The cable is why i got the radioddity GMRS version of this radio as the programing cable came with it. I run mine unlocked and have it programed for the local GMRS repeaters here. I also have some 2 meter and 440 repeaters programed as well, but with no tones for receive only. I'm a big boy and i know where i am allowed to operate and don't need a lock out function here. We have a real problem with sad ham jammers here and have got a second repeater up that is about ten miles or so away from the main repeater that's at 6200 feet, as their favorite trick is to drive to the main repeater location and jam it up during our nets. In the future i will be putting up a third repeater which is 23 miles away on the opposite end of the valley from the main repeater. We also have to run simplex a lot also sometimes, it is ridiculous what we have to do to try to enjoy the hobby here, but i digress. My Radioddity DB20-G is the same radio as the Retevis RA 25, and the Anytone 779uv, and the CRT Electro UV-V3, and i mean exactly the same. You must have gotten a weak one as mine does 21.3 watts into a dummy load. I like the radio, and programing it is easy with their software, but is not programmable with Chirp. I get why a newbie who doesn't know what they are doing may have trouble or get into trouble operating out of class privileges, and i understand why Retivis and the others put them out into the world with factory programming the way they do for the sake of the beginners. Current pricing on amazon for the radioddity db20-g is 87.99. Retivis ra 25, there are several sellers, all higher in price. Anytone 779 uv cheapest i see is 99.99 No listing in the states for the CRT electro UV-V3 that i see, i think they are big in the UK and Europe i guess. Radioddity has been selling the DB20-G's for some time with the cables, i don't know exactly for how long, and i believe Radioddity has been beating them in the marketplace with sales of these things for sometime. And while i give you much kudos for your correspondence with them and them stating they will all start being shipped soon with the programing cable, i am not so sure this wasn't their plan already before they were dealing with you as from what i have seen. Radioddity has been beating them as i stated above reference sales i am pretty sure, their prices have always been lower from what i have seen here. So for anyone new to the scene and your looking to get one of these radios, know that all four i mentioned above are exactly the same radio and the prices vary rather wildly. Do your research on pricing before you snap your hard earned plastic at one of these, but for what they are, they are a pretty good radio for the money really. Hope this helps a few folks out there during these expensive times!! :)
Love this type of 'review', as it's one thing to hear about the features of a radio, and another to actually use it the way manf set them up. GMRS radio should absolutely come out of the box 'plug and play'. It seems to be a Retevis thing to put tones, seemingly at random, all over the channels. They have HTs with the same issue. Is it that they don't understand GMRS, or are they trying to make their radios proprietary? Also, I cant imagine using this radio without a programing cable and I certainly wouldn't have bought it without one. Glad to hear you affirm that it's clean on the spectrum on GMRS, as I have heard that from others. It is such a great radio when set up properly, but it could be so much better out of the box.
Hey dear Sean, thanks for your sharing and this video is absolutely useful. 👍 RA25 is a type of Radio that suitable for beginners, but even so, it still takes time to learn more about GMRS radio or Ham radio. In fact, we had received many clients' feedback, they confused about many operations and functional settings on RA25. Unfortunately, we usually cannot mark everything related issues about the product on the shopping page, which limits this thing. ☹ This is why we choose to work with professional enthusiasts like you. We hope you can discover problems for clients and then show how to solve them in the video. This is what you can do better than us.🥳🙌
Thanks, this video, and the your codeplug, saved me time and headaches. When I received the unit, earlier this morning, it include the programing cable, thank you, and I loaded the codeplug, from the link you supplied. So much time saved, so the fun can begin. Thanks again.
Great video, Dude! Look like a very interesting radio and I like the direction you're going with the code plug. Hope Retevis continues to work with you on it
Great modifications in your code plug. I don't see why anyone would object to the code plug providing access to broadcast FM and to NOAA channels and to listen to amateur frequencies. I can do that with my Baofeng GMRS HT, so why not on a mobile! I'm surprised to not see it elsewhere in the comments, but since GMRS operators understand channels more so than frequencies, is it possible to change the programming to display channel numbers for the GMRS channels rather than frequencies?
