My DMR radio collection y has grown by adding two Hytera radios; one is
the flagship PD-785G and the second one is the small PD-365.
I was very reticent about chinese radios but the recently increase in the number of users of Hytera on MARC-DMR network made me raise the elbow and I promised myself that I will not miss the chance to test one.
We’ll review the first one for the start.
Look and feel
Front
PD-785G is a little smaller than the direct competitor,
Motorola DP-4801 and look more like a Tetra terminal than like a conventional
radio.
With the central mounted antenna, the radio looks somehow
unfamiliar and Hytera pretend that this design help improve the RF performance.
Well, I read somewhere that the antenna is not so good but after a week of
testing I admit that is not better than a longer antenna but at it’s dimensions
is not worst than the 9 cm one from Motorola.
On the front pannel we have a big colour LCD and above it is
a little hole for the microphone. First reaction of a fellor ham was to put the
radio to the ear as the microphone looks pretty like the earphone of a mobile
phone.
Right under the screen are the menu keys and a big
directional key, only for up and down (at DP-4801, there are also Left-Right on
the same key). Under that, we have the numeric keypad.
What is particular to this model is that the speaker is
UNDER the numeric keyboard; a long slit is between the menu and numeric keys
and there is the speaker.
Left side
On the left side are the PTT and two programmable keys.
The PTT has a nice orange gasket around and feel a little
fragile. The two programmable butons feel ferm and cannot be pressed by
accident; they need some determination to have them pushed.
In the CPS you can program them with a lot of functions, one
for quick press and one for long press but I found that the combination is
available only for certain functions not for any of them and once programmed, there are some bugs that make that
button not functional. Maybe is just a firmware problem but tend to be
annoying!
Under the buttons is a little plastic plate which identify
the model. Mine is a “G” one, with GPS.
Right side
On the right side of the Hytera PD-785G we find an accessory
connector. This one is half of the Motorola’s and the cover is hinged so,
goodby loosing it! Of course, if you are determined, you can break the hinge
and throw away the cover!
There are some sort of grip helpers on the side of the radios but despite the look, they are made by the same plastic as the whole case and not of rubber as one may expect from the look.
Upper side
On the top of the radio we have the two knobs, VOL/ON-OFF
and the Channel selector. The channel selector is an interesting thing; it has
16 positions. This might look a little obsolete but I do find it usefull
especially when the radio is on the belt. You can find the channel with a
glimpse at the channel knob.
Also on the top, just near the channel selector is an orange
button for emergencies. This one can be programmed as the other ones, with the
same observations…
In the right side, near the Vol/On-Off is the status LED; a
little protuberance make it visible even if you look to the radio directly from
the front side.
The antenna is between the knobs, as I said before, givind
an unusual look to the radio.
The antenna connector is a reverse SMA. The reverse SMA connector is a nice touch and permit us, the
hams, to put a better antenna or even to connect a mobile antenna to this radio
for a better coverage.
Back
The battery attach not by sliding and there is no gap
between the battery and the radio! Once attached, there is no jolt or lost motion
between them (shame Motorola!).
The belt clip is attached to the radio and not to the
battery. On the radio is a metal plate and the belt clips attached with two M4
screws in the old way. I like this, it’s very solid!
Battery
The stock battery is a 7.4V/2000mAh and the battery life is
better than the Motorola’s. With the stock battery at a moderate use, on analog
channels and digital channels, the radio can be used for two days with no
problems. With an optional 2800MAh battery I used it for about 3 and a half
days.
I will not enter in the subtilities of programming the
radio, this is a little complicate and depends on what do you want to do with
the radio so I will emphasize some of the bugs or the features of the radio.
Bug: The audio
amplifier is not balanced and is powered on receiving. This express with a loud
“bop” even at low volumes when the radio start to receive traffic. Motorola has a balanced AF amplifier…
Feature: When rotate the
knob or press any key (but not the Menu
key or the numeric keys), only the LCD fire up. The backlight of the numeric
keys stays off. This can save some
battery!
Bug: The radio cannot scan digital and analog channels at
the same time. You can scan channels on the same kind only. Motorola can scan
combined lists.
Feature: When receiving, the radio starts the LCD backlight.
Very usefull to see what’s happening on the digital channels.
On the traffic, the radio is sensitive and the quality of
audio is very good on both analog and digital. I see no differences on
digital when compared with Motorola with
the latest firmware (2.4.x).
The audio reports on modulation were good and, during the
tests I found that the scrambler is higly compatible with Motorola’s.
Understandable because is a simple inversion…
The radio is not a bad one but is not “The radio”. Some bugs
can be solved via firmware upgrade but others are “hardware defined” and need redesign.
The GPS has a nice feature by wich the user can send as a short message the
position.
The missing Bluetooth can be a shortage as I programm my
DP-4801 via Bluetooth (the Motorola programming cable is too expensive!) but
the Hytera cable is affordable at a half of the Motorola’s price so the absence
of BT is not a real problem for me.
If the price is a key component in the buying decision, the
Hytera PD-785G can be the best choice as the price/quality is unbeatable.
It is compatible with the MARC-DMR network except the short
messages but the latest firmware updates for Motorola radios and repeaters
which let the user choose between Motorola proprietary and DMR standard open
the door for full compatibility between Hytera and Motorola networks.
The quality of the hardware is much better than other Chinese
radios and i expect to be better and better after Hytera bought Rhode & Schwartz Professional Mobile Radio division!
The policy to sell radios for hams at a low price is a good
impulse for us to explore the future of the telecommunications.
I will not trade the DP-4801 for a Hytera PD-785G but I
certainly use this radio day by day!
73 de Adrian YO3HJV
