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Reviews For: Anytone AT5888UV

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Anytone AT5888UV
Reviews: 18MSRP: 299.99
Description:
Dual Band 2 meter/440 radio with extended receive
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.qxdz.cn/en/index.asp
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00183.6
N0DZQ Rating: 2014-05-20
What-da-ya-want? Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Yes, its cheap. Yes, there are some selectivity issues. And yes, you can tell the Chinese need to catch up with the big boys. But for a mobile rig it is just fine.

I am not one to install costly equipment into a vehicle when it is subjected to extreme environmental issues. Then there is the risk of a kleptomaniac walking away with the thing. I'll keep the frontline equipment at home!

For what it is it works just fine. The receiver is good, the transmitter if fine, the audio is better then some, and it can be cross banded. Hell, people would have given their eyeteeth for something like this a few years back. Even with issues!

For those who give poor reviews on a product knowing it is not up to par with Icom, Kenwood, Yeasu, etc... etc... may want to consider researching before purchasing future items. The internet is a wonderful thing.
WB2RXF Rating: 2014-05-02
Its alright for the price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First off the radio's connected to a diamond X30 with a new 100 foot run of LMR400 at about 115 feet up from street level on a 6 story building. The radio has a nice layout and all, its easy to use, the manuals not really needed, if your use to programming basics, it reminds me of my old Yaesu 8000r back in 2000. I still haven't heard a peep on the 223mhz receive portion, even though I have the major repeaters programed, just some occasional intermod gets thru. The 70cm band portion seems to be almost filter-less, anything and everything -aka intermod gets thru, even with enc/dec on when on memory, but strange enough, when in VFO Mode you can see the carriers but no noise gets thru, only the wanted, said stations. I suppose if the diamond X30 had any-type of dbd gain on 2 meters, I'd have the same issue, although with the 0.8 dbd gain the antenna has, I do get intermod, luckily I kept and attached my trusty 2 meter DCI-Bandpass filter & it makes all the difference. I suppose it's good enough for rural areas, and using via mobile / repeater work. But using it as a base station 1 mile from lower manhattan in brooklyn, leaves a lot to be desired.
KI4RGN Rating: 2014-01-31
Can not beat this radio for the price! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this radio from ebay from Lentinicomm on 01/16/2014

I have not found any issues with this radio as of yet. Now keep in mind, this is NOT a Yaesu radio. I own a Yaesu 8900 and just like any radio you buy there is always a learning curve to be fully comfortable with all of the functions. That being said if you want to nit pick about the AT-5888UV and try to compare it to the 8800 then buy an 8800. Just keep in mind that for the amount you will pay for the 8800 you can purchase 2 of the AT-5888UV's.

This radio is feature packed. After spending several days testing it the first thing I noticed was from the DTMF mic. It offers a very full and clear sound quality that my Yaesu couldn't even come close to touching with the stock mic. This mic makes it possible to completely control the radio from it and even see the transmit and receive status of the radio. And for those noisy environments it has a speaker built into it as well that can be enabled or disabled through the menu functions on the radio. The mic is well build, has a good weight and feel when holding it. When I compare it to my Yaesu counterpart the Anytone mic looks and feel more like a high end commercial grade mic.

This radio comes complete with separation kit, mounting bracket, programming cable, and software. And all of this for 293.00.

I purchased the radio because I wanted an affordable cross band repeat option in the ham shack. The radio more then fits that bill. The cross band feature on it is AMAZING. It also does not appear to have the lockup or noise burst problems my Yeasu 8900 has when coming out of cross band. These are known issues with the Yeasu.

I have not used the programming software that came with it but instead used chirp. I did this from a Linux OS and from a Window 7 install . I did not run into a problem with either. Some people have claimed there is an issue with finding drivers. I did not have this issue and it worked right out of the box. You do have to select the correct COM Port but if you are going to complain about that then really you are just looking for cons and have not given the radio a fair shot.

Another nice feature that this radio offers that none of my Yaesu's offer is a squelch crash eliminator. So long as the repeater sites is equipped with this feature the radio can let the repeater know it has been unkeyed by sending a reversed squelch tone.

