gman1971

Looks like they released 1.06 firmware... which doesn't seem to fix diddly squat.... some receiver being stuck improvement... just improvement? why not a fix?

Easiest bug to repro, the Crossband DMR not working both ways: set radio to TX on band A (VHF), radio won't re transmit whatever it receives on band A (VHF) to band B (UHF), but will re transmit from B (UHF) to A (VHF) Ran on it again while testing it further... and probably the most annoying of all bugs I've run into. Who writes the software for this radio?? I mean, c'mon, its the simplest bug to reproduce ever... yet its on version of the firmware 1.05, they've had 5 (FIVE) release points since 1.00... I am starting to lose my faith on this radio... so be prepared as it might be popping for sale on eBay at a good discount... G.

The portable Alinco DJ-MD5TGP is 149 now with GPS, and its a pretty decent deal. It doesn't have all the extra of the 578, but it is pretty much the same radio in terms of functionality. G.

Hey axorlov, 115? Its 399: https://www.amazon.com/AnyTone-AT-D578IIIPRO-Tri-Band-Amateur-Bluetooth/dp/B082XK6WYH/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=anytone+at-d578&qid=1579741137&sr=8-4 The $115 is the AT-D778, which is not even a digital radio. The 578 is a brand new triband mobile radio (140, 220, 440) FM/DMR, with a very nice double receiver, crossband, single freq repeater, bluetooth, gps.... I think once they fix the teething issues the radio will be a hit. (it seems already like a pretty decent radio anyhow) The single frequency repeater is pretty nice, it works surprisingly well with the Baofeng BF-1801... it is nice to rebroadcast your own stuff without requiring to use an additional frequency. There are few videos online that show how it works... G.

UPDATED (1/24/2020) So, found a bunch of bugs when actually using the radio. I sent an email to Anytone, and posted a review on Amazon in hopes they get resolved, I am basically copying my review here as well: "Love the radio, for the most part..., and when it works, that is. Aside from the lack of separation for the head unit, which can be overcome with some mounting shenanigans, when the radio works its pretty good. Receiver performance is far superior to the 878 or MD5, it seems to pick things where the Alinco MD5 won't even break the squelch. As a standalone unit the radio works fairly well, provided you don't use the Bluetooth or the BT PTT... et all. So, why 1 star then? Simple, the features that make this radio stand out don't work all the time, or consistently, and when this happens there isn't much you can do to fix that and frustration sets in. The list of issues I've run into so far are: (firmware 1.05)-Bluetooth will stop transmitting voice after paired for a few minutes without a transmission. As in, radio will transmit, you speak into your Senna headset microphone but no voice will be heard on the other end. Upon pairing it works like a charm.-Bluetooth won't automatically reconnect if the headset is turned off, then back on. (LAME) Need to power the radio down and then back up. -Bluetooth PTT won't reconnect automatically after powering up unless you explicitly go into the menus to connect it. (LAME)-Crossband DMR repeat will stop working after radio is been sitting idle for 1/2 hour or so. (WHT?) Need to take the radio out of Crossband mode, then toggle it back on.-Crossband DMR won't transmit back on A when Band A is selected, the active band needs to be B in order to be a true two way crossband that receives on B and transmits on A, and vice versa.-Crossband DMR won't pass get GPS position, call-alert, or radio check, etc, type of messages, like a DMR repeater should, so if you are using two 878s one in VHF and another on UHF, with the 578 set to crossband mode, neither of the 878s will be able to perform range measurements within each other, radio checks, etc... that is pretty significant missing functionality.-Crossband DMR won't pass private calls both ways, only band B to A, but no A to B.-Crossband DMR no SMS will go through at all.-In Crossband mode you can't TX by keying up the microphone PTT. My TYT 8000E radio can do this.-No option to turn off the screen from the menus, or a time out. (How so?)-PA and PD are hardcoded to some function, and no matter what you set in the CPS, you can't use those two buttons.-No speed dial with the microphone keypad??? Really?? Even my BF-1801 45 dollar especial has this feature. (LAME) That's all I can remember now, hope these get fixed, if not I'll dump the radio and move on. G.

