EB017 - iRadio UV-98 / Radtel RT-880 Radio Output Power & Harmonics Test

In this video I perform tests on the iRadio UV-98 / Radtel RT-880 to determine the RF power output and how good it is at attenuating of unwanted harmonics.

Bands tested: 17m, 15m, 12m, 11m/CB, 10m, 6m, 4m, 2m, 1.25m & 70cm.

You can purchase the radio here:

Or from Radtel direct with a 5% off discount code with the code:ELECTROBANANAS
RT-880:
RT880G:

IRadio UV98 Plus

The spectrum analyser I used:

The VNA. Note that the VNAs are available in two screen sizes, 2.8” and 4”. I highly recommend the 4” version.

[TechShortsUK]

Your video is on point and very to the point, I have been looking at this radio for a few weeks now and its been driving my brain mad with youtubers just flooding the space with absolute awful content of button pressing and nonsense videos of silly things about this radio, The main thing about this sort of video is what its going to be used for and if its going to be used for TX then having a clean signal is a must. But the others seem to skip this information and tell everyone how amazing by pressing buttons 200 times in a video.

Thank you for your video it was spot on..

[BDPA]

Second harmonic, output power and stray emission indicators are the most important points for judging a machine. Thank you for sharing! Thanks for the measurement data.

[willkendallpro]

Thank you for the great testing. I wish all reviewers would be this thorough.

[richardjonsson]

Super good testing and presentation! It really helps when looking for new kit and want to make informed decisions. It probably also sends a message back to manufacturers that they need to pay attention to detail if they want sales. 73 from SA5BTF.

[stevedewsnap]

Thank you so much for doing such a great review on these radios, I wish more people would do an in depth review. My friend.

[jean-lucaudoin]

Thanks for the extensive testing! The results speak for themselves, nothing to argue about. I assume it would be very complex to design proper filters for that many bands in such a small enclosure. 73 from F4LBH

[georgelasko]

I want to say thank you for your testing. It’s valuable information.
I have subscribed, but haven’t looked at all of your videos as
of yet. These radios, especially this one is very complicated,
and the Nano VNA which I have.
73, and thanks again.

[craigspada]

Great video! interesting outcome, I still love my VX-7r. 73's Thanks Again WA2TWF

[bigcatdetective]

Once again a no nonsense look and review and of a radio everyone is talking about, thanks very much! When I see these Jack of all trades radios in small packages I think whilst it might be possible to transmit on all those frequencies why would I want to? It seems to be marketing to me, designed to attract those who want lots of bangs for their buck. I've got a perfectly good cb hand held (a president) so why would I want to use another? It just doesn't interest me. I would only use it on 2metres and less so on 70cm and I'm glad to see your tests show it's ok on this. It doesn't surprise though as signal and audio reports I've had on 2 metres have been excellent which would point to having efficient output (less dirty) on metres. Sure, air band receive is useful to me and what attracted me to this radio is hf receive. My big beef with this radio is that a standard antenna won't fit on it and I had to mod one to fit as the Radtel one that fits is rubbish! A friend is obsessed with handheld antenna swr so I'm off to look at those videos. Thanks again for such a thorough, accurate and honest review.

[DFOO]

Thanks for your testing. The right column of your table should read "dBc" and not "dBm". The manufacturer's firmware should only allow TX in 26-30 MHz and on the 2m and 70cm amateur bands. With the measured 1st harmonic level, when transmitting on the 70cm band, the unit fails the European Radio Equipment Directive (RED) and (legally) cannot carry a CE label.

[LoftechUK]

Radtel has just brought out a firmware for this exact radio. Is there any chance of doing this test with the new firmware

[itcvlog]

hello, i can see that you transmit on the left antenna, butt is the rx on the same antenna also for CB or do you need to use the midlle antenna connector for rx?

[nohandleleft]

Thanks for all the button clicking sir 🙂
Are there any (Chinese) radios that perform well in these tests?

[Cheordig]

Newbie here, not long passed the Foundation exam. I bought the Radtel version based on other reviews that said the harmonics were good across bands. Also I've seen others reviewers get around 4 watts on the CB band. All a bit confusing. Is the radio a keeper, bearing in mind I can't use 4m on Foundation anyway?

[garylanders]

I thought that the second antenna port was for the HF frequencies?
I would like to see you re-test using that antenna port when applicable.

[michelfrias]

Hi. I need to know: this radio can TX in the CB band in SSB mode ??? Thanks

[johnharrison]

That is similar to the output power readings I got with my power meter. I don't have the equipment to measure the harmonics correctly, but I could see on the equipment I do have that the output, when set to 70MHz, was similar at both 70 and 140MHz. Not that good, really. I wonder if the firmware update will improve this?

[Charlie-Jndc]

Hello..please help. I saw that you are testing 4adio on 70Mhz. In the Czech Republic we use free frequencies on 77-81mhz. CAN THIS RADIO TRANSMIT HERE? Because in the description there is only 6m, but not 4m band..Or maybe, what power

[winterburan]

great review, after all what do you expect for such a low cost? If I were the designer I would have improved the amateur radio bands and increased the price, it has a too low price in general and the 10W are only written because the reality is different, the innovative RT880 remains a beautiful radio, with a unique triple frequency display and triple mode for the 3 indications, it's a shame it wasn't better taken care of in TX

[TAC-Operator]

After the firmware update the power went up to 4.7W on 27mhz.