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You’re sure welcome. I hope you love it. I’m always nervous recommending a product because everyone sees things differently.

I kind of "use" Windoze too via WINE. I generally set it to Win10 which seems to work pretty well. I'll take a chance then and order it once the refund from the DM-1701 hits. Thanks.

I have never had any issue. I had to check, but in all three CPS softwares (TYT, RT Systems, and OpenUV380) that I have there is no place to specify which comm port to use. Apparently the CPS tests to find the right port. But remember, I use Windows.

The thing is, though, one can just as easily type the exact same thing into a search engine and get the very results they are asking for here. There's a world of difference in "Hey guys, been doing some research on this thing. Looking for some additional input" and "Hey guys, tell me about this thing."

Hey! Watch it Buckko! There is nothing wrong with a little Youtube edutainment !

What kind? (so we can tell what kind of person you are)

Do you have any issues with the CPS finding the radio since I didn't see an option for picking a COM port. That was the same issue I had with the DM-1701, I don't want to deal with that again.

I downloaded the CPS for the Retevis RT3S to give it a look before I ordered the radio. Just like the Baofeng DM-1701 I sent back there's no option for picking a COM Port. So how is the CPS going to know where to find the radio? Should I try to find a different DMR radio or do you think this will work ok?

The original duplexer in the RPT50 was either poorly tuned or just crap. The new one they sent to me was much better. Same part number different manufacturer. The receive sensitivity was much better. I purchased another duplexer from Btech and then had it tuned to my frequency. Didn't seem to make much of a difference and after a while seemed to degrade a bit so I put the other one back in. I still wasn't satisfied and after a while the sensitivity waned again. My RPT50 would put out 50 watts after the duplexer and more. I kept the power supply at 12.2v to stay at 50 watts. The input was around 65 watts. I believe the duplexer was struggling with the input power the transmitter was giving it. I changed out to a 100 watt duplexer an XLT I believe. I swapped out the rear connectors from SMA>N to N>N and just used the cables that existed internally. That helped and my normal testing route that I have setup was hitting much better now. Later on I changed out my antenna, same one as I thought the one I had up there was defective. The omni-directional pattern wasn't equal. Plus when I put the antenna up originally, my waterproofing was non existent. With the new antenna system, the range wasn't any better but the sound quality increased a good bit. The only reoccurring issue I have is I run the courtesy beep and after a while the modulation strength gets softer. I have to reboot the repeater and all is well again.

I set up my 50 a month ago and as an experienced ham I’ve learned, like many of us, the art of interpreting Chinese produced manuals. I’ll play devils advocate here: They have come along way with providing manuals at some point that are more concise and clear. I guess they get tired of emails and telephone inquiries for clarification and decided to invest time and money and producing a manual that is more in line with what the customers need. As in the case of the RPT50 I guessing that it hasn’t generated enough sales/profit to invest in cleanup their operating manual. It is an art and there are people that make a living producing product manuals here in United States. It is expensive but well worth the investment and have been evolved with a big project that cost us thousands of dollars but in the end it was a manual written by native English speakers for native English consumers. The company that produces this repeater have apparently numerous variations planned. All pretty much are the same function (repeater), but different modes, i.e. VHF version, business, digital, etc. The build quality is excellent. Given that frequently repeaters are set up and operating in some harsh environments dealing with dust and heat the engineers took that into. consideration and made a good box. My concern is how well the internal duplexes will fair in time. This is new cutting edge technology, and has not been adopted by any other repeater builders that I know of so uncharted waters. Fortunately, their system is taken that into consideration and allowed for potential external duplicator implementation; smart. This system is basically a turn key, but even so there are many options with poor or no explanation in the present manual. For example, the ID/morse code option (every 15 mins if running an open system here in the US) has options that if set wrong would conflict and it’s poorly explained in the manual and it is not intuitive. That’s the only problem I’ve had with the system to date. I set it for 15 minutes and it’ll do that for several hours and then stop sending the ID. Many repeater owners just ignore that rule and I haven’t heard of anyone getting a letter from the FCC, but there is a potential. It’s a rule and not a law. In my case, I have to make it so that it abide by the rules given that the system is mainly provided for CERT teams (FEMA trained) but the system remains in a open configuration unless our Emergency Operation Center is activated. Given time I’m sure that if not the RPT50 team someone will produces a much needed clear precise manual. Present / temporary setup of RPT50 is in my ham shack. I’m getting 42 W output through a dummy load with a 2.1 SWR. Within the next few weeks, I’ll update after I move the system to the opposite end of the house to reduce potential of deceasing, adding much improved high gain omni directional antenna fed through a shorter coax run with LMR400. I will be gaining an additional 20 feet height off the roof from present system. Right now I’m able to pretty well saturate an area of 5 mile radius in a very densely populated urban area that a 5 W HT can hit with little problems. Amazingly, I live in a unique place that has a narrow geographical conduit going from the Valley floor (I5 / 167) that shoots northward into downtown Seattle that is 40 miles away. Same 5 W HT can work my repeater clear as a bell. Goes to show you that it’s all about line of site. One can hit the ISS with a 5 W HT and that’s 250 miles away but there’s no terrain. Regards, WRBQ468 / KD7GXN

This is why I bought the extended warranty on my 9800. Not this exact problem, but numerous similar problems. Mine has been great.

Thank you all. My first stop is call/contact them and see what can be done....

Don't forget to check out the AnyTone 778UV while you're at it.

I have never had a Retevis Ra-25 in my hands, but in an attempt to help a Ham that had one, I found that the Retevis version of the CPS software created codeplugs that I could not open in the Radioddity CPS software. So I have concluded that the Retevis model is not a 100% clone and I avoid it. Chirp (and/or the RT Software) may make this issue moot!

If memory serves me (and sometimes it doesn’t) I believe all three can be unlocked but you can also order either GMRS or ham versions as well.

Retevis RA25. I had to look it up, I couldn’t remember either

I share your old thing, that's why I ask via type so I can look back at it!

I find that my AT-779UV and my DB20-G into to my rooftop Comet CX-333 tribander, outperform my Yaesu FT-857d on 2 meters and 70 cm FM.

@WSEL330 - just so you know the AT-779 and the Radioddity are basically the same radio, just different name plates. There’s another brand also that sells their version of the same radio but I’m old and I don’t remember the name.

My tongue in cheek comment was a criticism of @amaff’s comment Did you take it personally because I replied to you?? As someone who suffers from ADD, I am always grateful to someone who enjoys doing the research and giving me a link in response. To those who passive-aggressively suggest “google” or “YouTube” they can F-themselves!!

You beat me to it

Real budget I like the Anytone AT-779 or one of it’s equivalents.

The Radioddity db20g is a 20 watt GMRS radio that is easily unlocked to operate on 2m and 70 cm. Several of us have one or more. Best wishes for your general!!

Bummer, I'll see what I can do...Any low budget options for this type of Radio (70cm-2m). Course I am going for my general and realize I will have several radios eventually as the rabbit hole swallows me up!

The “quick keying brings it back momentarily” has me suspicious of a loose connection in the radio and the additional power demand is temporarily making the connection better. I’m with @SteveShannon on contacting customer service.