Radio Suggestions?

[Padre1357]

As a ham, I got the GMRS license was to be able to communicate with my family. After plenty of research, santa will be bringing me my 1st GMRS. A KG935g. I was quite excited over the prospect of Anytone coming out with GMRS until they released it. Looks like a featureless, overpriced FRS radio. My 12yr old is interested in coding, computers, and some aspects of the ham hobby, so I think he'd quickly get bored with a glorified bubble pack. But also dont want to invest a lot of money on something he may never get seriously interested in. Thinking maybe something programmable with some memory channels would be a good start. What do you think would be a good radio for a 12yr old?

[axorlov]

Right now there are TK-3173s on ebay, with battery and charger for $70. You'd need cable (another $20). These handhelds have 128 programmable channels, and they work in the upper portion of Ham 70cm band, where repeaters are. They also are Part 95, if it is important for you.

[MichaelLAX]

1 hour ago, Padre1357 said:

As a ham, I got the GMRS license was to be able to communicate with my family. After plenty of research, santa will be bringing me my 1st GMRS. A KG935g. I was quite excited over the prospect of Anytone coming out with GMRS until they released it. Looks like a featureless, overpriced FRS radio. 

Which model Anytone are you criticizing?

It sounds like you want a HT that can do both GMRS and Ham

Does it matter to you if it starts out being Part 95 then you get it to transmit on the Ham bands or just any radio that can transmit on both?

If Part 95 is important to you then get the Baofeng UV-5X(G).

If it is not important to you get the TYT-UV88

Both are HTs in tje $30-$40 range and are good starters.

For a mobile style radio that fits in the palm of your hand, has a cigarette lighter plug for power, is Part 95, can transmit up to 18 watts and opens up to 2 meters, 70 cms and even MURS, look at the Anytone AT-779UV (a/k/a Radioddity DB20-G) for about $100. 
 

[WyoJoe]

8 hours ago, Padre1357 said:

My 12yr old is interested in coding, computers, and some aspects of the ham hobby, so I think he'd quickly get bored with a glorified bubble pack. But also dont want to invest a lot of money on something he may never get seriously interested in. Thinking maybe something programmable with some memory channels would be a good start. What do you think would be a good radio for a 12yr old?

You didn't indicate if you were interested in a ham radio for your 12 year old or a GMRS radio. Since you mentioned the GMRS license, I'll give a couple of suggestions:

Pofung P15UV / Radioddity GM30 / Tidradio TD-H5: These GMRS radios are essentially all the same, but are programmable either through the keypad (to a certain extent) or through manufacturer provided software (available for Windows). They are not supported in Chirp as of now. They are in the $40 range per radio, but the Tidradio is sold only in pairs as far as I know. They offer decent performance but suffer from the same maladies as most CCRs, primarily the lack of filtering, resulting in poor sensitivity in high-RF environments.

Baofeng UV-9G: This is the GMRS version of the UV-9R / GT-3WP. This is a "waterproof" radio also in the $40 range. This is another Baofeng CCR, and there's not much else I can say about it as I haven't used this model. I expect it also suffers from the common CCR issues. This radio may be supported in Chirp, but I'm not sure.

Baofeng UV-5G (also known as the UV-5X GMRS): Another Baofeng CCR - this one is in the popular UV-5R format, but is firmware upgraded to work as a GMRS radio. These were also sold only in pairs initially, and may still be sold that way. The pair was selling in the $60 range last time I checked. These radios also suffer from the same common CCR issues as those above. These radios are supported in Chirp.

 

There are ham radio equivalents to all of the radios mentioned above, all at similar price points. If that's what you're interested in they're listed below:

TYT-UV88 / Retevis RT85: These are the ham equivalents of the P15UV / GM30 / TD-H5 triplets.

Baofeng UV-9R / GT-3WP: As mentioned above, these are the ham versions of the UV-9G

Baofeng UV-5R series: Also as mentioned above, this is the ham version of the UV-5G. There are many variants of this series, but most are the same internally. The latest version, known as the GT-5R is supposed to be the current "legal" version of the radio, with reduced spurious emissions and more restrictive transmit capabilities.

