OUT OF STOCK: Anytone AT-3318UV-A Dual Band

This model is discontinued. For the suggested replacement please go to the page for the TYT UV8000D or TYT MD390

The Wouxun has enjoyed a reputation for years as the best of all the Chinese manufactured HT's, and it has been a solid performer for the specialists that we deal with. During the fall of 2013, the largest US Dealer of Wouxun introduced a new radio, the Anytone AT-3318UV, calling it "the radio Wouxun should have been". Apparently this particular Anytone was built in collaboration with a group of users in the USA before it went into large scale production, and the present build reflects their influence. Chinese built radios have made impressive strides in the last few years, and we thought if this were true, then Anytone probably has some of the mainland competition looking nervously into the rear view mirror at what is coming up in the passing lane. Naturally our curiosity was piqued, so we got 10 samples and tried them out. I didn't like the fact that to program them the only software was the Anytone software because CHIRP has not added them to their list yet. But after spending 3 hours manually creating a new data bank and programming the radio, we finally got a chance to get it into the hands of some of our users, and try it ourselves. First off, you notice that it is smaller and lighter than the Wouxun 1P, but is the equal in terms of build quality. Reviewers have noted the stock antenna that comes with it is not the equal of the Wouxun. We do not sell this radio with the stock antenna because it is not suitable for the way our clientele of specialists use these. In fact, we advocate throwing away any OEM stock antenna that comes with any new radio (even Motorolas). A useful analogy is this: when you buy a brand new pair or $850.00 AT Ski boots, what do you do? You chuck the insoles out, and get a proper pair. You need to do the same with OEM stock antennas that come with radios.

Next, was how the Anytone AT-3318UV-A performed while using it in the field. That's when we became sold on it. Being "Old School", while growing accustomed to the Chinese lady speaking to me when I turned on the radio, and actually finding the LED emergency light built into the Wouxun's useful the odd time, it did not really bother me to lose those features. I did however appreciate the extra 30 channels, the smaller size, and the finer frequency tuning at 2.5kHz. The ability to make sure that that inter-mod from my avalanche beacon did not pause the scan sequence on channels that were actually not receiving any signals was a big plus (the scanning function has been improved so that the radio will only stop when a CTCSS Tone is detected). The ability to throw in a previously unanticipated logging road frequency on the fly from the keypad with much greater ease is a definite plus. This 199 channel radio uses the same antennas as the Wouxun's and Baofeng's, so I did not have to purchase new antennas, or speaker Mic for that matter. You can eliminate the repeater tail if so desired. It has a talk around button so you can just program in the one repeater frequency but also use that same channel for simplex as well. It also has 2.5kHz frequency stepping which makes it feasible for us to use as our backup field receiver when doing telemetry, and again, the ability to customize squelch for the specific telemetry channels is a significant plus for our field researchers involved in telemetry work.

So given the above factors, we also made the decision to mainline this model to replace the Wouxun UVD-1P as the Flagship Dual-Band model that we would recommend for specialists operating in our field. Since then I have had a chance to use the radio as my daily work unit for one season. My biggest complaint with it has been the volume dial for my environment would result in audio that was either too low, or too loud, and I often had trouble getting the audio just at the right level that was perfect for me. The battery seemed to last just slightly less time than the Wouxun with the 1700mAh battery I had used previous. And while no-one complained that my transmit signal was weak, I was able to notice an improvement with receive sensitivity (especially with telemetry, see below for details). While I was still not happy with being shoe-horned into just one software package to program it and the lack of a AA or at least AAA cell battery pack option, I see this radio as having enough advantages over the other options that we are moving forward into 2015 with this as the flagship dual band portable that we will be offering.

Best Uses for the Anytone

Pros:
This is the professional grade radio that is suitable for more demanding users and applications such as research, guiding, and Search and Rescue where the highest level of transmit and receive specifications and ability to program frequencies on the fly via the keypad are mandated. It does not feature some of the options that are on the Wouxun and also commonly found on recreational grade radios like the Baofeng, TYT, Puxing, etc., such as voice prompts, and LED Flashlight. It does not currently offer the option of using a AA Cell pack, and is not programmable with third party software such as CHIRP or Jim Mitchel's Commander, but probably will be in future. The proprietary Anytone programming software is only Windows compatible. It does however use the same USB cable for programming as the other Chinese radios.

Telemetry: We were a bit surprised to find that this model (we also tried this with the Wouxun's and none of the three models we tested would do it) is the only handheld we have ever used that has sufficient sensitivity to allow wildlife radio collars to break the squelch circuit up to about 120 meters*, which would emulate the attenuation setting on a blue box receiver (and that is with a 5/8 wave S&R Omni antenna). Beyond that range you can press the lower squelch button, and with an open circuit, emulate the non attenuated receive of a blue box. Part of the reason is because on the Anytone 3318 you can tune the final digit down to 2.5 instead of 5 kHz, and another factor is using a decent antenna. Do not interpret this as a plug that you could replace a dedicated telemetry box with an Anytone 3318 radio, however it is a worthy arrow to have in your quiver. This advantage can be enhanced by using an 'H' directional antenna (you may need the BCN adapter), and works best it the collar frequency does not end in a '1'. *In our real world example above, we had visual, and a collar that was set to xxx.x38, so the radio was tuned to xxx.x37.5, which is tuned as close as you can get with a receiver like this. When the animal (a sub-adult habituated female grizzly) was at right angles to the receiver, our range was 120 meters with closed squelch. When her hind quarters were toward us (blocking the collar), the range was about 75 meters. When the animal was facing the receiver closer than 75 meters, no figure is available - certain cowards were too busy running to the cover of the truck to get an accurate distance. From this we can take away two things: 1) the Anytone 3318 is a cut above some of the competition, and 2) only Real Men, or fast runners, should buy one.

Cons:
- When keypad is locked, the selection dials on the top are not locked. If you brush your arm against the radio, it runs the risk of accidentaly changing your selected channel. The only way to lock them is lock the radio via software, but then it cannot be unlocked from the keypad, the user must use software to unlock it again. Some users have taken to anchoring the channel selection dial with silicon caulk, or removing the knob, and then unlocking the keypad and using the arrow keys to change channels before relocking the keypad. Personally, I place the channel that I want to monitor on the band that is not selected. That way I can monitor the band without accidently changing it. To transmit on the band, I then have to toggle it over to make it the active band first.
- For users who use a belt clip, the clip is attached to the battery and not the radio chassis. So if you use a spare battery and also want to clip the radio, you need a spare belt clip for the battery. As carrying radio on belt is an insecure carry method, this should not affect most of our client base.
- This model not yet compatible with CHIRP. The free Anytone software is not user friendly or full featured. You cannot import CSV files or make notations. Fortunately RT Systems sells an excellent third party software that is compatible.
- Programming software only works under Windows.
- Expect to replace battery after one year of regular use.
- Each Bank can have a maximum of 30 channels assigned to it.

We also recommend that for any specialist that is involved with avalanche rescue, any LED light source that you use, should be RFI shielded (such as the Spark Headlamps), otherwise they can negatively impact your radio's performance as well.

Slideshow with more image details available here.

Manual Programming Tutorial: