BTECH UV-PRO IP67 Dual Band VHF/UHF Two-Way Radio - APRS, Bluetooth, GPS, Text Messaging, Aviation Band Scanner, NOAA Weather Alerts, USB-C Rechargeable Battery

Excelent value. Analog waterproof radio that can connect thru KISS. I think very few radios on market can do same. Aprs. Firmware upgraded monthly. USB C for charging. Pretty good overall.

Great support team for the UV-PRO. I needed some part assistance and the BTech staff stepped right up!The UV-PRO itself is a great little radio; little only in the aspect of size. It feels sturdy in the hand, with intuitive controls and a bright, well organized menu system. I very much like the way it integrates with my cell phone via Bluetooth – making programming a snap.My next acquisition for the UV-PRO will be the BTECH BS-22 Wireless Speaker Mic which should extend the -PRO’s capability away from the unit itself, freeing me from cables and/or the close-by antenna.73

FCC ID: 2AGND-UV-PROAn amateur or part 90 radio license is required to transmit with this radio.This radio is a dual band amateur radio. It receives and transmits on the 2 meter, and 70 cm bands. It also receives the civilian aircraft band.This radio has many unique features. It has send and receive APRS capability. It has transmit and receive I-gate capability. It has digipeater capability (which currently does not work). It has a relay (parrot) function that receives and retransmits the received audio. It has a nonstandard microphone connector. BTECH sells an adapter to allow K1 style accessories. A bluetooth microphone is available also.Transmit and received audio is great. The radio has a mic gain control.The radio is programmed via a smartphone application. Also, most radio functions can be set and adjusted from the app. The app does NOT need to be running for the APRS and other functions to work. The radio has a GPS system and can work autonomously. This radio is NOT CHIRP-Compatible.APRS is awesome, supporting send and receive. It supports all common APRS symbols and allows you to send and receive messages. The I-gate works well, sending received stations to APRS-IS and receiving the same. There appears to be digipeater capability also. It is not fully supported in the app yet., so it is nonfunctional. This radio uses standard amateur AX.25 protocol for amateur use and a proprietary "BSS" protocol for business/Part 90 use.The radio uses AX.25/BSS to identify and indicate position for group use and can display onscreen the bearing of other UV PRO radios in the group. It can also display bearings of received APRS stations.This radio has more features than any other analog radio I've ever seen. It is firmware upgradeable, and the app is upgradeable. This future-proofs the radio and allows future development of the unit. I look forward to the future with this series.It's not a mature radio. It has some development to go through yet, before it reaches its full potential.The price is very attractive. You get a lot with what you pay for. I highly recommend this radio.

Update #2 - 03 December.It's been a roller coaster, but I am pleased to report that the firmware bugs, the big ones anyway, have been resolved in the latest beta. WOAD and radiomail are now working great with send / rcv sessions successfully and consistently completing in record time.I will say that the manufacturer has been very pro-active in their efforts to resolve issues.Update 24 November.Regrettably I am reducing my rating considerably. The firmware releases for this unit are a hot mess. One thing gets fixed, older bugs return. Check out the FB group on these before buying.Original review ...I wanted something to be able to access email via WOAD or Radiomail without having to carry extra pieces. These units have built in APRS / KISS / TNC / Bluetooth. It took a couple of firmware updates, but it now seems to be functioning with both WOAD and Radiomail using Bluetooth. It also performs well in voice / phone mode. It seems pretty rugged and is fully IP-67 waterproof. Battery life is reasonably good, extra batteries are only $20 each.The only other HT I know of with similar capability is the $700 Kenwood TH D75. I've not tried the Kenwood but I understand it needs a seperate usb dongle to support IOS devices, battery life is terrible, and spare batteries are $100 a pop.One downside is that currently there is no support for Chirp or RT systems. I suspect that is just a matter of time.