Retevis RT73 - The Best Budget Mobile DMR Radio

►Zello: RMComms

[EILJ]

Nice radio, Lewis and it was a pleasure to work you on the demo. 73, Paul M7MVF.

[CB-RADIO-UK]

Smart design with front speaker. Cant believe how small it is till your finger came in shot. very compact.

[rkaag]

Thank you for this! I have been looking for reviews, but it is a new radio after all and not many reviews are out there (at least in English). I eagerly look forward to more on this rig. Would love to see the power measured and a DMR test from your infamous Werneth Low test site!
Thanks again!

[TomSPTL]

Wow! I'm just waiting for this one to arrive! They've sent it 2 days ago. So hope to get it soon. 2nd antenna is mounted already and awaiting Retevis to arrive :) and BTW, this is the first and only proper review YT has seen. Other vids are just so poor. Thnx for that although I already purchased the radio :)

[wushock]

That might be the rig for my motorcycle. Like the form factor. Thanks, Lewis!

[MalcolmHowe]

I bought one of these last week and for the life of me cannot get it into VFO mode on FM (as per the video at 4:54) & the "instruction" manual doesn't help. Anyone have any pointers please, cos am going "nuts" here.

[richardcjay]

I have this radio but it is impossible. The programing is really buggy I just get "data mistake" after "data mistake". Lewis I am very impressed that you have manged to get it to work.

[sylad]

You going to do another video in DMR audio in qso please

[grant]

Now that you have had the Retevis RT73 for a couple months . . . how do you find it now after a couple months?

[michaelr.]

Looks same as the Kydera CDR-300UV. Who is the Original Equipment Manufacturer?

[HamTechRadioScannerDrones]

Hi Lewis is it the same lead as the anytone 878 ?

[peterliljequist]

How is it as a DMR radio since that is why one would buy it over an analog radio.
May be a H.T. radio in a mobile control head size. Is it really 20 watts??

[MrD]

I’ve had one of these for a couple of weeks now. The CPS is quite buggy. After a few hours of building the codeplug I noticed the CPS had deleted data from some of the other zones and merged data from one zone to another. It is very frustrating. I’m using the latest rev of CPS. 
The programming is a bit different from an Anytone or a Connect Systems. The analog receive audio is distorted or slightly off frequency. I’ve been trying to return it to Retevis but they want me to choose the least expensive shipping with no insurance and declare the value at 10 dollars. So what happens when it gets lost in the mail or at Retevis? I’m out 200+ dollars. They tell me to go ahead and send it but I’m not about to risk losing my money without a guarantee of payment. It randomly reboots on me and at times turns off for no reason.
It will not do APRS yet. They tell me that they are working on it. Mine shows 18 watts of output on both UHF and VHF on high power. I haven’t checked low power.

I really like the radio but there are issues with it. I’d recommend waiting for a few months before buying one. They shouldn’t have released it for sale until it is ready for the general public. The CPS needs to be reworked and I don’t understand why it has so many problems. Retevis has been making radios for awhile now. Why can’t they use CPS from another product instead of making a new one? I wish I’d waited. I see the price has dropped from 179 to 169.
It’s the same radio as the Kydera CDR-300.

[MalcolmHowe]

Hi Lewis - I've finally "splurged" and ordered a RT73 but have started looking at the CPS software from the Retevis download site. It's not really like the other CPS that I use for Hytera & TYT, but I have the userdb downloaded and saved as a file etc, but any chance of a few pointers or a short video detailing how it's laid out, as I see no where to enter channel info, DMR user ID and nor does it import any of my existing CodePlugs :-/

[joeframo]

Hey buddy I like their radios I think they make some real nice ones I got the RT 87 handheld is easy to program break from the keypad very good company thank you so much you sounded bloody good cheerio my countrymen from Carrollton Georgia in the USA 🌞

[darren]

Looks good Lewis. Just wondering if it has promiscuous mode? / Digi monitor? Thanks for the vid.

[Pedrok]

Looks a good little radio I have seen it on amazon uk but no one else is selling it in the uk yet understand it had a few problems when it came out but like most of the dmr handhelds in the past hopefully new firmware updates can cure them

[simonj]

Interesting little radio but I'm not sure who their target is.
Initially I though, yea this is going to be bang on for my car, then I thought about where I'd install it. And honestly, I don't think there really is anywhere I could install it.
It seems to rely on the screen quite a bit so mounting it lower down on the side by the legs for example is a no go, same for by the center console/arm rest. So, maybe on top of the dashboard, but then the buttons on top of the radio put that idea out the window as well. It doesn't have a standard DIN size either, so there won't ever be a mount plate for it unless you like the idea of a double din being used, and at that point does it's smaller size make a difference?
At home again, does it really make that much of a difference in the size? I like the idea of it, I really do, but I can't help get past it being something it's not... and that just makes me think, have they just repackaged an standard HT radio?
Shame, when I saw it I had already clicked the link and only stopped to come back (to watch the rest of the video) from buying it because the retevis site wanted me to register before adding it to cart otherwise I think I might have owned one.

[j.alexandertschapka]

The radio is at an beta status, eg how to make a factory reset, so all data are gone? its not the icon in the menu, its channel and power on. And how to setup digital APRS? TG214999 isnt working....

[garyh]

A grear review sir. I like this radio, it looks very nice with the added bonus of a front speaker. Who s the UK distributor, or is it a direct purchase?