AnyTone AT-5888UV III Triband Reviews

[665_NJ]

OK, earlier today I set up my Any Tone TriBand as a base unit. No need for tri-plexer for the antenna. Using the Comet CX333 Triband Base/Repeater antenna which is on the peak of my roof. SWR on all three bands <1.3 to 1. Good decent audio and signal reports on various repeaters and simplex on all three bands in my local area.
I did not load the radio with hundreds of frequencies or have played with all the "bells and whistles" yet.
My primary use and purpose for this radio is using the cross band repeater function tying in a 70 cm pair to our 220 OEM primary Repeater. This gives some of our members who only have dual band (2m/70cm) equipment especially portable / hand held's access to the 220 repeater which is the primary repeater for OEM Communications.
So far so good in testing within 3-5 mile radius of my QTH.
However, In order to keep the PA from burning out by working through long duty cycles. Power outage is set to only mid levels 25 watts UHF / 15 watts 220. The CX333 antenna's gain itself on each band compensates for lower power out also.
Burning in and testing the radio now and will post here on further FETs (Field Engineering Test)
[emoji106][emoji41]




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[kc9cuk]

NEW Anytone AT-5888UV-III tri-band Mobile 2m 1.25cm 70cm 220mhz

https://youtu.be/oOrvsTH0_Tw

This my first look and un boxing of the new tri bander.

 

[665_NJ]

Anytone AT-5888UV-III Tri-band Mobile

I Also started a review thread at eHam.net
LINK

Thanks!

 

[NY8D]

I have typed in a few local repeaters and simplex. When i try to write to the radio, I get
"Write data to radio. Do you wish to continue?" So far so good. Click OK. Next I get
"Frequencys is wrong!" Click OK. "Write Data Failed."
This happens if I try to write to radio from what I have created, or the the default File>New.
If I read data from radio, no problem. I've tried a master reset on the radio, turn radio off/on, disconnect/reconnect programming cable.
Win10, COM 3. Any ideas?

 

[ST-Bob]

Bob,
If I understand you correctly, example A band will be for 2m only B Band 220 and C band for 440?
If so I guess I was doing it wrong?
I was trying to put 2m and 220 together on A band and 440 on B band.
Dennis KC7KIU

No - what I mean is that there are 750 locations you can save channel info into. Each one can be in "no bank" or in one of the 10 banks (A - J). They are all from that 1-750 memory location.

So if you assign channels 1-23 and 150-172 to Bank A and assign 24-28 and 120 to 149 to bank B they will only be selectable with the rotary selector or up/down buttons if that bank (or no bank) is selected. All channels are automatically range-checked to see if it's possible for the left side or right side of the radio to use them and will not appear if out-of-frequency-range no matter what bank or manual channel selection you do.

Right half of radio is VHF/UHF only. Left half does 220 in addition to VHF/UHF.

So you don't get separate banks of frequencies for each half of the radio. The banks are a subset of the master memory list.

Clear now?

Bob - KB1VUA
RR db admin (Massachusetts)

 

[ST-Bob]

It doesn't matter where you put any allowable frequency. The radio is smart enough to skip ones it cannot do on the right side.

Now, if I could just figure out this POS Chinese software... What a piece of crap!!! Crashed and lost 3 hours work twice now. Can't program now cause all my carefully-entered frequencies were done with the wrong sub-model selected. There's no directions and you have to do it wrong 93 million times before you accidentally figure out the correct way. SHEESH!!!

Can't wait till CHIRP and RT Systems support this thing.

Bob - KB1VUA
RR DB Admin (Massachusetts)

 

[NY8D]

Next I get "Frequencys is wrong!" Click OK. "Write Data Failed."

Figured it out this morning along with hint from ST-Bob

Before programming, make sure to select
Model>Frequencys, select Band 2, OK
I had only 24 channels programmed when I couldn't get the program to write. When changing from Band 1 to Band 2, yo get "Warning Frequency data will be cleared" and there isn't a thing you can do about it but re-enter your data.

I'm with ST-Bob, I'll wait for third party programming software before I do any serious programming.

 

[Dennis101]

I Also started a review thread at eHam.net
LINK

Thanks!

I try to post on eham on your review, won't let me yet as I'm a new user.
Anyways I bought a program cable from ED what software are you using to program the radio, I give up on trying to manually program memory banks into the radio.
Thanks
Dennis 73s KC7KIU

 

[gewecke]

I try to post on eham on your review, won't let me yet as I'm a new user.
Anyways I bought a program cable from ED what software are you using to program the radio, I give up on trying to manually program memory banks into the radio.
Thanks
Dennis 73s KC7KIU

Are you able to program it, at all WITH OUT software? Just curious... 73, n9zas

 

[Dennis101]

Are you able to program it, at all WITH OUT software? Just curious... 73, n9zas

Yes I can, when I first starting to program my frequencies I was using the left side of the radio for VHF and the right side for UHF, after I program a UHF frequency and assigned it to channel 1 it over wrote my channel 1 on my VHF side, So I then try programming A Bank for my VHF frequencies and when I do that I can get 1 frequency on A Bank and no more.

