WSAS964 Posted February 17 Report Posted February 17 I've recently got myself into the GMRS world and have purchased a couple radios to start myself off with. I bought a Baofeng gmrs-9r (uv-9G) and love it so far(chirp compatible, waterproof, feels good, simple to use). I also bought the Ailunce ha1g after seeing fairly positive reviews on it, and after all, its a sexy radio that's sure to impress the chicks. After getting it, I was happy to find that it had a solid, well built feel to it, it has a nice looking display, and easy menu functions. The speaker has good quality sound and is nice and loud without the distortion. Mine did come with a programming cable and a detachable antenna which some people, including the website, says it doesn't come with. So that was another a plus. At first, it seemed like the best a guy could get.... at first. I bought the radio knowing it wasn't chirp compatible, but figured with the easy menu layout, I would be able to get around using a software to program it. It seems I'm wrong. After familiarizing myself with the menu functions, I wanted to start to enter in all the channels that I wanted to save. First thing I noticed is there are only 52 available channels to program. The website claims the radio has 220. I looked the menus and even read the useless manual and could not find a way to manually add channels, only edit the existing 52. Why the radio wouldn't come out of the box with all functions and channels available right away is beyond me but retevis must have decided that was a good idea. I downloaded the CPS software from the retevis website and when reading the data from the radio, the software says "host failed" and closes. (using windows 10) I looked at the device manager to make sure there was no driver issue, all is good. The website says the factory cable doesn't require a driver download. I then tried using a different cable that I have that did require a download that I know for sure, from experience, does work properly with my computer and chirp - still have the same problem. I contacted retevis support and asked if there was a way to add the missing channels manually. the first email I got asked me if I could, quote "wait a little while because the team is on spring vacation".......sure. After the team was settled back in from their lovely vacation, they sent me a 10 second video of a Chinese lady voice (no English) showing how to use the side bar of the programming software.... not very helpful. I'm not going to bother reaching out to retevis support again if that's their idea of customer service. If I cant get the program software to work and unlock the full capabilities of the radio, which I wouldn't think id have to do in the first place, I'll probably wind up returning the radio, thankfully to amazon. This radio seems so great and seems like it could be perfect (at least for me and my needs) but falls disappointingly short of what it should be, simply because for some reason the radio doesn't come out of the box ready to go.(cant add scan lists without software either) Looking at other radio reviews from retevis, it seems like they have issues setting up their radios the way they should be out of the box. Maybe I'm an idiot and I'm missing something obvious. Before I decide to send this almost awesome radio back to amazon, does anyone out there have any experience with this radio or experience with getting the software to work on windows 10? Maybe something obvious that I'm overlooking? Any help or information is greatly appreciated. Quote
WRMW562 Posted February 20 Report Posted February 20 Hello. I’m the newest of newbies, but I do have experience with this radio and with the software on both windows 10 & windows 11. I tried windows 10 first due to all of the reports of difficulty with windows 11, but windows 11 works just fine. I didn’t require a driver for either OS. If you’ve made sure the USB device is working properly in device manager, selected the correct com port, and chosen the correct model, I think the answer could be as simple as making sure the screen isn’t dark when you either read from or write to the radio. Quote
Socalgmrs Posted February 20 Report Posted February 20 So it’s a gmrs radio. Most gmrs radios are pre programmed to 30 or in your case 52 channels. You can save upto 30 repeaters sets with tones. The rest are listen only. This is why I won’t buy a gmrs only radio. The programming issues is why I won’t buy anything that isn’t in chirp or rt systems. The rest is why I won’t buy a retivis To many people I know have major issues either upfront or in the long run. WSAG543 and WRXB215 2 Quote
Lscott Posted February 20 Report Posted February 20 8 minutes ago, WRXP381 said: This is why I won’t buy a gmrs only radio. The programming issues is why I won’t buy anything that isn’t in chirp or rt systems. The rest is why I won’t buy a retivis To many people I know have major issues either upfront or in the long run. This is why all my "GMRS radios" are really commercial grade LMR's models programmed to GMRS frequencies. I use the manufactures software whereas possible to do the programming since it allows access to all the radio's options. I've tried to use CHIRP on several radios. Unless it's a VERY basic simple type I've had CHIRP mess up the code plug a few times and went back to the manufactures software. I tend NOT to use CHIRP unless the manufactures software is a complete POS, or not avaialble. WSAG543 1 Quote