I have a ton of them, for intercom, so yep, I use them for that... again, but for long range I use commercial grade gear. Well, the two TH-F6a I have don't seem to desense too bad on the same antenna where the GD77 won't hear anything. In fact, the TH-F6a seems to desense less than the TM-V71a on that same antenna, as it picks AM airband from the Madison ATIS tower much better and clearer than the TM-V71a (actually than the two TM-V71a I have) So, there is something to be said about Kenwood being very nice radios. With that said, the EVX-5300 seems to be a much better radio than either the TH-F6a and the TM-V71a in terms of receiver on MURS, as in WAAY better, while it has lower advertised sensitivity, it filters the junk surprisingly well and it picks the portables clearer than the Kenwoods do. Yes, that big tower doesn't help my situation... hopefully in a couple of years I can move to a higher location, ideally 10+ miles away from the flamethrower antenna... G.

Read the article, thank you! G.

Finally got the radio installed on the velomobile. Had to put it on the back, behind the seat bulkhead, and I had to make a cutout with a transparent piece of Lexan so I can see the display, but only when I am out of the velo. Its not really that big of a deal, really, since I rarely, if ever, like to mess with the radio when I am riding around, on a velomobile you need both hands on the steering, and if EV powered like mine, you really need BOTH hands.... However, with that said, I am really looking forward to this separation Bluetooth head unit... we shall see. Never thought I'd put an Anytone as my velomobile radio, but I have to admit the fact that no other radio made by any other manufacturer offers what this radio offers. Shame it doesn't have AM airband, but oh well.. it is what it is. BTW, the microphone pinout on this radio doesn't seem to be compatible with any of the other Anytone mobile radios, so I can't really use a repeater controller to do a GMRS to GMRS repeater with a cheap BF-888S for the input side... G.

"It is the way", that sounds like the Mandalorian, man. hahaha. I have some Kenwoods lying around, but I use Vertex Standard as my primary base/mobile rigs, the software is easy to work with and its free... /\/\ would be nice to have... and none of those are CCR... G.

Well, I am sorry if I call BS to the 5 miles on narrowband, portable to portable using GD-77s. I am lucky if I get more than 1 mile using my GD-77 on UHF, and going inside a store, or any building for that matter, the range halves. Even with my base antenna on a Vertex Standard EVX-5300 running just 10W, the GD-77 is deaf hearing the base beyond 2-3 miles while the EVX-5300 can ANY 5W portable at over 11 miles away... that tells you the receiver on those is just garbage. In contrast, the Alinco DJ-MD5 can hear the base at 3 miles pretty much full quiet, the GD77 cannot. Motorola, even their FRS stuff is hardly a CCR, and I also have a few old bubblepack radios that destroy the GD77 in every aspect (except price)... the first one that comes to my mind is the Midland G11 with removable antenna, which was a pretty nice radio, I still have a few of those lying around, got pretty decent range out of those, the antennas were very well tuned too... I understand as I've recently lost my Alinco DJ-MD5, it wasn't a Motorola pricetag kind of loss, but it still sucked. I will get another one at some point b/c I like those MD5 radios b/c they are small and have dual band so I can listen to all DMR traffic around town. My experience with MURS has been the opposite, VHF reaches WAY further than UHF for the same amount of power. G.

After a few days of tinkering with the radio I've found its pretty decent, but the digital repeater has a lot of limitations, either crossband or single frequency. The regular FM crossband seems to work just fine tho. Maybe a future firmware upgrade will address such limitations, I don't know... The biggest issues is that when in pure digital repeater mode, the DMR messages used for call alert, or radio check, or get GPS position, etc, won't be rebroadcast like they are when using a regular Mototrbo repeater. While this is a little bit of a negative, especially if you're trying to test radio range and no bother someone else with a myriad of "do you copy me now" etc... but it works well with just digital voice. I also found that compared to the Mototrbo repeaters there is a small delay between keying and hearing, so if you like to speak quick, there is a chance the listener might lose the first 1/2 second of your transmission... One thing is for certain, tho, its cheaper and smaller than a Mototrbo repeater, and if I am having trouble fitting this radio inside my velomobile, I certainly won't be able to ever fit an full XPR8300/8400 inside either, plus the battery required to power one those would be ridiculous... Overall the radio seems to work fairly well. Maybe given the small shortcomings the radio should be closer to 300 than it is to 400, but then again, given all the features it packs, it is not a bad radio. G.

