This new radio blends classic styling with modern features - Anytone Ares II AM/FM/SSB (May 2023) 

I am finding tears in my eyes as I lament the loss of my Cobra 148GTL. This beautiful radio has very simular anesthetics. That Cobra 148GTL was in every vehicle I ever owned until October of 2022. Before I could drive, my father gave it to me for a job well done, one summer. The faceplate and the covers, live on as a keepsake. But the trusty old radio is gone forever. When I bought my current vehicle new back in 1996, I permanently installed the Cobra 148GTL into it by cutting a rectangular hole into the dashboard and installing it. Then I cut a round hole beside it to install the microphone jack. It looked incredibly beautiful. I even kept the radio fully functional through the downfall of CB's popularity. October 2022, there was an unfortunate vehicle fire. That was the end of my ancient radio I loved so dear. It was almost my faithful old vehicle as well. Hard work got my old rolling time capsule back into service. But the Cobra 148GTL is done. Perhaps this anytone beauty may make a beautiful replacement.

The software update now adds a frequency counter on the two digit window. You simply hold down both buttons on the mic, and it will flash all of the frequency two digits at a time! Pretty cool!

So if I'm gonna be using that "echo" feature, I'm going to also have to practice talking mushmouth, hollering, making sure that nobody can understand a single word and hooking up to a poorly modded 10 meter "linear" amp pushing multi kilowats across the entire spectrum - splashing my signal over top of every other channel on CB, blaring over people's house speakers and car audio speakers - I've got to ALWAYS be on that thing...and we CAN'T forget the roger beep now! I was kbnf9122.

Great video. If this radio is stable on ssb like the other Anytone radios it will be a great seller.

I collect radios that LOOK like THIS! So nice to see it's a SSB radio too. now back to the video!

As usual, great video. I've been watching you for years and it is so awesome to see you are still doing your thing. Thank you sir. 73's

I really like this new gen old school look of the 3300 / 148 DX ! Great video as always !

Very suprised with the features. Thanks for the great review.

Good thing MIC is spelled correctly!!! I thought MIG was fighter Jet mode😂 This radio would be totally awesome with a DDS Vfo. Old skool look, with new functionality

Excellent review,looks like this is going to be a popular little Radio!

Great video! Thanks for doing a complete review on this radio. Got one coming from United Kingdom soon 🙂 So Glad to watch this ahead of time.

Another great review by THE BEST !

Thank you for the sweet review.

So far so good. I'm loving the extra extras as I use everything when I operate. I'm honestly not in need of a new radio but I'm pretty interested in this radio.

Nice to see that this radio has also the fm mode that we use in Europe. Nice review thx

I had a Cobra CB radio in the early 90's that looked EXACTLY like this! I will definitely be checking out their products. Definitely subscribing!

always enjoy your videos and the full exlanations of all the fuctions

Great review! Thanks.

I ran a Uniden PC77 for years. Worked flawlessly. Had built in SWR and a antenna warning lamp. No other toys to fail. My wish list is for a reproduction of this quality tilt face radio with the addition of ssb circuitry. Was fabulous rare Uniden!

Exceptional review on this radio and love the old school look, but i love a freq counter on my quad 6. I can see a driver wanting one of these. Keep up the great work

I do prefer the older style but with a freq counter that actually follows the pll. However I’m not a fan of microprocessor controlled radio but that’s the world we live in. Big fan of the early galaxy, RCI, export cobra and midland , uniden cybernetic chassis radios. But I would buy one of the these, as I run a president Lincoln 2 plus in the truck.

Great info. Thanks! 👍👍👍👊😎

It is a Super 148!

Looks also like the Sommerkamp TS 340DX I still have in the basement.

Wow very nice video looks a great radio to have 👌👍

I like the older type layouts. A couple of buttons to manage 50+ menu options might be more compact, but can be a bit tedious to get around.

Great review 🇬🇧

As usual, great job 👍.

😀👍🏿Great Tips,Good Stuff

remember the cobras from the 80's neat to see FM havent done that since C.A.P.

I really like it thanks for sharing

They have the Radioddity QT40 out now, it's the same. Comes with programming cable, and the software on the website and are for sale all over. You can even replace or add to the WX freq list VHF freqs like fire, police, ham. All kinds of cool stuff. great radio and video.

Nice looking with all the features..OK President...we're waiting

Looking forward to future offerings in cab from anyone. No doubt they will include what the customers ask for

Got this radio today I like it so much

Awesome video. Thats the most comprehensive video on this I’ve seen

I have the Radioddity version on the way and here Monday - Looks like a great rig!

looks a superb new radio

Cool radio but no frequency display like the AT 6666. If it had a plug in for the Fc347 freq counter then it would rock. I think i will stay with the 6666. Nice video.

