Hytera or HYT Radio

[mkewman]

Does anyone have experience with this brand? I realize they're not Motorola quality, but I don't need that. I'm doing some consulting for someone who would like commercial grade (but not military) radios that get used for about 8 hours, 5-6 times a year. The TC-500 and TC-320 seem to fit the budget but I actually haven't laid hands on them, nor do I know anyone who does.

So if you have, answer a couple questions:

Programming- is it just a matter of buying the $40 cd and the $20 cable and programming them?
Durability- Again, not looking for super durable Batwing-grade radios, I just want them to be able to sustain a short fall onto soft grass from someone's belt and keep on ticking.

If the Baofeng 888S were FCC approved, I'd use it, but alas it's not. So I can't recommend it.

 

[Drachen_Fire]

HYT is actually a great radio company. I have used several, and many are currently in use around here as hospital radios. The TC780 is right on par with the Motorola HT1250, and actually has more features and double the channel space.

The TC320 and TC500 are excellent radios. Just be advised that the TC320 is only a 2-watt unit. The local Hytera dealer here sold me a programming cable for $25 and threw in the software for free.

 

[jaspence]

Hytera

I have had the PD 782 for several months. It is a well built radio, puts out a good signal and has good audio. The software for programming is readily available at a very reasonable price, and runs well in Windows 7. The down side is that I have been trying to find a dealer to upgrade the firmware for 2 months without success and it is not FPP.

 

[mancow]

The Hytera PD782 is equal if not greater quality than Motorola.

 

[N4KVE]

The Hytera PD782 is equal if not greater quality than Motorola.

That's like saying who makes the better pick up. Ford, or Chevy. There are some who prefer Hytera, & others who prefer Motorola. Each has it's good & bad points. Here, if you buy a radio, the Hytera dealer will give you the disc. That won't happen with "M". However, if someone wants to get started with DMR, there are lot's of used "M" radios available, but few Hytera's. From what I have seen, the Hytera's are decent radios. However, I wouldn't say they are better than Motorola.

 

[cabletech]

I have a customer that bought some of these HYT radios and a few Blackbox and for the most part, there work fine.

The problem with the Hytra, Hyt, Blackbox and a few of these other off wall brands is, unless you ONLY want to change frequency's, YOU MUST send them to a single service center to do ANY alignments, firm ware updates or any other repairs.

Normally by the time you send a radio in, the cost is the same as buying a new radio.

For just a lttle more, I can sell a radio that can be worked on locally and has better support.

 

[jaspence]

Hytera

Getting firmware updated may be a hassle, but programming is not. The software for the DMR series is readily available and affordable ($40-$50) as are the programming cables. I have seen software for other series advertised in the same price range. It works on Windows 7 just fine, although I have not tried it on Windows 8. The software also allows enabling all features which other companies don't and the only thing really missing is FPP. As far as being an "off the wall" brand, it does not fit in that category or price range. I have Motorola, Ef Johnson, Yaesu and Hytera commercial grade radios, and it is the easiest and most flexible to program.

 

[rapidcharger]

Dog the Bounty Hunter is using HYTs. TC-610s amongst other analog portables in the current series.

They're definitely nothing like TYTs or Baofengs or Wouxuns. In other words, they're not toys.

 

[mancow]

What I'm saying is there is no reason to think they are inferior to Motorola due to product name. Also I have had no issue getting firmware for the hytera.

 

[N4KVE]

They both work well. Most of the guys on our DMR network use the Moto XPR radios, but for certain technical reasons, they prefer the Hytera repeaters. However a few fw upgrades ago a problem developed with the Hytera repeaters which needs to be resolved with another upgrade which won't be out until July. Last weeks fw upgrade improved some minor issues, but not the major issue. And there's no going back to the older fw where there was no problem. My buddy Andrew started off with a Hytera DMR radio, & the dealer gave him the prog disc for free. Later on he traded some radio stuff which cost him nothing for a XPR6550. Since he wasn't going to pay for a disc, he had a friend program his radio. He did admit both radios worked equally well, but because he started with Hytera, & the dealer gave him the disc for free, he would stay with them & he sold his XPR6550. He just felt the Hytera was easier to use, & since he needed cash, he sold the XPR. Maybe more of the local guys would feel the same if our 1st DMR radio was the Hytera, but there's plenty of clean used 6550's out there for less than the Hytera, so that's what we use.

 

[mkewman]

Thanks for the insight. This weekend I got to lay hands on the HYT DMR radio and I absolutely loved it. I can see why they're growing so fast. I wish someone had a DMR Amateur repeater in Northern California so i could buy one. Thanks for all the info.

 

[SCPD]

We used Mototrbo first. We converted all 9 repeaters to Hytera and now use only Hytera radios. Couldn't be happier. Cheaper, CPS is almost the same. Radios can be field programmed just like the Mototrbo radios can. The pseudo trunk is very nice.

I will say that the Hytera portables have held up better than the Moto ones, for us. I personally dropped a Moto from about 20' while coming down a tower one day. It came off of my climbing harness, and hit the ground. It cracked the display, and the radio casing. A few months later, another guy working with me, dropped his Hytera from 300' on the tower. It hit the ground and surprisingly it had no damage. I tested it on the service monitor and the telewave, and is still 100%. Just had to put it in the sink and wash the dirt off the case. A year later, it is still running flawlessly. Just my $0.02. Was the PD-782G model.

 

[ElroyJetson]

In principle I'm opposed to supporting China in ANY way but from a purely objective point of view, I have found that the HYT and Hytera radios i've personally worked on as a service technician were, in every case, better for the money than they had any right to be.

I have found that the programming software for some models is unreasonably unstable and will crash for NO apparent reason, to such an extent that a full reboot of the PC was necessary, but as far as the radios themselves, I find them to be an impressive value. They are well built and have great RX and TX audio characteristics, and very good RF performance.

 

[Elfnetdesigns]

HYT is one of the better companies. I just sold 15 of the TC500 UHF radios today and here next week I am putting in a couple of HYT UHF Digital Repeaters to replace the antique GE mastr 2 community repeater units that are going into retirement at the local scrap yard.
I haven't had any complaints about HYT radios I have sold in the past and my customers seem to like them for the price.

As for programming is is best and most stable to run software in windows XP pro. Windows Vista and above some HYT software become unstable and crashes and have even caused windows to restart..
You can in pure theory possibly run the software in Linux under Wine but I won't dare try nor trust it on a live radio..

The radios on bench test have good audio, good RX at 2/10 mV or less and good TX at about 3.8 - 4.1 watts depending on battery charge of course.

 

[treyryan]

HYT TC-780 Question

I just recently bought a TC-780 VHF. I have a couple questions.

Question: Is there a way to set a channels to (RX) Receive only? The reason i ask is because where i live we have a couple channels that are used for RX paging/Tones only.