Review of the TIDRADIO H3 radio

[WRVE426]

I discovered the company TIDRADIO when I purchased their H8 model which, as many of you know, had some very real problems but, to the surprise of many, TIDRADIO not only did not deny the problems but, instead, they tried really hard to listen to their customers and they fixed the problems which were reported. It took them two attempts, but they eventually succeeded. Not only that, but they replaced the early production models with fixed ones, at no cost to the client. Many, including myself, were very impressed with how TIDRADIO turned what could have been a major problem into a major success. Clearly, TIDRADIO listened and swiftly acted to correct the issues identified.

I was so impressed by not only the company, but also by the H8 model which came packed with superb capabilities, especially for an extremely competitive price, that I contacted TIDRADIO and offered to beta-test their pre-production models. TIDRADIO quickly and kindly agreed and sent me their latest H3 which I shall review below.

The TIDRADIO H3 and H8

As you can tell from the photo above, the H3 very much looks like the “smaller brother of the H8”. But that would not at all be fair to the H3 which, while being amazingly small, packs a lot of awesome features.

But let’s begin with one of the features which made TIDRADIO HTs so popular: both the H8 and the H3 offer three different boot-up modes: GMRS, HAM and “unlocked”. Just to clarify, each time you change the boot-up mode, you are doing a factory reset, so if you program your radio in one mode and then boot up in a different mode, all your changes will be lost. There is, of course, an easy workaround here. Two in fact: if you use the CHIRP free and open source software or the ODMASTER app and website, you can quite easily copy your frequencies/channels into the memory banks of the H3 (which has 199 memory slots, more than enough, at least for me). Both the H8 and the H3 can also be programmed by Bluetooth using the ODMASTER app.

Both CHIRP and ODMASTER offer access to repeater databases, but for me the best results were achieved by using the “query→repeaterbook” option in CHIRP.

[Note: I have found it helpful to, after I am done with CHIRP, to also connect to the radio with the ODMASTER app just to double-check some buggy aspects of CHIRP which, for examples, messed up my TX power settings when cloned back to the radio. One simple “read” in ODMASTER followed by a single “write” fixed that issue for me]

I should mention here that the H8 and H3 have different RX/TX capabilities:

• H8: 144-148 & 420-450MHz (TX) and 76-108 MHz (FM Broadcast Radio); 136-174 & 400-520MHz (RX)

• H3: 8 Band Receiving: ( FM )50-76MHz; ( AM )76-108MHz; 108-136MHz; ( VHF ) 136-174MHz; 174-350MHz; 350-400MHz; ( UHF ) 400-470MHz; 470-600MHz and 2 Band Transmitting: ( VHF )144-148MHz; ( UHF )420-450MHz

The fact is that while both the H8 and the H3 have the same transmitting capabilities, the H3 comes with a galore of extra frequencies, including Airband!

So, as you can tell already, the H3 is hardly a “little” brother to the H8 but a very capable radio in its own right.

While the radio is small, which is a big advantage and very convenient, it also feels very solid and well built. All the buttons function smoothly and having them backlit keyboard is a very good choice. The only suggestion I have would be to change the color of the characters on the buttons from white on blue to bright yellow over blue as that would make it easier to read the characters.

The battery has a very long life time and fits very snugly into the radio. The stock antenna seems to be of a very decent quality and it is well built. The sound of the speaker is very good. No problems here. The choice of a single top rotating power switch/volume control, a flashlight and two indicators is a very good layout, I just wish the knob was a little stiffer to rotate. The flashlight itself seems decent, but the light is too widely dispersed and should be better focused by a better lens. The H3 does not have any IP rating, but it seems very well built. Don’t go swimming with it, but it should fare just fine in light rain, dust or sand (especially if you cover the two USB-C port with a small plastic plug).

I was unable to test the USB-C programming slot. While CHIRP could “see” the H3 when I used a regular programming cable, I could not get my computer to “see” the radio when connected to the internal USB-C programming slot. This might be a GNU/Linux specific issue, I don’t know.

The USB-C charging, however, works very well.

As I mentioned, the ability to boot into different modes is a true “killer feature” which I hope all future TIDRADIO radios will retain. I did most of my testing in the “normal” (unlocked) mode but I tested booting up in GMRS and that works very well. I tested the Odmaster and CHIRP programming with the H3 (using Android and GNU/Linux) and I have had zero problems. Both applications work really well (though in my case, only when using a regular programming cable).

The ability to copy and paste between various modes (HAM to GMRS or GMRS to HAM) allows the user to configure the radio to exactly his needs. The user manual is well written and the radio’s menu system works well, but there are 3 menu items which are missing from the user manual: #52 (200 TX) #53 (350TX) AND #54 (500TX).I also suggest that option #34 (frequency hopping) should be given an explanation on how to use it and what to use it for.