Absolutely man, will be good to hear someone from the forum on the speaker G.

No grandkids here yet... just kids... G.

Yep. good radios, I've had those for almost 7 years now... , just the lack of digital decoding rendered them almost useless for listening to the local LMR DMR traffic; now, while there are plenty of Ham repeaters, that's about it tho... pretty much the analog sunset is taken over the LMR frequencies... even the police, used to be KAZ666, VHF FM.... now P25... can't tune in anymore... might get a scanner but... G.

Most of my old CCR radios are just dead weight too, cluttering around the house. I guess I could sell a pack of 10 BF-888s for 40 bucks or so haha... most of my FM only portables aren't worth much anymore, I guess I could sell them by weight? hahaha. The MD-2017 and the HD-1 have pretty poor front ends, they desense faster than you can say hello. I guess its like the features of the 878 except with terrible RF performance... the 878 is a far better radio IMO. I am considering picking one to replace my MD5 b/c I can get one with Bluetooth... lets just say I am spoiled with Senna helmet mounted intercom talking over with the 578 with the press of a remote PTT button... just amazing, no need to grab the microphone... nope. Crossband DMR preserves the input ID, this information is not available anywhere; which means, when operating crossband mode its not the DMR ID of the 578 radio what the receiver sees, but the DMR ID of the radio that is being "crossbanded" G.

The 7550 is an expensive radio, and after losing my Alinco MD5 I can't even begin to imagine how devastated I would've been losing an XPR7550 (E or not) So I can see why someone would keep that baby home unless it was law enforcement, fire, ems... etc. I agree, the 878 has far more features than the XPR7550, but the RX performance of the 7550 is much better, while the 878 is a huge step up from most of the CCRs, (200+ is hardly a CCR anyways, like the MD5). Inside my work place the EVX radio can hear much further than the MD5... I have yet to test the 578, which has a dual conversion hybrid receiver with crystal filters for selectivity. At 390 bucks the AT-578 is hardly a CCR tho, its closer to Hytera in terms of RF performance than any of its portable direct conversion ancestors... (868, 878, MD5, 6x2) which are pretty decent, but no match for double conversion superhets like the Motorolas or the Vertex, Kenwood, Icoms... etc. With that said, when it comes to multiband performance I think the 578 hits the mark on features/performance. Its tri-band out of the box, which is pretty much the only mobile that I am aware of that will do triband, crossband, full duplex, etc... The TYT 9600 mobile is a sorry excuse for a radio, really, expensive, full of bugs, poor RF performance... so the AT-578 seems like the only option if you want to listen to DMR traffic across the entire VHF/UHF bands without carrying two radios. The separation kit is surely missed, but let me tell you, for a radio made overseas I am genuinely impressed. I have it on my desk above my EVX-5400, tuned to the Madison 700... works great. Even inside my office, which is full of computers, monitors, and all kinds of RFI noise... the thing is full quiet when the repeater talks... even with a 1/4 wave VHF mag mount stuck atop a pizza pan over the highest shelf on the room. The GD77 can't hear anything if you connect it to the same antenna, other radios hear a lot of the RF noise from the computers etc, but this thing is dead quiet, just the person talking... which is basically like the TM-v71a or the TH-F6a or the EVX-5400 underneath... G.

My TM-V71a uses Cat5 as well... who knows why they did it this way... probably cheaper... but at 390 is not really that cheap... G.

Something like that, basically the ribbon plugs onto something like that, and then the cable extends to the faceplate... The XPR radios do it like that.

Got to try the radio on Madison 700 just now. On just 1 watt, good reports so far. Love the fact that Low is 1 watt, mid is 10W, high is 25W and Turbo is 50W... the 1 W option is great. I can also use the 10dB attenuator and bring it down even further if need be... so far no issues with the radio... Ideally you'd want to convert the ribbon cable to a parallel port, or something, similar to how the Motorola XPR mobiles work... not sure if that can be easily done. Certainly a relocation kit would work wonders for my application on a velomobile where space is at a premium... G.

