This digital mode gets better range than FM 

Sure does!

Thanks for your input. The reason I recommended dPMR over DMR is because DMR needs TDMA direct mode (aka DCDM on motorola stuff) which requires one radio on the channel to occasionally transmit to provide timing synchronisation to all other radios on the channel. This consumes a bit of extra battery on that radio and is more complex than just having 6.25kHz channels in the first place like on dPMR. Additionally the lower bandwidth of dPMR is meant to give slightly better range. I trust you that it works very well, but not having that extra battery drain, extra complexity and slightly lower range seem like enough benefits to me to recommend dPMR over DMR (even though most people won't notice the difference). What do you think of the build quality of the Hytera BD505LF?

@@radiosification No problems with the build quality of the BD505LF or my BD555s, but of course the PD radios are built more like tanks.

Yes I'll try to do some. Thanks Elliot

Yeah I was going to ask that as well look forward to some more at you're convenience brilliant videos.❤

Wow, interesting. There has been some other complaints about the range of the XT660d too. Electronics noob blog did a video comparing it to an older radio (both in analogue) and the XT660d got worse range. Do you happen to own any other dpmr radios? Or an SDR by any chance? I've just heard that the Motorola XT660d is apparently NOT a dPMR radio but I'd like to try and confirm it, either by getting someone who has another dPMR radio to try talking to it, or by using a recording from an SDR to try decoding it in software using a dPMR decoder.

@@radiosification I’ve only got a pair of XT660d’s unfortunately. I always thought it was dPMR, it certainly sounds like it on a scanner. But it may be Motorola’s seemingly worse version of it. I’ll have to try them on my AOR DV10.

@@spig021 Oh that would be great if you could try them on the DV10 and see if it decodes. Thanks!

@@radiosification I’ll try it over the next few days & let you know the results. On the strength of these radios I’d given up on dPMR. However those Kenwoods look & sound great. I also like the look of the Icom IC-F29SDR’s, but I think they’ve stopped making them & they are really expensive.

@@spig021 Thanks! Yeah the Kenwoods are good radios. I like them. The latest Icom model is the IC-F29DR3 but they're a bit too expensive in my opinion at about £230 I believe (you can also look for the IC-F29DR2 which I think they've only just stopped making so it's still in stock in some places or may be going cheaper). The Kenwoods are much better value for money. If you go on ebay you can sometimes find them cheapish, like £130 each. It sounds like the XT660d was just not a very good radio, so don't judge all of dPMR by that. In fact years ago I had a pair of Kirisun S780s that got awful range compared to their analogue competitors. I though digital was just rubbish as they were my first ever digital sets but it was just the radios.

Yes that definitely could be affecting it here. The problem is, it would be very difficult to record the video (and get good audio) if I put the radio outside! The microphone would pick up a lot of wind noise and if it starts raining my camera might get ruined since I leave it unattended to do these tests. I did mention in the video not to pay too much attention to the distances because the conditions are very difficult for 446 MHz radios. Lots of hills, houses, trees and as you noted, it's going through a window too. The video is more meant to be a comparison between the analog and digital modes on the radio. In terms of range, I'd expect this radio to get roughly the same on analog as most other pmr446 radios of a decent quality.

What I have discovered in the past in the States is that one would get the range of VHF with the penetrating power of UHF when we worked on the 220MHz spectrum allocated to Hams. A part of that spectrum was stolen form Hams due to lack of use and issued to commercial services. It was limited to AM very narrow band ( 1 MHZ between receive and transmit frequencies. It utilized Amplitude compandered side band. Not the best mix. For repeaters to work right one had to have discrete RX and Tx antennas, duplexers could not handle the narrow allotment between RX and TX.

I've heard that the range of the motorola's isn't very good. I'd be interested to hear your experience

I’ll let you know on my channel very soon, range test against the Motorola XT660D coming.

dPMR is not a type of DMR! They are completely different digital modes. dPMR is 6.25 kHz and not TDMA. DMR is 12.5 kHz and has two timeslots. Very different. They do use the same vocoder though so they sound the same. dPMR is meant to have better range because of the lower bandwidth.

What's that?

@@radiosificationYou simply quantum entagle yourself with your partner, and off you go... instant communication at infinite distances. (It could also mean sex ) 😃

Tbh I can't remember. It may have been the default but at some point I set the squelch to the loosest setting. I don't remember if it was before or after this test though.

This is not DMR. It's dPMR. An entirely separate digital mode, just like P25 is different than DMR. dPMR is very similar to NXDN. dPMR equipment is sold as PMR446 radios like this but also as licenced equipment with higher power outputs, repeaters and even trunking systems. The vocoder is exactly the same as DMR so intelligibility is the same assuming a solid signal. The only variability here is that some manufacturers/models have good audio and some don't.

That radio is a licensed DMR radio. This radio is licence free and dPMR.

@@radiosification thanks, - very kind of you for you help always.

I did try to explain in the video that you can't compare the distances. Unless you literally came to my house and set a radio in the window in the exact same spot, your comparison is meaningless.

how are you finding it?. i am deciding still on the 3710, or icom f29dr3.

@@darrylyoung1121 Im glad that i did bought it. ( TK-3701D by Kenwood) Less problems ,more clear and more distance. I had to wait a little bit longer, because many people ordered this one. But glad that i did. 😁👍🏼

@@patrickstoute4085 did you try the icom then? thanks.

@@patrickstoute4085 thanks, did you ever try the icom 29DR3?

@@patrickstoute4085 when did you buy?. thanks. i am in the uK.