The radio is loaded with bugs. Retevis is very slow with new firmware and CPS. Analog audio is distorted, radio reboots for no reason. No, it’s not due to high swr. It happens during receive. APRS doesn’t work. Building a codeplug is a nightmare due to the CPS deleting data, zones, and merging data into zones where you don’t want it. Mic doesn’t have up and down channel functionality or ability to control volume. Retevis doesn’t want to refund it. They want you to send it back the least expensive way possible which means no insurance. If it is lost or stolen you will receive 10 dollars since this is what Retevis want you to declare the value as. From the US it is appx. 43 dollars to return it to China uninsured and about 65 dollars with insurance. But, again, they won’t pay if you send it insured. I will not be buying another Retevis/Ailunce product based upon my experience.
The Retevis RT-73 seemed like a great idea-compact size, reasonable power, packed with features. As a very early adopter of DMR, I found this radio to be one of the worst units I've ever dealt with in terms of quality. The RT-73 I received arrived with the display mounted crooked and the following issues straight out of the box: high BER, dual RX does not function, database loads but does not display, buttons do not program correctly, DCDM not implemented correctly, corrupt CPS that will scramble other zones when adding new zones, etc. On top of that, the most recent firmware by Retevis that was supposed to correct the above faults actually killed communications with the CPS (yes, installed correctly and passed checksum test), rendering the radio useless as well as the radio now will not accept an older firmware version. Retevis offered a refund of my $208.05 for return of a unit that never worked with me responsible for return freight of $101.60 to China. Never again will I purchase anything from Retevis. Lesson learned & caveat emptor.
In my opinion, I have to disagree with previous posts. The only problem I had so far is the microphone, intermittent ptt, so I am using one for an HT, it works great. Good audio reports using a hotspot. Good radio for the money.
This radio has essential mal and disfunctions A radio, which has no reliable RX, is a piece of junk, see and CPS has big issues e.g set TOT to off factory reset is not working here is the FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1536709219852223 where you can see more issues, also in the Kydera group https://kydera-ham.boards.net The best in KYdera group is a workaround from Dave for the antediluvian CPS. And the German reseller writes here https://www.dd1go.de/retevis-rt73-mobilfunk-mit-dmr/#comment-7434 we should be happy grateful and those who have problems do not have an elementary school certificate and problems with reading. So nice supporter....
Use it a while and whatch the issues, you will find a lot of them, but many you cant reporduce, IMHO due to the bad coding of the CPS, this software overwrites internal registers
Hmh, Retevis RT3 with the firmware hack is still a good radio, also my RT90 I am satisfied with. But this 2 radios seem to be a co-work Tytera and Retevis. This radio was/is launched by Kydera as GD 300, now it seems that Kydera dont develop firmware and codeplug any more and Retevis tries to make it better. The CPS is awful and the firmware also, the radio is advertised with built in GPS, but its useless, and when asking the seller, see above, he answers, we should be happy and its a wonder, what Chineese technican are producing, we should be grateful. I am wondering what Chineese are producing in 2020!!! other companies as Anytone made it better.
The radio is much better now with firmware 26-1-21. The DMR APRS now works via repeater/hotspot. Re-start fixed, more stable RX. It's getting there...still some minor bugs in Contacts and Group list writing to radio though.
I also read from other colleagues amateurs radio : True we read both in the various forums for radio amateurs and in the various facebook groups both Retevis and Kydera ... they are correcting but still has a lot of problems and BUG! Another serious thing The C7000 Chip which is a new prospective processor, but it is still crude and with FW bugs today. this is confirmed by radioddity gd73. If kydera (and retevis) wants to enter the US market, If you open a thread about the TYT MD430 or RD GD-73 you will see a lot of negative reviews about the high% BER and some other problems with scanning, receiving and the like. The owners of these radios, we waited about a year and constantly terrorized the manufacturer to eliminate these bugs. They have made some improvements, but there are just a lot of bugs. And what VERY serious is also the lack of seriousness', I contacted them several times via email (you are lucky they answered you, hi!) Both RETEVIS and KYDERA but never and I say NEVER no answer from them! very BAD this !!! To avoid! 73 :-(
I had one of these Retevis RT73 radios delivered last week and it is unusable. To hear anything (analogue 70cm) I have to set the squelch to 0 or use monitor mode and the audio sounds terrible. Squelch 1-9 blocks out everything. I am so close to the repeater that my Baofeng UV5R or with it's supplied tiny antenna is crystal clear. The little Baofeng TM1 actually works well since I am so close. Whoever made the programming software should be ashamed of themselves it constantly crashes. If you do decide to buy one get it through Amazon or someone with a good returns policy because the customer support direct from Retevis has been terrible so far. It has put me off Chinese radios for life. If you get a working one, I bet it would be pretty nice but I wouldn't take the chance again because of the customer support.
UPDATE: radio arrived this Monday from China .... mine is branded Kydera but it is the same radio as the retevis 73! Same radios , but the Retevis cost so much plus kydera !!!! I confirm BAD customer support for kydera who don't even deign to answer their customers (NOT SERIOUS !!!) and not very good that of retevis! I also recommend (if you find it! Hi) to pick it up on Amazon for the return guarantee talk. I must say that mine is not too bad, sometimes some problems, but on the other hand REMEMBER that it is a Chinese radio and costs well 200 euro (242 dollars US) of the Anytone 578, big bulky in the new car and very serious WITHOUT front panel detachable, absurd radio! This is really microscopic, when I opened the package I almost DID NOT believe it is almost as big as the microphone, hi hi !!! AMAZING this . In ANALOG and in VHF with external antenna instead I must say that it is very good, it is not true that it is deaf, on the contrary .... it receives exactly "very weak" signals as well as with my Kenwood RTX! We very much hope that the 2 beta-testers (radio amateurs) of KYDERA fix this little but for me really nice radio, very sexy, hi! best 73 see with your eyes :
Mine stopped being able to transmit on analog simplex and on repeaters. Factory reset did nothing. Is still able to transmit on DMR. Any ideas?
