Andrei

I completely agree with you - misrepresenting what these PoCs can do is dangerous and dishonest.

I agree that this is not THE SHTF device. But it COMPLEMENTS other devices really well. Take repeaters - in case of SHTF they will soon run out of energy and even if they don't, they can only handle one signal at a time. Celltowers are very VERY strong, here in FL, even the biggest hurricanes did not destroy them as much as the rest of the infrastructure. I think that PoC vs HAM/GMRS is apples and oranges, both fine, but very different. Lastly, security is often not putting all your eggs into one basket anyway. My go to device is my cellphone and my GMRS radio. But I am very happy to have PoCs as an option. Cheers!

I am fine with the form factor, but I full concur on the solidity thing. I really like metal on my radios, and this one does feel, maybe not fragile, but not strong either. True, that does make the WT2 lighter. But still. Let's just say that I hope I never drop it... I recently got a pair of TIDRADIO TD-M15 and they look much more solid. Cheers

which is a lot better than mine, I used Yandex translation I speak 6 languages, but Chinese is not one of them. So I pretended

谢谢你的客气话！

This is my review of the TIDRADIO TD-15: The M15 is my second PoC device (the first one was a Choyong WT2) and I have to say I love it. Why? I got a set of 2 radios for 100 bucks, which is a steal considering what that radio can do for you. Simply put, as long as you are within range of a cell tower with LTE4G you should be good (there could be some exceptions in some countries). You can talk pretty much any distance on the planet, and you will hear a very clear voice from the other side, even if it is on the other side of the globe. This device is a PoC - push-to-talk over cellular meaning that, just like your cellphone, the radio only connects to the local tower, after that you are on the Internet (this is a form of Voice over IP or VOIP). This device is simplex only, meaning that you cannot interrupt the other person, you need to let them finish first least you "step on" on them. Folks used to radios will easily adapt. PoC, however, also requires to change walkie-talkie/radio habits. Since each time your device must open a line, so to speak, to the other person, you should always wait for the the device to show "this device is speaking" (hey, their English is probably better than your Chinese ) and when you listen to the other side, you must wait until the other person finishes. Most of the time, I would say, you need to press the PTT (push to talk) button on the side, wait about 5 seconds, then speak, then stop, wait 10 seconds or more, and then your interlocutor will reply. This is all very simple and easy, but you must be aware of this. Most PoC manufacturers only allow you to speak to other people with the same device or, at least, brand (this is what Choyong's WT2 does). TIDRADIO did something better - they allow you to create your own group (people you want to speak to) using the Android app Odmaster, which is not the best of the best, but it is solid. You sign up your 2 devices via a QR code, then you create a group, then add your 2 devices to the group which will result in 3 group members: the two devices + one on your smartphone and Odmaster. This is very very neat! The battery life is fantastic, the battery being a huge (but small in size!) 3000mAh capacity which means you can use the device for days. You can recharge the battery by USB-C. One fantastic feature of these amazing devices is that you can update the firmware "over the air" (OTA). Just to to settings, check the version and if you get a message saying a new version is here, just press "yes" and it will update. Very very easy. So who could use those? First, an important caveat - this "radio" is a type of radio, but not a real radio. If the cell towers are down, you are out of luck, you will NEVER contact anybody with that. Not even in the same room with 2 M15s. So there is that. Having said this, Cell towers are very resilient and radios can only reach that far. As for repeaters, they will be overwhelmed in a disaster situation (they can only relay ONE signal at a time). So think that this is a great emergency device. Next, if you don't want to think about range. As I said, if you have cell towers, the range is basically unlimited. Also, if you want to always be able to reach your kids, but don't want them to have a real smartphone, the M15 is the way to go. If you want to reach a lot of contacts at the same time (say on a multi-car trip, or a construction site, or fishing boats) - this is the ideal way to do so as you can make "group calls". Is this device perfect? Alas no. One strange thing is that there is "GPS" printed pretty much where you would expect a GPS/GNSS chip to be. There is none. Apparently, TIDRADIO gave up on the concept. The radio has no official IP rating (that I could locate). Some stores and users claim it has an IP67 rating. I would prefer no ambiguity here. The radio is small, but rather thick. A flatter form would be nicer I think. One weird thing: while TIDRADIO claims that you can put two SIM cards in the device, the first 2 I got had all the signs for two SIM cars, but only one slot to place one it. My next two had two slots. Weird and mildly irritating. One last comment: I yearn for the day when PoC devices will be truly able to speak to each other. Alas, there is no way to connect my Choyong WT2 and my TIDRADIO-TDM15s. I hope that in the future somebody will develop this capability. PoC seems to be an eminently practical and needed technology, and it is only in its infancy, it will only get better in the future. As of right now, I think that TIDRADIO PoC devices (they have MANY!) are the way to go. Bottom line: HIGHLY recommended!

