TYT MD-380 - DMR/Moto TRBO Ham Radio

Just discovered DMR radio and it seems like this is the entry point to the DMR networks due to price. I had no idea what to expect with DMR and whether I would even like it so it is a no brainer to not spend huge dollars on a DMR radio. Now that I am on and listening to some of the popular talk groups it seems that just about everyone has one and lots and lots of people use them for their daily radio. They seem very prevalent on DMR.I ordered one on Amazon and the first one I received had a hardware issue. The keypad or at the least the Menu button didn't work. I sent it back and ordered another one. The 2nd radio performs flawlessly.If you are new to DMR know this. It is somewhat difficult and unintuitive to program your radio to reach your talk groups either via hotspot or repeater. Because of the popularity of the MD-380 there are dozens of excellent videos on YouTube regarding programming. For a brand new DMR user this is worth its weight in gold.On the downside this radio only does single band UHF although if you operate with a hotspot that will always be adequate. Where it wouldn't be adequate is if you didn't have a hotspot and your area has a VHF repeater or the campsite where you camp only has a VFH repeater nearby so before you spend the money on a UHF radio make sure you have a UHF repeater nearby otherwise you will be buying or building a hotspot.The MD-380 is a big bang for small buck radio in my opinion. Also someone reverse engineered the thing and created open source firmware which adds some amazing capabilities to the radio. (Be advised running the OpenSource MD380tools voids the warranty) It has a DMR ID database which displays the users name and call sign on the screen and about a dozen other tricks up its sleeve. Who cares about a warranty for a sub $100 radio anyway.If you are new to DMR, know nothing about it, THIS is your entry point for a lot of reasons. Cost, technical resource availability, open source firmware. Can't go wrong here.

I'm really enjoying this radio. It's a fantastic first DMR device. Hint - check the local repeaters (use repeaterbook) and make sure you get the right flavor of radio. This is a single band radio. For me, that means 70cm in my home area. Others will need the 2m variety.At the price these were going for when I got it, it's a no brainer. Just get it and play. There are better radios and there are supposed to be dual banders on the way, but why wait and why early adopt when these are so affordable? This is the one to have -until- that perfect radio is available at a price you're willing to pay.Be warned though - be prepared to find and use a "code plug." A code plug is a configuration file that can be loaded into the radio and -boom- the radio is set up and ready to go, except for radio Id for the DMR aspect.For example, rmham dot org has code plugs for a number of radios including this one, but is intended for the rocky mountain area. The TYT configuration software simply read the file and then wrote the configuration to the radio. You'll want to add your own "channels" "zones" and scan lists. Here, a channel is just the parameters for contacting a repeater or other radio.Anyways - out of the box the thing was a mysterious brick. The first DMR QSO came 15 minutes later after installing the software and uploading the code plug. It's that simple if you let it be that simple. Note - I did spend a bunch of time reading up on DMR before ordering the radio.Software oddness - it is distributed as a "rar" archive. Windows 10 does not understand that format. I used 7-zip to unpack the rar. Also, I grabbed the most recent software from TYT (tyt888 dot com) instead of using the supplied optical disk. That said, this is pretty good radio programming software. It could be better and I'd love to send a wish list to TYT, but it is pretty easy to use. Especially after loading the code plug because the code plug is a working sample and a great starting point.It's nice that the TYT software is good. Last I checked, Chirp can't program this radio. Also, I doubt this radio can be programmed from the key pad. Certainly not without huge frustration.Programming cable oddness - the programming cable that came with the TYT MD380 seems to be incompatible with my Boafeng UV-5R.

Well, the last one I ordered and bought from Amazon lasted for one day. After hesitation, I did buy another one. It has so many excellent reviews all over the Internet.Everyone conviinced me, my last one was a fluke. This one impresses me. I live in SE Wisconsin. Yesterday, I talked to a gentleman in Dallas, TX and one on the "Isle of Man" near Scotland. Today, I talked to a mobile in Chatanooga, TN. and a man in Michigan. The audio quality is phenominal! It sounds like the person is right there.Unfortunately, stock, the radio really does not tell you who you are talking to, no call sign, no name, not even what frequency. It almost needs the mdtoolz hack. Unfortunately, the hack no longer has a volume bar (you don't really need it), nor control over the Display light. However, it will show the call sign, name and frequency of whom you are talking to.Ugh, the first radio came from one vendor, marketed by Amazon. The second radio came from a totally different vendor, at a higher price! Well guess what! Both radios were packaged exacttly the same, from TYT. And neither included the advertised programming software! The software I could only get from the Radioddity web site and the software is by Tytera, not the TYT web site as mentioned by Amazon.Once programmed, the configuration file is called (by Amateurs), a Code Plug. The Code Plug software is not like Chirp, or RT Systeme, where they use a spreadsheet and programming is quite simple. No, the Tytera programmiing software seems to be based on a relational database. I'm temporarily using a friend's code plug while creating a very elaborate spreadsheet with 11 worksheets (tabs) from his Code Plug.. Then, I'll write my own configuration file, er code plaug, specifically for my radio.