Anytone AT-5888UV vs. AT-5888UV III

[N9JIG]

I have had an Anytone AT-5888UV for a while now, it was suggested by a friend. Please see my mini-review at Anytone - AT-5888 Mini Review

Recently my son bought what he thought was the same radio for his Jeep as he is an avid off-roader in the desert here. It turned out that he actually got an AT-5888UV III, very similar to the prior model but with some differences:

• The "III" has 220 coverage for RX and TX
• The "III" has a much more bulky heatsink built into one side of the cover. This makes the radio noticeably heavier.
• The "III" has 2 speakers, one on the bottom and one on the top. (Which is the bottom or top is conditional, as the head is reversible.) The one on the aforementioned expanded heatsink side is assigned to the Sub-Band, the other to the Main Band.
• There are two different software packages ("QPS") for these radios available at Software & Manuals, one cannot read/write the other. I suspect there is model information in the codeplug. If I parsed it out with a text editor I suppose I could find it and edit it but there was no need for me to do so. (See below)
• I was unable to easily clone one radio to the other as the software packages were not compatible. I tried via Chirp and no go there. I did however find a workaround; The QPS for each radio supports Copy/Paste between them. I copied the freq and other info for the channels in the spreadsheet style channel programming from one radio and pasted it into the other. I tried to copy/paste in Chirp but it appears Chirp does not support that.
• The mics are identical and interchangeable. They also come with the same bracket and hardware.
• They use the same programming cable.
• While I did not try it I suspect the heads are probably swappable as well. The only difference I could see is the labeling on the "III" says "Tri-Band" vs. "Dual Band" on the older radio.

Since he is not (yet) a ham we only put the GMRS stuff in the "III" for now, we can add the ham stuff in later when he gets around to passing his test.

I used the "III" for a local net yesterday an hour after it arrived from Amazon and everyone said it sounded just fine.

One thing I have found that the speaker on the hand-mic actually sounds pretty darn good, I was pleasantly surprised.

I will probably get one of the "III" versions eventually to replace my trusty Alinco DR638 in the van. It has served me well but it is 9 years old and I am well past the 7-year itch.

 

[AK9R]

Do both radios have the same FCC ID number?

 

[N9JIG]

No, the older one is T4K-5888UV, the newer one is T4KAT5888UVIII (no dashes).

 

[2006walt]

Has anyone had success unlocking the AT5888UVIII or do they now ship unlocked? If locked, can software unlock or is hardware mod required? Could not find anything on YouTube. Not interested in chirp. Prefer using RT Systems software or Anytone. Thanks

 

[hufstuf]

I have had an Anytone AT-5888UV for a while now, it was suggested by a friend. Please see my mini-review at Anytone - AT-5888 Mini Review

Recently my son bought what he thought was the same radio for his Jeep as he is an avid off-roader in the desert here. It turned out that he actually got an AT-5888UV III, very similar to the prior model but with some differences:

• The "III" has 220 coverage for RX and TX
• The "III" has a much more bulky heatsink built into one side of the cover. This makes the radio noticeably heavier.
• The "III" has 2 speakers, one on the bottom and one on the top. (Which is the bottom or top is conditional, as the head is reversible.) The one on the aforementioned expanded heatsink side is assigned to the Sub-Band, the other to the Main Band.
• There are two different software packages ("QPS") for these radios available at Software & Manuals, one cannot read/write the other. I suspect there is model information in the codeplug. If I parsed it out with a text editor I suppose I could find it and edit it but there was no need for me to do so. (See below)
• I was unable to easily clone one radio to the other as the software packages were not compatible. I tried via Chirp and no go there. I did however find a workaround; The QPS for each radio supports Copy/Paste between them. I copied the freq and other info for the channels in the spreadsheet style channel programming from one radio and pasted it into the other. I tried to copy/paste in Chirp but it appears Chirp does not support that.
• The mics are identical and interchangeable. They also come with the same bracket and hardware.
• They use the same programming cable.
• While I did not try it I suspect the heads are probably swappable as well. The only difference I could see is the labeling on the "III" says "Tri-Band" vs. "Dual Band" on the older radio.

Since he is not (yet) a ham we only put the GMRS stuff in the "III" for now, we can add the ham stuff in later when he gets around to passing his test.

I used the "III" for a local net yesterday an hour after it arrived from Amazon and everyone said it sounded just fine.

One thing I have found that the speaker on the hand-mic actually sounds pretty darn good, I was pleasantly surprised.

I will probably get one of the "III" versions eventually to replace my trusty Alinco DR638 in the van. It has served me well but it is 9 years old and I am well past the 7-year itch.

I have the 5888UV and was able to program my GMRS repeaters with no issue, straight out of the box. Is the UVIII GMRS RX/TX capable out of the box? Or is there an unlock process?

 

[rf_patriot200]

I have the 5888UV and was able to program my GMRS repeaters with no issue, straight out of the box. Is the UVIII GMRS RX/TX capable out of the box? Or is there an unlock process?

I had two of those, sold one {locked} and kept the other. It seems to depend on the lot/serial number whether it ships locked or not. USB ports worked although manual stated they didn't.

 

[N9JIG]

Both my 5888UV versions came fully unlocked. I suspect one could use the Anytone Options software to select the appropriate band split for thier region and license.