Teardown & Comparison: TYT MD-UV380 Part 1

The dual band TYT MD-UV380 has just been released and promises much of the same functionality of the TYT MD-2017 and Retevis RT-82, but in the same form factor as the ever popular mono-band MD-380 and MD-390 series of radios.

This review goes under the hood of this latest $149.99 priced DMR & analog FM dual band handheld radio.

RF deck top view of the MD-UV380

Basic Overview

The MD-380 has been well reviewed elsewhere plus in past articles here on HVDN like the 2017 DMR entry level radio review.

The new MD-UV380 and MD-UV390 look identical to the mono-band versions and also include options with or without GPS.

Here are some side shots of the MD-UV380 (GPS) box which is somewhat informative on specifications.

Out Of The Box Differences

The firmware version out of the box for this sample was S15.021.  The latest version as of the date of this article appears to be S16.06 based on the TYT website download from May 23rd 2018.

While scrolling through the features in the CPS 1.03 and then updated into the radio to unlock certain menus, the major feature add on with the MD-UV380 is the ability to have up to 3 radio ID's and to change the mic gain.

Everything else is pretty much the same as the MD-380 stock firmware flow, not including the obvious addition of VHF and UHF coverage, like the MD-2017.

One feature introduced in the MD-2017 was built in "promiscuous" mode that allows monitoring of all DMR traffic on a specific time slot and correct color code. This has also made its way into the MD-UV380.

Also, like the MD-2017, the MD-UV380 can either allow audio to be recorded in DMR mode or provide the user with more contact storage space for the entire DMR ID database. Different firmware exists for either option for the MD-UV380 or MD-UV390.

From an outside hardware perspective, the MD-UV380 uses all the same accessories as the MD-380.  Same goes for the MD-390, which is just slightly larger than the MD-380. This is nice in order to recycle things like chargers, batteries and programming cords between the old and new radios.  The GD-77 by Radioddity also uses the same charger as the MD-380, so for users looking for a new dual band radio may want to consider the MD-UV380 over other similar radios.

The included stock dual band antenna seems to be of slightly higher quality compared to the antennas included with the mono-band MD-380/390 radios. The base of the MD-UV380 has an extended ferule to provide a little more waterproofing on the antenna connector on the radio.

Navigating the MD-UV380

Compared to the MD-2017 with its roller ball navigation, the MD-UV380 uses the arrow buttons below the display to flip between the upper and lower band assignments. This makes the UV-MD380 more like the Radioddity GD-77 or Anytone D868A from a navigation factor which is slightly less cumbersome than the MD-2017 roller-ball and will likely hold up better over time and prevent accidental band swaps or channel changes.

Channel selection in either the upper or lower band on the MD-UV380 is done through the top mount multi-selector knob. Compared to the MD380, there is no more limitation to 16 channels per zone which was sort of hard coded against the 16 position channel selector knob.  On the MD-UV380, as many as 64 channels per zone and possibly more is possible.

There will be more to talk about when it comes to the firmware updates, upgrades, channel management and overall user features, but that is not the main goal of this tear-down and comparison.

On the outside of the MD-UV380 from a distance, it would be hard to tell the difference between the MD-380, MD-380G, MD-390 and MD-390G. They all look the same and the only differences is the multi-selector knob, the label under the battery showing the model name and button coloration differences.

Inside the MD-UV380 and compared to the MD-380G

This is where things get interesting because the outside looks the same, but the inside does not.  Here are side by side comparisons of the MD-380G and the MD-UV380 (GPS). The outer-casing on the MD-UV380 seems to be styled like the earlier TYT versions whereas later ones had a more rounded speaker grill and colored buttons.

MD-UV380 on the left and MD-380G on the right

Things get interesting when looking at the two parts of the radio side by side after opening both up.

The MD-380G and MD-UV380 share the same exact board numbering for the user interface side of the radio as noted by KEY-V2.0-160329 text.   In the upper left corner near the speaker you can see the GPS antenna.

