FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC

Alinco will now be the first mainstream radio vendor as part of the "Big 4" to release a dual band DMR handheld radio. 

It was awarded FCC certification in early September and should start hitting vendors in the next 30-60 days.

Further details are below. HVDN (Hopefully!!) will be the first to complete a review, so be sure to subscribe for updates and get the appropriate SMA to SMA-J adapter or other SMA-J antennas now to use with this radio. Reason why below.....

Alinco MD-5 Series DMR Radio with possible dual polarity display
(Black on white and white on black?)

FCC ID Details

Alinco MD-5 Series FCC ID is PH3DJMD5

Alinco MD-5 Series FCC ID is PH3DJMD5

Preliminary user manual and other photographic details below main summary

Built-in GPS Receiver -Transmits and receives GPS coordinates automatically, and displays the distances between you and other users. (TGP,EGP models) 

Clear Voice and Powerful Audio - Utilizes DVSI's AMBE+2R vocoder for Crystal clear DMR digital audio for use in noisy environments like construction sites and malls. Powerful 1W audio output to insure loud crisp sounds. 

Large, Full-color Display - Features 1.77 inch display with a menu-driven interface, icons and large, easy-to-use keys for comfortable operations and message reading. 

Real Two-slot DMR - The DMR Tier 2 two-slot TDMA technology doubles your communications capacity! 

Mixed Mode Operation - The DMR Tier 2 two-slot TDMA technology doubles your communications capacity! 

Digital Voice Recorder - Up to 14 hours of recording communications and sounds/voice using an internal or optional microphone.

Other Versatile features - Common to both Digital (DMR) and Analog (FM & N-FM) modes

• Selectable output power 5W/2.5W/1W/0.2W

• 4000 channels, 250 zones, 250 scan lists

• Displays DMR ID, Call sign, Name and Geographical info.

• VOX built-in

• Allows CSV export/import of setting parameters

• Easy import of DMR contact database (entire world wide)

• Single or dual channel selectable

• FM Broadcasting receiver with 100 memory channels and VFO

• Manually programmable Side and Hot keys.

• Automatic date and time calibration by GPS (TGP,EGP models)

* Digital mode Exclusive Features

• 10,000 Talk Groups, 250 Radio ID, 160,000 contact lists

• Displays the Caller ID and name

• 32 preset encryption codes

• Selective calls including Individual, Group or All

• Digital Monitor function to receive signals without matching ID or color codes.

* Analog mode Exclusive Features

• Variety of signaling; CTCSS/DCS/DTMF/2-TONE/5-TONE encode and decode

• Four different Tone-burst tones

• Programmable Auto Repeater Shift (VFO)

Preliminary Alinco MD-5 Series User Manual

Many if not all DMR radios do not require much of a manual as the menu system is vastly superior to other analog radios, so certain details are left out and will likely be covered in a user manual for the CPS application.

Download copy of Alinco MD-5 Series manual here

Additional Photography

HVDN will perform a higher resolution tear-down, much like has been done with the competing TYT MD-UV380. Here are some low resolution photos to aid with pre-purchase clarity.

Alinco MD-5 Series will include desktop charger, battery, belt clip as one would expect.
Battery is 7.4v 1800 mAh and no extended version is available at time of launch

The Alinco MD-5 will have 3 versions with or without built in GPS. The speaker is a
dual port design similar to some Alinco analog radios such as the DJ-S40 no longer for sale

The Alinco MD-5 Series will use the non standard SMA format as found on all Alinco, Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu and TYT radios. The  Ailunce HD1 uses the same antenna connector as well as the low priced Baofeng or similar radios

The Official "NOT" Review of the Alinco MD-5 Series

The Alinco MD-5 series of DMR radio first appeared as a "Coming Soon" model in 2017.

Not long ago, official "for sale" release dates were announced by vendors such as GigaParts, Universal Radio and DX Engineering as being late October 2018, early and late November 2018.

Some vendors made a pre-order wait list available to help understand product demand and guess what?

The first Alinco MD-5TGP's have not only started to appear in the United States in late September, but have already sold out!

First is the worst, second is the best?

HVDN has been lucky to secure one of the first batch of radios and will be a source of  a detailed review inside and out as we did with the TYT MD-UV380 Part 1 and Part 2.

However, we will not release this until it is supposed to be officially for sale later this month or possibly early November once market supply of the product is stable and potentially available to everyone.

The now FCC certified the Alinco MD-5 series as covered in our
article "FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC" on September 10th 2018.

Tariffs, Certification & Type Acceptance Situation

Lately in the news, there has been an FCC ruling that states:

"Two-Way VHF/UHF radios may not be  imported, advertised, or sold in the United States unless they comply with the commission's rules"

Moreover, this also pertains to the actual users of these radios as well.  The full text of  FCC Public Notice DA-18-980 can be found here.

HVDN wants to focus on being purely neutral and objective and takes no political leanings, but this FCC ruling is related to the long list of Chinese imports affected by the 1,333 product categories reduced from a much larger list proposed in Docket Number USTR-2018-0026.  

Where could I NOT get one?

Based on some vendor polling the day this article was posted, at least 350 units of Alinco's MD-5TGP have been sold in the US and were imported directly or through some other means rather than the official distribution channels most vendors usually adhere to.

So, how were these radios imported into the United States and able to be sold to amateur radio operators is the big question.

Give a listen to some of the popular DMR talk groups and chances are that you might just hear someone using one of the 350 or so radios that have supposedly already been sold in the US.

