I’ve run into a lot of Hams that won’t buy a Chinese made radio… Some lump them all into one big category called Cheap Chinese Radios (CCR). Many have brand loyalty to one of the big-three Japanese manufacturers: Kenwood, Yaesu and/or ICOM. For HF, there’s a handful of other respected brands like Elecraft and Flexradio that are US companies. But for VHF/UHF, the market is full of radios from China by companies like Baoefeng, QYT, TYT, Wouxun, Anytone and others. Some believe all Chinese radios are made in the same factory, and are sold under different brand names.
Compounding the confusion, there are companies out there that don’t manufacture radios, but distribute them under their own brand name. Sometimes they’ll have minor differences in the firmware or features. But, looking at them supports the theory they’re all made in the same factory. From what I can tell, Retevis and Radiodity are examples of companies with this business model. Btech is another, but they don’t hide the fact that you’re getting a Baofeng.
The Anytone AT-D878UVII is considered by many to be one of the best DMR HT's out there. It is made in China by Qixiang Electron Science & Technology Co., Ltd, the company behind the Anytone name. Street price is about $320. Or, you can get the Radioddity GD-AT10G, that "looks" exactly the same without the Bluetooh and APRS features for about half that price. Who knows who makes the GD-AT10? Or, what other corners were cut to meet that price point... I'll stick with the Anytone.
My guess is that Non-Disclosure and Non-Compete are not part of the Chinese business dictionary. All these radios have been copied and re-engineered many times over. With enough money, you can go to a Chinese company and get them to manufacture a radio to your specifications and they’ll be happy to put any brand name you want on it… For a minimum quantity order.
The QRZ-1 HT was a collaboration with Gigaparts and QRZ.com to make a basic, easy to use HT available to new Hams as part of their Jump Start Program. It looks exactly like a TYT UV-88. But, the firmware is different; And, if you look close, the button functions are different to match the firmware changes. There's probably dozens of Chinese companies that will produce variations like these.
Even the companies that manufacture radios under their own brand name don’t make the components. There are companies that only make the enclosures (case). And companies specialized in making the printed circuit boards (PCB) that fit in those enclosures. Just pick a PCB from a radio that has most of what you want, and a case it will fit in with the buttons and knobs to make it work. Source the components and assemble. If you’re smart enough to modify the firmware, you too can be in the Amateur Radio business!
What motivated me to write this post is my experience with TYT. You can read my review of the TYT TH-98oo here and on eham.net. The TH9800 is a clone of the Yaesu FT-8900 quad-band radio. The Yaesu was discontinued so I tried the TH-9800. Long story short is, it crapped out after three months. I also tried a TYT TH-9000 for 222 Mhz which failed out-of-box… Bottom line is that in my experience, these TYT radios are garbage.
The big-three have abandoned the 1.25M segment and only offer a few HT’s with low power (1 to 5 Watts). Wanting a radio for 222 Mhz, I settled on the Anytone AT-5888UVII. It’s one of the few radios that will put out 25 watts on 1.25M. Alinco (a Japanese company) makes the DR-CS25 with full-power (50w) on 222 Mhz; But, it’s a mono-band radio, and I didn’t want to spend ~$260 without knowing how active the band was around here. I knew I’d get more use out of a Tri-Band. And with dual VFO, it is great for scanning 2m and 70cm while playing with my other radios. So… having been impressed with the quality of the Anytone AT-D878, I thought it was worth a try and see if the Anytone analog mobile radios are any good.
Before I chose the AT-5888, I did some research on some of these Chinese companies to find out which were mostly distributors of repackaged radios and which actually assemble their radios themselves. When I tried to get to the TYT website, I got a timeout error. The website might be blacklisted for some reason = RED FLAG! I was pleased to find that Anytone are among the ones that do their own engineering, testing, assembly and quality control.
It’s interesting to note: The only Chinese radios sold by DX Engineering and Gigaparts, are Anytones.
New Ham Blog 