The FCC I believe started to require GMRS radios to be narrow band by default, because they don't want people using 25 khz bandwidth on the GMRS freqs. You can still TX up to 20 kHz wide which is almost true wide band like ham FM (25 khz). Correct me if I'm missing something, but as I read the FCC laws, ham bands have 20 kHz +/- 5 kHz deviation. GMRS says something else that I cannot remember, but I want to say it's a 20 kHz max bandwidth including whatever deviation your device may be putting out. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember after the latest update they made to the GMRS bands. You also are only allowed to use 5 watts max on the lower (non repeater channels). You can use up to 50 watts on the repeater outputs for simplex, and of course on the inputs if you are actually going through a repeater. The FCC is trying to find ways to reduce the massive amount of congestion on the GMRS bands that primarily comes from uneducated users, that are not licensed, but using a radio that allows them to do things wrong right out of the box.
According to the rules as posted on ecfr dot gov, last updated on 10/04/2023, nothing has changed with regard to bandwidth. Same old same old 20 kHz ± 5 kHz for the original 15 simplex and 8 repeater input channels. 𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙬𝙞𝙙𝙩𝙝𝙨 §95.1773 (a) : 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 20 𝘬𝘏𝘻 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘎𝘔𝘙𝘚 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 462 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 467 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 §95.1773 (b) : 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 20 𝘬𝘏𝘻 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘎𝘔𝘙𝘚 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 462 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 §95.1775 (a) : 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 ± 5 𝘬𝘏𝘻. §95.1775 (b) : 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 462 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 ± 5 𝘬𝘏𝘻. As someone who has had a GMRS license for more than 20 years now, I do agree there is a HUGE problem with unlicensed/rule breaking users particularly over the last decade. Sadly GMRS is going the route of CB radio and the FCC isn't doing a thing about it. At one time they were even considering dropping the license requirement all together. There's simply more money to be made from, along with FAR more budget allocated to, licensing and policing commercial broadcasters.
hi there. I use this RA25 in germany for Hamradio stuff. it is nice, but it had a rather annoying roger beep. I could it disable only via chirp... oh.. and fun fact the inbuild scrambler is functional despite the fact that it is illegal for hamradio .. Oh .. do not pay more then 80$ for it.. anything else is a ripoff
Thanks but really I just opened multiple hex files and compared values of the unlocked code plug to the locked, found the addresses with different values then modified the locked plug, to have it unlocked, and finally saved the code plug then changed the address value back to the original locked value. More of a brute force
Retevis does NOT include the programming cable as of today. Radioddity (DB20-G) does include the cable. It's the same radio with different stickers. Go with Radioddity.
Another reason I am not doing sponsorships with them anymore. They are so cryptic. They tell you they do one thing, but then the Amazon store isn't linked to the main tore/webstie etc. So when they say they'll do something, turns out it is only for their "department". I am sorry they did you dirty.
There isn't another video. It should be the same as the normal codeplug: download the RA25 software, open the file in the software and write to the radio. www.ailunce.com/blog/retevis-ra25uv-dual-band-mobile-radio-pc-programming-tutorial
For a GMRS radio, why is the channel number so hard to see? I don’t understand why the channel number and frequency aren’t about the same. Or maybe swap from memory mode to VFO. I’d like it to be simple for my wife to use GRMS
Just saw your video. Confused about comments related to code plug. Do I need to download code plug to radio? Is it the same software that Radioddity DB20-G has: more channel, NOAA, HAM Freq. ETC Does the RA25 do split tones?
Yes I made a code plug or a file that shows programming for the GMRS radio. This code plug was written for the Retevis gmrs radio. It is not required but if you don't use it, there may be problems using GMRS as it's intended to be used. I don't know if this works with any other radios because I don't have any other radios. And as I mentioned yes this radio can be unlocked to do it all like ham vans and GMRS, but I was writing a code plug so that people who don't want to worry about accidentally transmitting out of band don't have to worry about it
Nice video thanks! Nobody dealt with the software issues like you did. BTW, the codeplug link says the file was deleted. Is it possible to re-load it? The RA25 software supplied on the support link at the Retevis site is horrible.
