GPS is indispensable! That's why I carry my Radtel rt-490 to every trip and sail. But it drains the battery. Therefore, it'd make sense to add an on/off switch (hardware or software) for the GPS. Given the size and flat surface of the back, it would also make sense to add a 2W solar panel. Could be a lifesaver.
@@TechAirSpace I haven't dropped my 490 in water, so don't know how waterproof it is. It's been with me in quite heavy rains though - and it's fine. I'm into hiking, bushcraft, and sailing, so having a secondary GPS has been very useful in those situations when you need to locate yourself on paper map or marine charts. USB charging is also useful because you can power from power-bank or mini-solar on your rucksack. As a radio it's pretty good - surprisingly clean sound. With a good antenna it can listen to satcom. It listens to airband quite well, but I don't care for those. It has a scanner but it's almost impossible to find an interesting conversation. So you need to have a secondary SDR with you, like Malahit. There isn't a handheld radio that has SDR. If I had the money I'd get ICOM IC-705 (10w), but it's too heavy and bulky; and handheld ID-52e doesn't have the full SDR capabilities. RT-490 has an enthusiastic community on Telegram (mostly Russian) that hack it and make it RX/TX 100MHz-998MHz and improve its signal. It's not very powerful for transmitting (~5w) and the stock antenna is trash (get an Abbree or Radtel tactical antenna) and the colour screen probably eats too much battery. The battery is 1880mAh and on standby can last for several days (with GPS switched off). I would get Radtel 830 (it's 10W and more sensitive to satcom) but 830 doesn't have GPS. Overall, 490 is not bad for a £50 radio+GPS for self-training trips into the wild. I don't buy things easily - I give each item quite a bit of consideration (I just don't like clutter in my life). If I'd find something better, I'd buy it - but I haven't. For survival situations 490 can actually be more useful then the rest of generic Chinese radios. And that is also the reason why I'm getting interested in Meshtastic and LilyGo T-deck. If there was a T-deck that's ready to use (GUI, GPS, solar panel, Battery cassette), I'd buy it.
@@TechAirSpace I'm not much into ham, just have the 490 and some antennas that I find useful in the outdoors. If I had your soldering skills, I'd probably improve my Ratel 490 by making a custom USB-chargeable battery cassette with three 18650 cells, replace the screwable plastic headphones/mic cover with a permanently attached rubber plug, and add a LED torch-light with on/off button at the base -- to make it even more useful in field situations. There's also a new Radtel 580 that has hit the market recently that you might be interested in (depending on why you're into radios). Radtel 580 has 3 listening channels, GPS, Bluetooth headphone, IP67/68/69, 3800mAh, USB charging. In the next few weeks there will be more reviews, so we'll see how it holds up to its claims.
All that time you spent moving those wires around. ALWAYS put down permanent strain relief on tiny, soldered, wires before you start moving them around.
Strain relief is always a good idea. The wires are actually thicker than it seems on the video since the GPS unit is meant to be used in a drone. Wires can handle some vibration. I use this device daily and had no issues.
Cool. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for watching!
GPS is indispensable! That's why I carry my Radtel rt-490 to every trip and sail. But it drains the battery. Therefore, it'd make sense to add an on/off switch (hardware or software) for the GPS.
Given the size and flat surface of the back, it would also make sense to add a 2W solar panel. Could be a lifesaver.
Is the Radtel rt-490 waterproof? How do you like the Radtel devices? I'm not familiar with them.
@@TechAirSpace I haven't dropped my 490 in water, so don't know how waterproof it is. It's been with me in quite heavy rains though - and it's fine. I'm into hiking, bushcraft, and sailing, so having a secondary GPS has been very useful in those situations when you need to locate yourself on paper map or marine charts. USB charging is also useful because you can power from power-bank or mini-solar on your rucksack. As a radio it's pretty good - surprisingly clean sound. With a good antenna it can listen to satcom. It listens to airband quite well, but I don't care for those. It has a scanner but it's almost impossible to find an interesting conversation. So you need to have a secondary SDR with you, like Malahit. There isn't a handheld radio that has SDR. If I had the money I'd get ICOM IC-705 (10w), but it's too heavy and bulky; and handheld ID-52e doesn't have the full SDR capabilities. RT-490 has an enthusiastic community on Telegram (mostly Russian) that hack it and make it RX/TX 100MHz-998MHz and improve its signal. It's not very powerful for transmitting (~5w) and the stock antenna is trash (get an Abbree or Radtel tactical antenna) and the colour screen probably eats too much battery. The battery is 1880mAh and on standby can last for several days (with GPS switched off). I would get Radtel 830 (it's 10W and more sensitive to satcom) but 830 doesn't have GPS. Overall, 490 is not bad for a £50 radio+GPS for self-training trips into the wild. I don't buy things easily - I give each item quite a bit of consideration (I just don't like clutter in my life). If I'd find something better, I'd buy it - but I haven't.
For survival situations 490 can actually be more useful then the rest of generic Chinese radios. And that is also the reason why I'm getting interested in Meshtastic and LilyGo T-deck. If there was a T-deck that's ready to use (GUI, GPS, solar panel, Battery cassette), I'd buy it.
@@TechAirSpace I'm not much into ham, just have the 490 and some antennas that I find useful in the outdoors. If I had your soldering skills, I'd probably improve my Ratel 490 by making a custom USB-chargeable battery cassette with three 18650 cells, replace the screwable plastic headphones/mic cover with a permanently attached rubber plug, and add a LED torch-light with on/off button at the base -- to make it even more useful in field situations.
There's also a new Radtel 580 that has hit the market recently that you might be interested in (depending on why you're into radios). Radtel 580 has 3 listening channels, GPS, Bluetooth headphone, IP67/68/69, 3800mAh, USB charging. In the next few weeks there will be more reviews, so we'll see how it holds up to its claims.
@@garenkarapetian709 Have to check out the Radtel 580 reviews. Thanks for the tip.
Do you need to select pins in the Meshtastic app? If so which ones?
I didn't change any settings and it just started working.
Same here. Did not need to config anything.
which Screws do you use for the case?
I used M2.5 x 20mm Hex Socket Head Cap Screws. Screws were just a little bit too long so I had to use a drill bit to extend the screw hole.
@@TechAirSpace thx a lot
All that time you spent moving those wires around.
ALWAYS put down permanent strain relief on tiny, soldered, wires before you start moving them around.
Strain relief is always a good idea. The wires are actually thicker than it seems on the video since the GPS unit is meant to be used in a drone. Wires can handle some vibration. I use this device daily and had no issues.