Nailed it with that one. I never understood why CCR's insist on using such awful fonts for displays. They have stolen everything else, why not steal a decent readable font, instead of using a horrible open source one?
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New CCR brand?
- Thread starter krokus
- Start date
hbillsmith
Member
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2021
- Messages
- 5
AK9R, interesting observation. I wonder if some of the readability issues had anything to do with youtube resolution. I have the actual radio and find the color screen and it's fonts to be very clear. Even the tiny display icons like channel '001' or 'H' for high power etc. I am 73 and wear glasses. In any case, your opinion and reply are welcome. Thanks.
This seems to be a common problem with display designers. They don't understand the concept of maintaining space between digits. From a distance or at a bad angle or in low light, the digits run together.
It resembles my Anytone 878 but I have seen at least a dozen CCR copies that look exactly like the Anytone 878.
hbillsmith
Member
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2021
- Messages
- 5
Chirp Beta Driver for Radtel RT-490 posted yesterday at danplanet Click here for link to download Chirp RT-490 Driver
The Chirp development team posted the RT-490 driver yesterday 2022/May/6. Currently it is available as a developer 'Load Function' and should be incorporated in the production Chirp release soon. The Chirp driver and Instructions on how to do 'Load Function' in Chirp are at the link above.
As many have observed the RT-490 is an identical clone to the MMLradio JC-8629 and others. The Chirp test team tested the Chirp driver on the following radios (all worked identical, no special tweaks were required for any of these models). All have been added in as supported models (Example: When in Chirp doing a radio read, the drop now includes Radtel, then for Model RT-490).
The Chirp RT-490 included testing where Chirp radio writes were read back into both the vendor's Multiband software and the Super Walkie Talkie Bluetooth APK for confirmation that settings remained the same and that no bad bits caused any problems. Likewise, Excel imports and exports also worked perfect.
Testing included taking a radio that is NOT a clone to these (used a Baofeng UV-5R) to load and importing its memory collections into the Radtel and others (Perfect). Saving and swapping Channel collections works great. Used the standard 2-pin K-style programming cable plugged into the RT490 and did a write, moved the cable to the MML JC8629 and did the same write (actually moved that cable back and forth across multiple radios many times).
During the driver build the team validated additional settings that were not available in the other software. So after testing, those were added (a simple example is in addition to selecting FM Radio On or Off, a field was added so a radio station can be specified in settings).
Lastly, another good thing that came out of this process is that the team was able to identify the settings necessary to have up to 10 of these radios programmed as a group capable of doing real-time GPS updates within the group (this may be analog APRS).
The Chirp development team posted the RT-490 driver yesterday 2022/May/6. Currently it is available as a developer 'Load Function' and should be incorporated in the production Chirp release soon. The Chirp driver and Instructions on how to do 'Load Function' in Chirp are at the link above.
As many have observed the RT-490 is an identical clone to the MMLradio JC-8629 and others. The Chirp test team tested the Chirp driver on the following radios (all worked identical, no special tweaks were required for any of these models). All have been added in as supported models (Example: When in Chirp doing a radio read, the drop now includes Radtel, then for Model RT-490).
The Chirp RT-490 included testing where Chirp radio writes were read back into both the vendor's Multiband software and the Super Walkie Talkie Bluetooth APK for confirmation that settings remained the same and that no bad bits caused any problems. Likewise, Excel imports and exports also worked perfect.
Testing included taking a radio that is NOT a clone to these (used a Baofeng UV-5R) to load and importing its memory collections into the Radtel and others (Perfect). Saving and swapping Channel collections works great. Used the standard 2-pin K-style programming cable plugged into the RT490 and did a write, moved the cable to the MML JC8629 and did the same write (actually moved that cable back and forth across multiple radios many times).
During the driver build the team validated additional settings that were not available in the other software. So after testing, those were added (a simple example is in addition to selecting FM Radio On or Off, a field was added so a radio station can be specified in settings).
Lastly, another good thing that came out of this process is that the team was able to identify the settings necessary to have up to 10 of these radios programmed as a group capable of doing real-time GPS updates within the group (this may be analog APRS).
- Radtel RT-490
- MMLradio JC-8629
- JJCC JC-8629
- Socotran FB/JC-8629
- Boristone 8RS
- HamGeek HG590
- Jianpai 8800 Plus (new model has USB-C charging)
- Abbree AR-869 (new model has USB-C charging)
A real channel knob and scan button sold it.
Falcon9h
Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2020
- Messages
- 39
Got it. It's nice for a CCR. Couple of caveats though. It's a little 'off.' Not as sensitive as my other radios and when I plugged in the Baofeng cable that threw it into transmit and I missed it and don't know whether I wiped out the final or not. Antenna connector isn't straight so neither is the antenna. It is very recessed and if you use a Nagoya you'll have to modify the base of the antenna.
I still really like it, but I'm returning it for a replacement just to see. Oh, and Chirp worked fine otherwise.
Keep you posted.
I still really like it, but I'm returning it for a replacement just to see. Oh, and Chirp worked fine otherwise.
Keep you posted.
The Radtel Website says the RT-490 is capable of FHSS...... yeah right
Updates?
Falcon9h
Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2020
- Messages
- 39
Nope, I made a mistake, the radio was fine. In fact, I like them so much I kept the replacement and the one I was gonna return, cancelled the return. I use a different programming cable - Amazon.com: Baofeng Programming Cable for BAOFENG UV-5R/5RA/5R Plus/5RE, UV3R Plus, BF-888S, 5R EX, 5RX3, GA-2S, UV-82 (39 inch Mirkit Red, Version 2022, This one Works!) : Electronics - and that took care of any getting locked into transmit problems.
I do not use Chirp now for this radio. The factory software permits custom characters-*+/, etc in alphanumeric channel naming, plus more in quantity-and Chirp does not, nor will they address it, and they never released the release version of the driver incorporated into the software-instead you have to load the driver separately in developer mode, at least this is where it was at last month but gave up checking then since I'm fine with factory software.
Rx audio is hi-fi for a CCR-pleasant to listen to and not shrill. Love the color display. Build quality good. Motorola XPR7550 knobs fit fine, I changed out the originals to get the grippability of the Motorola knobs. And aircraft band works really good. I'm close enough that I can hear both sides of an ATC conversation, ground station is 10-15 miles away from me.
The antenna connector really isn't straight-I cut a piece of scrap and laid it in the "low" side of the socket and screwed in the antenna snug until the scrap (plastic sliver, whatever you wanna use) compressed and now the antenna sits nice and straight. I'm anal about little stuff like that.