Looking at the "Call Statistics" page on Brandmeister can help users
determine when may be the best time to find activity on interestingly focused
talk groups such as "Burning Man" , "Reddit" or "The Guild"

There have already been a few people in the Ohio, California and Texas areas that have made it known that they have one of these radios "On The Air", but do not seem to really know what they have or do they?

Impacts on the US Amateur Radio Community

Even though Alinco is a Japanese company, there are Chinese origin components and manufacturing  related to the Alinco MD-5 and thus affected not only by impending tariff laws but also by  US law on what equipment is permissible to be operated by an amateur radio operator within the amateur radio spectrum in the United States right now as of October 4th 2018.

Is this one reason for the delay from manufacturer to distribution to re-sellers and finally into the hands of end users?

Third is the one with the hairy chest!

The amateur radio punchline to the rhyme is that right now it is:

100% illegal to use the Alinco MD-5 by amateur radio operators in the United States because even though it has FCC certification, it is not Part 15 type accepted and able to be used under Part 97 rules.

This radio and many others like it are capable of transmission outside the amateur radio spectrum making them "technically" only operable by those with a commercial license.

Users covered under an umbrella license such as those for public safety, schools, businesses or some other organization that has permission to operate on certain licensed frequencies are not amateur radio related, so why are amateur radio vendors selling this radio to those not properly licensed to transmit with it?

Even if you are one of those people who hold a "General Radio Operator License" or "GROL", that will not allow you to use this radio currently on amateur radio frequencies.

FCC Rules

Part 15 certification mostly deals with radios capable of "scanning" or wide frequency operation. Part 95 is focused on certification for little to no interference to other devices. Part 97 pertains to amateur radio governance.

These are just high level summaries of a few FCC rules that often come up in amateur radio discussion.

At some later date, the Alinco MD-5 will likely be properly certified, so maybe there is nothing to worry about, or is there?

Competing single and dual band DMR radios of foreign origin that were previously
reviewed in our "Comparison of Entry Level DMR Radios (2017 Edition)"

Certain vendors such as Retevis, TYT, Radioddity, Baofeng and others seem to already by looking for loop holes to still sell radios in the US and for users to remain in compliance of US law. These loopholes include setting up US address headquarters as noted in relation to the BTECH 6X2 and also that the Radioddity GD-77 was just a re-branded TYT model

Alinco clearly is trying to do the right thing through certification, but will it succeed as it relates to Part 15, 95 and 97? Chances are it will and this could be a reason why Kenwood, Icom and Yaesu have not yet tried to sell a DMR capable radio because they will likely also want to do it 100% the right way also.


The Virtual Green Wire

Up through the mid to late 1990's any radio sold in the United States and marketed towards the amateur radio community could not have any "out of the box" capability to transmit outside the FCC Part 97 spectrum which overs amateur radio.

Some radios also had/have restrictions covered under Part 15, 47, 80, 90, 95 to reduce the ability to receive certain frequencies as well as to transmit on frequencies licensed to other services such as marine VHF, MURS (154MHz), FRS, GMRS, and CB frequencies in the US.

Many vendors had simple modifications that could allow "out of band" transmit capability and were often called the MARS/CAP modification.  Clipping a certain color wire or soldering two or more pads together are all it took to enable this functionality.  

With Military Affiliate Radio Service (MARS) or Civil Air Patrol (CAP) no longer permitting radios not capable of narrow band (N-FM) or tight frequency tolerance (<0.5 PPM) operation for digital modes, most "modified" radios while possible to operate out of the amateur bands could no longer be officially used under MARS/CAP because of how those two service changed how the treat the use of radio equipment.

Have a look at websites such as Mods.dk and other clones of it that share helpful tips on how to modify radios for different manufacturer unintended features.

Has any vendor been in trouble?

Back when Radio Shack was in operation, they got in major trouble for releasing a radio named the HTX-204 that was so easy to modify, it got pulled from stores in less than a week and most of the stock was physically destroyed.

Since that time in 1997, there has not been such an infraction, so how have certain vendors avoided the same issue since?

The HTX_204 is considered a rate collectors item
thanks to its "easy modification" to allow out of band operation

Baofeng was one of the first Chinese radio companies to sell inexpensive analog radios in the US and were capable of "out of band" operation with no modification and there was also no easy way to restrict operation to only the amateur radio bands.

With many of the DMR radios, they come fully capable to operate out of the amateur band, but can be restricted in the software to only amateur radio spectrum.

The very popular TYT MD-380 is one such radio that can be restricted this way through modification of one file that can then be uploaded to the radio. This was partially covered in the past "Radioddity GD-77: Frequency Expansion".

In mid 2018, it has been rumored that a slightly different version of this TYT radio has started to turn up with some sort of "changes" but has not been verified by HVDN. Could this be part of a start to better control radios being sold to the amateur radio community?

The Alinco MD-5TGP right now is being sold by amateur radio vendors and clearly we know who is buying these radios.  

However, this Alinco radio is not being marketed by the sellers to the amateur radio community. One vendor explicitly states:

Other vendors do not have this clause, so what we will likely learn when HVDN does its official review includes:

• Is the Alinco MD-5 radio able to only transmit between 144-148 MHz and 420-450 MHz in the US and receive on other frequencies such as the rest of the 136-174 MHz and 400-480 MHz range?

• How does the version 1.01 Alinco programming software compare to what is offered that comes with other radios?

• How easy is it to "front panel program" the Alinco MD-5 or can you only do this in software only?

• Are there are "green wires" that need be be clipped physically or virtually in the MD-5?

• Anything magically different inside the Alinco MD-5 compared to other DMR radios?

HVDN will publish the first part of the Alinco MD-5TGP the first week of November and a second part shortly there after.

