QYT KT-WP12 and the "Nagoya" NSV-150V

Last night I actually managed to find some issues with my new QYT KT-WP12. It cut out a couple of times - turning off completely.

I never quite got to the bottom of exactly what caused it, but there are a couple of likely candidates:

- The local VHF Net was on, on a nearby repeater. I noted that I actually had 2 out of 3 monitored channels set to the same frequency. 

- I had the volume cranked up to 50 and an external speaker connected. 

I suspect perhaps a combination of both of these together caused the behaviour. It cut out a couple of times before I managed to resolve it by changing the second monitored frequency.. and going through the painful process of turning down the volume. 

Relevant to that subject, let me discuss the "Nagoya" NSV-150V speaker.

I brought this speaker on eBay. On special for about AU$13 (it has since been relisted at $20). My expectations were suitably low; like most things branded Nagoya on eBay, they're probably fake... and well, for the price, my expectations for quality were kinda low.

My only interest was simply the volume control. Given that I anticipate a vehicular accident occurring whilst trying to adjust the volume of the KT-WP12, I figured it was time to grab a speaker with volume control to see if that works any better.

I wrote a review for this speaker on eHam and referred to it as "sounding like a wet fart". The hole unit is plastic, hollow and low quality. The sticker on the bezel isn't sized right. The audio quality is, well, atrocious. 

To get the volume up to a satisfactory level - I had to run the KT-WP12 at a volume of 50 (hence the scenario at the start of the post). Without the speaker set to full volume, it was too quiet to hear. Unfortunately at that level - it's a distorted mess. And that's sitting in my shack in otherwise near silence. Disconnecting the speaker, I found that the mic's speaker is perfectly fine at that volume - at least in a quiet room. I'm not sure it's going to cut it with road noise and a diesel engine.

The only reference to "Nagoya" between the speaker and its packaging is on the sticker. Looking at Nagoya's website, this model number doesn't even exist. No major surprises really. 

The mounting arm is plastic, and I doubt it's going to be durable enough for in vehicle use anyway. The cable length is at least satisfactory. 

I think I might give the Diamond P810-A a go. It costs quite a bit more, but I suspect that I'll at least wind up with a reasonable sound quality. It's amplified as well, so I can avoid pushing the volume too far on the radio itself. I'm not entirely sure yet where the speaker will be mounted in the Ranger. It'll need to be somewhere reasonably close to where I can adjust the volume while driving, so the options might be a bit limited. 

I'm thinking the most ideal place is going to be seated down to the right of the USB ports in the picture above. I might need to get a little creative with how I mount it. The position isn't too dissimilar to the speaker location in my Falcon. The model I'm getting doesn't have the fancy wireless charging option, so that's a lot of space just to have my phone floating around.