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

These new APRS series of radios are exactly what I need. As an APRS enthusiast I need some cheap base station for the node, so I do not much worry about thunderstorms.And some not expensive handheld with KISS modem.With UV-Pro I got even more - I can simultaneously be connected to APRS and monitor 2 frequencies + monitor for NWS Alerts via NOAA.All this without scanning and very convinient.Only I do not like is stock antenna .I replaced it with BNC adapter and now I can use all my huge set of antennas as well as connect external antenna at 🏠 and 🚗.

Going to ham radio operator for decades. I've had a lot of radios. This one is excellent. Great operation great construction I was surprised. the Bluetooth connectivity and ability to operate and program it from an app are all pluses.

The Bluetooth app makes it very easy to program. I got a good signal report on 2 meters. The only thing I didn't like is attaching the belt clip. You have to get the tiny screws through a hole in the clip to thread into the body of the radio. I struggled with it for a while. Even with a small magnetic screw driver I couldn't get it in until I used a small bit of duct tape to hold the screw in place. I would recommend this radio because of ease of programming, and a nice dual channel display.

I've been interested in something comparable to the BTECH GMRS-PRO, but for HAM bands ever since its. Mid-August they released the UV-PRO, which sort-of fits this description. Mine arrived today. I was mainly interested in (1) the APRS digital mode, and (2) Bluetooth connectivity (both to the phone and to headsets).The first thing I noticed about the UV-PRO is that it is heavy -- much, much heavier than the other handsets I've used before. I'm not sure if this is the waterproofing, or because the frame is mostly metal, but this might be factor for some uses like backpacking or hiking. At 300+g it sags on my belt, etc. It feels about twice as heavy as a BF-F8HP (which I was using before).In terms of initial impressions: the unit seems solid, and the audio quality is great. I'm getting clear signal reports, audio is crisp both on the speakers and via a Bluetooth headset.As noted, I was mainly interested in the APRS capability, and this is where things get interesting: First, it is technically possible to do most work from the front panel, but this is poorly documented. It wasn't until I upgraded the firmware, and read the release notes, that I learned I could address messages to callsigns via the "<Callsign>: " convention. For example, to hit the APRS SMS gateway, I can begin my messages "SMS: " and things will generally work. To message my other handled unit, I'd use "KK7CMT-5: ", etc. Of course, the same convention works from the connected phone app, and typing is much easier there. Generally, things would be much clearer, if there was an explicit "To" field to fill in.APRS position beaconing also works very well, and I didn't have much trouble setting that set up. However, I do wish it supported some option to limit precision, and for smart updates (e.g., don't beacon as quickly when I'm not moving). Maybe this can come in a future firmware.On the other hand, receiving APRS messages was more of a pain. First, I needed to include my callsign and SSID in both the APRS Settings (which makes sense) AND the Signaling Settings (which, I thought was limited to their proprietary BSS protocol). When I just used one, I couldn't get it to work. Once I figured that out, I also learned that the internal AX.25 decoder is not a sensitive as what I'm used to (Direwolf), and requires both a clear clean signal and a transmission that stays open just a little longer than you might expect. Once a message is received it can be read from the front panel, and replies are easy and straightforward -- but all messages are deleted from the unit when it is powered down. This makes it a pain to reply to prior contacts from one session to the next. Finally, despite being awash in APRS transmissions here in the Puget Sound, I've never decoded an APRS message from a radio other than my own (another unit). I am not sure if it's filtering position reports to only radios that have made prior contact via Text, or if only my close-range transmissions are clear enough for decoding. I really hope it is the former.A few other rando radio quirks:While you can pair a Bluetooth headset and control volume via headset buttons, the volume settings can quickly get out of sync. For example, it will show as having the loudest volume despite being very low. The only way I've found to get them back in sync is use the volume dial on the handset.The channel scanning feature is also not easy to find. Rather than hitting a scan button you need to open Settings->Radio Settings->Scan->Checked. I ended up mapping this to one of the programmable side buttons (requiring the phone application to configure).Finally, while it is nice to be able to program the unit from the phone, I wish I could load in a spreadsheet or similar (like CHIRP) to batch upload a channel list. Programming each channel one by one, on the phone, is still a huge pain. Likewise, channels are divided into 6 groups of 30. I thought I would like this, but it turns out I would much prefer a long linear channel list. It's a pain to change channel groups from the front panel of the handset (Settings->Radio Settings->Channel Group->Group 1). I mapped these to the programmable buttons as well.I do wonder why engineers get feature like APRS only half right? It makes me wonder if the people designing the units are actually using them -- because many of these features are implemented just enough to check a box on a feature list.

These are my notes on the BTECH UV-Pro running the latest firmware of 0.8.4-2, ordered from most frustrating to least, with a few good things at the end.The summary is the channel bank system is what makes this turn from a good radio into a borderline useless radio.--- Major problemsWhen I choose say "channel 1" as the APRS channel, then that is channel 1 on whatever bank I have selected, meaning I'll suddenly be sending APRS packets to a repeater or something like that when I switch banks, unless I waste a channel on every bank for the APRS channel.The multiple banks of channels are very limiting, I cannot set the dual VFOs to 2 channels from different banks, I'm stuck with only the channels in the currently selected bank. This makes it impossible to have a bank of simplex channels, and banks of repeaters, and monitor both a simplex channel and a repeater channel at the same time.The banks have 30 channels each, so I can't fit much in them. And there are only 6 banks total.Scan mode only scans the current bank, no option to scan all of the banks.--- Minor annoyancesThe app settings are confusing, there's an "APRS settings" section but that seems to be iGate/Internet related only. The radio APRS settings are under "Signaling settings" and I had to disable the "Synchronous signaling settings" option to make everything work as expected. Overall it would benefit from clearer seperation of App/Internet related settings, and Radio settings. As well as clearer naming of some of the setting options.When importing channels from a CSV file the power setting (H/M/L) is always set to High on every imported channel regardless of the CSV file setting.Activating scanning disables dual-watch, which makes sense as it's a single receiver radio, but when de-activating scanning it leaves dual watch disabled and doesn't automatically set it back to the prior setting.The screen is set back from the front plastic quite a ways, so if I'm off axis much the sides are cut off from view. It also washes out when viewed from the side, and has a bit of a flicker to it.It can send the current VFO frequency with APRS packets over the internet, but not over the radio for some reason.There's no smart beaconing option for APRS, only fixed time settings.The APRS station list on the radio doesn't show path information.There are "location request" and "call request" buttons when viewing an APRS station on the app, and tapping them sends a digital signal over the current VFO. Why these buttons show up when APRS doesn't support them is odd.Overall it's very easy to accidentally send a digital packet of some kind over the current VFO. It would be nice if it prompted me when it was going to do this, vs sending it over the digital channel selected in settings.--- Good thingsIt does charge via USB-C PD, seems to be around 5W so a full charge should take about 5 hours.It feels well built and sturdy.The app does have useful features, like being able to TX and RX audio through my phone, it shows a handy list of received/sent audio that I can playback with a tap, there is a map and list of APRS stations, and it can send/receive messages. And of course adding or editing channels is nice and easy.