H T radios
What is an "H T radio" ?
The term 'H T' is often used to refer to a Handheld Transceiver or Handy Talkie. In the UK they are more often just called a Handheld or Handy. The term Handy Talkie is mostly used by American amateurs and radio users.
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There are a huge variety of HTs available from several manufacturers. Like many other commercially produced products there are a few big brand names that often command big prices. Most of the top end expensive HTs will be more ruggedly constructed and often have additional features not found in cheaper radios.
The quality of some of the cheapest units leaves a lot to be desired but there are quite a few mid priced, affordable HT radios that perform very well for their price and some that are just cheap rubbish.
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Before deciding on which particular make and model to buy, do a lot of research. Read up on reviews, watch online videos, use Your favourite search engines to hunt down any issues with each model You are thinking of getting. This can be easily achieved by simply searching for the make and model name followed by a key word such as review, fault, problem, fail, repair, fix, update, replacement and taking notes for each specific radio.
The same process is a good idea when buying anything online to avoid disappointment.
Baofeng UV5R and UV5R+
The Baofeng UV5R is a very cheap dual band HT radio. RF power output is around 1 W Low & 5 W High in FM narrow mode for working repeaters & gateways and FM wide mode for simplex on 2m VHF and 70cm UHF amateur bands. It can also be used to listen to commercial FM broadcast radio stations and receive other VHF and UHF FM traffic outside the amateur bands. It can be programmed from the keypad but is easier using the Chirp software with a USB programming cable available cheaply online. I have had a UV5R for about 4 years and this UV5R+ for over a year and have dragged both them all over the landscape with me slung in my bike trailer, clipped onto my belt when out walking or clipped onto a loop on my rucksack when out walking or riding one of my mountain bikes. Some people complain about how terrible cheap radios are but I have had a lot of good contacts using them. The UV5R has a very quiet internal mic but works well with Nagoya N771A antenna and plugin speaker mic. I almost always get good audio reports when working stations on 2m and many are surprised when I reply and say I'm using a Baofeng HT I also sometimes use them with homebrew 2 element Moxon beam antenna with very good results. This one is pictured with an extended battery pack with 6 x AA 2800mAH batteries fitted. Good for out on the bike and cheap to replace if it gets broken.
Tytera MD-380 UHF DMR
Tytera MD-380 is a nicely made UHF radio that feels quite solid. The version shown here is UHF only. There are also versions with UHF/VHF and GPS. The UHF one pictured works very well on 70cm UHF amateur band in FM and DMR modes with nice clean stable output, 1W on Low & 5W on High. The 2Ah Li-Ion battery lasts many hours, time extended by turning screen backlight Off. The internal condenser mic is quite good but using an external speaker mic certainly improves the audio level and clarity, especially when operating in DMR mode. A USB programming cable and DMR codeplug editor software is the way to set them up and program all the channels, zones and DMR talkgroups Each zones holds 16 channels, rotary control on the top selects channel and Zones are selected using front keypad & on screen menus or button on side of the radio. There are two programmable buttons on the side, one above and one below the PTT button. These radios work very nicely in FM narrow & wide modes. Very easy to use once You get used to the layout of the menus and features. I have used this one with various antennas but find the original Tytera UHF antenna works well up the hills. I also use the MD380 on 1W into an 8 element Yagi-Uda array at home and have worked stations well over 50 miles away with ease.
Inrico T-320 Network Radio
Inrico T-320 GSM/2G/3G/4G/Dual-Band WiFi ​Network Radio Transceiver.
Versatile handheld Network Radio with Android 7 OS running on ARM Cortex A53 Quad Core CPU. Dual SIM with 1Gb ROM and 8Gb internal RAM + 32Gb SD card.
3.8V 3500mAh Li-Ion battery provides 80 hours standby and 8 hours continuous talk time. 8mm 1.2W speaker, 2MP front and 8MP rear cameras, GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, rotation vector sensor and gravity sensor. Internal and External LTE multi-band antennas for long range diversity operation. External antenna easily replaced with high gain omnidirectional, flat-panel or Yagi-Uda high gain arrays for greatly extended range. Dual band WiFi hotspot and Bluetooth 4 for LAN,Hotspot and Mesh operation (with appropriate mesh apps)
I use this a lot for working stations around the World through the FreeSTAR network, provides network assisted communications across multiple DV networking modes, analogue & digital repeaters and gateways around the World. Also used for a wide range of other tasks and apps including Echolink, Peanut for HAMs, APRS location tracking, HAMGPS, heavens above, GPS navigation and others. mobile hotspot provides IP connection for tablet and laptop for logging and lookups when operating HF or VHF station up in the hills. Also used for Telegram, Zoom meetings and other PTT apps such as Zello. VOIP phone connections using Zoiper and as a mobile phone with dialler apps. Off grid mesh communications without ISP connection using Wifi Mesh apps and Talkie.
East Ayrshire Radio Society
Ayrshire, Scotland.
© 2022 MM7WAB Hairy Paul