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Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2025
Part of this 5-star rating is for exceptional customer service. Item received did not include the USB power adapter, just the charging base. Contacted the seller. Seller replied within an hour or two requesting additional information to ship a replacement. Replacement was shipped within two days from US warehouse, with follow-up emails with shipping and tracking information.As to the radio, I now own five of these, two as the Quansheng UV-K5 from another seller and three of the Retevis RA-79 from this seller. With the Egzumer firmware upgrade and CHIRP programmability they are an excellent radio for the price-with features not found on the Baofeng variants. Good starting radio for a new Ham. One of our clubs bought a dozen to give to new operators when they pass the Tech exam.A couple of notes:--the Retevis battery is listed as either 1400 or 1600 mAh. My tester shows them as 2500 mAH. You will get around 24 hours of RX tuned to NOAA weather radio. A full recharge from 0% to 100% is about 4 hours with the charging base. Plugging directly into the USB charging port on the radio is slower and variable.--the Retevis includes a Windows 11-compatible programming cable. Some of the Quansheng models do not. As noted above, it is compatible with CHIRP programming software (use the Quansheng)--without the Egzumer or similar firmware upgrade and factory programming software this is probably more of a 3-star radio for the price.
Bob
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2025
Very nice HT and not that expensive and for the price is does everything you wantHas Dual band and can receive all kinds I’d frequencies besides transmit on your ham band channelsI am going to get one more for a spare and better radio than I thought receiving all kinds of band and give it five stars
Gary K
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2024
I already have four Yaesu handhelds, several other Beofeng radios, so I'm well aware of how to program these radios and also know how similar they all are, so when one stands out its worth mentioning and to me this one is worth a positive review. First, I like the large volume knob that is well-marked and highlighted so that it's easy to find and grab. It feels good and is a positive, smooth, feel. The menu function is easy to access and once you are in the menu/setup screen the way it displays the menu item is unique to the other radios I have and is much more intuitive and easy to understand. You have the menu item selection on the left of the display and the value on the right side of the display.Another feature worth mentioning is that when you go to store the frequency from the VFO mode into the Channel mode (of which there are 200 memories) you don't have to go through multiple saving of the frequency and values like you do on many of the Baofeng models. With this radio, as long as you have your offset information correct and CTCSS tone programmed correctly, you only have to enter/define the channel number once. You are not required to delete the memory position (if there is a value in it) first because the menu now ask whether you want to overwrite the memory, if there is already a value in it. Programming is a bit more simple with this model. Otherwise, the menu/setup system is very similar to all the other radios.The price is/was affordable, and the sound/audio quality from this radio is very good as well. I also like the way that the radio provides several functions from the front DTMF pad using a function (F) button to enable you simple yet fast operation and access to many of the feature of the radio. The manual that is included is also very much improved over many of the other manuals, but it's nowhere near what you get with Yaesu and nowhere near perfect. All in all, though, this radio is worth consideration and provides good value for the person looking for a non-Baofeng Chinese radio that is affordable as well.
Dennis Voorhees
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2024
Heck of a deal for 19 bucks. This is a rebadged Quansheng UV-5k. With a readily available firmware upgrade this radio will do some really neat things. I have mine to do receive on aircraft and multiband scanner receive. The radio also does well as a 2 meter and 440 as a transceiver. The radio came with a programming cable, but I used another that featured an FTDI chip, that I highly recommend. The current $18 radio does not come with the programming cable. If you don't have one I recommend the $12 FTDI cable. I wrote a review on this cable recently. One other nit is it comes with a 5 volt wall wart charger, usb cord and drop in charger. I prefer the actual Quansheng for a few bucks more with a 110 plug in, drop in charger. Fun, useful, versatile radio at a very cheap price.
Springfield
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2024
The Retevis RA79 is a re-branded UV-K5, which has radio buffs excited by its reprogrammable firmware. It is not ready to use right out of the box and must be programmed with frequencies using Chirp-next or vendor software. Mine came with a programming cable. Easy to setup for ham frequencies as well as FRS, GMRS, MURS, and Marine channels. Use the same cable to flash custom firmware like egzumer or kamilsss665 to add many cool features like a spectrum analyzer, text messaging, better AM with USB, and full frequency range. There are even 3rd party hardware kits to add 10 meter (and CB) transmit capabilities. A heck of a lot of radio for under $20.
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