MD-UV380 on the left. MD-380G on the right.
Note the colored orange and blue buttons on the right side of the MD-380G

Swapping the RF deck from either radio with the UI board from the other confirms there is only one tiny difference.   The flat cable connector on both is slightly different which may just be a sourcing reason.  The connector on the MD-380 was a "piano hinge" type and the MD-UV380 was "compression lock" type. The flat ribbon cable fits the same way. Its possible over time that the "compression lock" version may be more reliable and limit the potential "white screen" issues some users have experienced when the connector and cable are not mated tightly at the factory.

Both radios upon re-assembly with the UI board and RF deck from both models confirmed identical operation and functionality. 

Should someone want the slightly more rounded housing and colored buttons from a MD-380G, but with the functions of the MD-UV380, this may be good to know.

The UI is the same but not the RF deck

As you would expect, the design of a dual-band radio would be just a little different than a mono-band version. Here is a side by side of both radios from the inside.

MD-UV380 at left and MD-380G at right

The major differences here get sort of fun. The same STM32F405 is used across both radios, but gone is the HR C5000 base band chip on the front side as in the MD-380.

In the MD-380G, the ST Microelectronics STM32F405VG is used which sports an ARM Cortex M4 core, up to 168MHz clock speed and 1024 KB of on board RAM. A more detailed spec sheet can be found on the STM website here.

The new MD-UV380 has the same STM32F405VG, but with slightly different date codes. It is unknown without further dissection if there are any small changes in the MCU since there is likely 2-3 time difference between the manufacture of both radios.

The "527" version was found in the MD-380 and the "664" version was found in the MD-UV380

Both radios also have the same Winbond 128K memory (W25Q128FV), but you may notice an empty pad for possibly an additional memory expansion on the MD-UV380.  This may be helpful as the user database for DMR ID's soon surpasses 100,000 which is the current limitation of many radios. As more DMR uses experiment with GPS, SMS and other mode translations such as those just introduced in Pi-Star, having additional memory will be a useful thing to have.

Note the empty pads for additional memory such as the 128k Winbond chip to left of  STM32F4055VG

For those that remember, the VHF versions of the MD-380 had less memory compared to the UHF versions which limited further alternative firmware development made popular by Travis Goodspeed, Ty Weaver, Warren Merkel and many others.

Perhaps lessons have been learned with the MD-UV380 to allow for future memory upgrades without complete redesign.  Its clear that TYT used the same UI board to simplify construction and offer a lower priced radio.

It seems all they really needed to do was just redesign the RF deck on the MD-UV380 after learning from the success and failures of the MD-2017 user interface and overly sized casing.

RF Front End

The RF front end is a combination of filtering for radio transmit and receive functions. On the MD-UV380 we can see some of that by looking at the SMD capacitors, resistors and inductors between the antenna connector and the copper pad which is a heat spreader for the RFPA on the underside of the RF deck board.

The MD-UV380 is a 136-174 MHz and 400-480 MHz radio, so its filtering would be more complex as expected compared to the UHF only version of the MD-380G.

MD-UV380 on left. MD-380G on right. It appears here that that the MD-380G is more complex on the rear of the RF unit compared to the MD-UV380. There has to be additional components on the underside of the RF deck board

Is That It? 

Clearly the top side of the  MD-UV380 seems more simple from a base-band perspective compared to that of the MD-380, but that is likely not the case.  All we have learned so far without further disassembly is the following:

• Both radios appear to use the same STM MCU
• Both radios have the same Winbond flash memory
• The MD-UV380 seems to have the ability to increase on board memory due to empty pads.
• The MD-UV380 may be using something else for base-band RF compared to the MD-380
• The UI boards are common across both radios
• The older style  and slightly larger housing from earlier MD-380 radios is used for the MD-UV380

Next Steps

The intent here was a basic under the hood look at the MD-UV380. Future coverage will include the underside of the RF deck and more about how the radio functions on the air plus other "deeper under the hood" analysis. 

