Retevis RT50/TYT MD-680D

[EA5JAQ]

Hi!

I have a couple RT50s (aka TYT MD-680D) lying around in my house and I was wondering if the firmware could at some point be ported to these radios. They're like the GD77S, pretty easy to use, but with a hidden display. It is also waterproof which makes it a great simple radio, I use it for when I'm in the mountains, etc. and I just want the basic stuff packed in a pretty strong and rugged device. But as it happens with most radios, it's not focused on the ham community (for example, you can't change TG).

I've looked at the internals and it has the same ones as the GD77 (MK22FN512, HR-C6000, AT1846S, etc.), so I was wondering if that would be an easy change to make. There's the issue of the hidden display, which is not in any other OpenGD77 device. But still, I think it's worth it, it's a fine radio.

Anyway, I know the dev team's really busy with the MD9600 porting (I'm already saving up to buy one for playing around when the source is released!), but I wanted to suggest this RT50 for the future, as a it's a simple reliable radio (only with the problem that it's not focused to hams in the official fw).

73

[VK3KYY]

Welcome

Developing firmware for these radios literally takes years of effort by multiple people

The source code for the full releases are a freely available, and anyone can attempt to port them to whichever radio the choose as long as they adhere to the software license conditions