Register for updates to not miss

                                 this and other HVDN Notebook articles

Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio

This is the third official article on HVDN about the new Alinco DJ-MD5T series dual band DMR/analog handheld radio, but is the first actual review of this interesting communications tool.

The Alinco DJ-MD5TGP  was released
for sale in the United States in November 2018

Responsibility: Users & Vendors

DMR started life as an open standard digital voice mode for commercial use in 2005 and started to see early amateur radio adoption in 2009 through surplus commercial equipment.

Since 2012, use of DMR in amateur radio has been increasing quickly and starting in 2016 really took off compared to other standards in use by the amateur radio community.

Adoption of DMR has been largely attributed to low priced Chinese origin radios since DMR is an open standard and expensive intellectual property licenses were not needed, like the offerings from other vendors.

Amateur radio communities around the world generally like to expand the capability of existing equipment and radios such as the TYT MD-380 proved an interesting platform for experimentation.

While DMR equipment to date has offered features more appropriate to commercial users such as wide frequency coverage, amateur radio operators have generally been responsible to only use this equipment within amateur radio spectrum.

IMPACT: Recently in the United States, federal trade restrictions have impacted the ability for certain vendors to sell product legally due to source of geographic origin and frequency capability.

While no one country or vendor is to blame, global demand has created a great opportunity for a responsible vendor looking to sell DMR equipment to the amateur radio community.

Overview:  Alinco DJ-MD5T Series

The DJ-MD5T series radios now offered by Alinco is actually its second DMR offering marketed to the amateur radio community.  Model DJ-MD40 was released as a UHF only option in 2015 but saw little adoption because it was priced much higher than the popular TYT MD-380 or Connect System CS-750.

Alinco is now the first well known Japanese amateur radio vendor to offer a dual band DMR radio with the DJ-MD5 series.

Key Detail: There are two versions of the DJ-MD5.  DJ-MD5TGP includes a built in GPS and the DJ-MD5T does not include GPS capability.

For a price difference of less than $30, the GPS version may be the better option for most users to purchase for future resale value and application expansion. Do yourself a favor and do not cheap out.

Alinco MD-5 Series: Key Specifications 

• Configurable VHF/UHF Band Coverage
• Analog FM & Digital DMR Tier I and II
• Four RF Output Levels (5/2.5/1/0.2 W)
• 4,000 Channels (Configurable between 250 Zones of up to 250 channels each)
• 10,000 Talk Groups
• 160,000 Digital Contacts
• 2.32 (L) x 4.65 (H) x 1.57" (W/T)

Alinco MD-5 Series:  Key Features

• 1.7" OLED Color Display
•  VFO/Memory Mode
• FM Broadcast Reception (87-108)
• Repeater Offset Storage
• Path/Distance to Contact Location
• Text Messaging
• Auto Power Off
• Volume Min/Max Settings

Alinco MD-5TGP Review

With the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP now available for official purchase in early November, lets start off with talking about its configurable band coverage as illustrated below.  The model setting is configured through software and is not keypad programmable. This is a first for DMR radios.  Prior to this, only programmed channels can be "transmit disabled". Alinco allows entire areas of spectrum to be disabled for transmit capability.

There are 13 band configurations and option 11 should be what most amateur radio operators should focus on to remain compliant with amateur licensing and to prevent accidental "out of band" transmission.

Alinco DJ-MD5TGP programming software allows
one of thirteen profiles to be used depending on country or
operator specific legal preferences

RF Power Output

Users of the various hot spot devices such as those built on MMDVM and Pi-Star combinations or the latest OpenSpot2 may appreciate the 1/4 watt RF output setting as one of the four possible power options.

Major Benefit: Alinco DJ-MD5 battery life is greatly extended by using low power as to be expected with a hotspot.

Memory Configuration

There is ample storage for DMR specific information and is easy to understand compared to some other DMR radios and appropriate programming software. Common terms:

Digital Contact(s):  Sometimes referred to as the "User Database", this is where up to 160,000 user details with DMR ID, call-sign, name and location are entered.  

Loading the entire database of just parts of it help identify who is speaking just like a caller ID function on telephones.  

A great tool for gaining access to the DMR user database can be found at http://amateurradio.digital/

Talk Groups:  A separate area for the storage of up to 10,000 talk groups allows all the "official 1,170+ Brandmeister talk groups to be stored. 

It is possible to also store the same talk group number with different names to accommodate locally numbers talk groups that are not accessible over networks like Brandmeister, NEDECN, Phoenix, etc 

Channels:   Storage of frequency, repeater shift, analog/digital mode, time slot, talk group, channel name, color code, encode/decode tones, power setting, scan lists, group lists and more are done on a per channel basis.  4,000 channels can be created and stored.

Zones:  Multiple channels can be organized into a zone of up to 250 channels. 

Common examples would be for channels for a specific repeater with different talk groups,  simplex channels and local non-amateur communications such as first responder, rail, and marine communications.  Scan lists can be created much like how a scanning radio such as those made by Uniden and Whistler to not miss communications.

Display Feedback

The color display is easily readable in most lighting conditions and shows all important information.  Navigation for settings shown is done through two soft buttons under the display labeled in green and red.  An up and down arrow key performs further navigation functions along.

Vibrant display as found on the new Alinco DMR handheld radio

The keypad can be used to send DTMF tones or access different functions found in the menu.   Shortcuts or "hotkeys" can also be created to access frequently used functions.

Entry of most parameters of this FCC type accepted radio can be performed by the keypad, including a memory or VFO mode that allows the user to change frequencies to allow for monitoring and tactical changes easily.