Can't wait for part 2

freak counter would be nice

Haggai thank you for this video I mean seriously I'm an old-school the guy that is getting really old don't have much time for tuning my own radios and things like that but I really would like this radio thank you for putting it on RU-vid I do appreciate it I hope I can afford it thanks again

Cool radio, thank you for sharing it with us. New video suggestion, Anytone Ares 2 vs Anytone quad 5 vs Anytone quad 6. Thanks

Awesome ,, thanks.

This really looks great. I looked high and low and couldn't find it for sale anywhere. Thin I looked closer and found your comment that it will be available in May 2023. Just curious if you have any idea how much this will go for? I'm thinking around the 300 to 400$ range. Thanks for the very well produced video. 😀😀

I can't wait to see PART 2 with the NPC results on your oscilloscope...

Thank you ❤❤❤

Hi. Can you pls do a short video on how to go into the in-between (lower/higher) hannels ? I'd like to know how that works, never used them b4. Thanks. Waiting for part II on this radio. 👍

I read if you hold the up/down on the microphone it will scroll your current frequency.

Brilliant move.

There's now a firmware update that gives extra functions. Most usefully for amateur operators, the FIN button can now be set for +/- 5 kHz (not just 500 Hz) and frequency readout: pressing up-down simultaneously on the mic, and the display will scroll through the frequency digits.

Thank you , well done .

Looks like my 138 xlr 😅

I'm saving up for that

Put a frequency counter in it …. !! Your sales will triple .. no freq counter - no sale !!

Sweet!

Man I sure miss my Galaxy Pluto but this does look pretty nice. Might just have to grab one. I'd call it about perfect if they'd added a frequency counter display. But still, pretty nice. I guess an inline could be added to it.

Nice old school looking radio especially with noise reduction for ssb. Maybe complicated for some. I like the 5555N myself.

Thank You For the video my friend. Where can I purchase one?

Looks very much like the Uniden Grant LT or the Uniden PC78LTX. Guess they needed a way to use all the old chassis they had laying around. My guess is an AT5555 inside a retro chassis.

Pleased with mine so far

Interesting. The NRC takes a moment to capture a noise-print to use it for the filter algorithm. I'm sure that can be useful in some situations but personally i much more prefer the raw clearer sound without the nasty filter-artifacts that makes it sound like mobile phones with bad reception or like an MP3 with 12kbits bitrate or less. Because filtering never comes without loss. Still nice that this feature is available and adjustable.

Add a frequency counter and lit face and its a winner 🥇

Great video and radio!

Great video, very interesting indeed.

Nice 🙂👍🏻

My ARES 2 arrived and it's a beautiful pience of equipment! I need to know how to make it work on both 10 meter and 11 meter without removing the cover after the first time when I change the position of the jumper. I also need to know how to do the firmware updates.

Haven't had time to watch this entire video yet. Link to purchase?

Would be great if they put a 6 digit freek counter like the cobra gtldx ..or at least a ext phone freek counter jack...they would fkn fly off the shelfs, even if it was a extra 100 bills.

Looks familiar, has all the necessaries, hope its a good one! I've read something about a year back that the Quad 6 was being canceled. So, this is it's replacement huh? The only thing I can see that it needs and could use, is a freq. plug-in on the rear. Anytone can send me one of these to beat on and report back on it too if they like, I would accept!!

interesting/thanks much

Great review. Interesting to see the newer features. I wonder what these would cost?

Does this have a "smooth" receive clarifier, a lot of these radios are clicked steps only. Lovely retro looking radio, sure it will be a big hit..

