Radioddity DB20-G

[WSEL489]

I ordered this radio after a search for a 15-20 watt mobile that I could move between my Jeep and my office.  I wanted a unit that would work from a 12v outlet in the car, and also plug into  my 5A lab power supply.  

PROS

Very small
Great speaker
Bright color display

CONS

No Chirp programming, must use app from Radioddity
Closer to 15 watts than 20 watts on most frequencies

I will provide further feedback after I have had the chance to use it some.

[Davichko5650]

9 minutes ago, WSEL489 said:

I ordered this radio after a search for a 15-20 watt mobile that I could move between my Jeep and my office.  I wanted a unit that would work from a 12v outlet in the car, and also plug into  my 5A lab power supply.  

PROS

Very small
Great speaker
Bright color display

CONS

No Chirp programming, must use app from Radioddity
Closer to 15 watts than 20 watts on most frequencies

I will provide further feedback after I have had the chance to use it some.

I've had mine for a couple months now. Moved it into the shack for Base use and installed a Retevis RA87 out in the mobile.  I agree with the pros. As far as the Cons, I've not looked at the power output, but I've noticed better results mobile with the 40w (listed) power on the RA87. At home seems the DB20 is working just fine, power wise.  Haven't found any issues using the Radioddity software, and I've found the radio is very easy to program on the unit itself.

So far, very satisfied with the DB20 and the RA87 both.

[WRYS709]

19 hours ago, WSEL489 said:

I ordered this radio after a search for a 15-20 watt mobile that I could move between my Jeep and my office.  I wanted a unit that would work from a 12v outlet in the car, and also plug into  my 5A lab power supply.  

PROS

Very small
Great speaker
Bright color display

CONS

No Chirp programming, must use app from Radioddity
Closer to 15 watts than 20 watts on most frequencies

I will provide further feedback after I have had the chance to use it some.

You fotgot the most important PRO: $99-$109!

I bought a second one for use in my home with a rooftop antenna and irrespective of what output a wattmeter may claim; my range simplex and to distant repeaters far surpasses my expectations  

There is a large user base of the Radioddity DB20-G a/k/a Anytone AT-779UV on this Forum. 

[Guest]

The 5w difference from 20-15 won’t matter at all for distance specially if hooked to a good antenna with good coax.  It’s the height (line of sight) and radiated power from the antenna that really matter. Heck a 5w hand held cam radiate over 70w from the tip of the right antenna and coax. 

[WRYZ926]

4 hours ago, WRXP381 said:

The 5w difference from 20-15 won’t matter at all for distance specially if hooked to a good antenna with good coax.  It’s the height (line of sight) and radiated power from the antenna that really matter. Heck a 5w hand held cam radiate over 70w from the tip of the right antenna and coax. 

This is very true. I didn't notice any difference between my Wouxun KG-XS20G (20 W) versus my Wouxun KG-1000G or Midland MXT500 when hooked up to my base antenna and talking to people on the repeater. They couldn't tell a difference on their end either. The base of my Comet CA-712EFC is 20 feet above the ground and I am using 30 feet of LMR400 coax to the outside wall and another 15 feet of LMR400 inside the shack.

[WSEL489]

I forgot to mention that I was able to get the radio for $87.

[SteveShannon]

Some radios have S-meters which display the signal strength. For most people there is a somewhat noticeable audible difference between each number. 
Although radio S-meters are not precisely calibrated, generally speaking (and a question on the ham test ) one unit difference on an S meter correlates to 6 dB. 
What that means is that if 40 watts gets to S9, 10 watts gets to S8.  

[Davichko5650]

1 hour ago, SteveShannon said:

Although radio S-meters are not precisely calibrated, generally speaking 

Way back my then Elmers taught me that a good signal report is not based on what you see on a meter, but what your ear holes hear or can't.

Similar to my Army days, you either got a "read you 5 by 5, Lima Charlie" or a "say again, you are weak and unreadable"  (one we used a lot when doing Electronic Countermeasures on ID Ten Tee's).

Or, just go Contest Mode, where er'body gets a solid 59!

[WRYS709]

I may have said this before, but I added to my Radioddity DB20-G and Anytone AT-779UV; a Radioddity DB25-D. 

In effect this is a DMR version of these radios with the same analog capabilities with the addition of DMR worldwide capability for a reasonable price ($180-$210)

[WRYZ926]

22 hours ago, Davichko5650 said:

Similar to my Army days, you either got a "read you 5 by 5, Lima Charlie" or a "say again, you are weak and unreadable"  (one we used a lot when doing Electronic Countermeasures on ID Ten Tee's).

We use to mess with the ID10T's all the time. My favorite was to fire up the PTO driven generator on my 5 ton machine shop truck. That generator would jam all comms equipment within a 150 foot radius. 

And we can't forget the good old classic of sending NUG's for a can of squelch. 

 

On subject. Any good 15 -25 watt radio will work just fine when good coax and a good antenna is used. The best thing is to get the antenna as high as you can for a base station. And try to get a good ground plane under your mobile antenna. This even benefits the no ground plane type mobile antennas too.

[WSDT638]

My first base. I think I paid $100 out the door on Amazon too.

A high school buddy from many years ago moved to my town and got me into GMRS a little over a month ago. I currently have it in my Toyota Corolla with a Nayoga antenna. For what it is, and what it does, I am impressed, and I am brand new to this.

I have a 30watt power supply for my garage setup that I am planning, but I need to get an antenna, I am thinking the Tram 1480. I may move the DB20 back to the garage every now and again but really want a 50watt for the garage, so I can keep the DB20 in the car.

