TX-500 News, Preorder Update & New Video

Spring is coming to EU and many of us want to get out and operate the bands off grid. The Discovery TX-500 Adventure HF Transceiver from Lab599 will be the perfect companion on the islands, in the parks and on the hill tops for many off grid operators. It is built by outdoor and expedition enthusiasts to be taken to places never possible before.

Latest Preorder Update

The latest news about the CE certification process is that the TX-500 has undergone the testing required by a certified lab and the results are now being reviewed and verified by a “Notified Body” authorised to issue the certificates needed for CE marking. The timeline provided by the notified body to complete this task is around 3-4 weeks. This means that sometime in the second half of may we expect to have the TX-500 CE marked.

While waiting for the CE certification process to to be completed Lab599 has planned and started production in April of the first batch of transceivers for the EU market. Lab599 told us this week that they expect the first shipment will coincide with the receipt of the certificate, approximately at the end of May.

Being conservative we are therefore updating our delivery date of first batch preorders to June 15 and will start collecting pending payments in a few weeks. Another two batches to fill preorders will follow as soon as possible, but we have not received delivery confirmation on these yet.

We said it many times, once you receive your shipment and hold the TX-500 in your hand for the first time, we are certain you will agree – it has been worth waiting for! But don’t take our word for it, read the first user reviews at eham.net! There is a link at the end of this page.

Spring 2021 TX-500 Firmware Updates

29.04.2021 TX-500 Firmware v1.07.00
  • Added a new Notch filter mode: Notch Filter Type 1 — standard mode, provides high quality filtration. Notch Filter Type 2 — high performance filtering mode, provides lower latency in signal processing.
  • Fixes to improve stability.
05.03.2021 TX-500 Firmware v1.05.01
  • Improved audio rec/play function: During play, the recording is heard through the speaker without additional operation.
04.02.2021 TX-500 Firmware v1.05.00
  • Added audio recorder/player function
25.01.2021 TX-500 Firmware v1.04.07
  • Extended 60m band
  • Improved CW Keyer Iambic mode

TX-500 in RIØQ Bolshoy Begichev Expedition

The expedition leader contacted Lab599 and shared his positive impressions of using the TX-500 transceiver. A full report on the expedition should be released in the near future. Here is a quote from the official thread of the expedition on qrz.ru forum:

– Pay attention to the Discovery TX-500 transceiver. I learned that this 500-gram transceiver delighted the expeditioners. And delight was so strong, that for the next expedition the team is supposed to replace TS-590 and K-3 with the TX-500!

OH8STN Julian’s 2nd Review of TX-500