The speaker is of a ported design and is above and below the keypad. The microphone is below the green button and above the "1" button. A menu in the radio and software can increase/decrease gain based on user preference.

There is no major need for an instruction manual for this radio as much of the configuration should be enabled in the included software which is easy to follow and understand.

Help and description menus are part of the software to help better understand certain functions. 

Here are few of the more interesting and fun features I think makes this radio a good option for beginner or experienced users.

Alinco MD-5 Series Advanced & Fun Features

A good amateur  radio should be easy to use for access to  information and communication and the Alinco MD-5 is no exception.

Reception in the United States of the National Weather Broadcast system found between 162-163 MHz is possible with the MD-5 and also the FM broadcast band from 87-108 MHz for music, news and more.

Cool Feature: The built in GPS will show location coordinates of the user and also the distance and direction to another DMR user. This function works "radio to radio" and also via Brandmeister based on either the self entered coordinates of a users hotspot or actual location.

A general complaint with many DMR radios with GPS has been no clear way to use it. The Alinco is the first radio aside from the Anytone D868 that has made attempts at this in order to compete with some of the benefits of APRS enabled radios.

Non-Voice Communication

The Alinco DJ-MD5 allows the user to send manually created or preprogrammed text messages while in DMR mode.  This is partially dependent on how each user programs each radio, but it is possible to have voice and text at the same time on the same frequency because of the TDMA based DMR mode time slot functionality.

Cool: How to send text and location data over DMR with TYT MD-380

Text messaging does not work over analog FM, so please consider this when considering the purchase of this or other DMR radios.  Text messaging is part of the ETSI standard that DMR is based on. There is no such standard for analog communications unless one is talking about AX.25 based APRS.

Other Functions

One of the best features of any radio is the ability for it to turn off after a period of in-activity.  Alinco offers this along with a power save function to cycle the receiver on and off to save battery.

The volume setting is unique with Alinco in that the user can create listener profiles to have maximum or minimum volume levels set to avoid ear damage or even by accidentally turning the volume all the way off and missing a potential call.

The Alinco DJ-MD5T offers interesting features like , but does not
include a "mosquito repellant" function as found on older analog Alinco radios
such as the DJ-195, SJ-S446 and others.

Every few years Alinco offers a radio with some rather interesting features, such as a "mosquito repellent" or "theft protection" feature like "digital monitor".

The MD-5 offers a menu called digital fun that has something very interesting called digital monitor.

This function lets the user in DMR mode allow either one or both time slots to be monitored at the same time.  A function like this can be helpful if the user does not know what time slot certain communications is supposed to take place on

A built in voice recorder allows both digital and analog voice recording for up to 14 hours. Other DMR radios only offer recording on DMR mode.  The Alinco not only allows received audio, but also what is spoken into the microphone.

Super Nice Feature: This may be interesting for those interested in satellite operation and recording of contacts for later playback

As illustrated, there is a lot of functionality this radio is capable of and should become pretty popular.

Any secrets?

The Anytone D868/D878 and BTECH 6X2 are very similar to the Alinco MD-5. Many of the software functions and operation of the radio are roughly about the same.

This will be the topic of a tear down of the MD-5 in the coming weeks, so please look for that on the HVDN Notebook by making use of the tag cloud feature for any content that covers the Alinco MD-5

Overall Verdict

• Build quality is excellent and the keypad numbering does not seem like it will wear off easily. 

• Audio quality for signal reception is pretty good and does not seem to struggle at maximum volume.

• Owners of other DMR radios should be able to learn the Alinco function set pretty easily

• Code plugs from other manufacturers will either partially or completely work with the Alinco MD-5

• Battery life is excellent and audio accessories are plentiful 

There will be much more to say about the Alinco MD-5 for sure and it will be interesting if Icom, Yaesu and Kenwood come out with something to compete with Alinco.

Thanks for reading. Ask some questions and share your own comments, if you dare.  

60 Days with the TYT MD-UV380

On May 31st and June 5th of 2018, HVDN released a two part internal tear-down of the new TYT MD-380 dual band DMR radio.

The TYT MD-UV380 was released in May 2018 and will only get better with time. 

Since there were still many quirks and curiosities in the actual operation of the radio still be explored, starting a review from the inside out seemed a better way to go about determining if the "UV380" was a keeper or not and avoid getting frustrated by any potential lack of polish on the user interface of the radio.

If you missed those articles, here are the links to check them out:

• Teardown & Comparison: TYT MD-UV380 Part 1
• Teardown & Comparison: TYT MD-UV380 Part 2

Far too many new amateur radio products have been rushed to market over the past few years due to the growing complexity of them, but have later been fixed and transformed into much better user experiences.

Some of these of rushed products include the Icom IC-7100, Yaesu FT-991, TYT MD-2017, Icom IC-7300, Baofeng DR-5R and Ailunce HD1 to name just a few.

As of August 10th, much has been learned directly and from other early adopters of the TYT MD- UV380. Here is a more "operational" review of this latest mid tier digital voice radio.

Please note that this review is of the GPS enabled version only.

Firmware and Programming Software Review

The firmware shipped with the MD-UV380 was S15.021 and quickly upgraded to S16.06, but then downgraded to S16.05. The reason for the backwards downgrade by Steve K2GOG was because at the time the programming software seemed to work better with 16.05. 

As of the time of this article, there is a version 17.xxx firmware that has been shipped from TYT vendors for the non-GPS version, but this is not to be found on the TYT or any vendor website.

The Radioddity GD-77 has also started to see new firmware loaded from the factory, but not to be found on the manufacturer website. If this is a trend, it is worrisome for users looking to upgrade or downgrade radios.