This is alarming. Could you provide me with a few details? Was this purchased on Amazon or Retevis direct and did you reach out to retevis? If @retevisquestionsandanswers9296 is not fulfilling their portion of this agreement, I will make it known and clear my name. My apologies you have to go through this.
Hi Ed, I spoke with them this evening. They are very concerned that someone received no cable with their package. Would you be able to tell me how long ago you purchased yours and from where? Thanks
All right I'll get you a new code pull up link this afternoon. As far as purchasing it from eBay, Did you contact retevis directly to let them know. I'm just trying to get more details so that I could help the situation
I bought this unit about a year ago to use in my truck as a gmrs radio for hunting purposes.. I find that when we're out as a group, it doesn't pick up the beginning of someone else speaking, and I only hear part of or sometimes none of the TX. Would love feed back of; if I can improve this issue? Thanks
@@HAMRADIODUDE it will always pickup the rx. It just might be missing the first 2-3 seconds of the beginning.. not like I can't pickup any of the rx though unless it's just a "yep. Or 10-4". If I use a Motorola handheld gmrs beside it, I can hear the entirety of the rx. I'm hoping it's something with a squelch setting etc.. if not I'll just have to live with it until I can afford the midland.
You'd have to ask them to be honest with you. I told them they were free to use it, and I send it to them. They sounded very receptive of it, but I just don't know. Furthermore there's a lot of confusion because apparently there's a retivist on the web and a redevis on Amazon which are different entities or divisions. So that makes things all confusing because for example, in the video I mentioned about the programming cable. Later I find out that the programming cable isn't supplied with the Amazon division but only with the Retevis website. What I'm trying to say is that although I like the radio, there inner division separation makes things difficult to know exactly what they're doing. Lol. However, if you need help loading the code plug, I'd be happy to help you
I tried to help them. Although they initially seemed responsive, it's like anything else - the excitement faded and they went back to the 90's style software .
The cable is why i got the radioddity GMRS version of this radio as the programing cable came with it. I run mine unlocked and have it programed for the local GMRS repeaters here. I also have some 2 meter and 440 repeaters programed as well, but with no tones for receive only. I'm a big boy and i know where i am allowed to operate and don't need a lock out function here. We have a real problem with sad ham jammers here and have got a second repeater up that is about ten miles or so away from the main repeater that's at 6200 feet, as their favorite trick is to drive to the main repeater location and jam it up during our nets. In the future i will be putting up a third repeater which is 23 miles away on the opposite end of the valley from the main repeater. We also have to run simplex a lot also sometimes, it is ridiculous what we have to do to try to enjoy the hobby here, but i digress.
My Radioddity DB20-G is the same radio as the Retevis RA 25, and the Anytone 779uv, and the CRT Electro UV-V3, and i mean exactly the same. You must have gotten a weak one as mine does 21.3 watts into a dummy load. I like the radio, and programing it is easy with their software, but is not programmable with Chirp. I get why a newbie who doesn't know what they are doing may have trouble or get into trouble operating out of class privileges, and i understand why Retivis and the others put them out into the world with factory programming the way they do for the sake of the beginners. Current pricing on amazon for the radioddity db20-g is 87.99. Retivis ra 25, there are several sellers, all higher in price. Anytone 779 uv cheapest i see is 99.99 No listing in the states for the CRT electro UV-V3 that i see, i think they are big in the UK and Europe i guess.
Radioddity has been selling the DB20-G's for some time with the cables, i don't know exactly for how long, and i believe Radioddity has been beating them in the marketplace with sales of these things for sometime. And while i give you much kudos for your correspondence with them and them stating they will all start being shipped soon with the programing cable, i am not so sure this wasn't their plan already before they were dealing with you as from what i have seen. Radioddity has been beating them as i stated above reference sales i am pretty sure, their prices have always been lower from what i have seen here.
So for anyone new to the scene and your looking to get one of these radios, know that all four i mentioned above are exactly the same radio and the prices vary rather wildly. Do your research on pricing before you snap your hard earned plastic at one of these, but for what they are, they are a pretty good radio for the money really.