One quick comment: Its possible to save a VHF or UHF frequency for transmit and the other band for receive.  Its also possible to save frequencies in as small as 2.5KHz steps. This may be of interest for those interested in satellite communications.

Stay tuned for more MD-UV380 coverage here on HVDN.  

Register for updates on the HVDN Notebook, become a member of HVDN or simply bookmark the following URL for anything posted here to do with DMR.

http://notebook.hvdn.org/search/label/DMR 

The most popular tags are visually represented on the Notebook for easy understanding on what is most popular at HVDN.  Most of HVDN active membership can be found on talk group 31368. 

A National DMR Location Services Proposal

On the way back today from the Southern Berkshire Amateur Radio Club’s hamfest at the Goshen Fairgrounds of Connecticut proved a good opportunity to try out mobile location enablement via DMR.

Here is what was involved to make this work:

• TYT MD-380G radio
• JumboSpot Hotspot device
• Mobile hotspot for internet via smartphone
• Correctly programmed radio and Brandmeister account setup.

Some Lessons Learned

Compared to using APRS, which uses 144.39 MHz as a common national US frequency and a network of stations to ingest users packet transmissions directly or via digipeaters and igateways that can route data from "over the air" and onto the internet. Using DMR and “APRS like” functionality is different in how that same function is accomplished since it does not use AX.25 1200 baud packet..

The only way to get user reported location or messages to the aprs.fi website and back to other radios  is via your own DMR hotspot or a local repeater that is set up to allow private data calls to be passed through to the internet.

Smart Beaconing & Power Savings

APRS and much of the equipment available today supports a feature called “smart beaconing” which allows a user’s radio to transmit location data more often while traveling at higher speed compared to sitting stationary. The number of "beacon transmissions" are reduced thanks to smart beaconing to create less congestion on the dedicated national APRS frequency. More about smart beaconing can be found here and its other benefits.

The current implementation of location services on GPS enabled DMR radios such as the TYT MD-380G do not support smart beaconing, but can be user programmed to always beacon at preset intervals.  Smart beaconing provides the major benefit of better battery life and better route accuracy for APRS. 

Wish List Item #1: Location enabled DMR needs this same capability, especially for portable/handheld radios.

GPS location is only sent at a present interval or during PTT on a DMR radio, so there is no "smart" capability at present time.  Accurate travel routes can thus only be created based on how frequent the user transmits which explains the rather strange route shown on aprs.fi for this experiment. Not having smart beaconing makes DMR location enablement to be less accurate for route tracking and efficient spectrum management.

Routing & Prediction

The second lesson learned is that the APRS.fi website does not fill in better predicted routes if DMR location enabled transmissions are missed. In the case of the route 199 in New York, there is horrible mobile phone connectivity and my mobile phone did not have internet access the whole time, which prevented any GPS transmissions sent from the MD-380 to the JumboSpot from being reported.  Since there are no repeaters that cover this particular area or offer private data calls, the only way to use location enabled DMR is via a mobile hotspot. 

Wish List Item #2:  More capable repeaters are needed to fully realize DMR benefits.

Even when entering back into better mobile coverage areas on parts of routes 199 and 308, it was not safe and appropriate to continue pressing the PTT to send location packets to better report accurate “breadcrumbs” on the route since it would congest the frequency I was using with my hotspot.

Even during a discussion with another DMR user via TG 310, my  DMR radio only transmits the location data at the start of transmission. Having 30-45 seconds of my own transmit speech and then listening to a reply for as long a period spreads out the rate of GPS transmissions, which inhibits quicker location reporting via TG 310999.

National Proposal on using DMR and GPS

Some ideas to aid in adoption of using GPS via DMR  includes:

• Add functions at the radio level that support smart beaconing rather than just setting a high rate of transmission or just via PTT. 

• Have the radio acknowledge when its transmissions are not confirmed as being sent to the internet and to “buffer” them for later transmission to fill in gaps on possible routing.  This involves saving GPS locations with speed of travel and altitude which is available on the radio. This solves the gap issue and is not far different how many automotive GPS's work when loss of sky coverage happens. 

