Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Retevis RT15

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Retevis RT15
Reviews: 1MSRP: 20
Description:
nice, little and really light weighted and handy HT radio that does include all required functionality and accessories to get started with radio operation at an attractive entry price
Product is in production
More Info: http://https://www.retevis.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0012
DG5EAU Rating: 2018-10-29
Squelch and VOX need bugfixing Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Unboxing

The HT radio comes in a nice little box, measuring 19cm x 15cm x 5cm and a weight of just 221g. The radio, including battery make up just 92g and including the belt clip it is still really light weighted with just 105g. This makes it an ideal candidate even for long tours where every single gram counts. The size of the radio including antenna is just 59mm wide, 136 mm high and 21mm thick (without the belt clip applied). That small, it nicely fits into your palm.

If you open the box, you will find the radio with the belt clip already mounted, the required 3,7V LiIon battery pack (stating a capacity of 1000mAh @3.7V, resulting in 3.7 Wh), a dual port USB-charger and the corresponding USB A to USB micro B –cable for charging the radio.
The radio comes with a CE-mark (else it would not be allowed to be sold within Europe). However the charger does NOT yet have such CE-mark. According to Retevis, the final version will of course have a CE marked power supply.
Preloaded frequencies
Although the box I received stated the RT15 would be the European version, it came with US frequencies preloaded. Retevis confirmed that the official versions will have the correct settings for the country been sold in.
As those 462 MHz frequencies are not for HAM or PMR, the first thing I had to do was programming the RT15 with the supplied CPS. Fortunately Retevis was so kind as to also send me the proper data-cable (it is the same as you use for most radios that do come with a Kenwood-style 3.5mm/2.5mm connector).
I first decided to key in the European PMR446 frequencies and set the output power to LOW (expecting no more than the allowed 500mW). The coverage of the radio is really fine. With output power set to “high” (using an allowed HAM-frequency) I had no problems with a distance of up to 2km.
Nice feature: The 2nd , lower side key, labeled “-” and normally used for decreasing the speakers volume may also be programmed (on long keypress) for other functions such as “Scan” or “Channel Lock.
The so called “RT15 USER´S MANUAL”
With its size of just 8cm x 10cm the supplied manual is rather small. You may call that handy, but despite its 20 pages, I call it just insufficient as the radio is “explained” on just 7 of the 20 pages. The writing is extremely small and difficult to read. The manual seems yet not to have undergone any type of simplest quality check as even headlines are written incorrect and chapter headlines do not match the table of content. Functionality is named different in the manual compared to the CPS.
Some functions are explained very roughly with no details for the customer that would help the unfamiliar radio operator to get a clue of an idea what certain functions are used for. Other functions are even not explained at all. I do expect Retevis to get that manual updated in time in order to avoid frustration on the customer’s side resulting in bad reputation. Even for a 15 EUR radio customers may expect a useable user manual.
Operating the radio
had been quite handicapped by the squelch function not working properly. Normally squelch is deactivated upon receiving a signal. As soon as carrier is lost, the squelch function steps in and mutes the speaker. However on the current RT15 squelch stays deactivated even if the signal (carrier) is no longer present. Playing around with the squelch level, I found that a setting of 1 reactivates the squelch muting about one second past carrier drop. Pushing one of the volume keys after carrier drop also mutes the speaker right away. That is not the behavior expected by a radio operator and makes operating the RT15 quite annoying. Retevis is already investigating on that and I expect them to get that sorted out on the final radio.
With CTCSS or DCS set on both parties, it was finally possible to operate the RT15 without the annoying squelch not working as expected.
VOX-Function also does not work as expected. Regardless of the sensitivity (1..9) you have to shout into the radio to get the VOX-function activated. Retevis is already investigating on that one as well.
All elements for operation (buttons, covers) are well placed, except for the orientation of the “CH+” and “CH-“ –keys. Those two keys should be swapped, resulting in the key for “CH-“ on the left and the one for “CH+” on the right.
The configuration software supplied by Retevis
unfortunately comes without any help file. However the software works flawlessly even under Windows 10 Pro. Due to the fact, that some of the functionality is not described sufficiently or even not at all in the manual and not described in the configuration software as well, it makes such functions not understandable for the new user.
Bottom line:
The RT15 is a nice, little and really light weighted and handy HT radio that does include all required functionality and accessories to get started with radio operation at an attractive entry price. However the mentioned bugs need to be sorted out prior to its official release.