AnyTone AT-5888UV VHF/UHF Mobile Review

[Moleculo]

I need to continue to do some testing as I think I hear some high-pitched artifacts that might be coming from the receiver. I need to keep using it to understand what I hear.

There is definitely a constant, very high pitch tone artifact in the receiver that is only present when the squelch is open. It doesn't matter if there is any audio present or not - it's always there when the squelch is open. I suppose those with some hearing loss may not detect it, but it could be quite annoying to some. If you turn the volume up loud enough, it seems to cover it up.

This issue needs to be addressed by the factory, in my opinion.

 

[wile2u]

Remote mount

Looking at this picture. it almost looks like the plastic that mounts the face to the radio will detach and you would use it as the mount.

 

[Rb30]

I will check and post the results.

Thanks Mate

 

[Moleculo]

Looking at this picture. it almost looks like the plastic that mounts the face to the radio will detach and you would use it as the mount.

There are a couple of Allen button screws on the top of the plastic housing that will allow you to detach it. I suppose you could use this as a means to remote mount the face, but it really isn't necessary. Here is the image from importcommunications.com showing the accessories along with the price tag:

As you can see, the remote head mount is only $10.

 

[Moleculo]

Display

The display of this little mobile is actually pretty nice for a basic vhf/uhf rig. One of the more interesting features is the ability to change the display color. The settings allow you to adjust the radio for Red, Blue, and Green. Here are some pics of the display with each of these primary colors activated:

When I first found the display settings for Red, Blue, and Green, I saw the settings that range from 1 to 32, I thought that turning up one of the color settings would activate only that color and change it's intensity. I was dead wrong on how it worked. What it actually does is change the mix of that color in relation to the other two. Think of it like an RGB setting when editing photos on your PC. By changing the mix, you can make almost every shade imaginable. It's very cool!

Here's a example where I made a purple display:

 

[packrat]

There are a couple of Allen button screws on the top of the plastic housing that will allow you to detach it. I suppose you could use this as a means to remote mount the face, but it really isn't necessary.

As you can see, the remote head mount is only $10.

Looks to me like you do remove the front of the radio and bolt it to the front panel BRACKET.

 

[Moleculo]

Power Output at Various Frequencies

As requested, I did some power output tests at various frequencies. These tests are all set with power on "high" into a dummy load.

2 Meters

Freq | Watts
136|42
146|48
156|51
166|45
174|47

70 Centimeters

Freq | Watts
400|40
410|37
420|35
430|33
440|30
450|27
460|26
470|19
480|14
490|12

 

[Rb30]

Thanks Mole
Champion effort brother thanks

 

[Moleculo]

Duplexing, Crossband Repeat and other Features

As I mentioned before, this radio reminds me of a copy of the Yaesu FT-8800. As a result, it has several features that are quite similar that are worth mentioning.

Crossband Repeat

Crossband Repeat on this radio works very well. Better yet, the feature is not buried by some undocumented key combination as is typical with some other amateur radios. Rather, you simply set each band to the frequencies you wish to use, dial the SET menu to menu 44: X-RPT, and enable it. To turn it off, you just hit the SET button. With some rigs, using crossband repeat results in a long, annoying squelch tail that makes the experience miserable. On this radio, there is a very quick, double squelch tail that is fast and unobtrusive. In fact, it's almost as good as the Kenwood mobile radios. If you're using the radio as a simple remote base where the primary receive is handled by a remote radio, you don't even notice any abnormal long squelch tail. If I can figure out how to use the remote STUN feature, this radio might making the perfect remote VHF/UHF base.

Duplexing

I'm using the term "duplexing" loosely because I can't come up with a more appropriate term. The radio does not support full duplex in the typical sense where you can monitor your transmissions by listening to the same TX frequency. However, you can set the radio to receive on another band at the same time you are transmitting. This feature is useful of you are transmitting on one band while your transmission is being rebroadcast on another band. Working satellites and using remote bases are examples where you might want this capability. To use this feature, go into SET menu 25 - "MUTE" and set it to "OFF". This setting turns "muting" off for the VFO that you are not currently transmitting with. In the example of a remote base, if you are using the radio to transmit into a remote base listening on the 440 band while it is retransmitting on 2 meters, you could monitor the output 2 meter frequency on your other VFO to hear how well you are accessing a repeater or doubling with other stations in a busy area. For satellite work, you can also use this to determine how well you are making it into the bird.