you know, I am amazed at the psychological and spiritual ugliness of these folks, it is like they live in a mental sewer and are furious as soon as somebody clearly is enjoying something, be it a piece of kit or anything else. I mean, I get it, they cannot contribute anything of value, so pontificating is the one option for them. Maybe they were bullied in school or have issues with what they "identify as", who knows. Whatever may be the case, thank you for your kind words. I wrote this review because I changed my mind about the WT2 and I thought that others might be interested. And yet even Randy (whose channel I love) seems unable to contribute anything more than a vapid comment about "too many words" (did he watch "Mozart" recently ?). Make me think that there are at least as many sad GMRSers as there are sad HAMS. Apparently they don't know the rule "if you have nothing to say - then say nothing". If I come across another piece of kit I really like, I might post a review here, but my expectations in terms of feedback will be dialed back to zero: I simply will assume that most folks on this fora act like "spiders in a jar" (Russian expression). I guess I will write the next one with folks in like you and a few others in mind. Have a great Sunday and Merry Christmas!

thanks for another substantive comment which adds a lot to the discussion! soon we will have a full aquarium

you are very welcome, it is fun indeed. and I fixed the repeater problem, so it is even better than reviewed

no worries, it was written for folks with an attention span longer than that of a guppy fish but thanks for the informative and insightful comment, much appreciated! good luck with the GED exam!