I'd recommend it with the antenna I have. I have had no issues as of this post.

[WRPL700]

I have one of my two DB-20Gs in a go box with 12ah battery.  Mine puts out about 18 watts.  It is a great little radio for the price.

[SteveShannon]

I have two of the db20g radios. I like almost everything about it: small, easy to use, powerful enough.

What I don’t like is the fact that you cannot use Chirp or RT Systems, and the software provided by Radioddity doesn’t allow imports, and copying and pasting doesn’t work the way I want.

Also, this is probably the most frustrating: once you have a configuration file created, you cannot change the frequency range in the CPS to another, even if all of the channels you’ve programmed are well within both of the ranges. There’s a range of channels that goes up to 470 MHz. There’s another range that’s higher in the list of available ranges that goes to 490 MHz.  A program file written for one range cannot be used for the other and changing the range in the settings wipes out all the channels you’ve created.

[WRXB215]

@SteveShannon sounds like you would be better off with the AnyTone AT 778 UV. Cost just a little more but it's a nice radio.

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, WRXB215 said:

@SteveShannon sounds like you would be better off with the AnyTone AT 778 UV. Cost just a little more but it's a nice radio.

I’m thinking I’ll be better with something like a Yaesu ftm300.

But I already have these two DB20G radios that are great go box radios.  I just need to pay closer attention before I start building a configuration file.

[WRYZ926]

The small 20 watt mobiles are nice for go boxes. I have a Wouxun KG-XS20G that I might put into a go box if it doesn't go in the wife's car.

[jwilkers]

I use a 20 watt radio as my home radio. Works great. Power does not need to be 50 watts to be effective


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[WRUQ357]

I just bought a db20 and gm-30 combo on Amazon for $109. I'm going to move my MXT275 to my truck and put the db20 in my jeep. The MXT275 fits in the map pocket next to my right knee. 

[WRYS709]

2 hours ago, WRUQ357 said:

I just bought a db20 and gm-30 combo on Amazon for $109. I'm going to move my MXT275 to my truck and put the db20 in my jeep. The MXT275 fits in the map pocket next to my right knee. 

Did Midland ever fix those units to be able to run WideBand FM instead of the default Narrow Band?

[WRYS709]

Somewhere on the Forum somebody posted a Template in Python that he claimed would allow you to merge a CSV file into the Radioddity DB20-G software so as to make programming somewhat akin to CHIRP!

I downloaded the Python template, but I have reached the point of my life where I do not like to research something that I will only do once. SO: not knowing how to program Python, I am a bit reticent to study up all the time it would take to learn to run Python on either my Mac or in Windows.

[WRUQ357]

1 hour ago, WRYS709 said:

Did Midland ever fix those units to be able to run WideBand FM instead of the default Narrow Band?

I don't think so. 

[WRUQ357]

1 hour ago, WRYS709 said:

Somewhere on the Forum somebody posted a Template in Python that he claimed would allow you to merge a CSV file into the Radioddity DB20-G software so as to make programming somewhat akin to CHIRP!

I downloaded the Python template, but I have reached the point of my life where I do not like to research something that I will only do once. SO: not knowing how to program Python, I am a bit reticent to study up all the time it would take to learn to run Python on either my Mac or in Windows.

I won't be doing anything with programming or chirp. I don't have the ability or knowledge to try and use anything like that. 

[wayoverthere]

7 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

Did Midland ever fix those units to be able to run WideBand FM instead of the default Narrow Band?

it was no go for the earlier versions with the usb-a. If I remember right, they replaced some of the early updated (usb-c) versions that shipped set up for all narrowband (for people that complained), and going forward were narrow on the simplex channels and wide on the repeater channels.

[WRYS709]

On 9/22/2024 at 8:13 PM, wayoverthere said:

it was no go for the earlier versions with the usb-a. If I remember right, they replaced some of the early updated (usb-c) versions that shipped set up for all narrowband (for people that complained), and going forward were narrow on the simplex channels and wide on the repeater channels.

And doesn’t Midland charge a “premium” for such “features?”

[dosw]

On 9/22/2024 at 2:08 PM, WRYS709 said:

Did Midland ever fix those units to be able to run WideBand FM instead of the default Narrow Band?

Yes. My 2021-era USB-C style MXT-275 uses wideband FM for the repeater channels with the stock firmware.

Don't believe everything Midland's support communicates. They're often just wrong. There is no way to *set* wideband or narrowband on an MXT275 with stock firmware. But I've tested several ways that I've mentioned in other threads, and have verified that it does switch to wideband on the repeater channels. I've seen support messages posted here and there that are confusing, probably because support, themselves, are confused by the fact that you can't set it explicitly.

 

The FCC signal description is:

16K0F3E - Frequency modulated (FM) analog voice, 4 kHz deviation (NPSPAC); (FM mode)

The FCC test report is here: https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/MMAMXT275/5301846

You'll find that 4kHz deviation is wider than "narrowband", which must remain within 2.5kHz deviation. A narrowband transmitter would be classified as 11K or 12K, not 16K. Additionally, the test results in the document I linked to showed its bandwidth envelope at significant levels to be within 16kHz, which is again wider than 11K or 12K you would expect to see of a Narrowband radio. 

 

It is true that a full wideband implementation would be a 20K envelope / 5kHz deviation. But it's quite common to find "wideband" radios with a 16K designation like this one.

 

I don't love the MXT275. I'm particularly annoyed that you can only set one repeater per channel. But it's a solid radio, works correctly out of the box with minimal configuration, and very little to screw up.