Review on 📻 AnyTone AT-778UV Transceiver Mobile Radio: Dual Band 25W VHF/UHF VOX Vehicle Car Radio with Cable - Enhanced Communication and Versatility by Alex Taylor

I bought this radio to use as a base unit connected to a DC power supply. It connects to a TRAM 1477-B antenna about 20 feet away and is fed by the 50 foot section of the LMR-400. I've had reports of a clear and strong signal and decent reception. I think the reception would have been better if the surroundings weren't so bad. The device is small and has a nice design overall. The color LCD screen is bright, crisp, and mostly excellent (more on that below). The sound from the built-in speaker is sufficient, but I connected it to an external speaker instead. The handheld microphone is just the right size for me; not too big, not too small. It is convenient to hold and use. I only have one complaint about it (again more below). Programming the radio itself isn't difficult once you get comfortable with the menu system, but like most you'll probably want to use CHIRP instead. However, CHIRP currently only supports channel data and not settings, so you'll still be making some settings from the radio itself. Overall it's a good radio, but it does have some (in my opinion) significant drawbacks. The LCD screen can display frequencies up to 8 positions, alpha tags are limited to 5 characters. This is not a segmented LCD screen, so this limitation is purely software. My BTECH HT supports up to 7 and the cheap BaoFeng supports at least 6. Why such a low limit? This is inexcusable to me, which is why I deducted a star for it. My second big issue is that there is NO lag time when scanning after a signal drop. As soon as the carrier falls off, it works again. This is frustrating because you often only hear parts of the conversation. If someone pauses to allow someone to reply, the radio immediately resumes scanning. Do you listen to emergency services (e.g. police/fire/ambulance)? You will often hear the dispatcher making a call, but hear no answer because he immediately resumes scanning. Normally the delay time after signal loss before resuming is configurable, but not for this radio. There are zero options for that. Also this is what cheap BaoFeng can do. Why can't this radio? Another star. Speaking of scanning, it's slow. Approximately 3-4 channels stored per second. Again, my BaoFeng can switch channels on the fly compared to the budget HT. The brightness of the LED backlight behind the keys appears to have been reduced by at least 90%. I left the device on 24/7, and while the LEDs have a lifespan and slowly dim over time, the button illumination almost completely faded within a month. Fortunately, the LCD screen backlight has remained unchanged. The LEDs on the handheld mic also remain bright. Speaking of the LEDs on the handheld mic, I wish the A/B button was toggled separately from the rest of the mic LEDs. The button is large (the size of a US quarter) and is backlit by a BRIGHT blue LED. I'd rather turn that off and leave the rest of the mic's LEDs on without having to open it up to change it. However, I didn't deduct a star for either this or the previous edition. Some of the minor issues: The volume control, which is a two-step process (button press, then knob), is annoying. The dual watch feature does not work during a scan, it ignores anything that may happen on the second frequency until it stops scanning on the main frequency. There is no quick way to display the frequency of a named memory channel, as switching to VFO mode will display the frequency last entered into the VFO, not the frequency of the current memory channel. Contrary to the description, the radio does not have a fan, but I had no problems with overheating when using it. Some of these issues can be fixed with a firmware update, but so far I haven't seen any issues with AnyTone. I hope that changes because I like the radio, even if it has some rough edges.