The Hidden Cost of "Budget" Radios

 If you watched last Tuesday’s video on the new Retevis HA2, then you already know I gave it a thumbs down as an APRS radio. While I’m glad to see Chinese manufacturers starting to add APRS support to their radios, it needs to be done correctly. Simply beaconing a position report doesn’t make a radio “APRS capable.” APRS is far more than just position reporting—a point I’ve tried to drive home in multiple videos and even in an article I wrote last fall.

When APRS is implemented properly—by both manufacturers and operators—it can provide real, situational awareness by alerting others to what’s happening in your area of operation. But for that to work, radios need to support the full feature set APRS was designed around. Half-implemented or stripped-down versions don’t just limit functionality; they undermine the entire purpose of APRS.

What’s even more frustrating is the confusion this creates for newcomers. If I were a new ham and saw one radio priced at $94 and another at $700, both labeled “APRS,” I’d have no idea why there’s such a massive price difference. Most people would understandably choose the cheaper option, only to discover later that it supports only the bare minimum APRS features.

On the flip side, radios like the BTECH UV-Pro have been a real game changer. While it still doesn’t offer everything APRS can do, it gets about 80% of the way there. More importantly, it includes a Bluetooth-accessible TNC, allowing the radio to connect to a phone or laptop running far more capable APRS software. And it does all of this at a sub-$200 price point.

Maybe that’s the real answer for these lower-cost radios. Instead of adding crippled APRS feature sets, manufacturers should focus on providing Bluetooth TNC access. Let the heavy lifting be done by a more capable external device. Anyone who has tried sending an APRS message directly from an HT knows how painful that experience can be—regardless of the radio.