CoffeeTime

I love reading the questions and answers. Keep asking! Welcome to the group! Best Regards!

For manual programming of my Baofengs (UV variations) with the keypad, I know that unless I hear "Saving Memory," this channel number already has data assigned to it --- and that this assigned/occupying data must be deleted before any new data will be reliably saved. I no longer try to update any occupied channel---I simply delete the channel and program anew for that channel number. To manually create a channel memory, using the keypad menu, I enter/ define everything I want from the keypad menu options (including tones) before saving the channel memory. Again, If I don't hear "Saving Memory," ... I don't have a reliable saved channel. Hope this helps someone. Best Regards!

My RA87 in the truck as been great performer for months now. Many of the issues I faced early on was from me learning the radio. If things go sideways now( from me playing with features) I simply reload the code plug and all is right again. Not having a cooling fan is a good thing in my dusty truck.

I have been here myself with a new H3. Please troubleshoot /check the radio's antenna port pin for visible damage/broken off. Please also examine the cable and the inline SMA adapters used during testing. Poor antenna port connection problems might affect your Finals, Output, and Reliable Repeater Connections. I have history here. I think the current CP is corrupted and not actually writing to the radio what you think. If you have a reliable H3 available, you can easily upload this good CP from this reliable HT >into Chirp> and then write that reliable CP to the non-working unit. Loading a reliable code plug is better than a Reset in my experience with multiple brands. In Chirp, always confirm that the Vendor and the Model are correct. Best Regards!

I found a missing tone issue on my DB20 (I always program via the software). In my case, several rewrites to the radio didn't fix it. It stayed absent. All other tones were there. I needed to delete the Code plug line (for the fault channel) and enter the details again for that channel only. All great now. I like the DB20. Best Regards!

Here is a working example for my RA87. I hope this helps you somehow. Best Regards! SILVERADO MOBILE 04182025 Ham .img

Disregard. Misread Post.

Nice fars.

Nice work.

Nice!!!

Just an FYI.. One thing I did not understand about my RA87 is that certain menu features can easily become deactivated as you experiment with the buttons/settings. On page 9 (see Channel Display) is a list of these menu functions. Please note the reference for a simple RESET process of pressing the REV button while pressing/powering up the RA87. This info might help you as you experiment. When you wrote Pre-programmed channels, I don't know if you are referring to the limited factory test channels or channels you manually entered or entered using software. I highly recommend Chirp software for the programming of your radio. A valuable evolution is to use Chirp to save your Code-plug/choices, and then write the CP to the radio again after any experimenting goes sideways. Afterwards, your RA87 channels' names are displayed again --- provided you set your Chirp settings to show channels by Name instead of by Frequency. Chirp is your friend. In case you do not have your original manual: https://www.retevissolutions.com/Assets/files/20230518/1000309129/RA87-ENGLISH-MANUAL--1-.pdf Best Regards!

May God bless and comfort your joints and spine. Thank you for your service! Best Regards!

Keep after Retevis! I have had positive results with Retevis Support in China AFTER they understood what I needed them to do for me. I became convinced over time that the agent, that I was working with, was having a Major Failure to translate/understand my written points/claims/needs. The Agent was always businesslike in written form but clearly did not understand English very well. This Agent was not advising me of any action they planned to take and it was mostly just unknown if they planned to do anything for me. Ample emails were sent every few days including numerous "proof" pictures ---that I thought they could use to ensure I was being honest with them. Each time I worded my email a little differently trying harder to get my points across -- and so that someone over there might understand and pass this need up the chain for a command decision. After several more emails were sent to China ( thread style with all replies copied in) I finally received a message from a different person asking me to explain the problem / what I needed. I believe he was probably a Supervisor with more English comprehension and authority. I sent him the email thread and my pictures. The result was a fast response and immediate action was taken. The issue was resolved. WOW! That took time and effort but I was made whole once I got to the right person. Best Regards!