The "MUTE" function is primarily used to control how the sub band is muted when you are transmitting or receiving on the alternate band, but when used in conjunction with other scenarios like remote bases, it is a truly valuable feature.

 

[FatHam]

Still waiting to hear what the vicious feedback issue was...

 

[Moleculo]

Still waiting to hear what the vicious feedback issue was...

The radio has an interesting "feature" - there is both a speaker and a microphone in the hand mic. You can set the radio so that it plays received audio out the main speaker, the hand mic/speaker, or both. I had also turned on the ability to listen to the sub band while talking on the main band. This feature is especially useful if you want to "duplex" by listening to your transmission from a repeater or satellite while transmitting through a remote base, or input on another band. Unfortunately, when you have the speaker/mic enabled for RX audio as well as this type of duplexing going on, the end result is horrible squeal. What's worse, you can't turn the receive audio down on the sub band to solve the problem. I'm not really sure that this is a problem with the radio - it seems more like an inherent problem when trying something like this. The fix is to just turn off the RX audio from the speaker/mic and listen to your TX on the main radio speaker.

 

[Moleculo]

Microphone

The mic on this radio is actually quite functional, and for the most part I like it. All of the buttons are back lit with brightness adjustable through the menu.

The keypad allows direct frequency entry as well as DTMF. The PA, PB, PC, and PD are all programmable functions. I won't cover all of the possible settings as the manual covers it quite well. The giant A/B lit button switches the active main band from one side of the radio to the other. The green back lit A and B indicators at the top show you which VFO is actively receiving, while the white lit A and B indicators at the bottom indicate the VFO that will transmit when you key up.

In this pic, you can see the frequency up/down and lock buttons. My biggest issue with the layout of this mic is that the UP/DOWN buttons are right where you will inevitably press them during a QSO, which activates a DTMF tone. After doing this about a hundred times, I've engaged the lock which only deactivates these buttons on the side.

Like I said, I like the functionality of the mic, although the built-in speaker isn't that great.

 

[Brlux]

Is it possible to save a cross band memory channel? like TX on 144 and RX on 440?

Any feel on the RX sensitivity or selectivity?

The USB programing port looks to be the wrong gender, do you have to use some special USB cable?

Thanks

 

[Moleculo]

You must be reading my mind about the things I've been working on to continue the evaluation of this radio.

Is it possible to save a cross band memory channel? like TX on 144 and RX on 440?

Yes and No. The radio has an interesting feature that took me a while to fully understand because it is not documented very well - the Hyper memory feature. You use the software to configure the Hyper memories, which are activated when you press either of the lower dials on the left or right side. Basically, you can program frequencies on each band for each VFO that are accessible when you hit the band change knob on each VFO. You get a set of frequencies for each VFO and both lower knobs. This is a difficult function to explain, but easier to demonstrate - perhaps I should make a video. You can use this feature to store common cross band repeat frequencies and then just turn cross band repeat on via the menu.

You cannot however, uses a split TX/RX memory that crosses bands. While the software will allow you to program this scenario, the radio will not allow TX under such conditions.

Any feel on the RX sensitivity or selectivity?

I don't have the necessary test equipment to say objectively, but the radio seems to hear better than my Yaesu FTM-350. After a month of usage, I believe that I can hear weaker stations that were consistently a problem on the other radio.

The USB programing port looks to be the wrong gender, do you have to use some special USB cable?

More on this in my next post.

 

[Moleculo]

Programming the Radio

The radio has the ability to store 758 memory channels, which is probably plenty for most of us! Programming the various memory channels via the radio is fairly straight forward: punch in the desired frequency, activate any offset or tone/codes and then press and hold either the SET or volume button until the memory channel starts to blink. Use the channel selector to dial to the desired memory and then press and hold the SET button until the memory is saved. You can edit the names of the frequencies using the menu 26 - NAME C and activate name display using menu 37 - DISPLAY.

Of course, the easiest way to program the radio is by using the included cable and downloadable software. While the software is functional and will allow you to program every radio feature, it lacks many of the basic usability features that most software users have come to expect. For example, there is no way to insert memory slots in-between existing channels, or even delete a channel and have the whole bank shift it's memory slot to replace the deleted channel.

Due to complexity, some features really should be programmed via the software, such as the capability to use one encode method on TX and a different encode detect method on RX.

One other note on programming the rig: The programming is performed using the mic connector, NOT the USB port. The USB port only supplies power for charging USB accessories and doesn't seem to do much else