33cm band portable / Retevis RT10

[devicelab]

Just in case anyone doesn't know this already but the Retevis RT-10 supports the 33cm amateur band with no modifications, etc. You just need to program it up and it's good to go out of the box. The hardware is nothing special but this unit does support DMR. It also has a dual-slot DMR mode which is interesting. The stock antenna is not good -- it's acceptable though. Antenex made a rubber duck that has a green stripe around the top. They can be found on E-Bay for < $15 or cheaper. (I think it's SFU902 or something similar.) The battery life is crap -- it lasts about 3 hours of receiving and 1.5 hours of transmit time.

The audio quality is decent. I'd recommend just making sure you speak into the microphone port directly. I haven't tried a speaker/mic but that might be the better way to go.

They're being sold directly or you can buy two radios for $140 off of Amazon: https://a.co/d/hXJ1hSU

(Note you'll need the $13 programming cable or I believe it can use the Baofeng 2-pin cable as well -- but I haven't verified that personally.)

Cheers!

 

[vagrant]

It can use the Baofeng 2 pin cable and it worked fine for me. I still use the stock antenna. No problem simplex or using a repeater. I think I paid $125 for two via Amazon two years ago.

My review of the Retevis RT10

First, contrary to popular opinion, these are not vaporware. They actually exist, because I have 2 of them. They came with a programming cable, but not knowing that they would, I bought one off eBay. They feel good "in the hand" so to speak. They seem solid. Before doing any testing, I took one...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[devicelab]

It can use the Baofeng 2 pin cable and it worked fine for me. I still use the stock antenna. No problem simplex or using a repeater.

I swept the stock antenna and it has a 3+ SWR. The Antenex antenna is like 1.2 SWR.

I keep the RT10s for backup at the moment. I had a chance to pick up a Kenwood NX-411-K2 and that's my primary portable, although I do have a XTS-2500 -- since our (only) 900 local repeater is analog or P25.

Sadly we have very few users.

 

[vagrant]

The local 900 repeater is rarely used which is unfortunate. It may do P25 as well, but I’m not a big fan of the xts2500. As to the antenna, I think it swept under two, but I will take a look at the Antenex and see what else may work.

The RT10 is not rugged and while there is a quality difference as well, for $65 it’s fine for the fun it affords. It is also easy to program where many amateur operators would faint looking at Moto CPS.

 

[devicelab]

The RT10 is not rugged and while there is a quality difference as well, for $65 it’s fine for the fun it affords. It is also easy to program where many amateur operators would faint looking at Moto CPS.

Indeed -- this is why I'm making sure people know about it.

I think ICOM and others are leaving out an un-tapped market. Make a solid, easy to use 900 meg portable (and mobile) and people will buy them. A little marketing push doesn't hurt either.

 

[vagrant]

33 cm is not in the Japanese amateur band plan so…we’re lucky to get 1.25 meters from Kenwood.

Kenwood and Motorola commercial are/have been the solution for 33 cm handheld and mobile. The used pricing is less than a new amateur solution would be. Also, if I lived in a busy metro/repeater area I would put up a P25 900 to keep it friendly with fewer users that could enjoy long winded QSO’s. (Less riffraff/non-licensed shenanigans)

 

[mass-man]

Oh how I miss 900mhz! We had a VERY active repeater in DFW back some years ago. Mostly MCS2000 mobiles and KW 981/481 that I programmed for lots of people. It was the land of long winded, late night QSOs and absolutely no shenanigans! It may still be active but the users back then are mostly gone

 

[GlobalNorth]

33cm is pretty popular in the metro areas, but not so much elsewhere. It would help if some manufacturer made a nice commercial rig, but it's likely to stay the realm of the surplus radio modded for the band.

 

[devicelab]

33cm is pretty popular in the metro areas...

Not in this metro area.

 

[radiotweester]

Oh how I miss 900mhz! We had a VERY active repeater in DFW back some years ago. Mostly MCS2000 mobiles and KW 981/481 that I programmed for lots of people. It was the land of long winded, late night QSOs and absolutely no shenanigans! It may still be active but the users back then are mostly gone

I'm not sure of when you last turned 900 on, but I usually hear traffic daily on K5TRA's 900 Allstar linked repeaters. I know some are around Austin and I think around DFW. We have a couple here in Oregon that are part of the system. It's not quite the activity level you described in the past, but lots of technical conversations.