Socalgmrs Posted February 20 Report Posted February 20 13 minutes ago, Lscott said: This is why all my "GMRS radios" are really commercial grade LMR's models programmed to GMRS frequencies. I use the manufactures software whereas possible to do the programming since it allows access to all the radio's options. I've tried to use CHIRP on several radios. Unless it's a VERY basic simple type I've had CHIRP mess up the code plug a few times and went back to the manufactures software. I tend NOT to use CHIRP unless the manufactures software is a complete POS, or not avaialble. Yes I have Motorola xti3000s. Don’t care for them much. Too big to bulky to heavy and no face programming and too costly if I loose one while crossing a river on horse back or navigating the back country on a quad. They sit at home on a shelf most of the time. Only take them out when I want to impress people. Which is never. I’ve programmed literally 100s of radios with chirp and never had one problem. I try and stay with the same programming software so all I have to do is write to any radio. It takes less than a mini to update each radio. Quote
Socalgmrs Posted February 20 Report Posted February 20 On 2/17/2024 at 9:45 AM, WSAS964 said: I've recently got myself into the GMRS world and have purchased a couple radios to start myself off with. I bought a Baofeng gmrs-9r (uv-9G) and love it so far(chirp compatible, waterproof, feels good, simple to use). I also bought the Ailunce ha1g after seeing fairly positive reviews on it, and after all, its a sexy radio that's sure to impress the chicks. After getting it, I was happy to find that it had a solid, well built feel to it, it has a nice looking display, and easy menu functions. The speaker has good quality sound and is nice and loud without the distortion. Mine did come with a programming cable and a detachable antenna which some people, including the website, says it doesn't come with. So that was another a plus. At first, it seemed like the best a guy could get.... at first. I bought the radio knowing it wasn't chirp compatible, but figured with the easy menu layout, I would be able to get around using a software to program it. It seems I'm wrong. After familiarizing myself with the menu functions, I wanted to start to enter in all the channels that I wanted to save. First thing I noticed is there are only 52 available channels to program. The website claims the radio has 220. I looked the menus and even read the useless manual and could not find a way to manually add channels, only edit the existing 52. Why the radio wouldn't come out of the box with all functions and channels available right away is beyond me but retevis must have decided that was a good idea. I downloaded the CPS software from the retevis website and when reading the data from the radio, the software says "host failed" and closes. (using windows 10) I looked at the device manager to make sure there was no driver issue, all is good. The website says the factory cable doesn't require a driver download. I then tried using a different cable that I have that did require a download that I know for sure, from experience, does work properly with my computer and chirp - still have the same problem. I contacted retevis support and asked if there was a way to add the missing channels manually. the first email I got asked me if I could, quote "wait a little while because the team is on spring vacation".......sure. After the team was settled back in from their lovely vacation, they sent me a 10 second video of a Chinese lady voice (no English) showing how to use the side bar of the programming software.... not very helpful. I'm not going to bother reaching out to retevis support again if that's their idea of customer service. If I cant get the program software to work and unlock the full capabilities of the radio, which I wouldn't think id have to do in the first place, I'll probably wind up returning the radio, thankfully to amazon. This radio seems so great and seems like it could be perfect (at least for me and my needs) but falls disappointingly short of what it should be, simply because for some reason the radio doesn't come out of the box ready to go.(cant add scan lists without software either) Looking at other radio reviews from retevis, it seems like they have issues setting up their radios the way they should be out of the box. Maybe I'm an idiot and I'm missing something obvious. Before I decide to send this almost awesome radio back to amazon, does anyone out there have any experience with this radio or experience with getting the software to work on windows 10? Maybe something obvious that I'm overlooking? Any help or information is greatly appreciated. I’d say return the radio and either stick with boof wang or step upto a wouxun or other nicer radio. You won’t transmit any further even if you get a $1000 Motorola but you can get radios with more features or better batterys. Quote
