TIDRADIO TD-H3 Ham Radio Type C & Wireless Programming 8-Band Long Range Walkie Talkies Rechargeable Handheld Rapid Two Way Radios Air Band, Frequency Match,Mode Switchable, NOAA FM AM- Full Kit 2Pack

I had a pair of UV-5R's prior. They are great radios but the new tech of these is on another level. Easy to program with the phone app via Bluetooth or on the PC. Cloning radios is a simple matter as well. I'm about 25 miles south of KPHX airport and can pickup airport traffic easily with my dual-band 'J' pole in the back yard.Be sure to install the USB driver and only plug the USB cable directly into the PC as the radio may not be recognized if plugged into a hub. Also, the programming is done through the USB on the side of the radio, NOT the charging port on the bottom.The first thing you should do is install CHIRP on your computer. It makes programming a snap.There is a learning curve but it's manageable once you know the basics.

For the price, it is unbelievable that so many features can be packed into this little device.The kit I ordered came with 2 Radios, 4 Antennas (that actually work), two base chargers, and two USB chargers for less than $30 per radio.I have several Yaesu radios and I love them. I'm not trying to compare the two. It would be awesome, however, if the Big 3 (Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom) would incorporate some of these features.The top features that I really like about this very affordable radio is the color screen, Bluetooth connectivity, phone app (ODMaster), USB-C programming with CHIRP, USB-C Charging, the clarity of the speaker, wireless radio cloning, and the outstanding TIDRadio customer service.The Tidradio TD-H3 is easy enough to program manually. It's no harder than a FT-60 to enter a repeater form the keypad. The ODMaster phone app is pretty cool. You can set all of the functions, and add/modify memory locations from your phone over Bluetooth. It even has a Repeater List option that displays all of the repeaters in your area. You simply select the Repeaters you want, and import them into your radio. I added 22 local repeaters in less than 4 minutes. Pretty amazing for a sub $30 radio.If you have more than one TD-H3, you can get one configured the way you like it, then clone it to another TD-H3 without any cables. It's outstanding.The screen is small, but clear and bright. It can be seen in bright sunlight. The speaker is loud and clear as well.This kit came with 4 antennas. Two "Ham" and two "AM/Air Band" antennas. I haven't put these on an analyser yet, but I can hit my local 2M repeater, which is 11 miles away, with no problems using the shorter "Ham" antenna.Being able to Program with CHIRP over a USB-C cable is great. I've only done this with the supplied USB-C cable. When it's plugged in, it shows up as a Com Port on my laptop. I tried my Anker USB-C/USB-C cable and I could not get CHIRP to recognize the radio. The supplied cable works perfectly, however.It's also awesome that I can charge the batteries with my USB-C cable in the car.If you purchase a kit, be sure to check UNDER the plastic packaging for the 2 longer antennas. I sent a message to TIDRadio support to tell them I didn't get them. Within a couple of hours, I got a response asking me to look under the packaging. There they were. The antennas are too long to fit in the box, so they coil them up and put them under the plastic packing tray.Good luck getting a response from Yaesu that quickly.Don't get me wrong. I'm not giving up my Yaesu radios. There is definitely a market, however, for inexpensive radios that are well built, feature rich, are are just plain fun to play with.It makes me scratch my head how a company like TIDRadio can come out of nowhere, and provide such an innovative device. When other companies have been around for close to 70 years, and they just keep reselling revisions of the same products year after year.Imagine an FT5DR with all of the added features of the TD-H3. The Big 3 need to pay attention to what the Chinese manufacturers are producing.

Great radio, super easy to get programmed and with multiple ways to connect and make adjustments. This radio gets awesome reviews by professional radio operators and has lots of how to's on America's favorite content provider U 2oob. A few weeks to become an amateur operator, a lifetime of mastering. Eventually, you'll want to replace the antenna's with better. These radios are feature packed. They have a crisp, clear sound around the neighborhood. Haven't tried from a great distance yet.Great customer service too. I had a problem with one of them. The customer service was quick to respond. Problem was solved within a few days. I was shocked

Works as advertised, but you have to do some YouTube research on how to program it, because the manual is not very well written. The unit I received ("Unlocked") required an easy firmware update from ODMaster before the Bluetooth function would activate. You can then download frequencies from the cloud to your H3 radio via a cellphone app, which works very well. I appreciate the USB C cradle and charger, plus aircraft band receive. Note: Even unlocked, it won't and can't transmit on the AM aircraft band. I keep one at work to listen to NOAA warnings before I head home during a winter storm, and another by my bed to hear the latest weather reports each morning. As an amateur radio, it's a large step up from a Baofeng, but not Yeasu quality. The stock antennas (One was for aircraft band only) needed to be replaced for improved performance and it can't do APRS. Still, for the price (About $35) you can't beat it.

These two ways are very similar, Baofeng and Tidradio although I seem to get slightly better range with the Tidradios. I would not be surprised if they are the same manufacturer :) Anyway, most come either with channel zero and channel 127 or some strange range of frequencies, maybe from Europe? You have to go snag the CHIRP program off the web, then download an image of the radio (the CHIRP program contains a list of them) then program in the 22 (or whatever you want) standard GMRS frequencies. Then upload that image to the walkies using the provided special cable. That way you have the same selection of GMRS and FRS channels those cheaper walkies have and you can communicate with them, say on Channel 5. A list of GMRS frequencies can be readily found on the web, example 462.6500 etc. They will correspond to the channel numbers as you enter them into the spreadsheet in CHIRP. Anyway, I programmed six of them and all worked fine with great reception. My son could talk to me down at the market about a mile away with houses and trees in the way. Not to bad, eh! So, it takes a little time, but these are worth it if you want to use the channels with higher power like Channel 5 (2W max) etc. I do like all the accessories, but the downloading cable is the most important. You need it to talk to the computer and the CHIRP program. There are videos online that tell you how to do it and I think the CHIRP website may have a tutorial, but YouTube has a few videos.

I did return these as I didn't notice when ordering that these H3s are ham and not Ham/GMRS or GMRS. I have Tidradio H3s and like them fine.