Any radio review that goes through the bands by telling us that Band D is, well - "D" is , like - wow. So Informative..... Are the bands actually identified anywhere here - by frequency? I didn't hear any mention of Metres or Megahertz.... Maybe they think their audience is too dumb to handle suchlike high tech terminology? But we get told all about vital stuff like how to set the Echo level.... When anyone with more than one brain cell would use that menu only to extinguish any trace of idiot-echo-ness... Because it's a silly gimmick that interferes with audio readability. And he points to PA, FM, AM, USB, LSB - and teaches us that those are actually PA, FM, AM, USB, LSB - again, I'm now like SO much more informed. To find a positive point, we DO also get a full demo of such *vital* stuff as plenteous roger beeps and how to select those (thanks SO for that!) but this reviewer believes that nobody wants to know a single thing about what or where those multiple bands and H M selectables take the operating frequency. He also knows only one adjective denoting approval. Like, "cool". How about some old school alternatives? Like - Effective. Praiseworthy. Excellent. Well designed. Efficient. Attractive. Get the idea? It's possible to deliver degrees of exactitude rather than brainlessly parrot repeatedly the one-size-fits-all but completely mindless "cool".... It seems this rig lacks what every "old school" uniden based export rig in CB's glory days came with - a clarifier giving about fine tune 1-1.5kc up/down on ONLY the RX freq - also a "coarse tune" shifting both RX and TX simultaneously - usually as little as 5kc and as much as almost 7kc. The latter control is what this Anytone radio seems to not-have. Using this as a freeband DX rig will be handicapped greatly by Anytone leaving this control pairing on the current-room floor. And after watching the whole thing, it's still a mystery what its coverage range is. Are Americans not allowed by the FCC to openly address the use of radios not adhering to FCC spec sheets? Here in the restrictive U.K. we can and DO openly use and discuss such stuff. Could it be that the Land Of The Free is actually - the U.K. rather than the 50 can't-discuss-frequency-states? Too easy to lose track of the frequency being used with these anonymous Alphatag banded IDs. Any rig with this level of pretension should have a freq. readout of the EXACT freq. being transmitted, to show where the obligatory coarse tune has slid to. This looks like an interesting prototype set, but those SM boards are a bitch to work on unlike old kit like the rigs I still treasure and will never, ever sell. Then there's my ham rigs. This radio's fitness for use on 10m was never addressed - why? From here, that's beyond understanding - unless the FCC rules, along totalitarian lines, with rods of iron over its responsibilities. (All in fun, guys....)

I need to hear it on the air... I loved the punchy radio sound of the uniden platform, I prefer old school thing... 🧐

Any idea when will it be available?

All the bells and whistles.

Why not have a external frequency meter option. As most old rigs we did a small mod for one. That would be a good selling point.

19:53 notice the 3 pin power cord does F-all

Im in uk my daughter bought me a crt ss9900 ive not used yet health is poor but ive had a look at it and it seems a bit fidely they blow between 60 or 80 watts I may go for this or the k po 5000 plus I also have the THE ALBRECHT AE 2990 AFS hand held it only pushes 4 watts but you can get a small 20 watt amp for it it has am fm usb lsb and amateur bands

Haggai thank you for this that's the radio that I need I mean I don't need much anything else thank you again I wish I knew how much it cost

yes i miss my SuperStar 3900

Can you cancel out certain channels in the channel scan mode? Scan feature would be totally useless if you can't block out the Superbowl channels.

Now available - amzn.to/3utaZKp

Does cobra make these? I saw the mic and I’m wondering

Still have my old Cobra 138 ssb and the box it came in.! 🤔

You mentioned 2 watt dead key with 16 w PEP . Is that with NPC on or off?

You can avoid noise in your radio simply by adding an rf filter to the distributor pack or cap of the engine

It really needs a Coarse clarifier as well as the FIN control. Otherwise you cannot move to the 0's. That's needed for 10m, and export bands. A basic frequency readout option would be great too. It's a really good radio that needs a few small revisions to be really great. 73

I would love to have a radio like that replace my mirage 88 with that radio especially being just got the side band and FM and whatever other features I like that radio where can I purchase one that's what I'd like to know what do they cost set up to use as a CB

Great review although I have not had a CB radio in many, many years so I don’t really understand how this radio can transmit 30+ watts when I thought the legal limit was around 4 watts? Please clarify. Thank you!

if you change the setting in the software to "dynamic" mic style, does that mean you can use a noise-cancelling mic with this radio??

I am sure that someone will figure out how to go into radio and be able to hook up a 12voltdc frequency counter to track the frequency of channels and bands. But not to worried about it. Very nice radio for all...

Does it have 10m or 12m for Licensed Amateur Radio Operators?

It has FM, but does it have offsets for repeater use?

this also being sold as the RADIODDITTY QT-40.

With the extra space inside radio, wandering how long before someone puts,,,, I'll say it,,, an internal linear.

Can you make a video that shows how to program the frequencies into the radio? I have one of these radios and did not realize that all channels have to be programmed in on your own. Anyone radio company can put out a nice radio when they don't have to do any programming of frequencies. They also do not send any instructions about programming frequencies. I have been into CBs since the early 1970's and never had to program my own frequencies. I suspect there are a number of people in my same position. A video showing how to program channels from a computer or manually, would be very helpful. As it goes now, mine is in the box sitting in the closet and will probably be sold to someone who can program it.

Where I can find a frequency table for this radio?

Can you show the NPC in action on your scope? Just like a 1khz tone showing the peaks and pinch-off? I was just curious how aggressive it is compared to asymmetric modulation mods.