AnyTone AT-778UVII Transceiver Mobile Radio Dual Band 25W VOX Car Radio

This is an inexpensive mobile unit, so know that going in and you'll probably like it. I was going back and forth on whether to get this or the 5888UV or just leave my TD-H8 hooked up in the truck. In the end I wanted a real mobile mostly for the buttons on the mic, and the better speaker in the unit. Also nice to have one less battery that might decide to melt down one day while I'm charging it. I have not gotten a chance to test this too much but here are some first impressions. The good: Easy to program. If you can program a handheld in Chirp then you can program this. Not sure what people are talking about with the volume control, I set my knob to change volume instead of channel in Chirp and it works fine. I have to push a button to switch channels with the knob now, but I mostly just use the keypad or up/down on the mic for that anyway. Seems to work quite well so far. I have to explore the menus some more but it looks like it has a lot of configuration options without hooking it to a computer. The bad: Only 6 characters for channel name? Disappointing, even cheap handhelds usually support 7-8. I have to rename a bunch of things now to make sure I can use it effectively. Screen gets hit with glare easily and makes it difficult to read, but I think mounting it at a good angle can solve this for me. Right now it's just sitting in front of my shifter while I test it out. Also what is this mic clip? It's not the standard clip I was expecting (and already have a mount for on the dash), so I'll be looking for a replacement or something I can make. I snagged one off my scanner temporarily... it's a little low on the mic body and sits tight in the mount so it might not be great long term. The mic cable could also be a little longer, but it's not a big deal. All in all I'm happy with it for the price. The others I looked at in this price range didn't seem like a good buy to me and I've heard good things about Anytone units. I'll put it through its paces and probably eventually get a 50w unit for the truck. This one is so tiny I'd like to set it up for portable use. I'm thinking I can get some quick disconnects for the power cable and take it with me in a backpack with a slim jim antenna. Maybe I can run it off a jump pack or small lithium battery, have to see what the voltage drop looks like while transmitting but I think it should be fine.

Nice well built mobile unit with a very nice color display that is bright and clear. I find it easy to program repeaters manually and have programmed about 4 dozen repeaters so far. It has more memory channels than I need. The PX buttons are programmable. Although no fan, the heat sink is hefty and will get warm after a good bit of TX - I have had no overheat issues. The RX audio is good and clear, and I also receive good TX audio reports. It has 5, 15 and 25 watts. The mic feels good in the hand and is easy to use. It has adjustable key backlight and some programmable hot keys. The PTT feels solid. I have tested this as a base station - I already have units in my vehicle's (two Yaesu FT-7900R & Icom V8000) so have used this on an Arrow J-Pole, Diamond X-200, and even a mag mount with various mobile antennas at home. So having Yaesu & Icom mobile units I would be happy to use this unit for mobile or a base unit. After watching a few YT videos I just had to pull the trigger for one of these and so far, I feel this is a really nice transceiver at a very affordable price.

I'm giving this five stars because it's so inexpensive compared to "fancier brands" like Icon, Yaesu, and Kenwood. I have a more expensive Yaesu, and I prefer this radio over it in many ways. However, it's not perfect. Since I gave it five stars, let me focus on what I do NOT like, so you'll know what you are getting: 1) The controls are a bit clunky, specifically the lack of a dedicated volume control. I miss the smooth analog volume on my Yaesu. That said, it's not terrible - just push the designated button, spin the click knob to adjust the volume, then press function if you want to go back to using that knob for changing channels. I use this as a base station, so no big deal. If I were mobile, I'd be a bit more irritated with the extra steps. 2) Audio is "cheaper" than more expensive radios. Again, not a big deal, since you're not using this to listen to classical music, but it's noticeable. I wouldn't call it bad audio, it just lacks warmth. 3) Squelch tail is more noticeable, as a very short burst of static. My other radio does a better job suppressing this. 4) According to the meter, everything is S9, even when it isn't. Since I usually work a local repeater, not a big deal, but if you're using this for simplex or DX, don't count on the signal strength meter to give you reliable feedback. 5) Slow scan mode. I wouldn't even bother using this as a scanner, as it's too slow. My humble Baofeng HT is much faster than this. Otherwise, I love it! Check out all the reviews on YouTube, as this is a popular radio. All the reports I've gotten from other operators say my signal and audio is great, so it's doing the job, and for the fraction of the cost of radios with a fraction of the features!

This is a UHF/VHF/GMRS radio, not your typical CB radio. To use this fully your need a good understanding of UHF/VHF radios. There are more settings than a typical GMRS/CB (ie Channel selection, Squelch, and Volume). The manual is not easy to understand, being written by someone that English is not their native language. The poorly written manual is the main reason I gave this radio an overall 4 rating. I want to address some of the misconceptions in previous reviews. This radio DOES work with the Chirp programming software. The drives need for Chirp are already loaded in Window 10/11. But the 'Setting' tab does not include all the settings for this radio. Chirp reads from the radio and writes back to the radio without issues. The default programming software available for this radio DOES work and contains all the settings mentioned in the manual. To use the software you first must download it AND installed the drivers for that software. Installing the drivers does not conflict with the existing Window drivers. The limited documentation that is downloaded with the software has example of where and how to change the gain of the microphone. Previous reviews claim it is not possible to adjust the microphone gain, but this software does allow it. There is no mention of the software in the manual that comes with the radio. The only reference to the software is a sticker on the outside of the shipping box. That label has a web address that directs you to a website that has the documentation, software and needed drivers. Overall quality appears to be good, the screen can be somewhat busy until you get an understanding of how the programming keys (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6) function. The Programming keys are programmable on the radio, but it's somewhat confusing. The easiest way to program the programed keys is to use the native programming software. I will be using this in my SXS here in Arizona. It's very dusting here when riding with a group. This radio does not have a cooling fan (a good thing considering the dust here) All cooling is through the radio's case heat sinks. When just listening the radio it does not produce any heat. I don't talk that much and transmitting also appears not to produce any real amount of heat.

