AnyTone AT-D878UVII Plus – Dual Band DMR/Analog 7W VHF, 6W UHF Handheld Radio w/FREE $97 Training Course – Bluetooth PTT, Digital/Analog APRS RX & TX - 500K Contacts Plus Great Support from BridgeCom!

This radio is a beast, very easy to program via computer, a bit trickier using the radio itself but still very doable. This thing has a great transmission range, power, and quality, and has worked for everything I’ve needed. Radio seems very well designed, however do check out the baofeng/btech rebrand of the exact same radio. Functions the same (or more sometimes) and is much cheaper. Overall, fantastic radio with great customer service that just about makes it worth the price. (It’s also fully unlockable with almost no knowledge, iykyk, YouTube/Reddit is your friend)

The media could not be loaded. I picked up the 878 after only using baofengs for about 4-5 years. The learning curve is much steeper than baofengs but not impossible if you’ve already used programing software like chirp. My recommendation is download CPS (Anytones code plug software) and play around with it while you wait on your order. The class can be helpful if you’d rather just take the slow and easy option but be proficient by the end. It’s included regardless so it’s a good add-on. My main complaint is the analog reception, squelch is only able to be changed with a range of 0-9 zero being a full open and 1 being well, a bit more than you want. The issue I run into is the squelch will turn on and off somewhat randomly, not bad enough where you don’t hear anything but you will have to fill in some blanks if you’re not using a good repeater and antenna.You can and will pick up analog clearly but antenna choice is very important. A stock Baofeng UV5R will pick up whole transmissions at its stock 9/9 squelch will pickup more of an analog signal than the 878, but with that being said it is not the focus of the HT. Where it excels is battery life, audio clarity (receive and transmit) and customizability. A baofeng will allow you to put some text, the 878 does text or full color images. The 878 has 15 base button binds that can be changed in software or on the HT. APRS receive works but is significantly easier to setup on a pc. Reception for analog APRS seems to be more consistent than voice but transmission and a bit odd since it waits for dead air and if there’s someone talking when it would send it seems like it just waits again. So if you’re on a busy channel APRS may not transmit on the separate frequency, I do not have a second radio capable of verifying that it is the same for APRS on simplex voice frequencies but it seems to be better when APRS and voice are being used on the same frequency. The digital functions work as expected, I’ve made 100 mile line of sight contacts with my local repeater on trips on analog, so unless you are looking to spend about twice as much on a HT this is about as good as it gets. Any cheaper (besides the $250 blue button version) radio will feel a bit limited. Having the extra capacity to fit the whole DMR contact list is definitely worth the headache of making your own. The video attached is recorded 7 miles from a repeater in a parking garage with no direct line of sight and large concrete buildings between as well. Does not show the cutting in and out analog can do but that should show how picky I am about it. Build quality 9/10 analog reception 7/10 Audio quality/max volume 10/10 start up wait time for a DMR HT 9.5/10 Learning curve for new HAMs 6/10 (without using the included course) over all 8/10 for analog use 9/10 for DMR

Very good communication radio for emergencies in the area .Easy to operate after you upload the frequencies. A must for communication between the emergencies agencies.Price wise is great and supports from the company.

Great radio with lacking APRS functionality. If you are looking for an APRS specific radio, this isnt it. But, if you are looking for a DMR radio that sometimes works on APRS, its a tank. They've pushed out firmware trying to increase the capabilities of the radio while simultaneously breaking already functional features. Out of all of my radios, the Anytone 878UVII plus is the least capable for messaging, position reporting, or reliable packet decoding. For a DMR radio though, I have dropped it, left it in the heat and cold, and gotten it wet. The battery life is astounding as is the audio quality. I would buy this again without the classes from bridgecom and certainly dont give them your email unless you get lonely and enjoy continued marketing from them.

The radio covers APRS, DMR and Analog FM. I like being able to program the radio for DMR from the keypad. I like the roaming feature for DMR. There is one thing that is lacking in this radio. The receiver is not as sensitive as my Japanese made radios. I would not use it for SOTA activations. The radio takes just over 14 seconds to power on . I do not grab it when I need to get on the air quickly. The speaker provides very clear and crisp audio. I can hear it outside above the background noise. The reverse SMA is not my favorite. I prefer the SMA male. If you have SMA male antennas, you will need an adaptor. The HT is also heavier than the other HT's I use for Ham radio. You can select to use it in the Ham band only or set it to transmit out of the Ham bands. The volume goes in steps which causes it to cut out at the low end of the scale. The programming cable works without having to install drivers. I would suggest purchasing extra batteries even though the one provided last a couple of days. The charger is slow compared to other chargers that comes standard with other radios. If you purchase another battery pack, you will need to buy another belt clip because it attaches to the battery not the radio. The antenna provided works well on UHF however it is deaf as a fence post on VHF. The Signal Stick antenna works very well.