The current most up to date "official" radio programming software or CPS as of the date of this article is 1.07. There has been a version 1.08 and 1.09 floating around some user groups, but seems to "sort of work" and it not being recognized as official.

For those with the MD-UV380 GPS version, its suggested to actually use the CPS and FW for the MD-UV390 which is slightly larger and offers water resistance capability.

MD-UV380 Suggestions

As of August 10th 2018, I would suggest using S16.05 as the firmware and CPS 1.05 as the programming software as they seem to have the least issues for the MD-UV380 with GPS.

MD-UV380 Improvements Since Official Release

#1) Probably the greatest improvement since the release of the radio is Tom N0GSG's popular contact manager software being able to support the TYT MD-UV380.  This freeware with suggested donation allows easier moving of programmed channels and contacts into a more usable order compared to when programming the TYT MD-UV380 with the manufacturer supplied programming software.

N0GSG's popular "Contact Manager" software
as of August 1st 2018 supports the TYT MD-UV380

#2) Another improvement since the TYT MD-UV380 was released is better handling of loading in the user contact database to the radio. This is helpful in order to show call-sign, name and location information for each DMR user instead of either trying to memorize the 7 digit ID's for everyone or loading them one at a time.

The AmateurRadio.digital website is the best place to get the current version of the user database for the TYT MD-UV380.  As of the date of this article, the user database has 105,212 registered users and all of them fit within the UV380's memory. It is believed however that once the user database exceed 120,000 contacts, the radio will ignore all users over the maximum number the radio can hold.  Users not stored in the database will show up as "unknown". 

After you create a user database file from the AmateurRadio.digital, such as this sample created for the date of this article, there are a few things to be mindful of:

#3) The TYT MD-UV380 uses the same format for contacts as the TYT MD-2017.  Code plugs can also be directly imported which is nice.  If you have an older mono band MD-380, you can first open that code plug in the MD-2017 CPS of choice, save it and then load it into the MD-UV380.

#4) Before loading contacts, save your code plug often. The CPS may crash sometimes and not save recent changes.

#5) When loading contacts into the TYT MD-UV380 via the CPS, after using the "import button" you need to wait for the "Import Succ" message to appear before then writing the database to your radio

Make sure after importing the database you get
 the "Import Succ!" message before writing to the radio

#7) On your MD-UV380, you will need to enable CSV database for the contacts to appear. You  do not need to have Microsoft Excel to do this contrary to what some people say.  If you do want to edit the contact file, you can use freely available OpenOffice

#8) Almost everything can be programmed without a computer, but requires a certain order to do it. First you need to create a channel and create a zone.  You then need to assign the channel to a zone in order to use it.

#9)  Its possible to enable a VFO mode in the CPS, but its not 100% clear how to access this mode if you reassign any of the buttons on your radio.

#10) If you program a side button for "monitor" you can see frequency and channel info which is nice

There is a lot more to say about this radio and the only thing it seems to miss out on is better "keypad" dialing of talk groups like what MDtoolz does for the MD-380 series or even the Anytone D868 and BTECH 6X2.

Share your observations and tips here if you want or in your favorite Facebook group.

October 2018 Global Digital Repeater Round Up

It is truly amazing to see such tremendous growth in digital voice modes the last two years.

What started for Steve K2GOG in 2016 as a theory can now further be validated by fact. DMR was the right technology to invest in as it relates to amateur radio digital voice technology.

In October 2016, he presented an overview of competing digital voice standards at one of the local Hudson Valley of New York amateur radio clubs located in Ulster County. 

Since that point in time, he has taken 4 probes of the total number of repeater counts globally as well as for those just across New York State.

The current global state of just what will be now further defined as "wide area digital repeaters" has seen DMR grow an amazing 78.03% in a two year span. 

Wide area repeaters are one of the best ways to measure growth of digital voice mode adoption because the equipment needed is expensive.  Repeaters usually are only worth the investment if users have appropriate equipment that can access them.

So, a little of "what comes first, the chicken or the egg" scenario usually happens when it comes to repeater deployments.

The N2MCI DMR repeater in Kingston, NY has a core coverage
area in red and extended coverage area in green.

Since repeaters can be expensive and are designed to reach a wide audience of users typically located in a 30 to 60 mile radius, the operators of repeaters typically list these infrastructure resources on the repeaterbook.com website to make it easy for amateur radio users to find out what repeaters may be worth programming into hand held or mobile radios.

The repeaterbook.com website is not 100% perfect as a data source, but comes pretty close to chart growth patterns of amateur radio repeater deployments

The below chart shows the other major digital voice mode repeaters globally at various points in time over the last 2 years.

DMR:  Reasons Why It Grew The Most

Before we get to DMR, lets explore the second highest globally adopted digital voice mode known as Yaesu Fusion.

After a few years of being on the market alongside the Icom D-Star system, both vendors offered comparably priced digital voice equipment and few options to choose from.

The average cost of a digital voice capable hand held radio was just above $300 back in 2016.  This inhibited adoption of Fusion and has certainly had a negative impact on Icom D-Star.

The Yaesu FT-2DR when released in 2015/2016 was priced at $379. The 2018 FT-70DR which
also offers Fusion and less robust enhanced features found on the FT-2DR is only $169.99. Currently there are 3 Fusion dual band handheld radios for sale compared to 2 Icom D-Star models

In 2018, Yaesu released the FT-70 dual band FM and Fusion radio which is currently priced at well under $200. This is one reason that made it easier to adopt Fusion thanks to more aligned features and pricing to help it catch up to DMR which has mostly had lower priced equipment from the start.