Lscott Posted February 20 Report Posted February 20 2 minutes ago, WRXP381 said: Yes I have Motorola xti3000s. Don’t care for them much. Too big to bulky to heavy and no face programming and too costly if I loose one while crossing a river on horse back or navigating the back country on a quad. They sit at home on a shelf most of the time. Only take them out when I want to impress people. Which is never. I’ve programmed literally 100s of radios with chirp and never had one problem. I try and stay with the same programming software so all I have to do is write to any radio. It takes less than a mini to update each radio. I tried using CHIRP on a Kenwood TK-370G radio, 128 channels with zones. CHIRP messed up the code plug by screwing up the entered frequencies and switched them between zones at random. I gave up and used the official software which is Windows based. Then there is the Kenwood TK-370, 32 channels and no zones. Seems to work OK for that. I 'll use CHIRP since the only official software for that radio is DOS based. There is no windows version. Quote
WSAG543 Posted February 21 Report Posted February 21 On 2/20/2024 at 6:57 AM, Lscott said: This is why all my "GMRS radios" are really commercial grade LMR's models programmed to GMRS frequencies. I use the manufactures software whereas possible to do the programming since it allows access to all the radio's options. I've tried to use CHIRP on several radios. Unless it's a VERY basic simple type I've had CHIRP mess up the code plug a few times and went back to the manufactures software. I tend NOT to use CHIRP unless the manufactures software is a complete POS, or not avaialble. I've found this out as well during my short time with GMRS. I will also only be buying unlocked GMRS radios going forward. Quote
WSAS964 Posted February 22 Author Report Posted February 22 On 2/19/2024 at 10:59 PM, WRMW562 said: Hello. I’m the newest of newbies, but I do have experience with this radio and with the software on both windows 10 & windows 11. I tried windows 10 first due to all of the reports of difficulty with windows 11, but windows 11 works just fine. I didn’t require a driver for either OS. If you’ve made sure the USB device is working properly in device manager, selected the correct com port, and chosen the correct model, I think the answer could be as simple as making sure the screen isn’t dark when you either read from or write to the radio. I've tried making sure the screen was on, even going as far as trying it while having different menu options open. no luck. I cant for the life of me figure out why this is radio is being so difficult. I either see reviews saying the radio and program is as easy as it gets and works great, or you have to have some magical wizardry on your side to get anywhere with it. On 2/20/2024 at 7:40 AM, WRXP381 said: So it’s a gmrs radio. Most gmrs radios are pre programmed to 30 or in your case 52 channels. You can save upto 30 repeaters sets with tones. The rest are listen only. This is why I won’t buy a gmrs only radio. The programming issues is why I won’t buy anything that isn’t in chirp or rt systems. The rest is why I won’t buy a retivis To many people I know have major issues either upfront or in the long run. the main reason I bought this radio is because of its durable design and relatively low cost to keep in my truck. I do disaster response and cleanup work around the the tornado alley region and down on the southeast coast with a crew of guys that all use either frs or gmrs radios. As its pretty common to not have cell phone service after large scale damaging storms, I wanted to be able to program repeaters in from multiple different states that I visit frequently which is another reason this radio appealed to me, being able to program up to 250 channels and save them as different zones and scan lists that I could sort by state. this radio seemed like the absolute perfect fit for me. but no. 52 channels is not nearly enough to program all the repeaters I have frequent access to so unless I can get the program to work, id have to manually change tones every time I use it. I have no interest in other frequencies for these work scenarios so a gmrs locked radio works perfectly for my needs. for other situations I have a couple baofeng uv5r's and 5rm's aside from my gmrs radios that work great. I guess its just a lesson learned the hard way to stick with the tried and true chirp compatible radios. On 2/20/2024 at 8:17 AM, WRXP381 said: I’d say return the radio and either stick with boof wang or step upto a wouxun or other nicer radio. You won’t transmit any further even if you get a $1000 Motorola but you can get radios with more features or better batterys. My next radio will probably be a wouxun. I have absolute zero interest in the top dollar radios, I want relatively cheap radios that wont crush my soul if I lose or break it working in disaster situations. I'll probably be sticking with mostly baofengs from now on. I don't need anything fancy, just a cheap, capable, easy to use radio that's at least somewhat durable for work and travel purposes. this radio just seemed like such a perfect fit but unless I can figure out how to program it, its far from perfect for me. Quote
