WRTC928

I was prompted by @TrikeRadio's thread from July to do a review of these, because his requirement was similar to what I needed. I work with a couple of organizations that do public events, and like most people, I sometimes travel in a caravan of vehicles. For those situations, the ideal radio would be FRS-capable (more on that later), inexpensive, and as mistake-proof as possible. A few months ago, I decided upon the Arcshell AR-5 which I got in a 10-pack from Amazon for less than $12 each. It's a UHF-only radio with a claimed 0.5 watts low power and 2 watts high power, programmable through CHIRP, and with 16 channels. It has the usual Kenwood mic/headset jack and a USB-C port so you can charge the battery in the radio. The battery isn't USB-chargeable alone, but the USB charging feature is nice and it's the reason I went with these instead of some of the similar ones which were a couple of bucks cheaper. Controls are minimal; there's an on/off/volume knob, a channel selection knob, a PTT, a flashlight button and a programmable button which I disabled. I put a drop of Gorilla Glue on each antenna, not because I'm concerned that the FCC would find out or would care even if they did, but if the antenna can come off, some of them will. My friends are horse people, not radio people, and most of them care less than horse droppings about bells and whistles as long as they can communicate. With 2 watts of power and a fixed antenna, they're functionally FRS radios, although not type-accepted. First impressions were mostly positive, considering the price. They come from the factory with 16 pre-programmed channels, and when I downloaded to CHIRP, the frequencies were all over the map. Some had codes and some didn't, a couple were FRS frequencies, and some were in the business band. This is the only thing IMO that makes them less than ideal for the non-radio public -- they need to be programmed by someone who has the software, cable, and skills to do it. They come with the ubiquitous earpiece/mic which so far nobody has bothered to use. The batteries snap in firmly without any wiggle and the belt clips are surprisingly strong for bargain radios. They're light and don't feel particularly rugged, although I've passed them out twice now and nobody has broken one. A few of them have been dropped and sometimes the battery popped off, but they all worked again when the battery was replaced. So far, I haven't had one stepped on by a horse, but no radio is going to survive that, and these are $12. The batteries fully charge in about 3 hours on the cradle and about 2 hours on USB and last 8-10 hours in use. Testing on the Farz-O-Meter 2000 showed a legit 0.5 watts on low and 2.0-2.2 watts on high power. We have only used them at distances up to about a mile, although in April, I'll have a chance to see how they perform at ~2 miles. They are programmable in software for wideband or narrowband UHF FM operation. The audio is crisp and with virtually no static They have only 16 channels, not the nominal 22 of FRS or the (bogus) 60 claimed by Midland, but in practice, we only use about 3 channels anyway. Since 7 of the FRS channels are low power only, I didn't even program them in. I programmed the 15 two-watt channels and a 16th duplicate one using a different DTCS code. The full array of CTCSS and DTCS codes is available, which is nice, because at horse events there are often other people on FRS radios. They have some convenient features available in programming such as "busy channel lockout". They are even repeater-capable, although for my purposes, that doesn't matter. They have VOX, scan, and commercial FM radio capabilities, all of which I disabled. Essentially, I neutered everything except the basic FRS capabilities, but the features are there if you want to use them. The AR-5 is pretty much the definition of "cheap Chinese radio", but for my purposes, they're almost ideal. I certainly wouldn't recommend them for any scenario where life or property would be at risk if communication failed and I have no idea how long they'll last, but at $12, they're virtually disposable. They enable you to talk to other people at a distance, which is the most basic function of a radio, and sometimes that's all you need.

I've had a Ham license for more than 20 days, and I can confirm that the guy is absolutely correct.

Good to know. I was careful to make sure I stripped all the codes out, though.

So...I did get them to work. They're RT85s, not RT87s, but that was a typo; I'm not using the wrong radio profile. On the RT85, in order to enter the VFO mode where you can input frequencies directly from the keypad, you have to turn it off and then turn it back on while holding down keys #1 and #7. After I did that, it took the programming from CHIRP and worked correctly. I can only guess that if it's not in that mode, the frequency numbers in CHIRP don't get read into the radio's memory correctly. I don't know if it played a role, but during troubleshooting, I noticed that the RT85s are extremely sensitive to spurious RF emissions from my laptop computer. If the radio is too close to the computer, it tries to transmit on whichever A/B channel is not selected. That may have been a factor in the data not reading into the radio correctly. I was able to get around that by holding the radio out at the very end of the programming cable while uploading. Thanks for the suggestions. Even though the problem wasn't due to any of those things, you guys at least helped me be sure I wasn't making a rookie mistake.

It would have to be stored on every channel. Besides, I checked that several times.

New piece of information: I put the RT87 and the UV-5R both into VFO, entered frequencies to match, and they can communicate with one another. Apparently the problem only occurs when using channel mode. No idea why that should matter.

I guess that's not impossible, but I'm doing the same things that have always worked with other radios.

Thanks. Yes, I did all that. That's why I'm baffled.

I recently purchased a pair of RT87s in addition to the UV-5R, AR-5RM, and Arcshell AR-5 radios I already have. I programmed them in CHIRP and they communicate with one another just fine, but they absolutely will not receive from nor transmit to any of the other radios. The other radios all communicate amongst themselves just fine, but the RT87s will only communicate with one another. I looked in CHIRP and on the menu for anything I may have set wrong, but nothing seems amiss. Is there some secret to these things that I have to do, or are they just designed to be incompatible with other radios? As a general rule, if you program two radios of different brands to the same frequency, they will communicate, but these little bastards just flatly refuse. Suggestions?

