BEST Budget Mobile Ham Radio (Seriously I'm Impressed)

This small, ultra compact, dual-band mobile transceiver, the Retevis RT95, also know as the Anytone AT-778UV is designed to operate on the 2 meter and 70 cm amateur radio bands. It provides flexible power output options ranging from 5 to 25 watts, exceptional ergonomics, robust construction, and features a vibrant full-color TFT LCD screen.

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Retevis sent me this radio for free in exchange for a review.

⏱️Chapters⏱️
0:00 The RT95 radio overview
1:30 Ease of Use & Features
3:40 Flipping the Screen
4:12 Other Menus
5:04 Dual Speaker Microphone
6:45 Audio is SWEET!
8:37 Power Output Test
9:23 Spectral Purity and Emissions
10:39 Unlock for more frequencies
12:16 I'm a Fan

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➡️Contact⬅️
📮 Ham Mail: Hayden Honeywood - P.O Box 5071, Sandy Bay 7005, Tasmania, Australia

#HamRadio #AmateurRadio

Music:
YouTube Sound

[TomKDQKK]

I've had one of these radios on my tractor for seven months or so and it's been great! It is covered in dust and subjected to all sorts of vibration and weather. I'm putting another one in my side by side. I can't say enough about how pleased I've been with it.

[chrispy]

Had my 778 out yesterday for a club display at a festival. Fits in a padded case with a DC. Supply, speaker & cables. A tripod, pole and a GP-1 antenna and this is my grab and go radio for field ops, works great.

[jordanclarke]

Got the anytone version in the car. On the dash in full sun gets used almost everyday for about 2 years has not missed a beat.

[HansKillinger]

Love my RT95. I modded the faceplate to be detachable, and added a 80mm pc fan which keeps it ice cold. Programmable buttons is a nice addition too, allowing you to put what you need most on the front menu.

[michaelhope]

I have the Anytone variants. Made a backpack with lithium battery for WICEN events. Works well. I have one in the car, one in the shack and the backpack one. Got them for $130 delivered. No complaints.

[brucel]

I have two of the 778s and giving 2 of them to friends as gifts. These are pretty good units. Paired with a good antenna, ive gotten about 35-40 miles worth of simplex use, and have hit repeaters from even much farther away.

[HowToHam_Tom]

I traded an iPhone X for one of these. I really love this radio!! I paired it with the Ailunce Footswitch/Desk mic set and it’s a SOLID performer. Using it a while. Ask me anything.

[marshallmcdonald]

I've got one of those. Picked it up online for $99 (US) a couple of years ago. In my shack as my radio for using the local repeaters. Great little radio. Love it.

[mikesradiorepair]

Have nothing but Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood radios in all my vehicles but one. Modern cars with no room to mount my old favorites. I picked up one of these many years ago when they were first released. My long term review would be 4.0 out of 5 stars. Menu is a little clunky but you get use to it and the scan speed is painfully slow. Main problem I experienced was after a couple of years on the coldest days in the winter when the radio is powered up the screen will be solid bright white. As soon as the interior / radio warm up even a little a power cycle of the radio it returns the screen to normal. Have seen this problem on a lot of Chinese radios from numerous other manufacturers and it's almost always just a intermittent connection on the flat flex cable between the main board and front panel board. Take the radio apart, unplug and reinsert the flat flex cable a couple of times and it usually is fine for several more years. Never bothered with my radio because I know that after only a couple of minutes I can power cycle it and the display returns to normal. Just something to be aware of if you ever run into the white screen issue.

[chrisdelong]

The TYT dual band is waterproof for 135.oo. The screen has been reported to go blank white on the rt95.

[Cubasenet]

More than happy with mine. I use to programm it with Chirp. Super forward and easy. I've put a PC fan over the top of it due to some complaints about getting hot when transmiting at full power. Thanks for the vid.

[davidp]

I installed one of these in my wife’s car. IMO it’s the best bang for your buck out there for dual band mobile radios.

[glmn-ron]

I have an Anytone variant bought a year or so ago. Mine had really low TX audio, that turned out to be a microphone fault. The microphone module in the fist unit was poorly aligned with the hole in the plastic. The fix was to drill out the hole bigger. It looks like this was a common problem, maybe more recent units have fixed this issue.

[cranedaddy]

Ditto on your review. I love these radios so much I actually bought two of them during prime day this summer. My only complaint is the scanning is so and it's not a true dual watch meaning it can only receive 1 signal at a time but overall like you said it's a great radio.

[renegtz]

I have that radio on its Anytone version in my truck. I've had it for several years now, it is a great radio for the price, I program it with its own software since thera are some functions that you can't modify if you use chirp. All in all, great radio. I am very satisfied with it.

[jamess]

Your glowing RT95 review is making me seriously consider the RT9000D 220 radio.
Thanks Hayden.
73

[temporarilyoffline]

I'm a big fan of this little radio. I can't wait until I get mine back.

[TheRenoir]

I have one, very happy with it. The case which acts as a heatsink can get very hot when using high power setting on those longer overs. It's around AU$200 which is good value for a dual bander and when unlocked can get you access to UHF CB if you can put up with it.

[TonyLing]

It is indeed a great little affordable radio. It does suffer a little bit from Rx swamping on say hilltop sites, but in the main, it is a great little radio for the price.

[schmidtyyt]

Hayden, I'm a brand new ham and you are one of my very favorite ham Youtubers. And I don't even speak Australian! 🦘 Thanks for the great content.