I find the implementation of the AM mode clumsy. Why not have it immediately activated when on the airband?

The “selective scan frequency” is still very “raw”. For example, the frequency scanner seems to start on the last frequency it detected. This is not good. I also hope that future software updates will add an option to give the scanner a starting frequency.

The FM radio is adequate, but it has zero ability to scan. When scanning in the FM mode, I could not get it to detect a single FM radio station.

So the current firmware still could use some fixing, and I am confident that TIDRADIO will fix these issues in future updates.

I admit being very impressed by the H3 which is among my top favorite radios which, considering its price, is a huge achievements. The H3 currently sells for $39.99 on Amazon.

For comparison, my Wouxun KG-935G Plus now costs $149.99, my Btech GMRS Pro cost $154.89, my Wouxun KG-UV9GX $187 and my Wouxun KG-Q10G now sells for a whopping $219.99 (and it has at least as many bugs as the H3 including a basically useless GPS receiver).

FYI, the 2nd Gen TIDRADIO TD-H8 now sells for $69. So for 110 bucks, you can get both the TIDRADIO H8 and the TIDRADIO H3!

Then I want to return to the form factor: the H3 is really very small, fits in a pocket, yet it is very strong, it has this solid quality feel, and the color screen is superb and very well designed. And while the H3 is both smaller and cheaper than any of my other radios, it is the one I mostly carry around.

Could the H3 be improved upon? I think so. First, it would need to be made “outdoors” compatible, which means a decent IP rating and a GNSS chip: the Wouxun KG-Q10G only have a GPS chip, the Btech Pro has a chip which can receive both GPS and Beidou signals, which is better, but still not the full GNSS (which combines GPS+GLONASS+Beidou+Galileo). Nowadays GNSS chips are cheap and small, and the first HAM/GMRS radio featuring a real GNSS chip would have an immense advantage over all its competitors (much faster acquisition and much superior precision).

All in all, the H3 is an absolutely fantastic radio with a huge potential and TIDRADIO/ODMASTER are a company which tries really hard to offer very capable radios at unbeatable prices. I can definitely recommend both the H8 and, especially, the H3.

Edited February 21 by WRVE426

[WSAG543]

My experience with the Tidradio H8 hasn't been so rosy but most of the issues were due to ordering the radio off of the vendor's website. I have noticed some build quality issues as well as resonance in the case from the speaker at higher volume levels but everything else has worked pretty well. I almost went with the H3 over the H8 but thought the H8 was a better bet due to the amount of testing that had been done at the time, very few people online had the H3. Thanks to your review (and especially the size comparison image you provided), I think I may grab an H3. I like to be able to pocket my radios and the H8 is a bit too thick most of the time. 

You also listed several Wouxun radios. How does the performance of the H3 (TX/RX) compare to the Wouxun KG-Q10G?

[WRVE426]

9 minutes ago, WSAG543 said:

You also listed several Wouxun radios. How does the performance of the H3 (TX/RX) compare to the Wouxun KG-Q10G?

It is hard to compare.  The KG-Q10G is a very good radio, superhet, high IP, etc.  I did not compare them in any halfway serious way, but I would say that I did not notice any difference, but that does not mean much, since I did not take the time to test them on sensitivity/selectivity.  I can't imagine that the hardware under the hood of the H3 would be as good as the one  on the KG-Q10G, but that is just my "you get what you pay for" thing kicking in.  Hopefully a better tester than myself might give you a better reply!

[WSAA635]

Should be getting the one I ordered today. I hope it'll do Airbands as promised.  For the money this seems like it'll be a versatile little radio. Hope to do a video on it if it turns out to be decent. 

[WRZX444]

I ordered one of the new gen H3's from Amazon and the battery died in 2 hours; won't charge but passed through only enough to flicker the display.  Ordered a second one and that battery had loose parts rattling around.  Now a third one is being delivered tomorrow so lets hope three's a charm.  When I could use the radio, it's solid and I love it which is why I'm trying so hard to get a working kit.  Conclusion: Radio great, battery problematic.

One more point and in all fairness to TIDRADIO, they reached out to me on their own and offered me full refunds...

[WSAA635]

Sending them all back. They won't/don't play well with CHIRP Next. Channels that have been deleted still show up. Channels that I install won't show up. Firmware update bricked one of my radios. These are a HUGE Cluster F#@K and I don't have time to deal with or put up with it. I'll order something else to play with that won't give me such trouble.

[WRZX444]

Now with the 3rd kit received, I was able to assemble a working unit and will be sending back 2 of the 3.

One note on programming the H3, check the firmware version prior to upgrading; mine were already up to date but the process does seem clunky.  Also, I found TIDRADIO specific programming software for the H3 on their website and it worked flawless and no problem using the new direct USB C connection between the radio and my laptop.  ODMaster worked fine too.