Prior to Yaesu releasing this moderately priced FT-70 hand held radio, they also released some nicely priced mobile radios as well to help build out the overall ecosystem of Fusion capable radios available for purchase.  Icom in comparison has not done this.

This should partially explain the flat growth of Icom D-Star compared to Yaesu Fusion.

Getting Back To DMR

DMR is an open ETSI standard which made it easier for vendors to offer a product at a good price without having to pay to license technology such as D-Star which is majority owned by the Japanese Amateur Radio League. 

In October 2016, Fusion and DMR had just about the same number of repeaters globally and almost grew at the same pace until mid to late 2017. In 2018, things are clearly different with DMR.

With more dual band DMR options available both in hand held and mobile radio design, users have certainly taken notice and likely helped influence DMR repeater deployments.

As of October 2018, there are now 5 different manufacturers of dual band hand held radios and a few more models spread among them. Examples include:

• TYT MD-UV380

• Anytone D868

• TYT MD-2017

• Retevis RT-82 

• TYT  MD-UV390  

• Radioddity GD-77 

• Ailunce HD1

• BTECH 6X2 

• Connect Systems CS580 

• Alinco MD-5

What about NXDN and P25?

NXDN and P25 are aimed at commercial users, but the amateur radio community has started to use surplus or retired equipment within the VHF and UHF amateur spectrum.

Adoption is low, but its still too early to tell if either of these options in the next 3-5 years will replace DMR as it relates to amateur radio.


Predictions for 2019 Digital Voice Ham Radio

Hopefully this is not going too far out on a limb, but here are the predictions for the coming year.

Alinco was the first main stream vendor to offer a DMR radio with its MD-40, but saw little adoption due to price compared to similar radios like the MD-380.

Alinco's new MD-5 looks like it will be a winner based on features and price and may get the later adopters interested in DMR in case they do not trust some of these newer vendors listed above.

It has been rumored that Alinco, Connect Systems and possibly one other vendor will offer new dual band mobile radios in 2019 as well which will likely go over well globally.

Excluding hotspot devices, network radios and cross connect systems which will all be covered in future articles, it seems that DMR is as close to an FM analog replacement technology within amateur radio.

Perhaps Icom, Yaesu or Kenwood will release a DMR radio in 2019 based on market demand and lost opportunity.

What do you think are some likely predictions for digital voice repeaters or radios in 2019?

Alinco DJ-MD5TGP: Upgrade Vocoder Process

It has been widely confirmed that the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP,  BTECH 6X2 and Anytone AT-D878 are essentially the same reference design and only have a few differences in hardware or software.

As discovered by Jason Reilly and his excellent page regarding the Anytone 868 and 878, it is possible for the user to change the vocoder.  This is done via software and is detailed here.

Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Baseband

HVDN was the first to point out that it was possible to expand the frequency range of the Alinco MD-MD5TGP.  The procedure for that was not far different than that of the Anytone, so upgrading the vocoder followed the same procedure with just a few differences.  Proceed at your own risk in doing this upgrade.

In our "Teardown: Expanded Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Review" article in November 2018, we pointed out the SICOMM SCT3258 chip and this is where the magic vocoder resides.

Go ahead and download this file from Jason's Tiny Upload link for the Anytone 878.  You can follow his instructions closely, but for the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP you will need to:

• Hold down # and PTT while turning the radio on to enter boot mode for SCT

• In the SICOMM software, you need to set the speed to 115200, not 9600 baud.

The Alinco DJ-MD5TGP used for this test already had version V2.01.05NJ. It was simple to upgrade to V2.01.07BA.  The receive audio seems to be even more pleasant now on DMR and preliminary audio reports seem positive, but more testing needs to be done.

Thank you Jason for all your great documentation!

More about the Alinco MD-5TGP via HVDN:

• Teardown: Expanded Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Review

• Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio

• FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC

• The Official "NOT" Review of the Alinco MD-5 Series

• Frequency Expansion: Alinco DJ-MD5TGP

• October 2018 Global Digital Repeater Round Up

Great, another DMR radio? But, with real 220 MHz?

Alinco was the first main stream amateur radio vendor to offer a DMR radio way back in 2016 with its  DJ-MD40 UHF only radio.  Less than two years later, they came to market with the dual band DJ-MD5TGP which included a GPS and was roughly based on the same reference design as the popular Anytone D878UV. Main stream being defined as Alinco often being included alongside Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu.

With many other radios such as the TYT MD-UV380, Radioddity GD-77, Baofeng DM-1801 and Ailunce HD1 offering dual band spectrum coverage at various price and feature differences, it looks like Alinco is about to offer its second generation version of its 2018 released "MD5" radio for short and it will offer a few things not found elsewhere, including a third band for some markets! 

This now further cements that Alinco is only going to focus on DMR for the amateur market, Kenwood and Icom on D-Star and Yaesu on Fusion for the time being until hopefully the HVDN backed M17 project and its TR-9 open source radio finds a manufacturing partner in China or maybe with one of the main stream vendors to stop fragmentation with so many competing digital modes.

How many MD5 are there?

There has always been some confusion while looking at discussion boards on Facebook as to how many different MD5 radios are there and the answer has always been two.

The DJ-MD5TGP has been the more expensive version and included a GPS.  The slightly lower cost DJ-MD5T is identical, but does not have the GPS and typically sells for $20 less.  Both versions are covered under the FCC ID of PH3DJ-MD5. The earlier DJ-MD40 can be found under FCC ID PH3DJ-MD5. 

