DB50 Dual Band Mobile Radio Transceiver, UHF VHF 50W High Power Amateur Ham Radio, Multi-Band Receiver with Detachable Front Panel, Programming Cable, CTCSS/DCS, Chirp Programmable

Great radio. Simple. I won't use the detachable face so I can't speak to that but I am completely satisfied with the functionality and ease of use. I've used a radioddity DB20 with no problem and they continued the quality with this radio!

This is a great radio. I'm new to ham and I wanted a nice radio to start off with without breaking the bank. The settings are easy to find and adjust. I like that you can adjust the settings separately for the left and right sides. The audio is great in the car. Its a little loud indoors, even on the lowest level. I fixed it with a volume control attenuator that you can pick up on Amazon. It's easy to program with the Radioddity software or with Chirp. I love this radio so much, that I ordered a 2nd one.

First of all, this radio is a great budget radio with a detachable faceplate. It’s jammed packed with features that are quite amazing, but takes some reading and a bit of a learning curve to figure it all out. However, my first radio had a faulty microphone. It would not transmit any sound at all, just a quiet transmission was all that was heard. I contacted customer support who replied back within 12 hours. They apologized, offered to do a partial refund if I could send them a video of the issue. They stated that they do not have any way of sending just a replacement microphone and they suggested returning to Amazon and getting a replacement radio. Ultimately I got a replacement radio and the new microphone works flawlessly. 4/5 due to the faulty microphone on the first unit. Great radio, great price, good customer service. Also, it’s compatible with CHIRP, but chirp can only read and write on the first 35 channels. Do yourself a favor and download radioddity’s programming software from their website. It has more features than CHIRP and works very similarly to CHIRP. Took me about 5 minutes to figure out this software. You can read and write to all channels with their software.

I have been using handhelds for about a year, and I do have a Radioddity GM-30. I have been wanting a mobile/base radio, and I chose the DB-50 because of the detachable faceplate. My car does not have a lot of real estate for odds and ends, so the removable faceplate seemed like a good option. The reports from other people are outstanding. The radio is strong and clear, and I do not have a good antenna setup yet. I am writing this review just to help anyone who buys this with a few hurdles I encountered. First, you must use the Radioddity software to unlock the 758-channel capacity. Next, I connected to CHIRP and copied a previous set of channels and uploaded them into the radio. I did have some issues connecting to CHIRP, but some restarting and shutting down the radio and software resolved that. I then encountered two issues. The first was that I could not transmit on channels that did not already have tones on them, and the second was that those channels had a ton of static on them. This was resolved by uploading the now CHIRP programmed radio to the Radioddity software where I found a “TX OFF” box that was checked under the “More” tab, and where I found that the squelch was set to “0” on the “Function Setup” menu to the left. Unchecking the box and setting the squelch to “4” resolved both issues. After downloading the Radioddity program back to the radio, I was good to go. Of course, I then also uploaded the now functioning radio to CHIRP. Also, the four different power settings must also be set in the Radioddity software program. The only things that I don’t like so far is that the “Home” button only takes you VFO and not to the named channel. Also, the power supply cable needs to be stripped, and the terminals need to be installed for use with a power supply. The radio does not come with a 12V cigarette lighter power cable, which can easily be found on this site.

Excellent eadio, easy to program

I purchased this radio with different expectations that I got. The radio is well built and comes with good documentation. It is however hard to program from the microphone and the knobs are miniaturized to the point of being difficult to use. The output level of the audio could be louder, I added an amplified speaker and got good results. The microphone does not weigh enough to be truly comfortable and shifts when holding it. I molded in a few pieces of lead shot into the microphone to add weight and it was much better to hold. I would love to see the scan feature be able to shift to all frequencies instead of the programmed ones. I never figured out how to do that. This is a good radio for the money and works reasonably well. It did not come with a mounting bracket for the remote function of the control head. I made one out of aluminum and it works ok. I also had to make a sun shield to protect the display as in daylight it was nearly faded out from ambient light. Once that was done. It looked much better.

I have a few Ham radios and wanted something with a little more power for a mobile application. I am in a very rural area so I needed extra juice to hit repeaters. This radio is great, and also works on the GMRS channels so that's amazing when I am on property and can talk to the family on their GMRS radios, and switch to the ham frequencies off property (I have a GMRS and Ham license). Radio is easy to use, and I would highly recommend the mounting kit package for a vehicle. Had some issues with CHIRP programming, but I contacted support and they got back to me in a few hours. If you are using CHIRP there is no DB50 option, but using the Anytone 5888UV option works perfectly. Radio has a max 15A draw. Adding DMR to this would make it the ultimate radio.

I will never buy a used article again. The short separation cable between the head and main body was missing. And when you program in the frequencies for both vhf and uhf they don't hold. When you switch from one side to the other there gone. So my advice to anyone trying to save money by buying used ,don't. It's not worth it. Buy new.