Author: IuxGm9FjVk

So you want to manually enter a channel on your hand held radio, but you’ve programmed it using a computer and you don’t have them with you.
What can you do ?

Easy !

Go into the ‘menu‘,
go to ‘utilities‘,
go to ‘radio settings‘,
go to ‘mode‘
Select ‘MR mode‘, the channel name will become all numbers.
Press and HOLD the ‘back/red‘ button until there it bleeps.
The memory number will become a ‘V’ instead of a number.

Long press and hold whilst in CH Channel Mode WILL NOT WORK on the ht500d, or the RT3s. I know because I’ve tried this !

You can use ‘Program Radio’ to add Tx / Rx Frequency, CTCSS/DCS, Channel Name, Colour Code, Timeslot, Add CH, Time Out Timer, VOX, Mic Level
Digital Only TxContact, Group List. Oddly Colour Code and Timeslot are still in the menu when in Analogue mode. ?!!?

This assumes that you have the stored channels on screen in Channel Mode.

Great little radio, 120,000 contacts, 3000 channels, Dual Band VHF/UHF with Analogue and DMR. GPS option (highly recommended)

Very loud speaker, not suitable for quiet areas, or covert communications.
Top channel mounted rotary selector next to on/off and volume knob.
2 side buttons plus PTT switch.
Bright display, although not adjustable, has time and date on the bottom.

Audio quality, very good, crystal clear on DMR and good output on analogue.

Caution – Battery terminals are NOT protected, so do not put this radio in a pocket with keys, coins or anything conductive.

This radio is also sadly not waterproof, unlike the RT82 (identical to TYT MD2017 / Moonraker HT500d)
It does take a standard set of connectors for a headset, earpiece or speaker mic.
Battery is a 2000mAh (14.8Wh) 7.4v Li-ion

It is quite a bit smaller than the RT82, so may suit smaller hands or pockets.

Overall 7/10

More updates as they happen….

After discovering they were the same as the RT82 and MD2017 and having to take one apart to fix a faulty screen issue, I’m loving these handheld radios !
Why ?
Good question. Let me try and answer with just my viewpoint.

1: They are semi rugged and waterproof
2: Low cost, comes with programming lead and the software is free.
3: Dual band. Why in this tech-advanced age do we need to settle for a single band ?
4: Customising the screen using the Retevis EXXT firmware which is very similar to Travis Goodspeed’s TYT 380 toolz and provides even more options.
5: GPS built in
6: DMR and Analogue. Why not have 4 modes that you can use ?

Bad points
1: Battery isn’t really an all day one, especially when you are on analogue. DMR does reduce the power consumption I’ve noticed.
2: No vehicle dock to charge or use the radio. Surely it’s quite an easy thing to do ?
3: Programming can be awkward for non-computer people, as can the software and having to program the zones, channels and contacts. (but there are ways…)

I’m sure that some people will say that DMR should remain a commercial mode, doesn’t have a place in the amateur world, but it’s here, there are plenty of worldwide users, plus it’s open source so anyone can work to improve it. Provided you have the coding and electronics knowledge of course.

I use daily one in the car, with a speaker mic, a battery eliminator and a window mount antenna, with a Nagoya flexible whip, which comes down nightly.
Coverage isn’t bad, people say the audio is good, and I’ve had some crystal clear DMR to DMR conversations on the move, although when I moved repeaters it threw up an error that I was unaware of.

The error.
When I had the initial codeplug loaded, everything worked perfectly. Sure there were a few things missing, to be updated and tested.
What I didn’t know until I spoke to another amateur, was that non-Motorola DMR has an issue with deleting a channel, so that it messes up the rest of the channels, only slightly, so that you may think you’re speaking on say, talkgroup 9, but you’re on a completely different talkgroup, or even timeslot.
I can only speak as to what I found in this instance, sadly I don’t have any Motorola kit to test this theory on.
The Fix
I reloaded the full codeplug and this seemed to have solved the issue. It’s almost impossible for me to test every UK DMR repeater at this time, so I can only go on the few that I’ve managed to reach thus far.