So right now I have all my frequencies on the left side 1 though 11

 

[gewecke]

Thanks for the reply Dennis. I just wondered, I'm not sure that I want one though. 73, n9zas

 

[Dennis101]

Thanks for the reply Dennis. I just wondered, I'm not sure that I want one though. 73, n9zas

It's a nice radio, I'm not sure if I'm doing the programming right ( Chinese English manual ) or I have a bug in my software?
For 25 watts on 220 I can hit my friends repeater that is 57 miles away from me and I'm using a tri band moblie antenna that I also bought from ED.
It is a little rough on transmitting and receiving but I'm sure if I use a beam antenna it will be no problem at all.

 

[665_NJ]

Dennis,

With Eham allow about 36 hours for your post to show. As a "newbee" there , all reviews are moderated before posting.

For software go Ed's site at Wouxan.us, go to the software and manual page. About midway down is a picture of the tri band and a link to download the software on the right.

It's the manufacturers software from China. It's not the best but is functional, Make sure the programing cable is connected to the radio and computer and they are both on. Read the radio 1st, save it as the factory default.
Save again as a save as. Give the save as file a name and use it as your working file.




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[ST-Bob]

Yes I can, when I first starting to program my frequencies I was using the left side of the radio for VHF and the right side for UHF, after I program a UHF frequency and assigned it to channel 1 it over wrote my channel 1 on my VHF side, So I then try programming A Bank for my VHF frequencies and when I do that I can get 1 frequency on A Bank and no more.

So right now I have all my frequencies on the left side 1 though 11

As I said, there's no difference between left and right frequencies. It's all one big 750 memory block of frequencies. Channel 1 is the same for left or right side as is channel 2, channel 3 etc.

The left side will do ALL FREQUENCIES while the right will do all except 220 MHz frequencies and will skip those memory locations automatically which contain frequencies it's not capable of working on.

Banks should be renamed subsets. You can put all your 220 stuff in a bank and all your UHF stuff in a different bank. When selected, only those channels in that bank will show up. When no bank is selected, all channels will show up.

Bob - KB1VUA

 

[Rothsville]

RT Systems has the ATP-5888UV-III ready for download. I got it yesterday - Aug. 31, 2016.
YES - you do need the cable from RT which is the USB-A5R for he software to work correctly. It will NOT install unless it detects the cable.

Check your default OFF SET in the software - I had to put in the normal 220 off set of -1.6 Mhz (it had 1.2) for some reason. Don't just go flippen out right away - check your defaults, and settings.

No review or TUBE video - just wanted to let folks know there is another option from the OEM software.

 

[W5RDW]

Power Out vs. Time

Has anyone done any power out vs. time measurements on this rig (220 especially)? The last experience I had with a tri-band Chinese radio (the little cheap BTECH MINI UV-2501+220) was not good. The 220 band power out dropped 3-4 dB in 15-30 seconds key down. I sent it back to Amazon. Ill look at this if it shows on up on Amazon.

Roger W5RDW

 

[W5RDW]

Power Out vs. Band

My Anytone tri-bander arrived today.

Made power out measurements across the 3 bands and it is basically within the specs they call out in the manual. Used a WaveNode WN-2d RF power meter:

RF Power out (Low M2 M1 Hi)

2 meters 4.8/10.4/19.6/43.8 watts
220 band 4.0/10.9/14.1/23.2 watts
440 band 5.9/9.6/21.1/37.4 watts

RF power out with a typical repeater key-down showed no appreciable drop from initial key-down.

Roger W5RDW
Murphy, TX

 

[K4LFP]

Issue with 220 MHz

I received the radio a month ago, after a long three year wait. So far I am pleased, however there is an issue with 220 MHz that was brought to my attention by two fellow hams whom live not too far away with the same radios and the same issue. Strange it only occurs with the 220 MHz band and not 2m or 440.

With the radio in wide FM, 220MHz and traveling mobile, there is a "warble" in receive mode. Only while the vehicle is in motion. Come to a stop, it goes away. I never noticed it, the two fellow hams are much more technical and heavy 220MHz operators.

With the radio in narrow FM, 220MHz and traveling mobile it goes away, but the audio softens up.

All three of us have tried different antennas, I have gone as far as holding the transceiver body in my hand thinking it was picking up on vibrations from the road. No difference. Thought it might be pulses from the engine, but I would think it would be present at all times. One thing I just thought of would be to wrap a ferrite core around the 12v lead, what do I have to lose?

Other than that I am very pleased with the radio.

I strongly recommend using the RT Systems software, it makes programming a breeze when having to program multiple memories, move memories around to different locations, adding PL tones, FM modes, etc. The Chinese software is a royal pain in the ***.

Programming the radio using the menu and keypad is good to learn for "on the fly" programming, at first it was a chore, now I can add a new frequency with a comfortable attitude.

Anyone else experienced this?

Alan K4LFP

 

[fuzzhead]

Scanning?

Can any new owners review the scanning features? Wondering if it scans banks or groups. Is there any annoying relay clicks?
Thanks for your responses.

 

[clovisb31]

Also, fan noise

Can any new owners review the scanning features? Wondering if it scans banks or groups. Is there any annoying relay clicks?
Thanks for your responses.

Also, can anyone tell us about the fan noise? When does the fan come on? At every push of the TX key, or just when the heat sink gets warm? How noisy is it ?

Any other issues? Not seeing much in the way of recent reviews here or on e-ham.

Do you guy's LOVE these radios?