To be truly honest, I have to say that when I heard of the latest Choyong offering I was not really interested. First, I already have five Choyong radios (yes, I am addicted!) and I already have too many GMRS/HAM/FRS HTs (handheld transceiver) at home too. It was unclear to me what the WT2 would really do for me. But being addicted to Choyong products, I eventually caved in and begged my (wonderful) wife for an WT2 and, sure enough, I sure was not disappointed! So, first, let me describe the WT2 in some details. Externally, the unit looks like some kind of handheld radio. The radio is built out of some light and, apparently, strong plastic. I personally would have preferred some light metal alloy, but this might increase both weight and costs. How resistant to a drop from 4-6 feet would that unit be? Dunno, but better not to find out… One nice feature is that the radio can stand vertically, even with the antenna extended, which is very convenient. Having said that, the radio feels like quality in your hand. The buttons are of a decent quality (not the best though) but they are not backlit, which is a >major< flaw in my opinion. I also wish the buttons would be somewhat more “resistant”, meaning that more force should be applied to depress them (right now it is okay, but they are >very< easy to depress, which happens rather often (judging by the traffic on the PoC Global channel – see below). A nice “click” would give these buttons better feedback. The unit comes with an (non flexible) antenna which performs pretty well as a UHF TX/RX. This antenna is also a telescopic antenna (48cm max) which can be used for RX in SW/MW. The truly brilliant decision by Choyong was not to go down the road of other HTs with SW/MW/LW RX capability which often have a separate antenna port (or, worse, a clunky BHC port). Choyong decided instead to use an SMA port which makes it very easy to use pretty much any other antenna to improve broadcast radio signals in SW and MW. One regret, unlike most manufacturers, Choyong decided for an SMA-F (female) port on the radio and a SMA-M (male) port on the antenna. Most manufacturers prefer the other way around, but there are converters and antennas are relatively cheap, so no big deal, only a minor irritation. Choyong might consider shipping a small reel wire antenna (usually about 20-25 feet long) with a clip at the end to massively increase the WT2’s SW performance. Also, truth be told, the MW reception is rather minimal, but since my only DXing interest in in SW, I truly don’t care. The screen is absolutely superb, with a great resolution and colors. You can even see that screen in bright sunlight (albeit barely if the sunlight is strong). I wish it came with a screen protector though. The battery is advertised as “super fast charging” and I can confirm that this is true: the 2500mAh battery charged in about 1 hour and it lasted a full day with 2/3rds left to go. That is very good. Now having looked at the hardware, we need to look at the different “parts” of this transceiver which includes: An FM/SW broadcast radio receiver A (misnamed) “analog intercom” covering 406.1MHz-470Mz A PoC (Push-to-Talk over 4G Cellular) An Internet radio similar to other Choyong products Wifi, Bluetooth and even eSIM connectivity USB-C and TFT ports (but no headphone jack (!)) One Youtuber called this “radio shack in a box” and he is right. This amazing capabilities allow the WT2 to simultaneously function as a 1) traditional FM/MW/SW radio receiver, 2) analog UHF walkie-talkie, 3) Internet radio receiver, 4) PoC communicator, and 5) multimedia player, all that in a compact 125 × 60 × 25 mm form factor. Frankly, I find that nothing short of amazing. However, before we look at all these capabilities, an very important caveat about firmware versions: my came with firmware 1.0_251017_1653 which… … … is nothing short of awful. About half of the radio simply did not work. It was so bad I though I had received a lemon and almost returned the radio. However, as soon as I upgraded the unit to the the latest firmware (WT2G_CYOS_V1.1_251114_1459) the radio “resurrected” and worked really very well with one notable exception (see below). There is a very good reason why the WT2’s Amazon page has the following message repeated many times over the page: “Before use, please upgrade to the latest version”. So, the very first thing you must do if you get this HT is to update the firmware which is really easy provided you have a decent Internet connection and a SD card (officially no bigger than 32GB, but my 64GB card worked just fine). Now let’s look at the various capabilities of the WT2: >>The WT2 as a FM/SW/MW broadcast receiver: The WT2 is the first Choyong radio based on the TEF6686 chip. This is important because 1) the TEF6686 chip supports AM/FM/ 2) the TEF6686 uses digital signal processing (DSP) for filtering and demodulation which improves reception clarity, reduces noise and interference and provides stable tuning performance across bands 3) The TEF6686 is known for good sensitivity on SW and FM, meaning that weak stations are more likely to be heard and there is less signal drop-out in fringe reception conditions. 4) Finally, using this chip keeps the WT2 physically small while reducing power consumption. What all this means in practical term is that the WT2 is a very solid performer, especially on SW/AM and FM. Having said that, the WT2 does not come with all the advanced filtering capabilities of, say, a Tecsun PL-990 or, even less so, those of a Malahit DSP3. So if you are a hardcore DXer, this might not be the receiver for you. But for the vast majority of people, the WT2 will be a super performer, especially with a better antenna. One small regret is that the WT2 currently does not show RDS information, but that might be fixed in future firmware versions. So has a broadcast receiver I would give the WT2 an solid 8/10. >>The WT2 “analog intercom” covering 406.1MHz-470Mz: It ain’t analog . Choyong uses “analog” to distinguish the WT2 from digital voice radios, but when the WT2 TX in 400-470 MHz it does so in NFM (narrow FM), which is good because this is what most GMRS, HAM and FRS radios use (in the USA). Note, this radio does cover UHF but not VHF, airband or marine radio bands. Maybe this will change with new firmware. Right now the WT2 can TX/RX on the following UHF bands: UHF LMR (Land Mobile Radio) — police, fire, business, PMR / professional UHF radios, FRS / GMRS (462–467 MHz in the US), Amateur radio 70 cm band (420–450 MHz in the US) and Military / government UHF (varies by country). Frankly, this is a solid capability for simplex WT2 to HAM/GMRS/FRS communication and a decent, but not perfect, option for emergency situations. So how good is the WT2 as a UHF transceiver? I tested the WT2 with one of my better HTs and the WT2 could be clearly heard (with some interference) at a distance of 4000 feet or about ¾ of a mile (1200m). Considering that the antenna is pretty small, the max output is only 2W and that UHF signals are LOS, line-of-sight, (with plenty of trees and houses between my two HTs!) this is a very decent performance (at least as good as any FRS radio out there). I am sure that the LOS 5km capability claimed by Choyong is true (provided there are no obstacles in the middle). As a walkie-talkie I would give the WT2 a solid 10/10. >>The WT2 as a PoC (Push-to-Talk over Cellular) device The WT2 was my first PoC device and I was unsure about that. I ended up liking that feature a lot. To summarize that this is and how it works: the WT2 contains a cellular modem with eSIM and 4G support, which means that it can connect to any celltower just like your phone does. Via that celltower the WT2 connects to the Internet and finds other WT2s in two “locations”: a “Global Group” (which is composed of all the WT2 with Internet access either through eSIM or via wifi – currently about 1000 units with about 7-10 standing by) and any group you and your contacts create directly. Note: the WT2 cannot connect to any PoC device, it has to be another WT2. I tested that capability, and I could immediately talk to a few other WT2 users, some located in the USA, some Canada and others in