The Anytone TERMN-08R is a recent entry into the amateur/land mobile HT market. It is a dual-band (2m & 70cm) FM handheld amateur radio transceiver that is also FCC Part 90 certified for land mobile radio (LMR) use. The FCC ID numbers on the radio are T4K-QZQX3318 and T4K-8RSERIES. The Grantee ID indicates this radio is made by Qixiang Electron Science & Technology Co. Ltd. in Quanzhou, Fujian China. An FCC ID search shows an authorization granted for Part 90 operation and denied for Part 95 (GMRS & MURS) operation.
What does this mean? It means that the radio is not legal per FCC Regulations for operation on GMRS and MURS frequencies. This has been a long played-out discussion on the communications section of many online prepper forums. As previously stated in the Signal Corps blog, those of you who wish to comply in a time where FCC funding is getting slashed, 11 Meter Freeband operators get on the air with impunity, and no one is getting busted for running high power on bubble-pack channels 1-7 without sending the FCC $90 for a GMRS license are out of luck when it comes to the TERMN-08R, despite the fact that most MURS users are running “illegal” radios with no repercussions.
Personally I find that whole affa
ir gayer than a bag of dicks, and almost as bad as when I posted this picture from my last outing with East American Survival Training,a good group of folks from New England, of a member’s backpack and Puxing PX888K HT (good radio BTW), and had some assclown rant about the yellow border on the Betsy Ross flag. Forget the fact that a group was putting in some solid commo training and we managed a 90 mile CW distance on 2 meters with a low power and small antennas. Holy shit! There’s a yellow border on that Revolutionary War flag! Fuck off, hoser.
Now that I’ve gotten in a good rant, let’s talk about my requirements for a good squad radio:
1. Everyone in the group should have the same model of radio. It makes logistics of accessories such as microphones and batteries easier.
2. Radio model should have readily available accessories.
3. Radios should be rugged enough for heavy field (ab)use.
4. Radios should be capable of operating off of common alkaline batteries. Most HTs capable of doing so will take either AAs or AAAs.
5. Radios should be able to run on 12V DC, either directly or via an adapter.
6. Radios should be frequency agile, or front panel programmable. Ham HTs are. Most commercial LMR HTs are not unless they are specifically mentioned as being FPP. Amateur radios should have fairly easy “MARS/CAP” extended frequency coverage modification. Your mileage may vary.
7. Radios should preferably have a BNC or SMA type antenna connector, for ease of attaching gain-type antennas. This is not a problem with ham HTs. Many commercial LMR HTs will not.
I’m going to eliminate #1 from consideration for this article. It should be common sense for everyone reading this. Also, prior reviews from others indicate the radio is good from an electronic and emissions standpoint, so that qualifier is squared away. That leaves six considerations that I will address considering the suitability of the TERMN-08R as a squad radio.
2. The radio comes with an earpiece microphone, which is nice. Custom pouches are available, and I have found the radio fits in many MOLLE radio pouches I own. Spare batteries and other items are available from Anytone. It uses the Kenwood 2-pin standard accessory connector, so all those accessories are also available for use.
3. The radio has a good solid feel to it, and an aluminum chassis. It’s IP53 rated.
4. No AA/AAA battery pack available from what I’ve seen on Anytone’s web site.
5. Radio has 12V adapter available for it.
6. Radio is definitely frequency agile. Front panel programmable and MARS/CAP “modded” right out of the box.
7. Radio has SMA antenna connector.
So with a perfect 100% score being 6/6, the TERMN-08R scores 5/6 or 83%. What kept it from being perfect? No AA/AAA alkaline battery pack.
Based upon what I’ve seen, would I recommend these radios? Yes. So from my objective bullet-point criteria the radio is good. With that taken care of, we can now look at some of the radio’s additional features that might further endear it to us.
One feature that was highly touted before the radio’s release was Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS). Based upon the industry definition of FHSS, it doesn’t work. The way it actually works is you program in an anchor frequency into your radios via the programming software. Then when you enable the feature the initiating radio transmits an MSK burst, and both radios tune to a random frequency within 1 MHz. of the anchor frequency and communicate via single-channel FM. Based upon frequency counter readings, the default anchor frequency is around 430 MHz. This is in the Amateur Television (ATV) subband of the 70cm ham band. At least it wasn’t in the weak signal or satellite subband of 70cm. Depending on what anchor frequency you program in, you could find yourself stepping on someone else’s transmission. Stepping on a ham or public safety repeater would be bad. This feature is a total mistake, and you would be best not using it. However, I don’t find this to be a problem or deal killer.
The radio has a VHF/UHF cross-band repeater. This is very useful for extending the range of your communications. You can place a radio in an elevated spot, use UHF as your “on scene” commo band, and retransmit on a VHF frequency back to base. This is how vehicular repeaters in public safety vehicles work. You could also use the radio post-SHTF/WROL as a relay station to help confound any direction finding efforts by running very low-power via a directional antenna on UHF to a another radio at an elevated location repeating your signal on VHF.
The radio has very good reception capability. It can receive on UHF (400-520MHz), VHF (136-174MHz), Aircraft AM (108-136MHz), FM Broadcasts (64-108MHz), Short-Wave AM (2.3-30MHz), and AM Broadcast (520-1710kHz). You can use it as a communications receiver/police scanner. It doesn’t do P25 or SSB, but this is still a useful feature. Receive sensitivity seems excellent. The radio also has NOAA Weather Alert capability, and will run it in the background. Those of you who also carry a portable wideband receiver in your bugout kit may be able to eliminate the extra weight of the second radio by switching to a TERMN-08R.
The radio has DTMF (Touch-Tone) signaling capability, that is very useful for a number of things that we will discuss in a future article.
The ergonomics of this radio are very nice, unlike many radios on the market. The buttons are not crowded and easy to press. The radio is not a chore to operate. The user manual is also detailed well-written.
In ending, this radio would make a good squad radio standard for a group. It meets most of my criteria for a squad radio, and I suspect that eventually one might see an aftermarket alkaline battery pack made for it. The radio would also be a good choice for an individual, especially one planning for a bug-out scenario who wants to travel light. Its wideband receive, including shortwave, makes it a multi-purpose piece of equipment.
Thank you to the III% Society for providing radios for review. You can purchase a TERM-08R from their website at http://iiipercent.blogspot.com/.
Anytone TERM-08R
https://anytonetech.com/TERMN-8R
Frequency range:
[TX] 136 – 174MHz, 400 – 520MHz
[RX] 136 – 174MHz, 400 – 520MHz, 520-1710kHz (AM Broadcast), 2.3-30MHz (Shortwave), 68-108MHz (FM Broadcast), 108-136MHz (Aviation Band)
Channel Capacity: 200 Channels, 10 Memory Banks
Channel Spacing: 25KHz (wide band)12.5KHz (narrow band)
Sensitivity: ≤0.25μV (wide band) ≤0.35μV (narrow band)
Operation Voltage: 7.4V DC ±20%
Battery: 2200mAh
Frequency step: 2.5, 5, 6.25, 10, 12.5, 20, 25, 30 and 50KHz
Antenna:Antenna Connector: SMA-Female / Antenna Impedance: 50Ω
Accessory Connector: Kenwood 2 Pin Standard
Stability: ±2.5ppm
Output power: 5W / 2W / 1W (Max 6W)
Size: 123×66×39mm (with battery)
Weight: 285g (with battery, antenna, belt clip)
Audio Power Output: 1000mW/10% (1 WATT)
https://sparks31.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/signal-3-anytone-termn-08r-review/