Hope this helps a few folks out there during these expensive times!! :)
In that intro, I really thought you were gonna say, "Affiliate link below"
Love this type of 'review', as it's one thing to hear about the features of a radio, and another to actually use it the way manf set them up. GMRS radio should absolutely come out of the box 'plug and play'. It seems to be a Retevis thing to put tones, seemingly at random, all over the channels. They have HTs with the same issue. Is it that they don't understand GMRS, or are they trying to make their radios proprietary? Also, I cant imagine using this radio without a programing cable and I certainly wouldn't have bought it without one. Glad to hear you affirm that it's clean on the spectrum on GMRS, as I have heard that from others. It is such a great radio when set up properly, but it could be so much better out of the box.
Hey dear Sean, thanks for your sharing and this video is absolutely useful. 👍
RA25 is a type of Radio that suitable for beginners, but even so, it still takes time to learn more about GMRS radio or Ham radio. In fact, we had received many clients' feedback, they confused about many operations and functional settings on RA25. Unfortunately, we usually cannot mark everything related issues about the product on the shopping page, which limits this thing. ☹
This is why we choose to work with professional enthusiasts like you. We hope you can discover problems for clients and then show how to solve them in the video. This is what you can do better than us.🥳🙌
Thank you for the comment. I have this code plug that I can improve on and would probably help the new customers. Would you like me to email it
Thanks for your patience with the video, by the way
@@HAMRADIODUDE Yes, why not, please send to us.
@@retevisQA will do, in just a little while
All these improvements I hope Retevis recognizes you in some way and maybe a little compensation. Thank you for making this radio better for us users
Really like your approach Dude; thanks for the thoughtful input / ideas on this radio.
Very thoughtful. Much better than the standard review garbage videos. Great work. Keep it up. 73
Thank you!
Thanks, this video, and the your codeplug, saved me time and headaches. When I received the unit, earlier this morning, it include the programing cable, thank you, and I loaded the codeplug, from the link you supplied. So much time saved, so the fun can begin. Thanks again.
Great to hear!
Great video, Dude! Look like a very interesting radio and I like the direction you're going with the code plug. Hope Retevis continues to work with you on it
Thanks HRD. Good thorough review and a lot of thoughtful changes.
Thanks
simple is great. I'm just thinking about getting GMRS ability. I appreciate your efforts Sir
All the best. Thank You!
Excellent work brother, would love to see a video of setting up the radio for 2m / 70cm bands as well. Thanks
I don’t see any reason why a GMRS radio should not have VFO mode. Why would you not want the ability to listen to channels 7-14 or ham frequencies?
I would think you should be able to add 7-14 with the software, either as receive only, or even low legal power.
@@dougdanielsI can do that, makes sense. Thanks
Great modifications in your code plug. I don't see why anyone would object to the code plug providing access to broadcast FM and to NOAA channels and to listen to amateur frequencies. I can do that with my Baofeng GMRS HT, so why not on a mobile! I'm surprised to not see it elsewhere in the comments, but since GMRS operators understand channels more so than frequencies, is it possible to change the programming to display channel numbers for the GMRS channels rather than frequencies?
yes, goto edit - function setup - display mode - name
Super scanning mode don't stop on conversion only on slow scan mode it stop's let me know if you know how to fix
The FCC I believe started to require GMRS radios to be narrow band by default, because they don't want people using 25 khz bandwidth on the GMRS freqs. You can still TX up to 20 kHz wide which is almost true wide band like ham FM (25 khz). Correct me if I'm missing something, but as I read the FCC laws, ham bands have 20 kHz +/- 5 kHz deviation. GMRS says something else that I cannot remember, but I want to say it's a 20 kHz max bandwidth including whatever deviation your device may be putting out. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember after the latest update they made to the GMRS bands. You also are only allowed to use 5 watts max on the lower (non repeater channels). You can use up to 50 watts on the repeater outputs for simplex, and of course on the inputs if you are actually going through a repeater. The FCC is trying to find ways to reduce the massive amount of congestion on the GMRS bands that primarily comes from uneducated users, that are not licensed, but using a radio that allows them to do things wrong right out of the box.
According to the rules as posted on ecfr dot gov, last updated on 10/04/2023, nothing has changed with regard to bandwidth. Same old same old 20 kHz ± 5 kHz for the original 15 simplex and 8 repeater input channels.
