DM1701

[XQ2FOD]

Hi all!

New forum user here, XQ6FOD, Manfred. Never mind that I registered as XQ2FOD! That was my previous callsign, and for some crazy reason the web browser autocompleted the username field with the old callsign, and I noticed too late...

I have been a ham since 1980, but without real DMR experience yet. Nothing beyond listening to some local repeaters using PC software to decode DMR.

My old Kenwood TH28A recently gave up its ghost for good (seriously corroded PCBs, due to several leaking electrolytic capacitors), so I need a new HT. I decided to take the opportunity to get a DMR-capable radio, since several of the repeaters in my area are combined analog/DMR ones. There isn't really a lot of DMR activity here yet, but some, and it feels stupid to be unable to join it.

After looking what's available, I decided to buy a DM-1701 and install OpenGD77 on it, because several times I have been shocked by the poor usability of various Chinese radios' firmware for ham use. The order was placed today (AliExpress), and I hope to get the radio in a few weeks. And I hope that this radio will give acceptable service, mostly in analog, but also in some occasional DMR contacts. Since the ham activity on VHF is low in my area, with the repeaters staying without users almost all the time, I saw no good reason to invest a lot of money in a better HT, so I got the DM-1701, which was the cheapest DMR-capable one I found, for $56 including the programming cable and shipping.

I understand that this radio is not exactly a shining example of front-end performance... I hope it will be good enough.

Any advice, ideas, suggestions, are welcome.

Manfred

[VK3KYY]

Hi

Re:DM1701

RF power outut is not as good as the TYT MD-UV380/390, I think you can just about squeeze 5W out of it on 2m.

I think people have tested the Rx sensitivity and its not too bad

[XQ2FOD]

5W is plenty. Gaining 3dB over that would require 10W, which probably no HT produces - and which I also wouldn't like so much, 5cm from my face! Also the battery drain would be huge.

My old TH28A, used with a pack of six NiMH cells, produced 1.5W on a good day and with tailwind.

RX performance is more important to me. The spec of -121dBm or so is OK, but there is always a slight doubt about whether a radio meets its specs... And of course they promise nothing about blocking dynamic range and other such things. Right now I don't even know whether this radio has a front end with any filtering, or just connects the antenna straight to a radio-on-a-chip.

Well, I will soon see how good or bad it is. In any case, it should be good enough for playing, getting my feet wet with DMR, and fending off accusations of being an old dinosaur that only ever uses FM on VHF!

After ordering it from China, I found that a distributor offers the same radio locally, at three times the price, and calls it "the best DMR radio on the market". Well, I'm not so sure of that, but it seemed to me, when reading up before buying, that it offers the best bang for the buck. The MD-UV380 would have been much more expensive.