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It would appear that the brilliant 16 channel Floureon FC200 PMR446 handhelds have had a firmware update recently.
Users are reporting the the radios no longer have the Hi/Lo power option in the menu meaning that the radios will only do the standard 500mw output power instead on the 1W output on earlier versions.
These radios is still brilliant, work extremely well and are worth every penny so don't be put off but it's just something to consider when buying them from now on.
User 'Billbot' on the CT forum emailed Floureon about this change and got this response:
"As for your question, The High / Low power problem you mentioned, at the beginning, each of our walkie talkies had this feature, but due to the regulations of the radio communication department, we had to delete this feature and change the product description.
Well what can we say? This news is a big disappointment and truly difficult to understand the reasoning behind it.....
For those of you who don't know, Radio User magazine dropped all CB Radio content a while back which left a big void as there were no publications championing CB radio. Many people, including myself, stopped buying the magazine as there simply wasn't anything in it worth reading for CB radio operators (I mean, military aircraft frequencies and receiving foreign analogue TV stations have been done to death for god's sake!).
Fast forward to the end of last year and GREAT NEWS, the magazine had decided to bring back CB Radio content in the shape of Dave, M0OGY who had been lined up to do a monthly column all about UK CB radio featuring reviews, information and all other aspects of the hobby.
Despite having to cope with some serious disabilities which make writing articles extremely difficult, Dave put a lot of time and effort into his contributions to the magazine and had some great ideas for future editions including a feature on the ever growing and very popular weekly nets which have sprung up in the UK since AM and SSB were legalised in 2014....
But SHOCK HORROR as you will hear from Dave in the video, after only two months the magazine has once again decided to drop CB Radio from its pages and worse still they have dropped Dave which is quite frankly disgusting in my opinion.
Along with Dave I immediately wondered how many people have subscribed to the magazine purely because of Dave's excellent CB radio column. I was on the verge of subscribing myself and if I had done so, I know that I would be feeling rather annoyed with the decision of Warner Publishing to drop CB from the pages of Radio User. I am sure there will be many of you reading this now or watching Dave's video who have taken out a subscription - My only advice would be to get in touch with the magazine and maybe ask for your money back, after all they took it under false pretences if you subscribed for the promised CB Radio content!
Warner Group Publications (and thereby, Radio User Magazine) have made a big mistake as far as I'm concerned. Dropping CB radio at a time when it is more popular than it's been for many years and dropping Dave who is literally The Voice of UK CB Radio and is widely respected by many in the hobby.
I certainly will not be buying any more of their magazines!!!!
However, on a brighter note - as Dave says, you can continue to follow him on YouTube where I'm sure he'll have many more interesting videos for you to watch in the coming months...
A review by Matt (M6CEB/2E0FNM) of the 'Hang Tenna' 10/11m portable antenna which is an easy way of operating out mobile or at home, you just need somewhere to hang it......
Two upcoming Space Station contacts are planned for next week:
An educational radio contact is planned with Agrupamento de Escolas Serafim Leite, São João da Madeira, Portugal, direct via CS2ASL.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS and the scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP. Contact is go for: Monday 27 Jan 2020 16:33:34 UTC 64 deg; downlink signals from ISS will be audible above parts of Europe on 145.800 MHz narrowband FM; contact will be in English. RX only! Credit: AMSAT.
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An educational radio contact is planned with Primary School “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj“, Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, direct via YU7BPQ.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS The scheduled astronaut is Luca Parmitano KF5KDP. Contact is go for: Tuesday 28 Jan 2020 15:51:19 UTC 48 deg; downlink signals from ISS will be audible above parts of Europe on 145.800 MHz narrowband FM; contact will be in English. RX only! Credit: AMSAT.