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙬𝙞𝙙𝙩𝙝𝙨
§95.1773 (a) :
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 20 𝘬𝘏𝘻 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘎𝘔𝘙𝘚 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 462 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 467 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴
§95.1773 (b) :
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 20 𝘬𝘏𝘻 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘎𝘔𝘙𝘚 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 462 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴
𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨
§95.1775 (a) :
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 ± 5 𝘬𝘏𝘻.
§95.1775 (b) :
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 462 𝘔𝘏𝘻 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 ± 5 𝘬𝘏𝘻.
As someone who has had a GMRS license for more than 20 years now, I do agree there is a HUGE problem with unlicensed/rule breaking users particularly over the last decade. Sadly GMRS is going the route of CB radio and the FCC isn't doing a thing about it. At one time they were even considering dropping the license requirement all together. There's simply more money to be made from, along with FAR more budget allocated to, licensing and policing commercial broadcasters.
Merry Christmas Sean. "Dude." :)
Good review. Keep up the good work
Thanks! And thanks for becoming a member
hi there. I use this RA25 in germany for Hamradio stuff. it is nice, but it had a rather annoying roger beep. I could it disable only via chirp... oh.. and fun fact the inbuild scrambler is functional despite the fact that it is illegal for hamradio .. Oh .. do not pay more then 80$ for it.. anything else is a ripoff
Good job Sean. I've been thinking about picking up a pair of these, one for the shack and one for the mobile.
They seem like a good build. I'm going to put it into ham mode and go try to activate a park, lol
Man I envy your knowledge of the coding stuff!!! Great Video
Thanks but really I just opened multiple hex files and compared values of the unlocked code plug to the locked, found the addresses with different values then modified the locked plug, to have it unlocked, and finally saved the code plug then changed the address value back to the original locked value. More of a brute force
Retevis does NOT include the programming cable as of today. Radioddity (DB20-G) does include the cable. It's the same radio with different stickers. Go with Radioddity.
Another reason I am not doing sponsorships with them anymore. They are so cryptic. They tell you they do one thing, but then the Amazon store isn't linked to the main tore/webstie etc. So when they say they'll do something, turns out it is only for their "department". I am sorry they did you dirty.
Great vid
I have the Anytone at779 I made it into a ham version, love it.
Glad to hear you are loving it! Cheers.
I would like to see 6m added
Good on ya sir!
Anytone cable is fine
Seems as if they use knowledgeable skilled reviewers like yourself to fix all the problems for them instead of employing there own tech guys.
If you did that I would buy it for sure!
Hopefully what I did is useful to some
Anyone know if the RA25 comes with this code plug stock now? Also I love the vfo function. I like monitoring my EMS channels
Hey, great vid. I'm a little lost on how to load the code plug to the radio? Is there another video?
There isn't another video. It should be the same as the normal codeplug: download the RA25 software, open the file in the software and write to the radio. www.ailunce.com/blog/retevis-ra25uv-dual-band-mobile-radio-pc-programming-tutorial
Any information on how you modify the code plug? Is that the dat file that the cps creates or something different?
This is basically the same radio as the RT98 UHF version, right?
For a GMRS radio, why is the channel number so hard to see? I don’t understand why the channel number and frequency aren’t about the same. Or maybe swap from memory mode to VFO. I’d like it to be simple for my wife to use GRMS
I'd have to check, but there may be different display settings
Did you disassemble it? What is the main chip? RDA or BEKEN inside?
Help I did not disassemble it. fccid.io/T4K-779UV/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-4955980
Just saw your video.
Confused about comments related to code plug.
Do I need to download code plug to radio?
Is it the same software that Radioddity DB20-G has: more channel, NOAA, HAM Freq. ETC
Does the RA25 do split tones?
Yes I made a code plug or a file that shows programming for the GMRS radio. This code plug was written for the Retevis gmrs radio. It is not required but if you don't use it, there may be problems using GMRS as it's intended to be used. I don't know if this works with any other radios because I don't have any other radios. And as I mentioned yes this radio can be unlocked to do it all like ham vans and GMRS, but I was writing a code plug so that people who don't want to worry about accidentally transmitting out of band don't have to worry about it
@@HAMRADIODUDE How do you download the plug code into the software from the computer?
