It is rare to be able to program channels from the panel, without pc and software. Every radio should have that feature. Now I think that is a radio to really consider getting.
Looks like a really solid, well made radio. Obviously some of the features are aimed more at the commercial market but all in all, it looks like a really nice bit of kit :-)
You are really good at these review's mate top notch! I want to say i like this one but i like them all lol its starting to become an obsession this keeping up with Lewis thing hahaha
I bought this radio and really like it, but can't find a backup battery. Where can I find an additional battery for sale ? I can't find one, not from the Amazon dealer Retevis Direct or from the Retevis homepage. If I can't get a backup battery , this radio is worthless to me! I even tried aliexpress, no luck ! Any suggestions ?
Hi Lewis. Great vid as always. Just wanted your opinion on the fact that it's UHF only. Would you consider this limiting when a similar model like the TYT MD-390G Waterproof is both VHF and UHF. Have you done/are you considering doing a review on the TYT MD-390G just for comparison purposes?......further to my further, just been checking on the radioddity website and the specs for the TYT MD-390G are somewhat confusing as depending on which price point you click on it's listed as being a UHF model or a VHF model and some seem to suggest that is BOTH UHF and VHF! confusing...…..much! My feeling is that Radioddity may have a misprint on their site and that you can either get a UHF or VHF model but one which covers both?...…..well, the jury's out on that one. Any ideas Lewis? Can you confirm if the TYT MD-390G is a dual bander or not?
Hey Will, It's limiting depending on what the user wants. UHF is better for short range comms, it's the busier band, there's more repeaters on it. I have a couple of dual band handsets and I don't think I've ever used DMR on VHF. As for the TYT model, I've never worked with TYT so I'm not sure I'll be getting one of those sets but you never know. I'm almost certain the TYT MD-390G is a single band that offers both options but not in one set.
Thanks for that very comprehensive answer Lewis, much appreciated. I'm very new to radio and I find your videos inspirational, enjoyable and informative as well as being fun. This hobby sure is addictive though and I think I may have to go into rehab soon like your mate as every time I open a cupboard door these days a Baofeng falls out of it and as if that wasn't bad enough I've started to take an intrest in network radio after watching some of your reviews of it! As an aside, have you ever had any bad experiences with purchasing a fake/clone radio? I recently purchased a Baofeng BF-F8HP on ebay which turned out to be a UV5RT under the skin. The external cases of both radios are virtually identical except for the name badge so I suppose it was just a matter of faking that to pass it off as a BF-F8HP. The re-badged UV5RT only has dual power settings of 1w and 5w and I wanted a triple power BF-F8HP. Lesson learned! Anyway, I've ordered a triple power UV5RTP from radioddity this time who are a decent reputable company. Might be worth doing one of your vids on the dangers of fakes/clones out there? Thanks again Lewis and keep those videos coming...…..I'm every bit as much addicted to them as I am radio these days! 73 for now! (see, I'm even picking up a bit of the lingo!) ;-)
I bought two md-398s for commercial licenced use. One I can program, the other won't let me change the frequencies. It's stuck in ham bands which does me no good. Waiting for a cable doing range tests on the one I can program with sdr/dsd. Lame. Cable is rare as hens teeth unless you want to wait 2 months for a carrier pigeon to fly it over from china. Not same as md-2017, not same as bf9700. I know cause I ordered both listening to internet bs
So far my experience is if you don’t want to have to make a code plug from scratch avoid this. If you’re game then it’s good. It has a weird file format that’s not rdt compatible, odd choice by the designers? Probably just me being a dmr newb.
I wish the FCC would do something USEFUL with their time instead of passing arbitrary rules. This is just them blowing hot air, trying to flex their flabby muscles. They don't have time, money technology or manpower to enforce it.
Dark Shadow Why are FCC picking on Baofeng? There are plenty of other brands that are fully expandable and not just the cheap Chinese radios. I agree, a lot of hot air and they have to justify their existence now and then.
