Updates 1/29/2025: The TK-11 is now officially listed on the Quansheng website! Also, you heard it here first – as per Quansheng, TK = Taiko Kong = Space Kong:
Hi, we use the name Taiko Kong, because we call it 太空大金刚 (space kong) in Chinese, international spaceman is called astronaut, Chinese astronaut is called Taikonaut, we use taiko first (Taiko Kong) to give our TK11 series a name that represent China and easier for trademark
Lastly, there’s a new video up showcasing several TK11 features. Some of you experienced Quansheng users might be able to tell from the video clips whether the firmware is shared with the UV-K5s or not!
https://x.com/QuanshengRadios/status/1883783302651519070
Just this week, Quansheng announced the release of their new TK-11 radio. Considering how popular their UV-K5 and UV-K5(8) / UV-K6 radios are, this is exciting news indeed!
Compared to radios in their current lineup, it looks like the TK-11 has been completely redesigned. According to the schematics and specifications released this week, it appears the Quansheng TK-11 boasts several improvements over the existing Quansheng radio lineup:
- Addition of a secondary antenna for improved AM reception, supporting short-wave, medium-wave, and long-wave AM frequencies
- Dual PTT buttons
- Increased transmit power (10W)
- Increased battery capacity
- Additional receive frequencies – 500kHz to 1160MHz
- Additional transmit frequencies – 25-29.8 MHz, 50-54MHz, 136-174MHz, 350-490MHz
While this all still sounds exciting, I don’t think Quansheng has yet finalized the design of the radio. For example, the tweet above lists the battery capacity as 2500mAh, but this collateral shared a day later shows a battery capacity of 3000mAh:
Then in some places the minimum receive frequency is listed as 0.15MHz (150kHz) and in others it’s 0.5 MHz (500kHz). The weight is 289g one page and 301g on the other. There may be even more consistencies, but this is just what’s jumped out at me so far.
TK-11 Specs (Proposed)
If you’d like your own copy of the full specs, feel free to download the product flyers here, otherwise read on for a summary.
Transmitting
The Quansheng KT-11 is supposed to support the following transmitting Bands right “out of the box”, and I’ve included comparison to the current flagship UV-K6 specification in parenthesis.
- 25-29.8MHz – 5 watts (not supported by UV-K6)
- 50-54MHz – 5 watts (not supported by UV-K6)
- 136-174MHz – 10 watts (UV-K6 5W)
- 350-490MH – 10 watts (UV-K6 5W)
Receiving
Similarly, the KT-11 is reported to be able to be able to receive anything from 0.5MHz (500kHz) to 1160MHz (1.16GHz), and includes support for AM, FM, and SSB (see below). The UV-K6, on the other hand, mostly supports from 50MHz to 600MHz.
General Specifications
These are the reported specs for the TK-11 and in parenthesis I’ve included comparison to their current flagship handheld radio, the Quansheng UV-K5(8) aka the UV-K6.
- Battery Capacity: 2500-3000mAh (60% to 90% bigger)
- Weight: 300g (25% heavier)
- Antennas: 2 – FM, AM (1 FM Only)
- Flashlight: Yes (Yes)
- Included Accessories: Battery, Antenna(s), Charger, Lanyard, Belt Clip (Same but includes headset)
- Body: Metal shell (plastic shell)
TK-11 SSB Support
Both versions of the Quanshent release state SSB support on the first page of the product guides.
If you’ve read about this site and why I started it, then you know I’m new to amateur radio myself, so it was only today that I started learning about SSB – Single Side-Band radio.
From what I can tell (and please correct me in the comments if I’m wrong), SSB is a more efficient version of AM radio, which means it can communicate over longer distances than regular AM radio. The most common use for SSB in the United States seems to be maritime (boats), but Google seems to think SSB is used for all sorts of things:
Again, I’m still figuring out if anyone near me is actually using SSB, but after a quick Google search, it seems like most radios that support SSB are somewhere around the $200 range. Cheap receive-only radios can be found for $60, but two-way radios (again, probably for boats) are in the $200+ range. If I can actually receive SSB on a Quansheng radio that would be pretty nifty. I might need a new antenna for that, but if they ever release the radio, we’ll figure it out together!
What does Taiko Kong mean?
Good question and I have no idea. All of Quansheng’s other amateur radios start with UV-K5:
- UV-K5
- UV-K5(8) / UV-K6
- UV-K5(99) (Most likely an aftermarket modification/supplier)
According to a four year old Quora post, while taiko is considered a Japanese word meaning “drum,” it also means “boss” or “brother” in Cantonese. And if you consider the giant gorilla on the belt clip and screenshot, maybe the Kong is just a reference to King Kong?
Who knows. If you find out what it means let me know, and I’ll keep doing some hunting as well.
Is the TK-11 a Radio for the Rest of Us?
When I bought my UV-K5(99) a couple months ago, it was about $30 on Amazon. I could have spend half that much on a Baofeng, but I liked the fact that the Quansheng radios are hackable. Unfortunately, Quansheng hasn’t yet committed to allowing customization of the TK-11. Only time will tell.
Regardless, if Quansheng prices the TK-11 similarly ($30-50) to the other Quansheng radios on the market (~$30) then the TK-11 might be their new flagship radio. Especially if the user interface is similar to the UV-K5 and they release TK-11 CHIRP support sooner rather than later.
Conclusion
All, in all, the Quansheng TK-11 looks like a really exciting addition to their handheld radio lineup. I’ll certainly keep my eyes peeled as we get closer to the (unnamed) release date.
What do you think? Will you be adding a TK-11 to your collection later this year? Let me know in the comments!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I hack the Quansheng TK-11?
This hasn’t been confirmed one way or another. Twitter user James Hannibal asked this question of Quansheng yesterday and they told him to check back in a few months.
What’s the Quansheng TK-11 price?
This has also been asked and Quansheng advised for followers to check “e-commerce platforms”. We’ll update you as soon as we hear more.
Gosh I wish It would just release
ME TOO! Especially since I seem to have misplaced my UV-K5(99) and need something else to occupy my time with until I find it.
I guess I’ll have to settle for the UV-K5 I bought this week instead!
The Quansheng Twitter account said it was going to be ‘dark’ until after the Chinese New Year so hopefully we’ll start getting more updates soon.