These are just a few of the feature's this radio offers. I could go on and on but I highly recommend this radio. For these reason I have rated this radio a 5 out of 5 and really anyone who gave this radio an extremely low score or a zero review did not fairly rate this radio and did not take the time to learn or use the radio.
KD4CWB Rating: 2014-01-31
Great Radio for the price! & can't be beat anywhere! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I ordered one of these radios after hearing one on the air that a friend purchased on eBay. You'll be hard pressed to find a better deal for $293.95. The eBay seller (lentinicomm) is fantastic to deal with! My radio arrived two days after ordering (Connecticut to Tennessee). Price included a full Separation Kit, USB Programming Cable and Software. The Open Source programming software “Chirp” works well with this radio (get Chirp daily updates).

I'll focusing mostly on features unique to this radio and not often found on most radios in its class. I noticed another review here gave the lowest rating possible, which seems entirely unwarranted. The issue that was described seems to match what is called a “Birdie” (a false or phantom signal). A common issue in most modern radios as they have small but powerful microprocessors inside that can occasionally emit unwanted signals. This radio, unlike most has a great feature called “CPU Clock Frequency Change” found on Menu #06 [CLKSFT]. It allows you to shift the CPU frequency to help eliminate, reduce or at least move any “Birdies” that may interfere with the receiver.

Receive sensitivity is above average, great for weak signal work. Like most radios made today, the selectivity is average. I'm currently testing it as a base radio and I'm only a few miles away from a very RF active mountain top with many repeaters and broadcasters, and haven't had any problems. The [MUTE] feature on Menu #25 works well but has a slight speaker pop sound when both bands are receiving, not a big deal. The speaker is nice, loud and clear. CTCSS & DCS Decode is very fast. The manual claims AM Receive on any frequency, common for listening to VHF & UHF Aircraft bands, I haven't tested this yet, I will post updates later.

Transmitter works well. It makes the proper RF power output (+/-5%) depending on supply voltage, just like most radios in its class with 4 Power Levels, VHF: (High=50W) (Mid1=20W) (Mid2=10W) (Low=5W) & UHF: (High=40W) (Mid1=25W) (Mid2=10W) (Low=5W). The radio is 2013 Narrow band compliant (2.5KHz deviation), very important to anyone who might need if for use on commercial and/or public safety frequencies. There is a small and relatively quiet cooling fan on the rear of the rig that helps keep it cool, especially for those long transmissions. The transmit Audio is well equalized and sounds very good, not overdriven, not tin-penny and not muffled. Both CTCSS & DCS encode at the proper levels. Another rare feature (undocumented in the manual), usually available only on more costly commercial or public safety radios and is known by several terms like “Squelch Tail Elimination“, Anti Squelch Crash”, Reverse Burst, etc. When using repeaters equipped with compatible decoders (most commercially made machines), that require a CTCSS or DCS signal to access, this radio sends the proper signal that causes the repeater to mute the repeat audio before the signal drops. A simple description of how it works... the radio continues to transmit for a few milliseconds after you release the PTT button, while the radio sends the proper signal to the repeater that causes the squelch mute to engage before the signal ends. This gives the repeater a very smooth and quiet sound and makes prolonged use very comfortable as you won't hear any squelch noise, except on rare occasions. Most repeaters can achieve a similar muting sound via an audio delay board in the repeater controller.

The Microphone has several advanced features. Back-lighting is above average and brightness can be changed through the menu along with the brightness and background color of the display. You can choose 32 levels for each of the 3 colors (Red, Blue, Green) for the display color. The microphone has 2 separate LED's clearly indicating which band your on, (A or B) and 2 multi-color LED's, Green for Received signal, Red while transmitting. The band select button is large and back-lit blue, easy to see, large PTT and UP/DOWN buttons. Of course it has a full 16 button DTMF encoder and 4 of the keys can be assigned for many functions like Power Output, Repeat/Simplex, Reverse/Input Monitor and others. IF that wasn't enough features, it also has a small speaker inside the Microphone. This is great for times you have a lot of distracting sounds in the background and you want to hear the radio. Simply activate the feature with or without the internal/external speaker being active, menu selected. The speaker in the Microphone is not very loud, but enough for most. Overall, the Microphone has a great look, good weight and feels like a professional / commercial unit.

