What radio is this?

[ErikSwan]

I was reading this excellent article from the NY Times, and couldn't help my curiousity about what handheld radio Mr. John Roca is holding in his hand in this photo:

The N.Y.P.D. Is Upgrading Its Radios. The Public Won’t Be Able to Tune In.

The New York Police Department is spending $500 million on a new radio system it calls more reliable and secure. But the public will no longer be able to monitor what officers are doing minute to minute.

www.nytimes.com

Here's a closeup:


In the context of the article, it should be a UHF handheld radio/scanner capable of listening to NYPD channels, but it's impressively small and I've never seen it before.

Does anyone recognize it?

 

[fog]

Hard to tell, but compare it with the Retevis RT22. I think it's something in that general class, vs. anything fancy.

(Full disclosure: I don't own any Retevis radios and don't know much about them.)

 

[prcguy]

Hard to tell, but compare it with the Retevis RT22. I think it's something in that general class, vs. anything fancy.

(Full disclosure: I don't own any Retevis radios and don't know much about them.)

No on the Retevis and instead probably very fancy.

 

[ErikSwan]

Hard to tell, but compare it with the Retevis RT22. I think it's something in that general class, vs. anything fancy.

(Full disclosure: I don't own any Retevis radios and don't know much about them.)

I brightened up the photo a bit and I think you might be right.



Seems like there are a bunch of similar rebadged radios of this type that all look almost identical. From a quick search I could find:

• Retevis RT22
• Baofeng BF-T20
• WLN KD-C1
• Zastone ZT-X6
• Luiton LT-316
• HamGeek HG-320

Based on the logo text it seems like the best match from the photo is the Luiton, but it's hard to say for sure:

However, none of these would be able to listen to NYPD or FDNY without some sort of mod to unlock frequencies above 470 MHz. From some casual searching I couldn't find any evidence that you can do this, but maybe it's possible with CHIRP or something...

EDIT: Found some discussion on these radios:

WLN KD-C1 Programming Software?

I just bought a cheap UHF 16 channel transceiver to be used as a scanner since everything here worth listening to is UHF. It is a WLN KD-C1 and the manufacturer appears to be Quanzhou Kelly Electronics Co., Ltd., and I can't find the manufacturers website to make an inquiry. Locating the...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[MTS2000des]

"He knows what fewer and fewer reporters do: how to decipher the codes that come over a police scanner, a device that broadcasts radio communications between 911 dispatchers and officers who respond to emergencies."

Come on NYT, I would expect better. Journalism really has gone downhill. A police scanner broadcasts nothing. Poor writing, poor editing. I'd expect that from some low rent fish wrapper like, you know, the AJC, but the Times?

Anyway, we all knew this was coming. NYPD started buying SP'ed APX900s and is now deploying APX NEXT portables with LTE. Much better article than the crap in the Times can be found here, including some sexy screen shots of an APX NEXT with a laser engraved battery (love to have one of those on my NEXT).

 

[racingfan360]

Re-reading the article, it's clear he also has a scanner mounted in his vehicle (assume the 2nd photo is that of his Uniden RH96 remote head)...."as he pointed to the device bolted to his car console."

Building on @ErikSwan 's excellent point that the Luiton LT-316 wouldn't be able to listen to NYPD/FDNY then maybe it's simply unrelated to directly listening in, but makes for a better photograph for the purposes of the article? The "He pulled a portable radio out of his breast pocket. “No well-dressed man should be without one like this,” he said." doesn't make a lot of sense, but it doesn't claim it's a scanner/is listening to NYPD/FDNY either.

While I think it's unlikely, my other thought went to looking at PTT Over Cellular radio handhelds that are of similar form factor, and are often used with Zello. The Telo TE300 is similar but it's obviously not quite right.

 

[ErikSwan]

So reading through the thread I linked above (WLN KD-C1 Programming Software?), it seems like at least some of these radios can be programmed to receive (and probably Tx) up to 520 MHz.

There may have been some hardware/firmware revisions since they were first released that lock this down on the latest production runs, but it appears with some config file editing the original radios could definitely be programmed above 470 MHz.

So I think that solves it. I was initially curious because in the photo it looked really small and quite nice, but in the end it's just a $15 radio (although I will note that reviews of these are actually really favorable despite the price).

 

[a417]

I'll bet he's using that $15 radio to talk to some sort of coordinating person or group. He doesn't make money unless he's at a place where something is going down. He (apparently) has a single scanner and 2 ears. He's likely talking to a supporting / coordinating agency or person in the newsroom who has more resources than he has in his non-NYPD, POV infiniti sedan.

Hopefully he doesn't have the CVT in that thing.

Inferences are mine and mine alone, are not that of the employer that I don't have, and I did read the article and look at the pictures.

 

[fog]

So I think that solves it. I was initially curious because in the photo it looked really small and quite nice, but in the end it's just a $15 radio (although I will note that reviews of these are actually really favorable despite the price).

Per https://www.amazon.com/Talkies-Outdoor-Camping-Hunting-Charging/dp/B01JU0P316 it's "thinner and more exquisite."

(More on-topic, it lists the frequency as both 400-470 and 400-520.)

I'll bet he's using that $15 radio to talk to some sort of coordinating person or group. He doesn't make money unless he's at a place where something is going down. He (apparently) has a single scanner and 2 ears. He's likely talking to a supporting / coordinating agency or person in the newsroom who has more resources than he has in his non-NYPD, POV infiniti sedan.

That's a good point. I'd point out that these are almost certainly not Part 90 type-accepted, but I'd be preaching to the choir about a ship that sailed long ago.

 

[SurgePGH]

By the way the article read, (and the chatter of his pocket police radio audible), it seems that he is using the portable as a way to monitor NYPD.

 

[KevinC]

Maybe I’m just confused. NO WHERE does the article say that guy works for NYPD or is even a cop. He’s a stringer and I’m about 99.999999% sure the pictured radio is what he uses to listen to NYPD (or did as I have no idea on the state of the migration to P25 and/or encryption).

Gotta love RR.