Dual- or triple-band ham antennas usually top out at about 440 MHz. In my experience, that's close enough to provide decent performance on the GMRS frequencies, provided you get a quality antenna. With a mobile antenna, I do usually get a little higher SWR on the frequencies that are "out of band", but it's typically in the range of 2.1 or 2.2:1 which is not enough to concern me. I do get a little better distance and clarity with a 771G (GMRS-specific) antenna on my 5RM than with a VHF/UHF 771, but it's not all that dramatic.

I never really had an issue with the Midland Ghost Antenna. It performed about as well as other mag-mounts IME. I only replaced it because I got a ham license and swapped it for a dual-band antenna. Unfortunately, I can't find a dual-band antenna similar to the Ghost with good reviews.

To make it even more confusing/annoying, some GMRS-specific radios will only allow you eight repeaters, one on each frequency pair, and that's it. That's pretty restrictive for anyone who travels at all, and even within a local area, there may be more than one repeater on the same frequency pair using different CTCSS/DTCS tones for access. "Unlocked" radios will typically let you program in as many repeaters as you want, and you can have duplicates on the same frequency pair.

I have used the Midland Ghost antenna on a mag mount for GMRS and it's actually pretty good. At least as good as the Nagoya UT-72G, which isn't the greatest antenna, but I got reasonably good results with it. Is there anything similar in a dual-band version that actually can be called "pretty good"? I've seen some on Amazon which purport to be dual-band antennas, but their low prices and off-brand labeling make me hesitant. Sure, it's possible to get a great product for a really low price, but it's not common. I'm aware that a "Coke can" antenna will not perform like a whip, but sometimes it's good enough. At least the Midland Ghost Antenna is. Can anyone recommend anything similar?

I didn't have that experience. Mine tested at 1.8-3.9 watts on low, 6.5-8.3 on medium, and 8.3-9.9 on high, depending upon the frequency (and apparently phases of the moon, because I get noticeably different readings on different days). It does seem to transmit with more power on VHF than UHF, which is understand is pretty common.

I wouldn't say the AR-5RM is the best radio for a newbie. A noob radio is a dedicated GMRS radio that you pick up, turn on, pick a channel, and start talking. The 5RM does require some programming, but it's a lot more versatile than a dedicated GMRS radio. There is a learning curve, and there are things I learned by trial and error, but I think most people can learn to use it. Like @RIPPER238's Tidradio H3, it has a lot of options, but you do have to exercise some restraint because you can do things with it that you definitely shouldn't do as a GMRS operator. An SSC Tuatara car can go 295 mph, and I'd kinda like to tool around in one to look cool, but it will absolutely do things that I have no business participating in.

Hold on. I need to go make popcorn.

I sent you a message.

Yes, all of those are true. I'm very satisfied with mine. It's not the best radio on the market, but it's probably the best $30 radio on the market. As usual, Baofeng overstates the transmission wattage, but I do get 8-9 watts depending upon the frequency.

There are some similar to the Ghost, but purportedly dual-band: here, here,and here. I have no idea if they're any good. They're really inexpensive compared to the Ghost, which may indicate a lower quality, but maybe not. If you try one, I'd be interested to find out how it works.

Logically, if you can communicate through the repeater from a short distance, it must be configured correctly. Most of the time, the difference between short-distance and long-distance communication is the antenna. Either your antenna is inadequate to the task, it is set up wrong, or you're the victim of disadvantageous topography. For example, I can use a repeater 30 miles away to my northeast, but I can't reliably hit my own house on simplex with a 20 watt mobile from 1/2 mile to my west because there's a high hill in between. If you have an unobstructed path to the repeater 30 miles away, you're golden, but if there are significant obstructions, there's not enough power in any HT to go very far at all. Pictures and/or a detailed description of your antenna setup would be very helpful.

If you can hear the repeater but they can't hear you and it has happened on more than one radio, by far the most likely is that either you are too far away or somehow you have the offset programmed incorrectly. Those are almost the only two possibilities. I second the recommendation to go to YouTube for some educational videos. Also, if you're using CHIRP, you can open it, go to "File", select "Open Stock Configuration", then choose "US FRS and GMRS Channels". It has the GMRS repeater frequencies already entered including the correct offsets. You can't program the radio from that file, but you can copy and paste using the "Edit" tab at the top to transfer it to the profile you downloaded from the radio (Radio-->Download From Radio). That should get you the correct programming. If that doesn't fix it, either you're too far away or you have an infestation of gremlins.

That depends on what you want to treat. Both are effective for bipolar disorder but risperidone is often more effective for the mixed form. On the other hand, if the patient is in a manic episode with severe agitation, aripiprazole may be a better choice. Similarly, they will both treat schizophrenia, but if agitation is a feature, aripiprazole is the go-to again. Aripiprazole is useful in Tourette's Syndrome while risperidone shows some promise in treatment of infantile autism. I could go on, but those are the high points.

Yeah, I don't expect it to perform as well as a whip in those circumstances, but for just running around doing errands in the city, it seems as if it will work well.

You might get one that's just fine. I haven't seen or read any reviews that reported this problem. I'm writing it off to a QC issue.

So...my radio suddenly and for no apparent reason, decided to stop transmitting. I even tried a reset to factory configuration but unfortunately, no dice. I'm really disappointed because I liked this little radio. However, as I've said before, quality control on inexpensive Chinese radios can be spotty. Maybe you'd get one that soldiers on for years. I always know when I go the cheap route that something like this may happen, so I'm not as upset as I would be if I had paid double or triple the price for it. I still really like the form factor with all the controls in the spkr/mic, and if I can find another one like that, I'll probably try it. I just got a Ham license, so I don't want a GMRS-specific one. I'll keep looking.