Nice video thanks! Nobody dealt with the software issues like you did. BTW, the codeplug link says the file was deleted. Is it possible to re-load it? The RA25 software supplied on the support link at the Retevis site is horrible.
Thanks for letting me know. I thought that file issue was resolved. I'll get it uploaded first thing in the morning and respond back.
@@HAMRADIODUDE Thank you
we.tl/t-XUDwp9GGCZ
@@HAMRADIODUDE Thank you very much. Downloaded the file. Will upload to radio shortly.
@@sdecanio thank you. Please let me know. I can make necessary changes
Still shipping without the programming cable! Still waiting for mine! I can not remove CTCSS codes on radio without cable.
This is alarming. Could you provide me with a few details? Was this purchased on Amazon or Retevis direct and did you reach out to retevis? If @retevisquestionsandanswers9296 is not fulfilling their portion of this agreement, I will make it known and clear my name. My apologies you have to go through this.
Hi Ed, I spoke with them this evening. They are very concerned that someone received no cable with their package. Would you be able to tell me how long ago you purchased yours and from where? Thanks
Ebay Retevis Seller 12-12-2022
code plug upload expired already
All right I'll get you a new code pull up link this afternoon. As far as purchasing it from eBay, Did you contact retevis directly to let them know. I'm just trying to get more details so that I could help the situation
I bought this unit about a year ago to use in my truck as a gmrs radio for hunting purposes.. I find that when we're out as a group, it doesn't pick up the beginning of someone else speaking, and I only hear part of or sometimes none of the TX. Would love feed back of; if I can improve this issue? Thanks
Still hoping for some feedback...
I guess this isn't a noticeable concern for anyone else??
I got rid of the radio after I did the work for them and reviewed it.. I typically do that. Maybe contact Retevis? Good luck.
Also if you don't hear any of the speaking sometimes, are you on the same CTCSS tone as the other person you can't hear
@@HAMRADIODUDE it will always pickup the rx. It just might be missing the first 2-3 seconds of the beginning.. not like I can't pickup any of the rx though unless it's just a "yep. Or 10-4". If I use a Motorola handheld gmrs beside it, I can hear the entirety of the rx. I'm hoping it's something with a squelch setting etc.. if not I'll just have to live with it until I can afford the midland.
Are you willing to sell. A copy of your code plug?
drive.google.com/file/d/18UzldnkFflwETZ_2pTQJ0t4hp_pmGplH/view?usp=sharing . There's a link there. Hopefully it helps. Cheers
@@HAMRADIODUDE kewl thank you.
Can you monitor air bands as well?
I'd say not, because they're AM mode, but I'll double check for you!
Sorry for the delay, no air bandd
Code plug link says it was deleted.
@@HAMRADIODUDE Thats the link Iused. When you click on it, It says "The transfer you requested has been deleted."
@@WG5Xradio I literally just created that new link.. if that one was also deleted, I need to find a new file house
Here's a new host. Please let me know we.tl/t-XUDwp9GGCZ
@@HAMRADIODUDE Thanks dude, this one worked. I'm at work. When I get home, I'll unzip it and see if I can figure out how to use it.
Glad it worked. Correction on that codeplug though. Fixed in here - we.tl/t-CZG2bwvz0l The first one wouldn't write due to an off hex value.
Did Retevis upgrade the RA25 GMRS to your modifications to the firmware / code plug ?? #hamradiodude @hamradiodude
You'd have to ask them to be honest with you. I told them they were free to use it, and I send it to them. They sounded very receptive of it, but I just don't know. Furthermore there's a lot of confusion because apparently there's a retivist on the web and a redevis on Amazon which are different entities or divisions. So that makes things all confusing because for example, in the video I mentioned about the programming cable. Later I find out that the programming cable isn't supplied with the Amazon division but only with the Retevis website. What I'm trying to say is that although I like the radio, there inner division separation makes things difficult to know exactly what they're doing. Lol. However, if you need help loading the code plug, I'd be happy to help you
The radio is great hut it's software is TRASH TRASH TRASH.
I tried to help them. Although they initially seemed responsive, it's like anything else - the excitement faded and they went back to the 90's style software .