Kydera DP-550S info and downloads

Compatibility
This radio does not seem to be compatible with any other dPMR radios. The reason why is unknown. If you have this radio and have got it to work with other dPMR radios please leave a comment or contact me.

Instructions for programming

For earlier radios you will need the earlier programming software. If you try one version and it doesn't work (it will give an error like "Agent id not match") then try the other one instead.

So try to read the radio first before putting any information into the codeplug. If you can't read it with the software you downloaded then use the other one.

Comparison of DMR radios

The date at the top is only the date this article was originally posted. It does not change when I update the post!

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Please link to this page instead of copying because I will be regularly updating this table with new radios and new data.

Please contribute
If you spot any errors or out of date information or if you have more information to add, please leave a comment below or send me an email. Check contact page for details.

Anything with a ? in is something I don't know. If you do, then please help by telling me. If I have missed out any Chinese DMR radios please tell me in the comments.

Disclaimer
Information in this table is not guaranteed. I have made my best effort to provide correct information but there could be errors. Please check before buying, and if you find a mistake please let me know!

Legal information
This comparison is made for licensed amateur radio operators. It is illegal to use any of these radios on licence free channels such as PMR446 or FRS (including GMRS). Radios used on FRS and GMRS must be certified for use on these channels by the FCC. Radios used on PMR446 must have 0.5W maximum output power, and a fixed antenna.

First look at the new Ailunce HD1!

This is a pretty exciting radio as it's the first radio I know of to be made specifically for amateurs. It has a VFO or frequency mode so you can just type in the frequency without having to enter it into a channel, unlike other DMR radios which were made for the commercial market.

Watch the video for more:

Baofeng UV-5S. Waterproof dual band HT programming software

I recently bought this radio to test out, and I'm quite pleased by it. It seems to work well, and I tested how waterproof it is in my video on it.

Dual band DMR radios: Ailunce HD1 and TYT MD-2017

Ailunce HD1 prototype.
Image courtesy of @l_Steven59_l

A dual band DMR radio is something that has been on many people's wish lists for quite a while now. The first dual band DMR radio to be released is the TYT MD-2017, but should you buy it now? My opinion is maybe not.

Although TYT is the first manufacturer to come out with a dual band DMR radio, it definitely will not be the only one for long.

Ailunce (part of Retevis) is working on a radio called the Ailunce HD1 which is expected to be released around mid June 2017. With the release of this radio, the TYT MD-2017 may have to drop its price to compete, so if you can wait a couple of months, you may save yourself a good amount of money.

If we look at the trend with earlier Chinese-made DMR radios such as the TYT MD-380, we see that the price started off high but decreased as more similar radios came onto the market. Especially since TYT is forcing retailers to sell the radio at a fixed price right now, the prices should come down significantly once there is some competition.

Not counting the Baofeng DM-5R and other "fake" DMR radios (see this post), the release of the Ailunce HD1 will bring the number of dual band DMR radios on the market to two, and inevitably more will follow.

Price fixing and the TYT MD-2017

A post on Trilogy's website suggests that TYT may be engaging in resale price maintenance with radio dealers in the UK and possibly worldwide. Is this legal in the UK? A review of online documentation would suggest not.

Resale price maintenance (RPM) is defined by the Competition and Markets Authority: "RPM is where a supplier and a retailer agree that the retailer will not resell the supplier’s products below a specified price."

Note: I used the term price fixing in the title of this post. Technically retail price maintenance is not the same thing as price fixing, however they are both actions that harm the consumer by causing a price not to lower with competition. Both of these practises are illegal in many countries.

Screenshot of the webpage on Trilogy's website

Decoding TETRA on Windows!

To capture the signals I was using an RTL SDR which is a very cheap device that allows you to tune to a wide range of frequencies. You can find one to buy at this link:
http://smarturl.it/rtlsdr (Redirecting link for your local area)

Video by cURLy bOi who wrote the wintelive software: https://youtu.be/OTKn1UwYMBI

The audio on this TETRA system is often not very good. I'm not sure of the exact reason for this but it sounds like they have the mic gain set to a fixed value rather than using AGC, so their voices are often way too loud or way too quiet. I don't know why they would do this. Maybe the radios they use aren't able to do AGC, in which case they must not be very good radios. I had to adjust the audio gain in this clip to reduce the volume of some radio users and increase the volume of others.

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Baofeng DM-5R Programming software download

I noticed that it was very difficult to find a working link to download this software since everybody else was linking to the file hosted on radioddity.com which they had removed. I found a working download link eventually but thought I would post a new link online so others can find it easily. If you want to provide a file for download, please host it yourself or put it on some file host instead of just linking to someone else's download!
Anyway here it is:
Download
The link contains the software for the Baofeng DM-5R DMR radio for Windows and Mac OS.

Baofeng DM-5R demystified

The first time ever the Baofeng DM-5R has been explained honestly and without BS. If you noticed the poll in the card, please do answer it. I'd like to know what you think of it.

DMR: Tier 1 vs Tier 2

Different tiers of DMR explained simply.



Here is an example of some real DMR tier 1 radios being sold by Hytera:
http://www.dmrtier1.com/en/

Also see my blog post on the topic of dodgy chinese DMR radios such as the DM-5R:
http://radiosification.blogspot.com/2016/12/dmr-radios-to-avoid.html