I really think its above my skill to tinker with... making the connector, and 3D print the caps to bolt onto the radio and faceplate (ala 4550/5550 motos) without damaging the radio... I guess the radio might get hot? I rarely, if ever, have ran it in Turbo (50W UHF) (usually 1 Watt is enough to hit the Madison 700 repeater around here) so there is zero need to run any of the higher settings, let alone full power. G.

Well, the lack of relocation kit certainly has thwarted my install efforts today. The radio is just pretty darn long, so I couldn't install it where I wanted, over the pedals column, so I'll have to think a little harder where I am going to install it... We'll see... so now I can see why ppl are turned off about not having a front panel relocation kit on this radio... hopefully it can be done. G.

THANK YOU very much!! G.

Hey thanks, certainly a lot of stuff available from that company. I was thinking more of a TNC hooked up to a soundcard or something like that, rather than a full commercial solution. Have considered getting an LMR license too... and that is certainly a possibility. And if going that route I know Motorola has an asset tracking solution with their MotoTRBO stuff... G.

I believe telemetry and data can be used on MURS, just limited to 2W. So, I was wondering what is required to get started on a stand-alone home tracking APRS setup, without requiring to log on the internet or use ham internet sites, etc, just for the stuff around my property? What kind of radio do I need to make this happen? Can a portable work?, or do I need a particular mobile? Could the EVX-5300/5400 do it? well, provided I run a 10dB attenuator on the TX side of the radio (to keep ERP power within legal 2W limits) Thanks. G.

Got the radio today, genuinely impressed with it. It is certainly a huge step up from the AT-878 I tested (and returned). I would say its closer to Hytera territory in terms of RF performance; except this one is a tribander (rather than a single band radio). I think the specs printed on the brochure, based on quick testing, appear to be worse what the radio is capable of: Sensitivity is probably closer to the 0.16uV @ 12dB SINAD mark than the advertised 0.25 uV @ 12dB SINAD. It also doesn't seem to be hammered as bad as the TM-V71a on VHF with intermod, and the NOAA station that pops in and out of whatever channel I am parked at on the TM-v71a doesn't seem to be an issue with this radio, so that is huge. I will bench this radio vs the EVX-5300, hopefully tomorrow, so I can see how well it receives. So, it has true dual receive, crossband repeat, and a single frequency repeater in DMR... which is awesome, so you can use a single frequency to link multiple radios... nifty little toy. You can have the audio come from the microphone, rather than the radio body, which is very nice too. So for my velomobile I can hide the radio and just leave the microphone. I will probably link the radio to my helmet Senna Bluetooth intercom, see how well it works. (haven't tried that yet) Radio is fairly small, when compared to the XPR5550e this thing is a little radio; while not as short as the EVX-5300, its about the same width and height. fan is dead silent. No faceplate relocation kit as of yet, but it seems it might be coming since its just a ribbon cable with a small GPS micro coax connector, similar to the XPR radios. The included Bluetooth PTT is super nice, but requires disabling the single frequency repeater, not sure if this will change down the road. In my TYT8000E the Crossband repeater mode allows for using the radio as well, so not sure why the radio won't transmit on the band its selected. There were a couple of bugs on the software that crashed to desktop, but other than that, the software seems to work well, wish it was as versatile as the Vertex CE142 CPS for some of the input stuff. I had the codeplug made from the 878 I tested (and returned) a few months ago. I changed the band mode to allow for GMRS operation, with no front panel programming, nor VFO. Want to keep this like a commercial radio. However, if need be I can re-enable that functionality back with the software, but needs a PC to do that. For GMRS is probably a bit overkill, but for ham and/or commercial usage its a great radio. Wish it had airband too, and there is room in the PCB for a third receiver, which is unimplemented ATM, but when that happens I will be selling both my TM-v71A radios... listening to airband is the only reason why I am keeping those Kenwoods around. Being able to hear all the Mototrbo traffic from nearby business in both VHF and UHF is super cool; can't do that with the TM-v71a anymore... most of the stuff I hear around my house is all DMR these days... G.