• Create a network of receive only gateways on VHF or UHF to listen for data packets on common frequencies for the purpose of location messaging that will only pass traffic on a certain time slot (TS2) and destination talk group (TG 262993). 

• Adding on transmit capability for a repeater that will broadcast private data calls to users that will not impact voice users at the same time.

• Challenge repeater owners to add an additional equipment to support this function and make use of great siting available at repeater sites. Many repeater sites already host APRS digipeaters and have internet access so this should be easy to add and expand value offered by DMR.

• Decide on two national frequencies for GPS messaging and reporting use for VHF and UHF.

Why do this with DMR rather than just use APRS?

APRS does many things well and is fairly simple which makes it appealing, but its age is starting to  show.

A shortcoming of APRS is the inability to easily deliver an actual street address level of resolution to a radio. All APRS radios can only show coordinates, bearing and distance to another user which is limiting at times.

Location enabled DMR provides the ability to match coordinates to a physical street address and see that on the screen of the radio.  This works simply by addressing a private message to TG 262993 by sending "gps" as a message.  The reply message takes your radio GPS coordinates, matches it against mapping API's via Google Maps or Open Street Mapping project where it finds the street address and then sends that back to your radio.

Other commands summarized in a previous article also allows you to see distance, bearing and street address closest to another location enabled DMR user.

Location enabled DMR also lets the user request weather conditions the same way by messaging to "wx gps". The resulting reply matches up the GPS enabled DMR radio with closest weather conditions found on the internet. Temperature, humidity and barometric pressure is than easily viewed on relatively inexpensive DMR radios. 

If using an APRS radio, the user needs to spend much more money to see this level of detail or sacrifice some level of portability if not using some of the advanced APRS handhelds currently available. 

Weather and location are just two easy examples of how to use location data as a source for value added information.  Sending email, local frequency information for voice communication and other data are easily routed or sent from a DMR radio.

These are some modern ways in which ham radio can remain relevant in a world of smart phone dominated but mobile network dependent messaging.

Wish List Item #3: Adding functions like this are what ham radio is all about, so perhaps more DMR repeater owners will start considering adding a simple weather station, offline mapping database and secondary receivers to support some of this functionality. 

Here is some further related reading on HVDN if this sounds of interest:

• Location based weather on your DMR radio
• Easy DMR GPS with an MD-380G
• DMR for local communication

Using a JumboSPOT via bridged Wi-Fi

On a recent business trip, I left my trusty GL i.Net GL-AR150 at home by accident and could not use my new JumboSPOT unless I used my mobile hot spot feature on my mobile phone to give it the internet access it needs.

JumboSPOT running Pi-Star in DMR only mode

The GL-AR150 is a travel Wi-Fi router which I have plugged in to the ethernet port on my laptop to share its internet connection and create a wi-fi hotspot. This setup essentially lets me take hotel wi-fi and then rebroadcast it so that other devices could use the internet. The laptop essentially acts as a router of sorts in this configuration taking wireless hotel internet, translating it to wired internet and then turning it back into wireless internet.  Make sense?

GL-AR150 multi purpose travel router

Since its always annoying to keep my mobile phone charged up while traveling, I figured it would be a good experiment to see what range too expect from a 10mW DMR hotspot from the 39th  floor of the hotel and out into the city of  Atlanta.  Not having the AR150 with me prevented me from trying this, so I had to find another solution instead of setting up my mobile phone hotspot function, which worked great to make a contact via TG 31368 the previous evening.



Connectify to the rescue!

I found this application named Connectify to do what the hardware I left behind but via software and it works great! It took the hotel Wi-Fi SSID and creates a new access point using the laptop wi-fi to then rebroadcast to the SSID I set up and had in place on the JumboSPOT.

    

   

I would highly recommend the Connectify application to be used in a  travel situation much like I describe above in order to get on DMR with a JumboSPOT.   This is slightly more elegant than the DV4MINI I have used before with my laptop or the GL-AR150 and OpenSPOT combination when traveling. 

