BTECH RPT50 GMRS Repeater
This is the first time I've ever bought a radio the day it gets released!
Expectations
A buddy of mine and I were discussing how we wanted to set up a repeater for ourselves to have control over who we network it with and when. We also wanted to learn more about radio and see if this was feasible for a couple of newer-to-radio tinkerers to figure out.
I also wanted to see if I could get more people into GMRS and radio in general by hosting my own nets and being more community-involved than some of the local clubs in my area.
I also wanted a repeater to put in one of my vehicles or RV in the future for when I go camping with my family. So an all-in-one unit was best.
Does it match expectations?
At this point, no.
I wanted to network this repeater, and it has a network port... you would think it would be able to do the thing, right? NOPE!
In the user manual, it states "reserved for future use."
So at the time of writing this, which will be updated, it has ports that aren't usable yet. I'm expecting with it being within a week of release that it will be updated in future firmware updates. Right now it's JUST a repeater.
Otherwise, I had a BTech GMRS 50v2 as a base station for a little while and it matches the 50W output range and quality I was getting before.
It does repeat!
Yup. It takes in signal and outputs signal!
It's out-of-the-box ready, so you turn it on and it's already set to select a channel for you to tune your radios to with tones and everything.
Changing the tones is easy, just enter the menu and a couple items down is the option to change the tones for TX and RX. So between the standard 8 repeater channels you can easily change your tones if you're accidentally overbearing someone's chatting channel.
So for ease of use and ease of setup, it couldn't be easier. Plug in your antenna and you're golden!
But for it to not have working ports makes it feel like an Early-Release video game with DLC.
Review
Ease of Use: 5
Shipping time: 5
Quality: 4
Chinese: Very
Overall it's not horrible. The user manual is almost useless as the English is so bad that you have more questions than answers when trying to read through it. The menu navigation is easy enough but mainly because there aren't many options to navigate through. It's solid metal, and it doesn't feel like it will break.
The mic is just a copy from the BTech 50v2 with a slightly adjusted layout. It's only for typing in letters and numbers, so it doesn't serve much of a function other than a keypad you can hold.
The knobs are plastic and feel that way. But you only need them for a few moments so they don't see much action.
The computer software is very... fresh. To say the least. It's very reminiscent of Windows XP software, and has even fewer options than the knob-menu. It's easier to type using a computer, but the keypad isn't much more difficult.
They made this repeater very user-friendly. There really is not much "figuring out" this machine. If you're looking for a simple repeater machine with an internal duplexer, and don't need it to be hooked up to the myGMRS network immediately, then this will be great. It beats the price of the BridgeCom Repater with internal duplexer.
All in all, It does the job, but you save a few bucks and get what you pay for. Until the network module and more become usable it's rather basic for the price. Hoping a new firmware update happens soon!