Europe. Can’t say that the community is big (yet), but I am sure it will grow. So far, everybody in the Global Group was very friendly, and this is a nice alternative to our online groups/fora where we can talk live rather than post messages. So while this capability is moderately useful, it is great fun! As a PoC device I have to give the WT2 a well deserved 10/10 >>The WT2 as an Internet radio: The WT2 is clearly a part of the Choyong “ecosystem” and it has almost the same capabilities as the current Choyong flagship, the LC90. So yes, you do get instant access to about 50k Internet streaming radios out there (from all over the world, really!), and you can easily add your own streams through the (very well organized) Choyong website for the management of your radios. The sound is very good, I would (very subjectively) say that it is roughly on par with the Voyager, which has a very decent speaker (for its size). In addition, the WT2 can stream its signal to another BT device such as a speaker (but not the other way around). And yes, the WT2 (kinda) has ChatGPT onboard to help you locate streams. I said “kinda” because, of course, this is not the full ChatGPT architecture. What this really means is that the WT2s are shipped with firmware that uses cloud-hosted ChatGPT/Whisper-style services (or some third-party “ChatGPT” provider) to do voice search, voice-to-text and music/station search. The device contains the client (microphone, audio pre-processing, UI and network code) but it is the cloud does the heavy lifting (speech recognition + LLM text generation + optional TTS). In practical terms, this means that you can search for streams of music, news, podcasts, etc. with a simple voice search like “acoustic Jazz guitar” or “news from Nicaragua” and, most of the time, the voice recognition will yield usable results. As an Internet radio I can only give the WT2 another solid 10/10 >>How about Wifi, Bluetooth and even eSIM connectivity? Wifi, works with no problems (though I have a strong and fast Internet, I am not sure what the minima are to stream). Ditto for Bluetooth. My only regret here is that the only way to enter an SSID password is somewhat clunky: I wish Choyong added a rotating knob (a small version of what Choyong put in its (superb) Maestro, only without a touchscreen of course) as that would not only make adding passwords (or any other alphanumeric entries) quick and easy, that would also make navigating the menus much easier. And since there is plenty of space on top of the WT2 to add such a knob, this should be easy to implement. I also tested the eSIM. It was my first eSIM experience and it was very quick and easy to install. Thanks to that capability, you can stream directly from the Internet via a celltower without even having to purchase a physical SIM card. Choyong has an offer for 0.99 dollars for the first month and then 19.99 for every subsequent month. I am not sure if I have to cancel in order to avoid the 20 bucks costs, or how it is done, but I am sure this is not too complicated. Now a potential problem: when receiving the FM/SW/MW broadcasts, you cannot use the BT connection. Which would be no big deal if the unit had a jack to connect a headphone/earphones, but it does not have that either. So when listening to FM/SW/MW broadcast, you are stuck with the WT2’s speaker. That is definitely a flaw, especially that having an headphone connected to the unit would improve reception to boot. Maybe this is due to a lack of space, but I really regret that oversight. One option would be to have the USB-C port used to connect an audio cable but, I checked, the USB-C is only good for charging, it cannot accept an audio connection. I really hope that Choyong fixes that issue and makes it possible to pipe the broadcast signal into headphones or another speaker. So in terms of connectivity, I will give the WT2 a 6/10 with the hope that future firmware address some of these shortcomings. >>Lastly, let’s look at the WT2’s USB-C and TFT ports: As I mentioned, as of today, the USB-C port is only for charging. Maybe this will change in the future. As for the TFT port, it works fine sometimes and sometimes it freezes (usually the first time). The workaround? Reboot and try again, this usually works. It also has one weird quirk: a folder with a name in Chinese characters is created by the radio, but you can ignore it, as all the other folders (for your music) are visible and easy to access. In fact, that folder is where your recordings go (did I mention you can record a stream?). Alas, the sound quality of the recorded streams is, frankly, pretty bad. I took a closer look at the WAV file created by the WT2 and it is: 128kb/s, 8000Hz, 16bits, 1 channel, PCM. Which is pretty normal. I wonder if the speed of the SIM card is to blame. Or maybe my WT2 is defective. As a music player capable of recording, I cannot give the WT2 more than 4 stars. This is definitely the weakest point for this otherwise amazing radio! >>Assorted comments and thoughts: I have to say that this radio is a lot of fun! Yes, it is a great radio in most of its aspects, but it also has something magical which toys (including toys for adults!) have. So not only do you get a fantastic multi-functional transceiver, you also get a wonderful device which is simply fun to carry around (or travel with). There is A LOT packed into this pretty small device (which, alas, does not come with a case, which it should, but you can buy a Pelican 1020 Micro Case and then remove a small piece of the internal housing (for the SMA port) and it will all fit in (once you remove the antenna) into this solid case). The WT2 can completely replace any FRS radio and can communicate with GMRS/HAM radios, though not quite legally in the USA where FRS/GMRS/HAM radios have to be certified by the FCC to some norms; having said that, nobody cares about this and as long as you don’t make yourself a pest to others, especially messing with repeater or, God forbid, emergency services, you should be fine. When the repeater issue is fixed, this radio will be capable of hitting UHF repeaters, albeit with low power (2W unlike the 5W to 10W typically found in GMRS/HAM handheld transceivers) and with, shall we say, “moderate legality”. And since under US laws and FCC regulations you can use (almost) ANY radio on (almost) ANY frequency/band if life or limb are in danger, the WT2 has a solid emergency radio capability (and violations are not prosecuted in case of real emergencies). The one regret here is that the WT2 has no resistance to the elements whatsoever (something crucial for any serious emergency radio). A metal body and an IP67 rating, combined with a solid screen protector (which Choyong should ship with this radio) would fix this issue and make the WT2 a solid performer in case of emergency. One nice (and undocumented) feature is that you can mount the SIM card via the USB-C port. Mounting and managing the SIM card was a breeze on my GNU/Linux computer. I have no idea if computers running non-free/rental OSs (like Windows or macOS) can also do that. Also, while mounted, the WT2 also charges. I really wish the USB-C port had an analogue IQ (in-phase and quadrature) capability piping into a computer’s sound card or SDR software for spectrum display, waterfall, and demodulation beyond what the WT2 itself offers. That would make it possible to connect the WT2 to an tablet or laptop while traveling! Another undocumented feature of this radio is that as soon as the screen switches off, whether automatically or manually, this also disables all the buttons on the WT2, thereby avoiding accidental presses which, considering how “light” the PTT and volume buttons are is a great feature which makes life a lot easier for users. Conclusion: I love the WT2. I did not think that I would, but I do. For the price, this is a steal and future firmware updates might make the WT2 even better. The main quality of the WT2? It is A LOT of fun, at least for me. And it has a tremendous growth potential. Choyong really produce yet another truly fantastic radio which I play around while at home and I will take to all my future trips. Get one, you will not regret it!

