Retevis RA89. 10w PMR 446. Going to the DARK SIDE. 

good job on promoting positive behaviour and common sense use of radio. The rules/laws are not guidance, they are there to protect us and other users. See how quickly things change when things get abused. Thinking of a local repeater, which due to abuse of non licenced users, has now all but disappeared, and is a big loss to those that used it. Your a credit to the radio community Fred.

10:50 I'm glad they included a wrist lanyard to impress the chicks....

Great videos been watching for a wyle now thanks for the info 👍

Great review on the radio, love the in-depth look into its abilities. Cheers!

Frid in the shed your utube videos are awesome my friend

Next encoder for PMR is great idea 👍💯👍

Nice one fred. I done a similar test on uv5r in pmr 44600625 channel 1 in built up area and got about 1.7 miles. Thanks for this video. Regards Wayne

I love that radio really nice radio thank you for sharing it❤

Today 25-11-2023 I see that the' Retevis RA89 Is now on the Chirp Supported Radio Models list.

Frid in the shed I learn lot from you about bying cb radios and antennas for cb radios my friend

Informative content 👍🏿

Thanks Fred. Great review. Impressive radio for the price.

Nice touch to include the disclaimer. It's a must when doing some tests on PMR446. However, I've missed your thoughts and promised conclusion at the end. I would blame the McLaren for this 😉

Good one Fred!

love it, thanks

Well said as always Fred :)

Thanks for the disclaimer. Sick and tired of the 100w massive on PMR transmitting where the hell they like. Our local 70cm repeater has been abused to death and ended up the keeper throwing the towel in. As for Baofengs, best place is in the bin. Even genuine ones are utterly filthy with their output, with sprogs EVERYWHERE. In fact, good idea for a video; get yourself a TinySA, and have a look at some kit for the spurious emissions they produce (plus, you know, the spectrum monitoring possibilities)

We have similar FCC regulations here in the U.S. with regards to the unlicensed FRS (UHF) and MURS (VHF) and some regs regarding power on GMRS (UHF). Not many pay too much attention to the regs, and the FCC doesn't get its knickers in a twist unless they get reports of "malicious interference". The average American "bobbie" isn't going to be aware of the various antenna & power regs unless he/she is a radio afficiado. Nice video !

Good video as always Fred. Appreciate the various “caveats” as they’re important etc. Just as a side note the “non removable antenna” legislation no longer exists. It’s just the 0.5 watts that applies now. As for 10 watts next to your head it’s worth pointing out that near field analysis for vhf/uhf differ wildly to that of HF frequencies. Would be worth some further investigation into actual outputs at the antenna vs the stated output.

Frid in the shed my hobbies are painting pictures 🖼 and listening to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my ham license

Frid in the shed your Retevis RA 89 10w pmr 446 is awesome my friend

Great video Fred and that looks like an interesting little radio. Have you had any dealings with the quansheng UV K5(8) radio yet? Im looking for the info on how to unlock it to all bands so i can use it as a scanner type unit, but so far have only found vids of folks saying there's loads out there so I'm not gonna cover that today..... its a great little unit for the money if youve not seen one yet. Keep safe pal, cheers.

Regarding the antennas; the gender of the connector is determined by the center connection, not the ground threads. For years most radios used female on the radio and male on the antenna. Then along came Baofeng and changed it.

Thanks :-)

Also… I see that you’ve set the memory channels to “N” narrowband 12.5kHz mode which is the correct bandwidth for PMR446

In the US police do not enforce federal law, especially FCC rules. You can use these in front of cops with no fear.

This radio is currently on a Black Friday sale on Amazon if you are in the US

Hi Fred I read that it can be a bit of a health & safety issue running a hand held transceiver on UHF 10 watts & over insofar as RF hazard ?, apparently it's best to keep the antenna a certain distance away from the operators head , or ideally to have an external antenna ? .

On basic training: did you put the SQL on 5 ? (in the middle)... Nice video PMR446 setting. I like your "dark-side-videos".

Get into trouble? And whom will be around to get you in trouble? The chance of being cought with this radio is minus 100%. Cops have no clue about these radio's, or what you can or can't do with them. But always be resposible while using them. I prefere the Quansheng's with spectrum analyzer in the new firmware. And there's nothing private about privacy tones. Nice video, thank you for the information.

Thanks Fred, could you do a video one day on how to set up scan mode on saved memory channels like it does in VFS mode. Find it frustrating not to be able to scan through my saved memory channels. Thanks again, Dave

The first test for all these radios should be a check of the receiver somewhere with lots of RF, like a hilltop. Some of them become unusable.

