Review and Maiden Voyage of the Penntek TR45L - by Ariel NY4G

I just acquired the new Penntek TR45L by WA4RNC. This is not a sponsored video and I acquired it out of my own funds. This is part of a factory assembled and tested pilot run. It is not a kit although kits will be available at a later date. The little brother of this radio is the 4 Band TR35 which is much smaller and lighter, more suitable for SOTA. This one has the full complement of options and will make an excellent POTA radio or as a SOTA radio on drive-up summits.
The TR45 is 5 Band radio with coverage for the 80m, 40m, 30m, 20, and 17m bands. The radio has detectors for both CW and SSB. You can listen in on SSB QSOs or have a cross-mode QSO (SSB/CW).
The options included are as follows:
Optional Z-Match Tuner
Optional 5200 mAh battery and charger
In terms of portable radios - its endearing quality is that of simplicity and the old fashioned feel of looking at an analog needle meter movement.
I go through all the controls and proceeded with making my first QSO with this radio with my QSO buddy KO4LAO.
If there are questions or anything I missed, you can add it to the comments. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

[@CaptainRadioAdventures]

It turns out that my measuring the reflected and forward power with precision on the OHR precision watt meter at a high resolution - the threshold for triggering the high SWR light is close to 2:1. The SWR meter in the KPA500 is indicating a higher SWR. The OHR watt meter is much closer to the output of the TR45 finals 😊

[@placeholder-065]

TR45L i.e. no button to set CW monitoring tone frequency. Also the switches to the right (2) and left (1) of the 'aluminium look' plate are a design failure. Same as the too large knobs on the back for the ATU.

[@CaptainRadioAdventures]

Yes the side tone pitch is fixed at 700 Hz

[@CaptainRadioAdventures]

The switches to the right are for the audio filter and the the speaker (on / off). These do work as the audio filter reduces noise. The switch to the left dims the display.

[@grantmcduling9760]

I recon those small switches being placed under the guard rails get them out of the way nicely as they aren't used that much in the field. I think the radio has been well thought out.

[@willieb6529]

the KX2 is an awful radio for /p... the menu system is indecipherable - so much so that elecraft has to sell a separate book just to decipher the spaghetti-like, obtuse factory manual - simply awful - i dumped my KX2 after a year and have not regretted it one bit... my other QRP rigs, such as the TX-500 are far more capable, easier to use and just as good as the over-priced, over-hyped KX2... when operating /p you want simplicity, ease of use, robust finals, etc...