Okay, lemme chime in. First, forums are designed for HUMAN INTERACTION so pointing to search engine is plain stupid. Since I had a career in IT I am confident that I can use search engines way better than the moron who pointed me to google. Next, do I want to share my questions with the Google corporation? Also, why would amaff OffRoaderX and Northcutt114 want to be condescending a-holes to a person they don't even know? Would it be because they have a need to lash out on the Internet because that is the only place they can huff, puff and try to look "tough" because in real life they are beat up by their bosses, wives and probably kids (assuming they have any)! The key thing is that they actually have nothing to contribute to, no personal experience worth sharing, just a urge to act like a pompous ass because they are deeply frustrated. As I said, there is at least one in each group. For example on Facebook the folks are exceptionally nasty in almost every group. Discord is much better, I suppose that rather than boomers there are more young, happier, folks over there. I think that in our societies such manners are frowned upon so, say, in a store these folks would be very polite. Behind the wheel some of them would already get unhinged (road rage), and in the Internet they feel total impunity for acting like petulant teens. I guess dealing with folks firmly pegged to the left side of an IQ bell curve is inevitable. The only way to avoid that would be to create fora which test for intelligence before accepting a member, but that would obviously not be acceptable as there are plenty of kind and friendly people with low IQ. So how to get rid of the dumb AND hostile is the question which, so far, nobody has managed to solve, which is too bad. Anyway - WRYS709 please accept my apologies for misreading your comment! Cheers

okay, I misread your comment, my bad and my apologies! I strike-through my previous comment

my bad. there were not one, but two.

Fantastic, THANK YOU! I already ordered the clip and... I also ordered the pocket holder thanks for your excellent suggestions! may that good karma come right back to you!