kd2ugs
Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2020
- Messages
- 6
The Retevis RT73 has been released about a month now but was originally on sale as the Kydera CDR-300UV. This is a nice little unit, despite early negative reviews, once you get it into a stable working configuration. I would love to say the RT73 comes in that stable working configuration out of the box, but that's not quite true. You have to update the firmware in order to get there. The stable firmware version that I have found so far is:
09E.D4.EARSAB.007
Version Date Nov 27 2020
Firmware ID DRS-300UV
There is a newer firmware version released around 2020-12-20 which appears to have fixed some issues while introducing some new ones so my recommendation is to stick with the above firmware version for now.
The RT73 is small for a mobile and honestly, there are HT units like my Radioddity GD-77, for example, which is only slightly smaller than the RT73's ( 121.5*65.5*42.5mm ) dimensions. This radio easily fits into my Prius, in fact, if the TYT MD-9600 that it is replacing in the car had a removable faceplate it would probably be the size of the RT73.
The radio has dual-band 2M (VHF) and 70CM (UHF) operation and at around $180.00 U.S it is possibly the lowest cost mobile DMR radio currently available. The radio also GPS, APRS, call recording, and a built-in FM broadcast radio (it's there, I tried it to see that it works but not something I would normally use). The volume and audio quality of the radio is very good. The mic itself is okay - I think the mic audio could be improved and the build quality of the mic feels like it wouldn't stand up to hard use. The radio will also load the entire DMRID database as it can store 200,000 records, again not sure why you would want to do this but if you do the time it takes to write a new configuration to the radio via the Codeplug Programming Software (CPS) will go from about a minute or less to 45 minutes or more. Not a big fan of the CPS, it has bugs, it has gotten better but still has a way to go.
PRO
Works well and reasonably fast software updates have been provided to address issues that rightly so, gave rise to the earlier neagtive reviews. Updates are so far clocking in at about one per month. The radio also has a very nice menu system that lets you program many of its features right from the front panel - no need to memorize the weird keypad and button combinations common to many HT DMR's.
CON
The Codeplug Programming Software was initially "terrible" now it's just "not great, but useable". You could in fact say that the CPS drags down an otherwise nice hardware design.
I have a lot more information on the installation, setup, configuration, programming, and yes troubleshooting of the Retevis RT73 on my website kd2wll.winstonlawrence.us if you either want more information on the RT73 or have one and are looking for some operational tips.
'73 KD2WLL
09E.D4.EARSAB.007
Version Date Nov 27 2020
Firmware ID DRS-300UV
There is a newer firmware version released around 2020-12-20 which appears to have fixed some issues while introducing some new ones so my recommendation is to stick with the above firmware version for now.
The RT73 is small for a mobile and honestly, there are HT units like my Radioddity GD-77, for example, which is only slightly smaller than the RT73's ( 121.5*65.5*42.5mm ) dimensions. This radio easily fits into my Prius, in fact, if the TYT MD-9600 that it is replacing in the car had a removable faceplate it would probably be the size of the RT73.
The radio has dual-band 2M (VHF) and 70CM (UHF) operation and at around $180.00 U.S it is possibly the lowest cost mobile DMR radio currently available. The radio also GPS, APRS, call recording, and a built-in FM broadcast radio (it's there, I tried it to see that it works but not something I would normally use). The volume and audio quality of the radio is very good. The mic itself is okay - I think the mic audio could be improved and the build quality of the mic feels like it wouldn't stand up to hard use. The radio will also load the entire DMRID database as it can store 200,000 records, again not sure why you would want to do this but if you do the time it takes to write a new configuration to the radio via the Codeplug Programming Software (CPS) will go from about a minute or less to 45 minutes or more. Not a big fan of the CPS, it has bugs, it has gotten better but still has a way to go.
PRO
Works well and reasonably fast software updates have been provided to address issues that rightly so, gave rise to the earlier neagtive reviews. Updates are so far clocking in at about one per month. The radio also has a very nice menu system that lets you program many of its features right from the front panel - no need to memorize the weird keypad and button combinations common to many HT DMR's.
CON
The Codeplug Programming Software was initially "terrible" now it's just "not great, but useable". You could in fact say that the CPS drags down an otherwise nice hardware design.
I have a lot more information on the installation, setup, configuration, programming, and yes troubleshooting of the Retevis RT73 on my website kd2wll.winstonlawrence.us if you either want more information on the RT73 or have one and are looking for some operational tips.
'73 KD2WLL
