Radioditty GS-5B Product Review | by Jerry. K

 

Just got a Bluetooth programmable Radioditty GS-5B, which appears to be quite similar to a Baofeng. I wouldn’t be surprised if it uses the same or similar chip as Baofengs as the voice prompting (which I turned off) is the same as any Baofeng. It programs channels 0-127, just like Baofeng. It is just a dual band (2m/70cm) analog HT, although it can also receive 220. What sets it apart, however, is a different display and also that it can be programmed by either by keypad, computer CPS, or Bluetooth using the iOS or Android app for it.

Not a bad radio. Receive is on par with Baofeng, not great, but certainly workable. Radio is built well enough. It’s no Motorola, but feels solid.

 

• CONS

1. The dual-PTT button isn’t as well designed as the UV-82-series. Cost was $100.

 

• PROS

1. The battery not only snaps in, but there is also a screw that holds it in place giving zero chance of the battery popping out from a fall.
2. Charging is another one of the pluses with this radio. It can be charged by quite a few methods. It can be charged either by using the cradle and wall adapter or by microUSB. You can charge by microUSB by either plugging a microUSB cable into the cradle or directly into the battery. The microUSB port is on the battery itself, so if you had a spare battery, you could charge it directly while continue using the radio with your other battery.
3. Audio reports were good and also sounded ok to me using my AllStar nodes in Parrot mode as a simplex source.
4. The flashlight is on the bottom and has a reflector and push of flashlight battery cycles between on, blinking with red, white, and blue lamps, to off.
5. It also is capable of receiving FM broadcast radio.
6. Band A and B are completely independent. You can have one in VFO mode and other in channel mode, which is very cool. Antenna is “ok”, although I’m using a Diamond SRJ77CA.
7. The display includes a signal strength meter, which is a nice touch, although I wonder if it’s just for aesthetics rather than a true indication of signal strength.
8. The main selling point is the Bluetooth programmability. It does work, although the app is pretty basic. I’m hoping that they polish the app up I the future.

 

• SUGGESTIONS

1. I see a great opportunity to add really cool features to the app such as downloading repeaters from RepeaterBook or RFinder and then importing them to the radio over Bluetooth.
2. Also, being able to share your configuration and save to online sources would be extremely easy to implement as iOS already has those facilities built in. Having an Apple developer account myself, I’d love to make such an app it Radioditty won’t, but they don’t have a SDK (I asked), however they said they would seriously consider adding those features.

All in all, I like the radio, but until Radioditty polished the iOS/Android application, hopefully also adding the features I suggested. I don’t see it as major jump from an average Baofeng, but it has a lot of potential that I hope is taken advantage of.

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