[WSAA635]

I couldn't get the radio to work with usb-c for programming or trying to do the firmware upgrade. ODmaster worked on but I like using CHIRP Next better. 

I have the H8 programmed with CHIRP but I'm not messing with anything else. I don't want to risk bricking it.

[Syclone879]

WSAA635.  Are you having issues with the H8 too, or just the H3?

[WSAA635]

23 minutes ago, Syclone879 said:

WSAA635.  Are you having issues with the H8 too, or just the H3?

The H8 seems to be working fine. I set it up using CHIRP Next with the GMRS and MURS frequencies and the 4 DPS(Highway Patrol) channels that I scan and it's doing fine. I don't dare try to do a firmware update or mess with it anymore because I'm afraid that something might mess up.

[WRYS709]

3 hours ago, WSAA635 said:

The H8 seems to be working fine. I set it up using CHIRP Next with the GMRS and MURS frequencies and the 4 DPS(Highway Patrol) channels that I scan and it's doing fine. I don't dare try to do a firmware update or mess with it anymore because I'm afraid that something might mess up.

Just curious: what motivated you to select the H3?

Seems like a Quansheng uvk5(8) at twice the price!

[WSAA635]

42 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

Just curious: what motivated you to select the H3?

Seems like a Quansheng uvk5(8) at twice the price!

Airbands. I'm going to try a Talkpod A36 Plus next for my Airband radio. 

[WRYS709]

10 minutes ago, WSAA635 said:

Airbands. I'm going to try a Talkpod A36 Plus next for my Airband radio. 

Quansheng uvk5(8) -AliExpress $20 free shipping showed up in about 8 days 

I listen to the BUR Terminal on 118.7 MHz AM

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805561056379.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.48c2OiikOiikKK&browser_id=a0cf84c6adf04859888edcf518aa2a50&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=wohuwqihqcauwyzq18e0c1a6e51181c5ffa833d0b8&gclid=&pdp_npi=4%40dis!USD!52.04!19.78!!!52.04!19.78!%402103253917096000425588967ef10f!12000034202258644!sea!US!0!AB&algo_pvid=56e7a969-b3a2-4b52-a606-d0e236dd0825

[Darmie]

15 hours ago, WSAA635 said:

Airbands. I'm going to try a Talkpod A36 Plus next for my Airband radio. 

I have the talkpod and was impressed how well it works on Chirp. I also bought the 8w version. Now my wife and I don't fight over radios. I think it can use a better antenna for the airbands but maybe I don't live that close to airports. I also found that the modulation sometimes overdrives the local GMRS repeater. Between radio to radio, they sound ok. Oh and the mic is up near the volume knob which is a little weird. I do like how the small button below the PTT can be programed to transmit on the B band. I also programed the top red button to scan. For the price, can't be beat but wish there was more control of the mic gain. My DB20G radio that I just installed in the car was also over driving the repeater so a fix I did was to transmit in Narrow Band but that's not the best fix. These radios need to come with a better way to control mic gain. 

[WRXB215]

5 minutes ago, Darmie said:

These radios need to come with a better way to control mic gain.

Yes, that would be nice. 

[peatious]

On 3/3/2024 at 11:14 AM, WSAA635 said:

Sending them all back. They won't/don't play well with CHIRP Next. Channels that have been deleted still show up. Channels that I install won't show up. Firmware update bricked one of my radios. These are a HUGE Cluster F#@K and I don't have time to deal with or put up with it. I'll order something else to play with that won't give me such trouble.

Amazing. These have been the most straightforward radios I've used. Firmware updates were quick and painless. I used powertune to get the 50w channels at max power on the H8. Programing with chirp was flawless and i've changed setting with bluetooth many times in the field as well as saved configurations from chirp into the app. I have no clue how these are getting bricked by firmware updates. I also see people who cant get various things to work with retevis radios in windows 11 but I have no issues. Is my computer just super radio friendly?

[TrikeRadio]

I have had two TD-H3s for two weeks, I am a noob GMRS user and have found them to work great.

I've used CHIRP to program them, have used the face keyboard on teh radios to program them, have tried the odmaster phone app and... prefer CHIRP but it worked. I've dont the firmware updates - very easy no problem.

as a complete noob... I have found them to be very easy to use and they have given me no trouble. Yes, there was a learning curve but I attributed that to my general noobieness. and yes there are a few quirks bout the radio that are a little tricky to understand, like the strangely labeled settings for listening to the A and B bands or setting it to show only one band, but on the whole I have found them easy to use and work with.

 

[CentralFloridaGMRS]

Battery life isn't great but we used these at our home in Gatlinburg when we went hiking.