@@humaxf1 Why? Simple They're being lobbied by the likes of Icom, Vertex, Yaesu. Because the feel threatened by an upstart like Baofeng offering radios with more features than their dinosaurs at about a 10th of the price. And for some reason the ARRL is on board too, they're not dumb THEY HAVE to know that trey are putting themselves out of business. Squeezing an already dwindling market that's failing to IP technology.
Ringway Manchester MD390 with recording feature and different screen font/layout It’s genuinely becoming difficult to keep track of TYT/Retevis models with quite a lot of crossover in features.
You're right but they all have a specific main feature for example: 10w IP67 Screen/no screen Commercial or amateur user (software/feature differences)
It is rare to be able to program channels from the panel, without pc and software. Every radio should have that feature. Now I think that is a radio to really consider getting.
I just won one of these in a contest from retevis. I can’t wait to try it, hope I can work out dmr though.
Ip67 rating is awesome. I would be really confident using this one on push bike. Nice looking radio too.
Thanks Lewis.
Cheers mate!
Good video as usual, looks an excellent piece of kit. I'm not into dmr yet, but that radio could persuade me.
Proper waterproof 👍🏼Love that new music
Another great review Lewis 👍
Looks like a really solid, well made radio. Obviously some of the features are aimed more at the commercial market but all in all, it looks like a really nice bit of kit :-)
You are really good at these review's mate top notch! I want to say i like this one but i like them all lol its starting to become an obsession this keeping up with Lewis thing hahaha
Looks a solid build. I think more for the commercial market but maybe for all weathers like fishing etc.
fredintheshed1 this would make a good shoot radio
THANKS FOR THE THUMBS UP, I WAS HAVING A BAD TALKING DAY DUE TO HEALTH PROBS. GREAT VID FROM PAUL 2E0PKK
Cheers Paul!
I'm liking this one! Cheers Lewis.
I bought this radio and really like it, but can't find a backup battery. Where can I find an additional battery for sale ? I can't find one, not from the Amazon dealer Retevis Direct or from the Retevis homepage. If I can't get a backup battery , this radio is worthless to me! I even tried aliexpress, no luck ! Any suggestions ?
can you also use it out of the box without programming anything?
Hellon, what is a handheld radio that acually has 10 power on uhf and vhf please i want to purchase one
is tthat the same battery as the tyt md 390
Great review and video Lewis. Keep them coming m8t
What receiver type does this thing use?
Retevis stated that it is a superheterodyne.
Hi Lewis. Great vid as always. Just wanted your opinion on the fact that it's UHF only. Would you consider this limiting when a similar model like the TYT MD-390G Waterproof is both VHF and UHF. Have you done/are you considering doing a review on the TYT MD-390G just for comparison purposes?......further to my further, just been checking on the radioddity website and the specs for the TYT MD-390G are somewhat confusing as depending on which price point you click on it's listed as being a UHF model or a VHF model and some seem to suggest that is BOTH UHF and VHF! confusing...…..much! My feeling is that Radioddity may have a misprint on their site and that you can either get a UHF or VHF model but one which covers both?...…..well, the jury's out on that one. Any ideas Lewis? Can you confirm if the TYT MD-390G is a dual bander or not?
Hey Will,
It's limiting depending on what the user wants. UHF is better for short range comms, it's the busier band, there's more repeaters on it. I have a couple of dual band handsets and I don't think I've ever used DMR on VHF. As for the TYT model, I've never worked with TYT so I'm not sure I'll be getting one of those sets but you never know. I'm almost certain the TYT MD-390G is a single band that offers both options but not in one set.