Compander feature Menu #17 [COMP] works perfectly. Mostly used when operating in narrow band mode. It helps minimize noise and maximize the dynamic range of your voice, best used only when other stations support Companding. The words Compander / Companding is simply a linguistic blend of the words, Compressing and Expanding.

Cross Band Repeat feature is fantastic! Menu #44 [X-RPT]. The audio quality is as good as it gets. It's a good idea to set the time-out-timer, Menu #41 [TOT] to a reasonable time limit to ensure you don't overheat the rig. If your going to use this with repeaters that have long hang times and/or long conversations, consider using an additional (larger) external cooling fan. The body of the radio is the heat sink and is well designed, as the fins are facing up, which helps a great deal for proper heat dissipation.

The radio has many more features, too numerous to outline in my initial review. I will post additional updates &/or revisions soon.

If you are comparing this radio to the Yaesu FT-8800 or FT-8900 Dual Band mobile radio, it may look similar, especially the display. Most everything else is very different, and most importantly, the price is about $150 less.
OE3JTB Rating: 2013-10-05
only for deaf people Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The receiver generates an annoing tone, if squelsh is on and no signal.
Below S3 you cannot understand your partner
after 2 Weeks returned.
See youtube so you will see my experences
W1JWC Rating: 2013-09-11
Excelllent Product for the price. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this radio from Lentini's in Berlin Ct. on September 7, 2013.

I had an intermittent problem with the microphone causing the radio to go into scan mode all by itself and I would also here static in the microphone speaker at the same time. Problem appeared to be related to the microphone cable connecter.

I called Lentini around 4pm on a Monday to explain the problem and in my mailbox Tuesday at noon time was a replacement microphone!! New microphone solved the problem.

Outstanding service from Lentini's A+++++++++


This radio is an outstanding value. So far I am very happy with its performance.

Menu system easy to navigate and programing using CHIRP easy to set up.
K9IKE Rating: 2013-08-16
Great Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a nice radio. Very close to the Yaesu
8800, 8900 in appearance. Very sensitive receiver
that does well out of the ham bands. Ive tested
this rig in a hi rf area and it did better than most of rigs Ive tried before.

Dislikes: electronic squelch, display is rather small, manual is goofy due to translation issues
but its workable. Scan unworkable from mic up/dn

Likes: Sturdy,dual receive, crossband repeat, Nice mike w remote features, Price

For under $300 bucks its worth a look.....Ike

N6HBJ Rating: 2013-06-29
Very good and low cost Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just got this radio and it is a virtual copy of the Yaesu FT-8800/8900 series (except about 200 bucks cheaper) and programs very similar as well.

It has a detachable head and the case is heat sink with a fan. Its case seems to be a very sturdy build. Asthetically it is an attractive looking radio and there are 3 selectable colors for the readout that you can blend together that allow you to choose a variety of colors in the spectrum. I prefer the blue readout which actually looks purple when I add some of the other color. The buttons are all lit up which makes it easy to select them while driving. This is something Yaesu neglected to do on their 8800/8900 series.

There are dual separate VFOs with independant volume controls though the squelch is in the memory instead of a dial. I like the audio of other Hams using this radio. Not narrow or tinny sounding. The extended receive covers the AM Aircraft band, FM radio, 220 Ham Band, and up to 520 MHz. The built in speaker sounds pretty good. You could probably get away with not adding an external speaker when going mobile because it is louder and a bit fuller sounding then most mobile rigs. A USB port allows programming via free downloadable software from the manufacture's website.

As far as perfromance I have not done a side by side but with the smaller tempt antenna it has been receiving fine and I am going to install it in my car tomorrow so can't give a very technical evaluation.

Over all I think the radio is a winner and a for 200 bucks cheaper then the Yaesus I'm pleased. I still love Yaesu too but it's nice to have another option.