 

All of the above radios are in the "CCR" (cheap Chinese radio) category, and there are some issues common to most CCRs. I believe all of these radios have some of those issues. I would consider all of them to be "entry level" radios. There are certainly better radios available, both new and used, that will perform better, but they typically come at a higher price.

[WROA675]

9 hours ago, Padre1357 said:

santa will be bringing me my 1st GMRS. A KG935g.

If you like your KG-935G, I believe any twelve-year-old, slightly interested in radio, would love and not be easily bored with the KG-UV9G Pro or the KG-UV9P (Ham version). 

That said, I am available for adoption, will be taking my tech test in 3 weeks, and would love Santa to gift me the KG-UV9P. 

[Padre1357]

15 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Which model Anytone are you criticizing?

It sounds like you want a HT that can do both GMRS and Ham

Does it matter to you if it starts out being Part 95 then you get it to transmit on the Ham bands or just any radio that can transmit on both?

If Part 95 is important to you then get the Baofeng UV-5X(G).

If it is not important to you get the TYT-UV88

Both are HTs in tje $30-$40 range and are good starters.

For a mobile style radio that fits in the palm of your hand, has a cigarette lighter plug for power, is Part 95, can transmit up to 18 watts and opens up to 2 meters, 70 cms and even MURS, look at the Anytone AT-779UV (a/k/a Radioddity DB20-G) for about $100. 
 

The new echo by Anytone. Imho is a huge disappointment. Was hoping they would have come up with something similar to their 868/878 as far as displays and programmable from the ht. Its extremely overpriced at $100 each for what little it offers. Definitely not knocking Anytone's quality. I have the 878uvii+. Solid radio. 

As for my son, leaning towards the cheap chinese radios at the moment. Prefer he can't go messing around in bands he shouldn't be.  If he gets serious about ham down the road then I'll give him one of my wouxun's

[Padre1357]

Thanks WyoJoe. Half my problem has been looking at this with the expectations I have for my ham ht's. I had pretty lousy luck with Baofengs. I'll look at those again. 

[Padre1357]

Thanks axorlov, will check those out.

[MichaelLAX]

16 minutes ago, Padre1357 said:

The new echo by Anytone. Imho is a huge disappointment. 

I googled Anytone Echo and it came up with a model 6666 for 10 meters?!?

i gave my 10 year old grandson my Pofung P15UV to replace his bubble wrap HT

[Padre1357]

I may have been mistaken, it's sold by bridgecom so i assumed anytone.

https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/collections/frs-and-gmrs-radios/products/echo-gmrs-radio

[MichaelLAX]

Looks like the YouTube reviewers started to react to the Bridgecom Echo one week ago. 

I won’t bother watching them at this time unless Randy @OffRoaderXcovers it. 

[WyoJoe]

1 hour ago, Padre1357 said:

I may have been mistaken, it's sold by bridgecom so i assumed anytone.

https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/collections/frs-and-gmrs-radios/products/echo-gmrs-radio

That looks almost exactly like a black version of the Retevis RB17. It looks like the shape of the front panel and the color are the only differences.

[BoxCar]

If you are serious about getting your Technician license, I will suggest the Yaesu FT-4XR. You can program this radio with PC software and by entering a software code, enable it to work on the GMRS channels. The radio is not FCC approved for GMRS use, but it functions on those frequencies. I have an unlocked one in my posession.

FT-4XR YAESU FT4XR DUAL BAND COMPACT HT (rlham.com)

 

[SUPERG900]

Sharp eye. The Retevis RB17 it is - and at a much more agreeable price too.

 

Looks like Bridgecom is going to milk it at the price they're selling at.

[WyoJoe]

7 hours ago, SUPERG900 said:

Sharp eye. The Retevis RB17 it is - and at a much more agreeable price too.

 

Looks like Bridgecom is going to milk it at the price they're selling at.

Retevis also has the RB-17P which has what looks to be a pretty nice display. It isn't without problems though, because from what I can tell, the repeater channels are reversed, meaning transmit on 462.xxx and receive on 467.xxx. It also appears to be locked in to narrow mode.

Like the RB-17A and some other radios, the RB-17P also comes with CTCSS/DCS codes pre-programmed on all channels. I believe these can be modified with the programming software.

Of these two models, it looks like the RB-17A would be the better radio overall at this time. The RB-17P still needs work to function properly, and doesn't seem "ready for prime time."