Thanks for that very comprehensive answer Lewis, much appreciated. I'm very new to radio and I find your videos inspirational, enjoyable and informative as well as being fun. This hobby sure is addictive though and I think I may have to go into rehab soon like your mate as every time I open a cupboard door these days a Baofeng falls out of it and as if that wasn't bad enough I've started to take an intrest in network radio after watching some of your reviews of it! As an aside, have you ever had any bad experiences with purchasing a fake/clone radio? I recently purchased a Baofeng BF-F8HP on ebay which turned out to be a UV5RT under the skin. The external cases of both radios are virtually identical except for the name badge so I suppose it was just a matter of faking that to pass it off as a BF-F8HP. The re-badged UV5RT only has dual power settings of 1w and 5w and I wanted a triple power BF-F8HP. Lesson learned! Anyway, I've ordered a triple power UV5RTP from radioddity this time who are a decent reputable company. Might be worth doing one of your vids on the dangers of fakes/clones out there? Thanks again Lewis and keep those videos coming...…..I'm every bit as much addicted to them as I am radio these days! 73 for now! (see, I'm even picking up a bit of the lingo!) ;-)
It has some Motorola DPR look-a-like details, must be a coincidence. HI 73 de E73HAK
Can you do a review on the HYT TC-320 please
I don't have that model Michael
+Ringway Manchester why not you've got everything else 😂😂😂
How much
Hi Lewis, will you be doing a review on Boxchip S700A soon?
Hey, I'm working on it :)
Ringway Manchester Excellent.. :)
I bought two md-398s for commercial licenced use. One I can program, the other won't let me change the frequencies. It's stuck in ham bands which does me no good. Waiting for a cable doing range tests on the one I can program with sdr/dsd. Lame. Cable is rare as hens teeth unless you want to wait 2 months for a carrier pigeon to fly it over from china. Not same as md-2017, not same as bf9700. I know cause I ordered both listening to internet bs
Does it really have 10 Watts ?
It does
@@RingwayManchester thanks. Can you still communicate with a Baofeng UV-5R ? Or is this a pure digital radio ?
@@cyberghost74 digital and analog. 400 to 470 MHz on Analog
Hi do you have any neebie videos to getting into radio
Hey Keith as a matter of fact I've got one planned, it's just time.
Ringway Manchester thank you so much it is a mind field and not sure where to start. I like the network radio’s but also want UHF and ideally VHF.
So far my experience is if you don’t want to have to make a code plug from scratch avoid this. If you’re game then it’s good. It has a weird file format that’s not rdt compatible, odd choice by the designers? Probably just me being a dmr newb.
If you can enter a frequency outside the ham band from the front keypad, It's bound to be illegal in the USA.
I wish the FCC would do something USEFUL with their time instead of passing arbitrary rules.
This is just them blowing hot air, trying to flex their flabby muscles.
They don't have time, money technology or manpower to enforce it.
Dark Shadow
Why are FCC picking on Baofeng? There are plenty of other brands that are fully expandable and not just the cheap Chinese radios.
I agree, a lot of hot air and they have to justify their existence now and then.
@@humaxf1 Why? Simple They're being lobbied by the likes of Icom, Vertex, Yaesu. Because the feel threatened by an upstart like Baofeng offering radios with more features than their dinosaurs at about a 10th of the price.
And for some reason the ARRL is on board too, they're not dumb THEY HAVE to know that trey are putting themselves out of business. Squeezing an already dwindling market that's failing to IP technology.
I wonder if this is an MD390 under the hood.
A lot of the DMR radios out of China seem very similar. It's a possibility.
Ringway Manchester
MD390 with recording feature and different screen font/layout
It’s genuinely becoming difficult to keep track of TYT/Retevis models with quite a lot of crossover in features.
You're right but they all have a specific main feature for example:
10w
IP67
Screen/no screen
Commercial or amateur user (software/feature differences)
Ringway Manchester
True and I’m all for choice but... too many choices.
It's a minefield
10 watts is way too much power for a handheld with the antenna next to your head.
Hum..Now I know why I'm so daft.
It would do no harm whatsoever John