vbsdfb12466

So, I ordered this on May 23rd, 2021. Programmed and installed a couple weeks later. Very easy to program by hand. I have thoroughly enjoyed using this transceiver. However, there are a couple hiccups. The infamous white screen can be a problem. It seemed to reset after powering off and completely disconnecting from the power source, then reconnecting everything. That was annoying but manageable. The other issue I have, is that it has been in service only 11 months and all the sudden, the unit will not transmit. It receives perfectly but will not transmit. To test the issue, an SWR meter in series between the transmitter and the antenna, and there is ZERO power going to the antenna. Submitted my query to the seller and waiting to hear a response. Good customer service would get on this quickly and send me a new unit. -I'll update this if I hear anything.

You cannot beat the value this radio provides. Although this only has 25W, most communication will be through repeaters and in Metro Detroit, I have no issue hitting them all. In northern Michigan where I hunt, I get through trees and hills without any issue and can make repeater contact. 50W will not help in the environments I use the radio. Why pay 2 to 4 times more for a 50W radio and still only have FM mode?All reports on my sound are good. If you are on the fence, don't be. Its a great radio at a great price. If something happens to it, not a big deal at this price. This is a great way into the hobby of ham radio that fits any budget.I did agree with other reviews that the volume adjustment is a little bit inconvenient. You must press the volume function, then you can turn the knob to change it. The best work around however is to program the volume to one of the buttons on the mic. The software is really easy to use to make this change.

I'm relatively new to radios, but I've spent time on HT's and learned the software and concepts. And graduating to this as my first base / mobile radio I could not be more pleased. I bought this with the full intent of also buying a better / older transceiver as a base radio, so maybe this could be a dedicated mobile unit... For what this one costs, and the fact that it works with Chirp especially, I simply could not turn it down even if it wasn't my "ultimate" radio choice in the beginning. However, now that I have this one, I'm actually questioning whether I need the better radio. This one has covered every base I could want. Some other radios have even more memories, but this one at 200 has allowed me to program in every repeater within 25 miles or so - and also clone the memories I used on my HT. And I still have room left. As far as functions go, I thought the menu system was very easy and intuitive to use. So far I have not found a single thing that is a show stopper about this radio. it seems well rounded, ruggedly made, and at 25 watts you can on many vehicles, plug it into the cigarette lighter still. My Chrysler 300 has a 25 amp fuse on the cig port, and the fuse on this radio & the power cord is 10 Amp, less than half of what my power port can handle. Check your particular vehicle's specifications (as well as each lighter port as they sometimes differ in fuse size). This MAY serve as my only base/mobile radio now, after I have used it for just 2 days I'm absolutely in love with it. Like I said in the headline, you really can't ask much more of a radio than this one gives you. ONE THING maybe, I wish you could simultaneously display the frequency for the channel you're on when in Channel mode (especially if you've turned off Dual monitoring and are only watching one channel). OR press a button to SHOW the frequency for the named channel you are on. Otherwise you need to just know it or have something printed out that cross references the frequencies with the channels. I think there is a way to show frequency INSTEAD of name of the channel but that is not ideal either since you can't do both at same time and need to switch it back and forth through the menu to just cross reference a named channel and frequency. So that is my ONLY gripe, and its a very small one. I think anyone who is into radio should have one of these in their toolkit, even if its not their only radio or their favorite radio. I regret nothing !!! i.e. if someone stole this radio, I would immediately buy another one.

Scanning feature only works Wright win useing the zone by it selef.wont buy 778 again.

Use it for short comms between vehicles, scanning emergency freqs, and listening to NOAA weather. Good value for those who are looking for something that is functional and doesn't require a second mortgage. Also like how I can disable tx on individual freqs so to not squash on emergency channels.

This radio is really nice in many ways. Great display, decent power output, compact size, good speaker, transmits on all bands, and I really like the microphone. It's a good value for the price. The programming software is the typical buggy VB garbage we've come to expect from radios in this class, but it's useable and gets the job done. I tested mine and it transmits 21 - 22 watts on UHF and 23 - 25 watts on VHF. Very nice.This radio has the potential to be great if not for one big flaw.One of its biggest problems is the glacially slow scan speed. It's so slow to scan I can't believe it. Also, scanning has no ability to stop on a channel when a signal is received and hold there for a few seconds like every other radio on the planet. You're stuck with it instantly resuming a scan when a signal is dropped or to always hang on a channel for a few seconds. Very annoying.I'm certain that this scanning problem could be fixed with a firmware update, but who knows if that will ever happen. Support for radios like this is lack luster.If the scan speed was better, this is easily a 4 star for sure.

Got this radio to have something better than a HT in my home office. Great power options, great screen, good sound reports from the hand mic. Easy to program with chirp and or the included software from Anytone. I was up and running on the air in about 15 minutes of opening the box. Great primary or backup radio.

Great lil radio I wish the volume/speaker was a bit louder other than that I’m happy with the radio works great