The new, but not yet FCC certified Alinco DJ-MD5XT is going to likely require its own FCC ID as early documentation shows that this will be the first true tri-band DMR radio which will cover the 2m, 70cm and 1.25m amateur radio bands, plus extended receive above and below the VHF and UHF bands as usual. 

Looking in the just released computer programming software available on the Remtronix website, it clearly shows an option under MHF for 220 to 225 MHz.

Hackers are already salivating....

When it was discovered that certain band combinations would allow reception and transmission above 480 MHz just like in the Anytone D878UV and BTECH 6X2, Alinco was quick to issue new firmware to prevent this, but was easily bypassed with a 3rd party software tool to enable 480 to 520 MHz coverage. 

These extra frequencies are sought after in countries like Australia where there are UHF CB channels and in the United States where first responders such as New York City Police and Fire user channels above 480 MHz. 

Without spending time attempting to get an Alinco MD-5TGP with or without the patched 1.13c or 1.10 firmware to work with the CPS 1.09a meant for the new Alinco DJ-MD5XT, it would likely appear that the new Alinco DJ-MDXT due to having a band option meant for 1.25m should suggest there is different hardware inside that will offer safe operation of the 220 MHz band.

While many radios mentioned in this article can be "hacked" to give the impression they will work on the 1.25 band, it is not suggested to transmit as it will ruin the RF power amplifier and filtering in the radio since it is not designed for that spectrum.  Hopefully the Alinco DJ-MD5XT will support this great and underutilized band available only in the United States and few other countries globally. 

Related Reading

• FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC (Published Sept 20th 2018)

• The Official "NOT" Review of the Alinco MD-5 Series (Published Oct 4th 2018)

• Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio (Published Nov 7th 2018)

• Teardown: Expanded Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Review (Published Nov 18th 2018)

• Frequency Expansion: Alinco DJ-MD5TGP (Published March 7th 2019)

Digital Voice Capable Radio (DMR) Made In South Dakota?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website has all sorts of interesting information.

You can find out where certain frequencies are licensed to be used, look for information on who should be using certain frequencies and also learn about what RF equipment is certified for use in the United States to name just a few.

Over the past few years, not every device that gets sold in the United States seems to be 100% certified under rules such as Part 22, 90, 95, 97 or many other FCC laws that determine things like "acceptable interference", "operation on amateur radio spectrum" and "equipment regulations for specific services".

If you have a device that transmits some form of RF energy in the United States, it should have an FCC ID.  But, as it turns out....not every FCC ID is real or are they?

The new Yaesu FT-818 FCC ID is real, but what makes
it real and how can you tell?

There are a number of manufacturers that sell equipment that list an FCC ID, but do not often follow the correct format or procedure that the FCC manages, so this article will cover a few examples of this.

Where is this on the FCC website?

The Office of Engineering & Technology is responsible for the certification of devices at the FCC among other tasks, many amateur radio and electronic hobbyists should be aware of prior to "experimenting" with different devices.

Here is the current link to where all sorts of searches can be run:

https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

Many different searches can be run on the FCC OET website, but you need to
know a few things in order for it to work

Using the FCC OET Search Tool

Every manufacturer is assigned a 3 or 5 digit grantee code. This is the most important part in finding out information about a vendor. Some vendors have multiple grantee codes for different product types, but many only have one.

In the case of Yaesu of Japan, they have been assigned "K66" and doing a search for that will return the following results of 642 devices. You can further filter things by date range, frequency range and also how much information is shown in a table or what you can export as a file.

Yaesu had an FCC Grantee code of K66. There are 642 devices in the FCC database for this
grantee code, but the FCC site will only allow you to see 500 of them until you filter to a smaller date range.

Details For Each Device

If a piece of equipment is capable to operate in different parts of radio spectrum, the FCC must approve everything.

The Yaesu FT-818 radio for example lists four different areas of certification and there are many details that can be found by looking at the files attached to each.

While Yaesu is a company of Japanese origin, they do have a US office in Cypress, California and known as Yaesu USA  and this is widely accepted by most of the amateur radio community in the United States today.

Proper FCC ID process for the FT_818 Yaesu radio

You can usually find operating manuals for most amateur radio equipment, smartphones, Wi-Fi devices and so much more which is a handy thing to have.

You can also find some internal and external photos as well as a number of certification documents. This represents a milestone achievement for the United States government in offering a clear benefit beyond spectrum allocations to the amateur radio community.

The FCC OET database is also a great tool for finding out about near future release products since a manufacturer is supposed to have an FCC ID and all the related testing completed prior to selling an RF emitting device in the United States.

Some Strange Results...

Sometimes there is a small gap where a product is already for sale, but the FCC ID process has been delayed. If doing a search for an FCC ID or even just the grantee code and not coming up with much, what could that mean?  It could mean a lot and here are a few examples of this.

TYT MD-UV380

HVDN has reviewed the new dual band TYT MD-UV380 DMR handheld radio back in May 2018 when it was first released. As of August 16th, the FCC ID still is not listed.

Searching for the grantee code of "POD" does not show this. Much of this radio is based on the MD-2017 released a year prior under the FCC ID of "POD-DMR2" and everything you should find is easily accessible on the FCC OET website.

TYT MD-UV380 released in April 2018 

It is not clear if TYT needed to apply for a new FCC ID for the MD-UV380 or have they just been able to "sort of" use the MD-2017 one to cover the MD-UV380. 

Compared to Yaesu, the FT-818 is an updated version of the FT-817 released over 15 years ago. Both radios are identical, but because of a need to source updated components, some efficiency was gained in the FT-818 allowing 6W of power output instead of the 5W in the FT-817.

