Midland's entry into ham radio

[Prerunner1982]

Looks like Midland has jumped into the ham radio market with their copy of the AnyTone AT-778uv for $109.99
If their normal 25% off holiday discounts apply to this radio as well that might be a pretty nice deal.

https://midlandusa.com/product/dbr2500-dual-band-two-way-radio/

 

[Plasmajab]

Im guessing about the form factor, but if its that small, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. That would fit perfect in my rig.

As far as the company. I havent had any issues with any of thier CB's. Hopefully this adventure is just as good!

 

[Prerunner1982]

Here are the measurements for the AnyTone.

 

[TerryD]

I personally won't buy a mobile that doesn't have a squelch knob. It's too handy to be able to quickly open squelch to listen for weak signals or crank it up when you're around a leaky transformer or some other kind of noise.

 

[Prerunner1982]

I mostly agree Terry, though my FTM-3100 (no squelch knob) has worked fine for my APRS I generally like a squelch knob as well.
For a new ham though looking to get started for cheap if they could get a dual band mobile for $83 (if the 25% off applies) that might be a good start.

 

[Kent R]

I like it! I would say one drawback I see is the 25w max power. This is perfect in my mind for the new ham.

 

[TreXTerra]

That is a good looking set, way nicer interface than my older ICOM. At that price it will be a serious contender for entry hams.

EDIT: the link seems to be broken and I can't find the radio on the Midland page.

 

[jeep670]

Looks like Midland has jumped into the ham radio market with their copy of the AnyTone AT-778uv for $109.99
If their normal 25% off holiday discounts apply to this radio as well that might be a pretty nice deal.

https://midlandusa.com/product/dbr2500-dual-band-two-way-radio/View attachment 78183

Wow! You don't see every day a well known company copying a Chinese product. I guess it's made by Anytone and rebranded. Nonetheless it looks like a great beginner radio especially for that price!

 

[Todd & Meg]

Any idea when the holiday sale will be? I missed the Cyber Friday one. I'm thinking of getting an MXT115 for GMRS. Ham will come later.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Any idea when the holiday sale will be? I missed the Cyber Friday one. I'm thinking of getting an MXT115 for GMRS. Ham will come later.

Maybe New Years... 4th of July? I don't know.

 

[jeep670]

Interesting... they took down the link. I guess it was an early leak.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Interesting... they took down the link. I guess it was an early leak.

Nice. MidlandUSA also removed their post about it on another forum.

 

[TerryD]

I know there's been some litigation involving these cheaper Chinese radios and I wonder if they didn't realize that this radio falls into that category. The Baofengs, Pofungs, and similar are all under fire from the FCC right now.

 

[jeep670]

I know there's been some litigation involving these cheaper Chinese radios and I wonder if they didn't realize that this radio falls into that category. The Baofengs, Pofungs, and similar are all under fire from the FCC right now.

Not sure.. I have a feeling they'll post it back with double the price.

 

[Prerunner1982]

I know there's been some litigation involving these cheaper Chinese radios and I wonder if they didn't realize that this radio falls into that category. The Baofengs, Pofungs, and similar are all under fire from the FCC right now.

Their specs said it would only transmit within the ham frequencies so I don't think that was an issue.

 

[TreXTerra]

I think the make-or-break for this one is going to be the interface and the documentation. My Baofeng is horrible to navigate around and the documentation is entirely user-generated. To do much of anything requires about an hour on Google reading various forum posts.

 

[Najman]

I do not like rebrands Midland makes good products hope they design there own .

 

[justintheegreat]

would you say this would be a good entry radio or first starter for a newbie HAM user?

 

[Kent R]

would you say this would be a good entry radio or first starter for a newbie HAM user?

Not a bad little radio, but depending on where you are in NorCal it might not be enough power. Two examples;
* We went had a guy stuck on Fordyce trail at night off of Hwy 80 two years ago, to rigs went in to take the parts he needed one about 30 minus ahead of the other. We started on medium power around 25 watts and ended up at 50 w simplex due to terrain.
* On our adopted trail in the El Dorado NF we typically use the local repeater so power is not really a problem, but we have had one incident were we could not talk on simplex to a member at the bottom of the trail when we got to the top mainly because the member at the bottom did not have the repeater ch and could not transmit at high power.

So depending on what you are going to use it for it just might be a great entry level radio. It certainly is a great price.

 

[Prerunner1982]

It's still not back on their webpage but I did find their spec sheet.
https://midlandusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/DBR2500_Spec-Sheet.pdf