Well, I've gone digital. After hearing quite a few tractor sounding signals on my analogue scanners, and knowing that they were most probably digital signals, curiosity got the better of me and I bought a digital scanner. Only to listen, not to transmit. I did a fair bit of research before hand, and it was clear that the Baofeng DM 1701 was one of the top cheap choices for getting into DMR radio. I wanted one with OpenGD77 software already installed, and that's exactly what I got. Reading on some of the forums, most said there is a huge learning curve to learning how DMR radios work in comparison to using an analogue scanner.
But I have found it fairly easy to do the basics like program channels, scan frequencies etc. I think that most people who are well-versed with analogue scanners will pick up the basic operations of a DMR radio quite easily.
So, what's the Baofeng 1701 like?
All in all its good. I like the fact that its digital and analogue. So even though I bought it for digital, it's nice to be able to switch to analogue and see what's going on there as well. Channels can also be saved as both digital and analogue and all scanned together, which is quite a good feature. What surprised me about digital is how there is no squelch noise. It seems strange. I turn the radio on and it is silent. The two knobs at the top are volume and a scroller / selector wheel, no squelch. The squelch is digitally programmed in percentages.
And only when a signal is picked up and someone talks do I truly know how loud the radio is turned up. I much prefer the old analogue manual audible squelch to be honest. Another surprise was how almost any antenna works really well at picking up digital signals. There is no special digital antenna, all my "analogue" ones work really well with DMR. Pretty much anything will do. And the reception of digital is really clear. It's not like analogue where you can pick up a weak signal that has a lot of hissing but make out what was said. With digital it seems like you either hear it and it comes through clear, or you don't hear it at all.
Video: Some potential shoplifters keeping security on their toes
Sometimes it can be hard to make out what is being said with digital because some people seem to speak really fast, mumble or have accents, and it can be quite hard in comparison to analogue to understand what was said. You have to listen carefully. And the volume levels can be so different. Like, one person will talk and it seems clear and at a nice volume level, then the other side will reply and almost blow the speaker up! So it can be a bit of a constant mess around with the volume knob when a signal is received to keep everything well balanced.
And speaking about the volume knob, it's not good if you have no headphones and want to listen quietly because other people are trying to sleep in your home. The volume does not go down gradually once it reaches a low point. It just cuts off. The lowest volume before it cuts off at its lowest level is not that low at all. Compared to the Quansheng UV -K5 / K6, 5R+ or any other normal analogue scanner, which volume levels all go down extremely low before they cut off completely. Almost fade out. The Baofeng 1701's volume knob does not have this level of gradual precision fade-out at the lower end.
Still though, the radio has been a lot of fun so far. And I would say digital signals seem more interesting right now than analogue. Maybe it's still a bit of a novelty for me at the moment. I'm hearing loads that can't be heard on an analogue scanner, as many things have gone digital. I hear mostly shop security guards, traffic wardens, property watch guards, shopwatch, workplaces, delivery companies, hotels, construction workers and some things I'm yet to identify. Not sure what they are.
Also, I never knew I'd be able to listen in to other peoples hotspot setups. I can hear people, who are at work doing some sort of security / tow truck type jobs that are using a hotspot, and they are all over the country, connected to each other. Because the hotspots are using the Internet, I can hear their work chatter from all over the UK. The same goes for some of the digital HAM frequencies I've been picking up. I can hear people from all over the country.
Battery Life
Battery life is OK. But it does not stay at one hundred percent for very long. Some radios, such as my Quansheng's, when fully charged they can stay at one hundred percent for a long time before they start to discharge. But the Baofeng, while still decent, is discharging quite quickly from one hundred percent. Don't get me wrong, it does sit at certain points for a considerable time, like 99%, 94% and 88%. But in an unfair comparison, the Quansheng battery life is better. Still, though, the Baofeng battery can and does last the week, or a bit longer if used sporadically a few times each day. So its not too bad.
OpenGD77 Firmware
A bit of a love hate relationship. While it is excellent for making things like saving channels, scanning frequencies easy, there does appear to be a lot that's been left out of the software. And if you do not have a cable and CPS software, there are some basic options that you would have thought would be a no-brainer to include that have been left out and can only be edited / saved with the cable and CPS software.
Things like deleting saved channels, changing the background / text colours, and even adding new zones. All these things and more can only be achieved by having the cable and CPS software. Basically, the radio must be connected to a computer to changed these things permanently. So, if you are going to buy this radio, be sure to buy the cable with it also, as it will be required at some point.
The Baofeng 1701 with OpenGD77 already installed is certainly not perfect, but I'm glad I bought it. For what I need, which is finding new digital frequencies, saving and scanning them its a great radio. I use the Quansheng to hunt down what sounds like digital signals, then enter them into the Baofeng. Sometimes they still can't be heard. Maybe they are encrypted or transmitting in a protocol standard that the radio can not decode.
These types of signals will still register with the radio and the top light even goes green like its receiving a normal, hearable signal. But nothing will be heard. The radio isn't faulty, it's more than likely just an incompatible signal for DMR mode.
However, most of the time I can successfully use the analogue radio to hunt down the signal and listen to what is being said on the Baofeng. It's quite cool and makes a nice change to buying yet another analogue radio. I've got loads of those!
I'm no expert with DMR, but If there's anything you'd like to know about this radio, leave a comment and I'll try my best to answer.
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