Connectify is currently running a 70% coupon on top of it, so get it while you can. You will need the MAX version, not the LITE one. This application will find many more uses aside from just using it to connect the JumboSPOT, which is now my go to device for travel along with the MD-380 for DMR operation. This trip proved a benefit that came out of an annoyance afterall.

An optional, but recommended addition is to also use the "Speedify" VPN application to provide a secure connection and the ability to monitor latency and loss in addition to the upload and download speed reported in the "Connectify" application. Speedify is free for up to 1GB of data transfer a month which seems more than enough if only using this for use with the JumboSPOT.

After about an hour of listening in to a few talk groups with active discussion, only used 3MB of download and all traffic was less than 30ms latency.

http://www.connectify.me/

Radioddity GD-77: Frequency Expansion

Roger Clark posted some great background and tutorial about modifying the executable file for the GD-77 programming software to expand the frequency range of his radio.

I decided to give this a try and have to say I have some mixed feedback, especially after reading a new FAQ found on the Radioddity website that got me excited...

(Radioddity GD-77 modified with 220 MHz experiment)

While Roger wanted to use the GD-77 on the Australian UHF CB band for "testing", my goal was twofold:

• Be able to program "listen only" capability for the New York Police Department (NYPD) and New York Fire Department (NYFD) which operate in 470-490 MHz range still using analog FM. This worked great!

• Experiment with adding 1.25m capability and see how tolerant the front end filtering is within the GD-77 on  both transmit and receive performance.  Worked not so great...

Expanding UHF receive capability

Before talking about the GD-77, the popular TYT MD-380 has a major limitation for users in the New York Metro area in that it can only receive up to 470 MHz out of the box.  Many users have easily modified a file to permit wider band receive performance to facilitate NYPD and NYFD monitoring. International users have done the same thing for UHF CB band allocations. Here is how to do this on a MD-380G and would also work the same way for the non G version for both UHF and VHF versions as well as the MD-390 series and all the rebadged versions of this radio including the  Retevis RT-3. 

MD-380 frequency expansion

Navigate to where your CPS software is installed and locate the "setting.ini" file.  Right click to open it as "edit"  and open it up using Notepad.

Modifying the area near "[FreqRange]" allows the software to select different versions of your radio and also the frequency range.  The example above shows how I expanded a UHF MD-380G to 400-520 operation. I also deleted out the other radio model options so that I always default to the radio I use and never get the "invalid" model issue. That step is optional if you have VHF and UHF models, you do not want to do that.

Save the file and boot up the software and you should see it worked.  Make your code plug and write to your radio and it should be expanded now. 

You can also "shrink" the range if you do not wish to do anything outside the ham bands as well. 

Once you do this, you can not go out of band on the radio unless you change the "setting.ini" file again.

Doing the same sort of thing on the GD-77

Its a little more complicated on the GD-77 compared to the MD-380.  Roger has good instructions and a file ready made you can use to implement the modification.  To do what Roger did, you need to know how to recompile executable files, so it may not be for basic computer users. Couple issues I found when using his modified file:

• My GD-77 gave me an error when I tried to use the 130-174 or 130-520 setting in either Frequency A or B. I had to change it to 136-500 for it to work in both ranges. 

• The filtering in the GD-77 is finely tuned as expected.  I was able to get it to work between 136-174, not the 130-180 that the manufacturer states as found on the FAQ page mentioned earlier. Same with 195-285 being more like 200-260 and 390-520 being closer to 395-500. The 200-260 range was what I was interested in fell even shorter of expectations.

• US 1.25m "220" ham band performance is underwhelming on the GD-77, but would work just fine for low power operation for use with your own hot spot if it has 220 MHz capability. instead of using 70cm or 2m. I measured 223.5 MHz transmit power at 210mW when on the high power setting and 29mW on low power setting using analog FM mode. 

• After additional testing, I found 2m and 70cm operation to not be as it once was. I put the radio back to normal to avoid long term damage to the radio. 