I received the RT900BT yesterday afternoon from Amazon --- I am returning it today. Total Pass. The radio ( in its present version) is just not worth the frustration IMHO. I have seen enough issues develop in 8 hours that I will NOT accept a replacement. I must have received the RT900BT Head Scratching Version. So much frustration compared to my other HT models and brands. If I thought I just had received a bad radio I would simply exchange it and keep testing. That is not the verdict. Upon arrival, all the packaging and contents were in excellent condition. I read the entire limited documentation, and I scrolled through the radio's menu --checking the factory settings, while using the radio's keypad. Seemed easy enough. Small but a good-looking radio. Seems well-built and has USB C charging. Base not included. However, over the next 8 hours, I worked to establish communication with this radio. Man-O-Man. Lots of head scratching, re-reading, searching online, etc., etc.. So, I re-installed the Radtel BT900BT 10 times onto my Samsung phone. We have a failure to communicate. The manual is limited but does indicate that the radio has Bluetooth--zero other tips. The website was of little help as zero tips/troubleshooting were found. Note: I did not chat with the factory as it was after hours. Online search results/help on YouTube and forums are still limited for this updated model. Most of the comments that I found did not work as described/or for me. My Overall Findings: Bluetooth for the RT900BT is possible, but only when my Samsung phone is configured with Location and GPS fully open/ active with all Bluetooth connectivity options set to the widest possibilities, and I allowed unverified programs complete access to the phone. Okay, so opening the phone wide-open == gained communication between the phone and the walkie-talkie via BT. Okay, progress. Thanks to a UK forum member. Note: Do not expect the QR code on the manual to work. It does not. The Bluetooth App (mine is finally communicating) seems like a puzzle at times: The BT App is poorly explained --- even on the App itself. Furthermore, once you actually arrive at their version of a code plug, you will find that the 3 tabs of fields/ terms differ from the paper documentation. Ample time is needed to match up function terms with keypad menu functions. Not easy. Radtel could have made life so much easier if they had simply included the function line number (the function line number in the paper document that matches the radio function menu) into the 3 pages/tabs being used in the code plug programming. That simple effort would have made matching differing terms so much faster during test programming. Once actually inside the code plug, you will create a code plug of your work, save it, and write /upload pieces and parts to your radio. However, Not All Of Your Saved Choices Ever Really Make It To The Radio! A Quick Example: the side button options--- They don't work after you have programmed them. You keep changing/saving/re-uploading your options, but they do not change the radio settings. You try again, to manually program on the keypad/ then test= okay/ and then read the radio/ save that / and then re-upload back to the radio= Failure to stay programmed as desired. In addition, some radio settings would magically revert to "other" settings, i.e., the radio wants to transmit Scramble Mode ---even though the code plug shows Scramble mode is set to OFF. The radio displays AM when I do not want AM. I also question why I can't keep UHF chosen in the code plug. The App simply requires a lot of extra effort to hopefully make these errors stop happening. Why? Chirp is still not available for any RT900 model unless you use developer mode. To do that, you must find and install a beta module for the RT900BT radio while in Developer mode. I installed the beta module just to see if the RT900 would show up and it did. However, I was never able to establish a FULL two-way cable connection with the radio and Chirp timed out repeatedly. Radtel has several drivers for a cable connection on their website. I tried them all with multiple (otherwise good)vendor cables. Zero connectivity. I was expecting this radio to arrive with the latest firmware pre-installed. It sure didn't. So my final effort was to try to upload and install the latest firmware. Besides opening up more channels, I was hopeful that the radio might program and operate better with updated Firmware. The website shows several Firmware updates describing bug fixes for this BT model. However, once again, updating the Firmware was a problem. The downloads are in RAR format. I tried several RAR extractors to unzip these updates. Lots of WARNINGS to not download files. I downloaded numerous files and extracted them, but the Bluetooth App failed to read them/install them to the radio. Bluetooth app stated file component failures. My Ratings /final thoughts: Because the website updates are using RAR formatting and I can't easily get these updates to work, because the radio performed poorly in my TX/RX testing--(sounded weak, had speaker issues, AM issues, Scramble issues, manual programming issues, because the Bluetooth APP code plug is just simply problematic, because the manual and website lack troubleshooting tips for this model, and because the radio seems to have a mind of its own as described= I am at a near total loss of confidence in this model as currently offered and supported. I am not interested in an HT that I can't program except with the keypad, and that I may never be able to easily update Firmware, or use Chirp with easily and straightforwardly. Final rating: D-

100% agreement. I will continue to maintain the Retevis programming application on my computer--- but I don't use it. The Chirp program, in my opinion, is much easier to use for the RA87.