$80? Just a little bit more? Got 10W Baofeng M-13 for £12 with FM65-108 rx, airband AM108-136 rx, 136-174 tx, 220-260 tx, 400-480tx, 480-520 rx and works perfectly

Exactly the same casing to the Aliunce (Retevis) HD-1 DMR radio

What if you use a homemade dipole in the attic or a dipole outside will you get further. Reg in dublin

l remember a rumor as to Retevis having changed the serial protocol recently and you might have to buy a new datacable. Good luck

>10 watts on PMR luckily it's a portable, you can reach like 20km on FM on that thing. but why not ! you're on mobile, just don't tx from home! it's also important on emergency frequencies! >80bux okay well i'll keep my rt85 and my k5

have you checked the actual output power on 446? Most of these radios wont output full power on 446, take my Baofeng UV-82's for example, i have measured 3.5w on 446 but drop down to 435 and they are putting out 5w, the Quansheng UV K5 is another radio I know for sure that does not output full power on 446, all are still a massive improvement over an official PMR 446 radio though! I would also be interested in how genuine Retevis are being about the general power of that radio, literally all the other brands claiming to have 8 and 10w handhelds are talking out their backsides for marketing purposes, even if that radio does not output the claimed power but gets close would mean its worth a look as the other brands are just plain lying and they dont come close to the claimed power but Retevis does seem like they are trying to position themselves as a medium level brand rather than budget like company's like Baofeng so maybe there is a chance its doing close to advertised power?

The police dont get involved in radio use.Having a radio at a sports event isnt illegal or suspicious.A bit like having a scanner near an airport nobody gets hassle.

Good vid Fred , I have 3 Retevis radios , and my best is a Anytalk , that cost me 70 quid and picks up planes and all sorts , take that one on me hols , cheers for the vid , great stuff shane , thumbs up from me , shane

Any recommendations on the best radio To get for prepping in the US out in the country

Fred! me and Andy and a couple of us do have a little Net on a Sunday night, 8 at 8, Would be great to come join us you should get in!

Fred, can i ask you, what type of antenna do you have on that baofeng uv 5r?

Great informative video! I received mine recently and after reprogramming to 446.**** my radio transmits only at 441.***** what might be the reason? Did I set it incorrect? Should I update it?

Do the police there question people for just using radios in public? Thats insanity.

Have you measured the power output on this one? Does it hit the 10 watt mark?

Didnt quansheng produce a 10 watt pmr years ago

Is it legal to use Wide range on PMR? or better stick with Narrow?

wanna use the hand radio like hack rF One SO the device has got powerful SCANNER and it have to work 433Mhz arronud. PLEASE advice me a model...

Frid in the how was your Thanksgiving my friend

Hi.!! is it really 10 watts or just 4.8 watts

Sorry meant vfo mode 😊

I’m pretty sure that your average Bobby has no idea about which radios are type approved for 446 and which are not.

hi the ra89 is about 119.00 for two is it a good deal ?

Frid in the shed do you have your ham license?

Not sure I would want 10 watts radiating right next to my head ?

I think you got turned around. The radio has a "female" SMA, raised post with a connector hole. The antenna is a "male" with a spike in the recessed opening.

Whare could I buy one or two? I see most places are out of stock.....

I don’t get it! This is not a PMR radio! It appears to be a Ham radio. In the USA, typical limits are 5 watts and 10 watts is only twice that! Good job though in encouraging correct usage on PMR. You comment on Baofeng radios being good. Have you examined the transmit on these? Others report dirty signals with tons of harmonics. There is a reason they are so cheap! As for distance versus power, double the power should give you 1.414 times the distance in clear line of sight.

the police are not allowed to check you radio kit!

This the UK version of GMRS?

Does anyone really worry about whats legal on PMR anymore , chances of getting caught and convicted are almost nil , bigger problems in the world today to worry about ,,👍

I doubt very much that police would know what approved equipment looks like antenna or not plus I think Ofcom have more important things to do other than chase people who are using 10 Watts.. Wise up...

Okay, okay. I've been a radio guy for over 50 years, also. And I only had, one wedding ring on. Because I was only married to, One Person. So what the hell is going on here? You've got a wedding ring on both hands! Are you kinky? Are you Mormon? Are you just a regular, Polygamist? No? You are an irregular, Polygamist? Oh? I should have known. You're one of those. I'm not saying it's good or evil. Naughty or nice. But Santa Claus is coming to town. And he's got a clause in his, Santa Contract. And we all know what that means. No green M&Ms! It's always like that. I'm not sure what country you're working for? You might want to find one? RemyRAD

You need to be more specific in your request for video proof. If I send you proof, what will I get 😂😂😂. I live in a city centre at the top of a skyscraper. I can pick up south of England from the north of England while indoors 😂😂😂

Different type of antennas 😰😡

u can be prosecuted for knowingly breaking the law... it`s not like you are hard to find

Chinese '10 watts'...

This is a bit bs,when you use it in public the cops dont know if your lisences or not,atleast in here no one is paying attention even cops dont botter if you blowing power on pmr,and i took it to concerts and stuff just with the earpiece lol

Why do keep giving your viewers the finger???? Rude.