me to connect a speaker mic (the VX5 should do all that but mine has a problem with the speaker mic not working and it is too old to be worth fixing).

Scanning through e-Bay I noticed the VHF handhelds available from various China/Hong Kong suppliers and was surprised to see fairly positive comments on eham.net and dxportal.com.   There are many suppliers and models but Puxing was generally well supported and there was good community behind the radios with an active Yahoo Group.  It was certainly positive enough that US$80 including shipping was worth a try.  

I looked at various online vendors and ebay sellers and decided to go with www.asiaradiosales.com - primarily based on the fact that their website looked fairly professional.  The ordering and payment through Paypal was easy... the web site showed the order as "Processing" and indicated that the payment had been received.... and so it sat for 5 days until I finally sent an email inquiring if the items had been shipped. 

I didn't get a personal reply... just an automated message from the web site software now indicating that my order was "Delivered".  Interesting.... it certainly wasn't here. 

In the message I did receive a registered mail tracking number (actually I received a number with no indication of what it was... it was only through extensive googling that I discovered an RAxxxxxHK number is registered mail reference) so I could see that the parcel was proceeding through the Hong Kong postal system, onto a flight to NZ and arrived in Auckland 3 days later. 

Not bad once things started moving.... I guess there was a glitch in the order process somewhere... so for anyone else ordering keep an eye on your order status and if it doesn't move in a couple of days send a prompting email.... just don't expect a reply from a real person.  I guess you can't expect much for an $80 radio.

As well as the PX888 I also ordered a speaker microphone, programming cable and female SMA to BNC and PL259 adaptors for connection to external antennas.  

If you are considering this style of radio I think this is the minimum list of items to order.... the extras a not expensive and they make the radio a lot more usable.

So what is good about the PX888.....

• Seems solid, well built and not overly large or heavy (but not like a toy either).
• Transmit and receive performance is similar to my Yaesu VX5 (to my ear anyway) using the supplied antenna or the whip on the car.
• The display is clear and easy to read with a choice of 3 colors.
• The programming software (while typical of software written by hardware engineers so the UI leaves a little to be desired) is easy to use and is the quickest way to get the radio configured and on the air with the frequencies you want.
• The speaker microphone works.
• It is more tolerant than the VX5 of the overload from the Auckland Sky Tower.
• The voice announcements (believe it or not..... really useful when changing channel without looking).
• It's a basic 2m handheld that works with very few surprises.
• The price.

 Compared to the VX5.....

• The operation isn't quite so easy.... most stuff done through menu's.... it's there but with more keypresses.  Many of the options on the VX5 are press and hold which works really well.
• There seems to be more "hiss" behind the signal on receive.... but it could just be that the received audio seems to have more "treble".

To get started in the shortest amount of time.....

• You must buy the programming cable
• While you wait for the radio to arrive
  • Join the Puxing777 (yes they talk about the PX888 as well) group on Yahoo groups and read the messages and files.
  • Read the PX888D Enhanced User Manual by "linkinpark9812".  This is a fabulous document and really helps explain the features and more importantly what some of the options in the programming software mean.
  • Download the PX888 sofware from Puxing (don't expect it to come with your programming cable.... at least not from asiaradiosales.com) and load your frequencies and set the radio configuration options based on the Enhanced User Manual.
• As soon as your radio arrives install the battery and antenna, program it with your configuration and get on the air.  It took me 15 minutes.

Will it survive?

• The radio... not sure... still early days and I have seen comments on burned out finals but I am very surprised at how well it works for the price.
• The power supply for the charger is junk.... mine didn't work at all... no big deal for me as I have other 12v supplies but could be a problem for some.