Verdict

Nice experiment. I put my radio back to normal operation though pretty quick. Would like to see Radioddity introduce a tri-band version much like some of the inexpensive analog only Chinese mobile and handhelds that have become recently available . It be great to see DMR come to 1.25m in the US, especially since the Jumbo Spot and its legitimate ZUM Spot version seem 220 capable.  Future article about this to come in the near future.

Easy DMR GPS: MD-380G Tutorial

The TYT MD-380 as well as a few other DMR radios have alternate versions that incorporate a built in GPS.

There has been a lot of misinformation about using this capability. This article discusses:

• How to use the built in GPS to report into APRS.FI for APRS location 
• How to set up a TYT MD-380G UHF version for this feature

First Step - Getting a GPS signal lock

Chances are that your radio's GPS was last tested in China, at the factory or never at all.

You may need to wait a while to get a signal lock. Be patient.

But first, program the following into your radio to get the GPS actually working.

Digital Contact

Create a new "Digital Contact" and label as "APRS-310999". Make the contact "Private Call". Set the Call ID to "310999". Do not enable a call receive tone.

It should look like this when done

Channel Setup

Create a new channel on a frequency (UHF or VHF does not matter) of your choice, such as the one used on your hot spot, like an RF Shark OpenSpot. Label the channel "APRS GPS ON" . Enable the "Send GPS Info" and "Receive GPS Info" settings.

Select the Contact as the "APRS-310999" one created.

Select an appropriate group you may already have in your radio that includes TG 9 and any of your other favorites. This is what enables voice communication on the same channel on your MD-380, but using a different talk group than TG 310999 which is for GPS only.

Use the same color code as your hotspot.  You may want to use TS 2 if in use with your Open Spot.

Make sure there is "None" in the Privacy setting.

Select "1" in the GPS System setting.

Your channel should look like this when done

Word about Group List:  This is optional, but setting up an RX Group List allows you to monitor multiple TG at the same time.

GPS Settings

Go to the GPS Settings in the CPS and enable GPS Revert Channel to the channel you created called "APRS GPS ON"
Set your default GPS report interval to a value of "180". If you select a smaller value, the GPS will affect your battery life.
Set the Destination ID to the Digital Contact you created called "APRS-310999"

When finished, it should look like this

Now, create another Channel

Follow every step as above, but the only thing to do different is to not enable a GPS System. So, instead of "1" make sure that box is set to "None". Label this channel "APRS GPS OFF"

Before you write file to radio

Put both of the channels created into a new or existing zone.

Check to make sure GPS is enabled in the Menu Item setting like below

Getting CLOSER!!!

Write the file to your radio and then go to the channel you made called "APRS GPS ON"

Key your PTT for a second or so.

Go put your radio outside or where it could get a good GPS signal. WAIT about 10 minutes!

You will get a GPS lock when the globe icon changes from red to green.

Confirm you have GPS Lock

Go into your MD-380G radio menu under "Utilities" and "GPS BeiDou Info"

You should see your latitude, longitude, altitude and number of GPS satellites your radio can receive.

Like below

If you do not have that, you either set something up wrong or did not wait long enough in a good location for a satellite lock. Try again. If you have location data, proceed as follows:

Brandmeister Setup

Log in to your Brandmeister Network account and go to the SelfCare section. The below URL "should" work if you can not figure it out. https://brandmeister.network/?page=selfcare

Select "Chinese Radio", enable a 60 second APRS interval and select the appropriate SSID for your call sign and icon. Generally, a portable HT should be -2,  a mobile, -7 or -9.  A detailed table to consult can be found here.

See what happens next at APRS.fi


If you have done everything correctly and key your PTT and have a GPS signal lock, you should be able to now see your DMR MD-380 on aprs.fi.

NOTE:  This will only work through a hotspot.  Many repeater operators may not let private calls or TG 310999 pass through, so just want to be clear about that.