It is not clear if this is why the FT-818 has a new FCC ID of K6603770X30 and the older FT-817 has the FCC ID of K66FT817.

Could the RF parts of the MD-2017 and MD-UV380 be so similar to not require public listing in the FCC ID database?

So the question remains about why the TYT MD-UV380 still can not be found as a certified device on the FCC website even though it lists an FCC ID of POD-DMRUV very clearly as shown in the HVDN MD-UV380 teardown.

The TYT MD-2017 under the FCC ID of  POD-DMR2 was easily found when looking up the POD grantee code.  Other products were listed too, but not the MD-UV380

Ailunce HD1

Ailunce is a premium brand assigned to another dual band DMR radio that is manufactured by Retevis.

Retevis offers product that look identical to the TYT or legacy Tytera branded radios prior to being forced to re-brand and re-certify due to patent infringement situations between Hytera and Motorola Solutions.

For example, the earlier mono band VHF and UHF versions of the Tytera or TYT MD-380 also go under the brand of Retevis RT-3 and RT-82.

Looking for the grantee code of 2AAR8 lets you easily find more information about Retevis, who incidentally according to the FCC is really doing business under the name of HENAN ESHOW ELECTRONIC COMMERCE CO., LTD. out of China.


Today, TYT is doing business under the name of  TYT ELECTRONICS CO., LTD  of China but when they sold product under the name of Tytera, they were known as Shenzhen Tianjian Telecom Technology Co.,

The Ailunce HD1 created by Retevis has an FCC ID that is not found in the
 FCC database, but has been on the market for over a year

The FCC ID for the HD1 as printed on the radio is 2AAR8AILUNCEHD1 and was released for sale almost a year prior to the TYT MDUV380, but still does not appear in the FCC ID database and it is not clear why that is the case. There is no other radio similar in design cosmetically or electrically to explain this currently.

Anytone AT-D868UV

Anytone released a dual band DMR handheld radio for sale in the United States and the official business name of Anytone is Qixiang Electron Science& Technology Co., Ltd and lists different  addresses in China, just like Retevis and TYT do as where they are headquartered.

Anytone has the FCC grantee code of T4K. The Anytone AT_D868UV FCC ID of T4KD868UV is listed and it appears that Anytone has gone to great length in certifying this radio for different services covered under FCC Part 90 as well as Part 22.

This company even registered for separate  VHF and UHF only versions which is interesting and who they say it will and will not be marketed to which shows a focus of compliance not found with other Chinese brands.

The Anytone AT-D868UV, TYT MD-UV380 and Ailunce HD1 are the three current dual band DMR/FM radios that seem to be most in demand by the amateur radio community a the time of this article, but there is a new radio offered by BTECH called the 6x2 that has some even more background than many might be aware of.

BTECH 6x2

Every DMR radio mentioned in this article clearly has Chinese origins just by looking at the addresses listed as part of the FCC ID listings. Even the engineers that certify the products are of Chinese origin, so it does show there has been mostly great care in trying to follow US FCC related regulations, but some interesting points to be discovered.

BTECH is sort of the new name for the Chinese company that made most people aware of amateur radio equipment that was low cost named Baofeng.  Baofeng started to release product in the US market as early as 2010 and got many people into the somewhat expensive amateur radio hobby.  Analog dual band radios before Baofeng came to market were mostly over a $200 USD price, but Baofeng was able to offer a fairly capable radio for under $60.

The inexpensive Baofeng UV-5R that has helped
 get more people interested in amateur radio since 2010

Recently, companies like Baofeng have been in the news for manufacturing products that are capable of transmitting on frequencies in use by licensed public safety  and GMRS or other unlicensed services such as PMR, FRS and MURS. Certain re-sellers have gotten in trouble for who they have sold these radios to because the Baofeng radios are not certified to be used on frequencies other than those used by amateur radio.

BTECH is based in Arlington, South Dakota now according to the FCC OET database.
  Here is where they are on Google Maps

It is an interesting discussion to have when talking about who is liable since a manufacturer can not enforce who its sales channel sells its product too, so this gives some companies a bad reputation.

Many well known amateur radio brands such as Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu and Alinco have always had the capability for out of band transmission, but required a modification to do so. Baofeng and other companies like it could have taken this precaution, but have not.

Radios reviewed in the 2017 entry level DMR article on HVDN. 
An updated article for release for 2018 will appear in September or October 2018

All of the DMR radios mentioned all are capable of out of amateur radio band transmission and require no modification, so what makes the BTECH 6x2 different? Its still possible to transmit where you are not supposed to, so that is not it.

For starters, its "identical" to the Anytone AT-D868UV. Most people already figured that out, but there are some "special" functions that help make it different like a store and forward voice recorder also known a a "simplex repeater" and also some more convenient scanning/priority options.

BTECH 6x2, designed in China and certified for the US market.

What many may not be aware of is that BTECH now technically is a company based in South Dakota, United States.  This was learned by looking at the FCC OET database.

The BTECH 6x2 hails from South Dakota, but with permission to rebrand it by Anytone.

Here is a letter found  by clicking for "details" for a change of ID request between BTECH, formerly sort of known as Baofeng Technologies and Qixiang Electron Science& Technology Co., Ltd. who is better known as Anytone.

Now What?

Its clear that there is a lot of confusion on who designed a radio, who really owns the brand and if it is legal to operate certain equipment on certain frequencies in the United States. The FCC website can help determine legality by doing your own research instead of believing what others may say or report on.

If there are any errors in this article, HVDN wants to know about them and hope you enjoyed this article. Please rate this article below so we know we are doing a good job or not.