I'm only a new licensee. I've never used any other VHF/UHF rig except for this radio and an HT, but I'm starting to feel like this was the right choice. Using an indoor, "slim jim" antenna on the 3rd floor of my city house, other hams say I'm clearly audible on repeaters as far as 40 miles away. (Disclaimer: My neighborhood is higher than some of the surrounding city) The radio is supported by CHIRP, but it's also reasonably easy to program through its front panel and microphone buttons. At full power, It only draws about four amps from the supply. Downsides are: (1) I don't know if it can be interfaced to a Digirig or similar interface for digital modes. But I don't worry about that because by the time I'm ready for digital, I probably will be ready to purchase a more capable radio anyway. And then there's (2), No dedicated volume knob or dedicated squelch knob. You have to press a button first, and then use the encoder knob. This can be annoying if you reach to turn the volume, forget to press the button, and then end up changing channels instead. Maybe that would be more than annoying if you're trying to use it while driving a motor vehicle. I don't know. I haven't tried to use it in a car.

This mobile radio is working great for me. I'm using it as my 2 meter base until for my Ham shack. I built a 2 meter ground plane antenna and purchased the Jesverty SPS-1330 power supply to power it. With that set-up, I've had several weeks now of successfull QSOs and interacting with a local NET via a repeater. The programming cable that comes with this radio WORKED PERFECTLY to program it. I used the CHIRP app to program this radio. There are a few reviews that mentioned they had to buy a different programming cable and couldn't use the CHIRP app, but if that was the case, those issues have been RESOLVED. My guess is that those problems were with version I of this radio. This is version II. So, I can verify the fact that these issues have been fixed. I'm very happy with the purchase. Fyi, this radio is voice only. You can't do CW with it. It's got both the 2 meter band and the 10 meter band. YOU NEED TO AT LEAST HAVE YOUR TECHNICIAN LICENSE TO TALK ON THIS RADIO. Otherwise, it's illegal for you to do that. You can easily listen to Weather reports that broadcast on the 2 meter band and I have been picking up police and fire frequencies too. (For monitoring only, of course).

This little unit is really good if you want to get on the air and: - you have a ham radio license - you don't mind learning the vagaries of its operation - you aren't expecting ICOM or Kenwood levels of functionality It outputs 5w, 15w and 25w of power. It's quite stable but it does get quite warm. Using it on our local 2 metre repeater I was apparently very clear and readable. The kit i bought came with a programming cable. CHIRP now has experimental support for this unit and it works very well. The only complaint is the lack of fan, but that's a small gripe. For the price it is truly great. For those others who are confused by some of the settings, here's a list of the ones I've managed to decode. 5TENC 5Tone A/B Main or SUB channel AOP Automatic Power On APO Automatic Power OFF timer BAND Bandwidth (Narr 12.5 / Mid 20 / Wide 25 Khz) BEEP Key Beep BND - Bandwidth (Narr / Mid / Wide) CDT - Set CTCSS/DCS code DIM Display Backlight setting DIR - Display DIRection DSP Display Mode FRQ Frequency Mode LOCK Busy channel lockout MON - Monitor (kill squelch) NAME Set channel name OFFSET Repeater offset frequency and direction OWNID Own ID enquiry POW - Set Transmission Power (Low - 5w, medium - 15w, high - 25w) PWD DO NOT TURN THIS SETTING ON!! -Require Password to turn on - thee is nowhere that anyone can find to determine the password or to set the password RCDT Receive CTCSS / DCS settings RDW - Receive Dual Watch REV Frequence Reverse in Repeater mode RST Reset to Factory Defaults RTDF RX / TX Dissimilar Frequency Setup (possibly used for repeaters?) SCM Scan Dwell Type (TO - Preset pause time, CO - wait for signal to finish, SE - stop when signal received) SCN - Scan SCT Scan pause time when using TO for Dwell Type SFT Configure frequency offset for repeater (see also OFFSET) SIGNAL Turn on CTCSS / DCS requirement for decode SPK Turn on main speaker, main & hand mic speaker, or hand mic speaker only SQL - Squelch STEP Frequency Step interval (2.5 Khz / 5khz / 6.25khz / 10khz /12.5khz / 20khz / 25khz / 30Khz / 50 Khz) TALK - Talk Around mode TBST Set Repeater Sub-audible tone (normally 1750Khz) TCDT Transmit CTCSS / DCS Settings T-DEC Add optional signalling TOT Time Out Timer - kills your PTT after specified time to stop talking too long TX Enable / Disable TX for current channel V/M Change between VFO (direct frequency entry) and Memory mode VOX - VOX mode (Voice activated PTT) VOX-L VOX level (not sure what this controls) VOX-T VOX level (not sure what this controls)

Working great! Used it tonight. Set up on the deck and enjoyed the night just listening.