Cashanova Posted February 23 Report Posted February 23 I purchased one of these too. My local are is all APCO Project 25 II encrypted for police, fire, EMS, and Sherriffs Office, so the 52 channels really isn't much of a problem for me. But I can definitely see how it could be very annoying to someone in an analog environment or who travels a lot. I have done a lot of research on this radio online and have found hardly anything. Something that has really annoyed me too with this radio was the lack of manual DTMF, which can be handy to have sometimes. Best of luck on your quest, -Cashanova Quote
WSAS964 Posted February 23 Author Report Posted February 23 28 minutes ago, Cashanova said: I purchased one of these too. My local are is all APCO Project 25 II encrypted for police, fire, EMS, and Sherriffs Office, so the 52 channels really isn't much of a problem for me. But I can definitely see how it could be very annoying to someone in an analog environment or who travels a lot. I have done a lot of research on this radio online and have found hardly anything. Something that has really annoyed me too with this radio was the lack of manual DTMF, which can be handy to have sometimes. Best of luck on your quest, -Cashanova I haven't found very much helpful info online either. It's an awesome radio if you just want to stick to the basics but its useless for storing multiple repeaters across the US (without having the program working). Appreciate the luck. Seems like I'll need it. I'm gonna have the IT guy at the shop see if he can make it cooperate next week. If he can't figure it out, I'm just gonna return it and step up to the wouxun kg935g+. Quote
WSAS964 Posted February 23 Author Report Posted February 23 13 minutes ago, WRWE456 said: Just get a KG-935Gplus and be done. i should have just done that from the beginning. that'll be my next move Quote
WRWE456 Posted February 23 Report Posted February 23 https://rumble.com/v3nhca7-the-wouxun-kg-935g-still-the-best-gmrs-ht.html Quote
WRWE456 Posted February 24 Report Posted February 24 If you really want to ensure that you don't lose or damage your radio, I highly recommend one of these. https://www.spectergear.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SG-1390 They make them for many popular radios and are very well thought out and durable. I have three of them. Quote
WSAS964 Posted March 5 Author Report Posted March 5 Finally got it to cooperate. I'm not sure exactly what needed to be done but the IT guy from my shop was able to work his magic and get it to talk. I wish I could say what exactly the problem was but I'm not a computer geek so I wasn't really following what he was telling me. after getting it programmed with everything I need, this radio is pretty awesome but I think I might still upgrade to the 935g and keep this as a backup. I don't have the time or the patience to deal with it, if it decides to be difficult again for whatever reason, while trying to do my job. Quote
WRQJ416 Posted April 19 Report Posted April 19 On 2/19/2024 at 11:59 PM, WRMW562 said: Hello. I’m the newest of newbies, but I do have experience with this radio and with the software on both windows 10 & windows 11. I tried windows 10 first due to all of the reports of difficulty with windows 11, but windows 11 works just fine. I didn’t require a driver for either OS. If you’ve made sure the USB device is working properly in device manager, selected the correct com port, and chosen the correct model, I think the answer could be as simple as making sure the screen isn’t dark when you either read from or write to the radio. Not for me. Running Win10 and the CPS will not load whether the programming cable is plugged in or not, lacking a dll, the name of which escapes me. Not mention of this issue on the Retevis site and nowhere to d/l the needed dll Quote
Starfish Posted April 21 Report Posted April 21 On 3/5/2024 at 6:51 AM, WSAS964 said: Finally got it to cooperate. I'm not sure exactly what needed to be done but the IT guy from my shop was able to work his magic and get it to talk. I wish I could say what exactly the problem was but I'm not a computer geek so I wasn't really following what he was telling me. I know you said you’re not the computer dork who fixed it… this applies to me as well - I think I’ve exhausted everything you can do on the front panel (which is pretty user friendly). But I, like you, only see 50 channels (not including VFO A/B), of which only 31-50 are fully programmable. Did your tech dude fix this - and if so, did he have to plug it in to the software to do it, or was he able to figure it out via FPP? Thanks in advance for any light you (or anyone else) can shed on this. I’ve been scouring the internets, and haven’t yet found the answer. -Starfish Quote
Starfish Posted April 24 Report Posted April 24 I think I’ve got my answer; it needed to be plugged into the CPS. I’d seen photos like the ones here: https://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/retevis-ailunce-ha1g-gmrs-ip67-handheld-review.267908/#post-838032… which led me to believe you could add zones and channels from the front panel, but it seems like that was beta test firmware (which ironically looks better than what went out to consumers). In any case, now that I’ve added channels and zones to capacity, I’m extremely happy with this HT. Would’ve preferred if I could do it all in a pinch without a computer, but I guess having to load it via software once is a tiny price to pay. Quote
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