| Radio model | Digital mode | Approx. price | Waterproofing | Notes | Availability |
| Icom IC-F4029SDR | dPMR | - | None | First digital PMR446 radio. | Discontinued. Icom recommends IC-F29DR2 instead. |
| Icom IC-F29SDR | dPMR | - | IP67 (submersible) | Icom IC-F29DR with display. | Not officially discontinued but availability is poor |
| Icom IC-F29DR | dPMR | - | IP67 (submersible) | Discontinued - Replacement is Icom IC-F29DR2 | |
| Kenwood TK-3401D | dPMR | - | IP54 (splashproof) & IP55 (water jets) | Discontinued - Replacement is Kenwood TK-3701D | |
| Kenwood TK-3601D | dPMR | - | IP67 (submersible) | Not officially discontinued but availability is poor | |
| Motorola XT660d / XT665d | dPMR | - | IP55 (water jets) | Motorola's first and only digital PMR446 radio. XT665d includes LPD channels (low power, not PMR446 and they have worse range so not much benefit of having these channels). The dPMR association claims that this is not a dPMR radio, but I received a recording of the digital signal from someone who says they have this radio and it decoded using some software that decodes dPMR signals, so I think the dPMR association are mistaken and it is a dPMR radio (maybe just not certifiied by them). | Discontinued - No replacement. Motorola only sells analogue PMR446 radios now. |
| Hytera PD355LF | DMR | - | IP54 (splashproof) | Discontinued | |
| Hytera PD365LF | DMR | - | IP54 (splashproof) | Discontinued | |
| Icom IC-F29DR2 | dPMR | - | IP67 (submersible) | Programming cable is about £50 and software (CS-F29DR2) is about £24. | Discontinued. Replacement is IC-F29DR3. |
Current radios:
| Radio model | Digital mode | Approx. price | Waterproofing | Notes | Availability |
| Icom IC-F29DR3 | dPMR | £192 | IP67 (submersible) | Programming cable is about £40 and software (CS-F29DR3) is apparently available from dealers. Icom says software from the last model (the IC-F29DR2) is not compatible so you have to buy new software (which is rather a shame because the radios appear to be functionally identical with the DR3 only having a more powerful speaker).This radio seems a good choice. | Good availability |
| Kenwood TK-3701D | dPMR | £145 | IP54 (splashproof) & IP55 (water jets) | Programming software is about £20 and cable is generic kenwood style so many can be found cheaply. Range test video. A good choice. | Good availability |
| Alinco DJ-PAX4 | dPMR | €180 | IP67 (submersible) | Programming software freely available online. Cable looks to be kenwood style so should be cheap. Seems like it could be a good choice. | Good availability in EU only |
| Wouxun KG-D26 | dPMR | €199 | IP54 (splashproof) | Programming software freely available online, but it shows that it doesn't use common IDs as is recommended for dPMR446 equipment (so programming is more complicated). May work fine just for groups who will only use this radio out of the box and not need to reprogram to talk to other dPMR446 radios. At the price I wouldn't recommend it and would just go for the Kenwood instead if you only need IP54 rating. | Good availability in EU only |
| Dynascan DA-350 | dPMR (AMBE+2C) | €175 | IP67 (submersible) | Uses AMBE+2C vocoder (not the standard AMBE+2 that most other radios use) so will not be compatible with other radios, except in analogue mode. Looks like a rebranded cheap Chinese radio so probably not as good quality as other brands. Could not find it available in the UK so price is in euros. | Good availability in EU only |
| Hytera BD305LF | DMR | £97 | IP54 (splashproof) | Not so good build quality and uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR. Not recommended. | Good availability |
| Hytera BD505LF | DMR | £153 | IP54 (splashproof) | Not so good build quality and uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR. Not recommended. | Good availability |
| Hytera PD505LF | DMR | £178 | IP54 (splashproof) | Seems better build quality than Hytera BD series. Uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR. | Good availability |
| Hytera BP515LF | DMR | £144 | IP54 (splashproof) | Uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR. | Good availability |
My recommendations
For PMR446 use, dPMR is better for most users because it uses 6.25 kHz channels rather than 12.5 kHz. DMR has to do some trickery to allow the same effective number of channels (32) which not all radios do, whereas with dPMR there are 32 channels by default. dPMR mode also gives better range. For these reasons I recommend people pick dPMR radios over DMR when choosing digital PMR446 walkie talkies.I also don't recommend the Dynascan DA-350 because it looks like a rebranded cheap Chinese radio so the quality is dubious and it won't work with any other dPMR radios (unless they happen to use the same non-standard vocoder). I have the Kenwood TK-3701D and I can recommend it. It works very well and is much better value for money than the Icom if you don't need IP67. I haven't tried the Icom IC-F29DR3 or the Alinco DJ-PAX4 but they also look like good options especially if you need IP67 rating since the Kenwood is only IP55. Out of the Icom and Alinco I'd probably go for the Alinco because it has programming software that is free and the Icom programming cable is expensive.
If you find any radios I've missed off this page or if any information is out of date, please leave a comment (or email me using the details on my contact page) so I can update it.
This page was last updated 02/07/2023.
Regarding DMR446 radio Hytera BD505LF:
ReplyDeleteI have three of them. Very good radios, with excellent audio, within the range, but I have now switched to Icom IC-F29SDR because of:
I. DMR is not true 6,25 kHz equivalence in simplex as there are no true allocations of the timeslots. (Minor problem for the casual user.)
II. The volume knob is very easy to accidentally change, and there is no minimum volume to program, so by accident you can have a totally blaring audio, or a silent radio, without you noticing it in advance...
On the dPMR radio Icom IC-F29SDR:
ReplyDeleteI. I don't think it's going to be discontinued as it is shown on Icom UK and Icom Europe sites as there PMR446 flagship radio.
II. I like the stiff volume knob as it's not easily changed by accident, and via programming software and cable you can set a minimum volume, so you can be comfortable with the volume in different settings.