K6GBW
Member
I have mostly Motorola brand radios that I use for various services. But I had a need for some cheaper, almost disposable, radios for a couple of trips where we will be caravanning three cars on an interstate drive. I ended up buying four Retevis RT1 hand helds. I checked with the FCC database and these radios FCC ID's are certified as Part 95 compliant so I figured why not. I wasn't expecting much considering they cost only about $100 a pair. I bought four and programmed them for GMRS frequencies. I was actually really surprised by the quality. They're actually about the same build quality as my Motorola CP200's and when we tested them they had great audio quality. They worked great for car to car and while backpacking. About the only real issue I had was that they are programmed using a cable that has the older PL2303 chipset. It wasn't that hard to get it to work on my Windows 10 machine but why these manufacturers can't use a more recent version is beyond me. In the end, if you need a decent quality hand held 16 channel radio these aren't too bad. 
Last edited:
