I talked a friend into buying two of these tri-band handhelds because of the advertised FHSS (frequency hopping spread spectrum) feature, which turned out to be more of a random frequency trunking feature and probably a misunderstanding of the FHSS term by the Chinese manufacturer.
The radios were purchased from the exclusive US importer "Import Communications", who notified all buyers about the mistake with the FHSS option and offered a refund if so desired.
So here I sat with my friends two otherwise good looking and great sounding 2m, 220MHZ and 440MHz plus part 90 certified handhelds, just wanting someone to adopt them. After reading up on the manual, perusing the extensive programming software and living with these handhelds for a week I decided I can't live without it and and purchased one from my buddy who originally bought the pair.
These radios cover 136 to 174, 220 to 225 and 400 to 520MHz transmit and receive plus .52 to 30MHz AM HF (10KHz steps), 64 to 108MHz WBFM, 118 to 136MHz AM and 225 to about 260MHz FM receive only. The radio works surprisingly well in the AM broadcast and HF SW bands with an appropriate antenna and I did not detect any overload problems feeding it with a large G5RV type HF antenna.
The radios also have a very extensive menu system unlike any Baofeng or Wouxun I have used and I love the various banks I can assign to memory channels and scan only specific banks if I want or I can scan the entire memory. There is also a quick talk around feature for your programmed repeater frequencies and all sorts of other nifty features that I don't find on other Chinese brands.
The transmit and receive audio are extremely good and better than most handhelds I own including many Motorola, Yaesu, Icom and the like. The receive audio is almost Hi-Fi and people who I know personally come out of the speaker sounding much more like themselves than any other handheld radio I have used in recent times. I also get great unsolicited transmit audio reports.
The radio is also very small compared to say a Wouxun KG-UV3 type or KG-UV8D, which I had just purchased and sold after playing with the Anytone. The cross band repeat works fantastic and much better than the Wouxun KG-UV8D. So far battery life is very good from the stock 1800mah pack and I can't say enough good things about this very modestly priced handheld, its just a winner all around, despite the FHSS mistake. I think the closest competitor to the Anytone AT-3318UV-E model is probably the Kenwood TF6a, which runs about $190 more and is not FCC Part 90 compliant, although its HF receive is SSB capable. The TH6a is also a design from 10+ years ago.
Ed at import Communications is also a great guy to buy from and will take care of you and your purchase, although he does wholesale to other US dealers who basically sell for the same price. I think the closest competitor to the Anytone AT-3318UV-E model is probably the Kenwood TF6a, which runs about $190 more and is not FCC Part 90 compliant, although its HF receive is SSB capable.
prcguy
The radios were purchased from the exclusive US importer "Import Communications", who notified all buyers about the mistake with the FHSS option and offered a refund if so desired.
So here I sat with my friends two otherwise good looking and great sounding 2m, 220MHZ and 440MHz plus part 90 certified handhelds, just wanting someone to adopt them. After reading up on the manual, perusing the extensive programming software and living with these handhelds for a week I decided I can't live without it and and purchased one from my buddy who originally bought the pair.
These radios cover 136 to 174, 220 to 225 and 400 to 520MHz transmit and receive plus .52 to 30MHz AM HF (10KHz steps), 64 to 108MHz WBFM, 118 to 136MHz AM and 225 to about 260MHz FM receive only. The radio works surprisingly well in the AM broadcast and HF SW bands with an appropriate antenna and I did not detect any overload problems feeding it with a large G5RV type HF antenna.
The radios also have a very extensive menu system unlike any Baofeng or Wouxun I have used and I love the various banks I can assign to memory channels and scan only specific banks if I want or I can scan the entire memory. There is also a quick talk around feature for your programmed repeater frequencies and all sorts of other nifty features that I don't find on other Chinese brands.
The transmit and receive audio are extremely good and better than most handhelds I own including many Motorola, Yaesu, Icom and the like. The receive audio is almost Hi-Fi and people who I know personally come out of the speaker sounding much more like themselves than any other handheld radio I have used in recent times. I also get great unsolicited transmit audio reports.
The radio is also very small compared to say a Wouxun KG-UV3 type or KG-UV8D, which I had just purchased and sold after playing with the Anytone. The cross band repeat works fantastic and much better than the Wouxun KG-UV8D. So far battery life is very good from the stock 1800mah pack and I can't say enough good things about this very modestly priced handheld, its just a winner all around, despite the FHSS mistake. I think the closest competitor to the Anytone AT-3318UV-E model is probably the Kenwood TF6a, which runs about $190 more and is not FCC Part 90 compliant, although its HF receive is SSB capable. The TH6a is also a design from 10+ years ago.
Ed at import Communications is also a great guy to buy from and will take care of you and your purchase, although he does wholesale to other US dealers who basically sell for the same price. I think the closest competitor to the Anytone AT-3318UV-E model is probably the Kenwood TF6a, which runs about $190 more and is not FCC Part 90 compliant, although its HF receive is SSB capable.
prcguy
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