Next Steps & Future:

Much like there how APRS has RX only iGateways, it is entirely possible for different areas to start supporting a DMR gateway by re-purposing a hotspot or simplex link radio using MMDVM but for "receive only". This will then enable your position to be shared without having to use a hotspot or repeater which may disrupt traffic. Repeaters owners say this is an issue. This approach in adding a separate gateway will solve the issue AND create uniform adoption by using the same frequency like 144.39 for APRS.  Perhaps DMR uses could use one of the proposed 427 MHz channels in the simplex channel plan found here.

Actual use cases:

Maybe you travel?  Take your hotspot with you in the car and talk on your DMR HT?   Now, you will have GPS APRS on aprs.fi from anywhere (That has mobile phone coverage)

Via simplex communication, you and another radio can exchange location and altitude data independent of any infrastructure at any time.

Excite the amateur radio community to continue development for non-network infrastructure use cases possibly by incorporating local cached maps, mesh networks and iGateways on coordinated frequencies to support another layer of communication and situational awareness.

Comparison of entry level DMR Radios (2017 Edition)

Many people say that they wont get interested in certain digital voice modes for the following reasons:

1. There needs to be repeaters in the area to use first.
2. There needs to be a dual band HT available.
3. There needs to be a lower price point to experiment with digital voice modes.

The good news is that item 2 and 3 on that list are a reality today. Item 1 is coming along in the area with details covered in an upcoming article about current area DMR and other digital voice mode repeaters.

This review is focused on entry level DMR radios with a goal to compare them along with some details I like and dislike between them.

This review covers the following radios pictured, left to right.

• Radiooddity GD-77 VHF/UHF
• TYT MD-2017 VHF
• TYT MD-380G (UHF)
• Tytera MD-380 (UHF)
• TYT MD-380G (VHF)
• TYT MD-380 (VHF)

I would like to cover Yaesu Fusion and Icom D-Star hand held radios, but there are currently no current radio available sold under $200, unless I include the brand new Yaesu FT-70DR which is priced at $199.99 at the time of this article at most resellers. Icom only has one HT, The ID-51A using its GFSK based D-Star mode and is priced at over $400. Kenwood offers the super fancy  TH-D74A which now does D-Star, but is almost $600 but also has the 220 MHz band.

I do want to mention that Alinco has reduced the price of its UHF DMR radio since last year by $70, the DR-MD40 is now $199.99, but for a mono band radio, I did not include that review at this time.

Here is a size comparison of some of the most popular radios today used by DMR enthusiasts that are considered "ham grade" and not commercial Vertex, Hytera, Motorola and others. I have also not included the USA designed, overseas manufactured Connect Systems (CSI) or Bridgecom radios that provide DMR as that is for another article at a later date.

Be warned, all radios in this review are "Made in China" but only the Radiooditty radio is not made by a 100% Chinese owned company to the best of my knowledge.

Country of origin should not matter in our global economy, but I do want to point out that at the price points listed in the chart below, the Chinese vendors are producing a very capable modern radio. This may help push European, North American and other Asian countries such as Japan put out a f-f-f-fantastic DMR product with this open standard digital voice mode in the future.

TYT MD-380 Charger Modification

Here we have two different modifications to the popular (and highly hackable) Tytera MD-380 DMR/Analog 70CM radio

• Modification of charger to disable "green" led when charger is powered. After modification, charger will only light up "red" during" charging and will be off when charging is complete.
• Addition of a capacitor and RFI bead to cut down radio frequency interference RFI radiated from the charger base when used with a switch mode AC to DC adapter

Here is the charger indicator modification

Here is the RFI suppression modification before and after

The large electrolytic capacitor and inductor were loose on the PCB, I re-soldered them so they sat flush to the PCB which also helped RFI suppression

The charger is supposed to take an input voltage of 12.5V and an output of 8.4V. Measure your AC to DC adapter with a multi meter on both sides. Any output to the charger pins between 7.9 to 8.4V is safe. Any lower or higher will damage your battery and the the total number of charge cycles it can take in its lifetime. If your Ac to DC adapter outputs more than 12.5V, you may want to replace it with a more appropriate one or add a dropping resistor to lower its voltage.

Steve K2GOG