Like you, I have seen a lot of advertisements for the My-EMR1 radio. “TIMES ARE UNPREDICTABLE…PROTECT YOUR FAMILY WITH OFF-GRID COMMUNICATION!” they exclaim. They go on to talk about how you can communicate locally and globally. I had to get one and see what it really was.
Let me start by looking at the My-EMR1 as if it wasn’t what I already knew it was. /pretend -start
The My-EMR1 fits in the hand pretty well, although the PTT button is a little low for me, so I am constantly either right at the very top of the button or slightly above it wondering why it won’t press. People with smaller hands will probably not have that problem.
Like you, I have seen a lot of advertisements for the My-EMR1 radio. “TIMES ARE UNPREDICTABLE…PROTECT YOUR FAMILY WITH OFF-GRID COMMUNICATION!” they exclaim. They go on to talk about how you can communicate locally and globally. I had to get one and see what it really was.
Let me start by looking at the My-EMR1 as if it wasn’t what I already knew it was. /pretend -start
The My-EMR1 fits in the hand pretty well, although the PTT button is a little low for me, so I am constantly either right at the very top of the button or slightly above it wondering why it won’t press. People with smaller hands will probably not have that problem.
Speaking of buttons, the My-EMR1 has fairly solid buttons, providing reasonable tactile feedback when they click. If anything, the rubber over them might be a little too stiff, making them feel slightly mushy. For an area the size of the keypad, the button spacing seems more than adequate.
On the top of the My-EMR1 is the power/volume knob, and it is fairly smooth to operate, with a nice click to turn on and off. The click has enough resistance to keep most people from turning it on and off by accident, and the shortness of the knob helps with that too.
The belt clip is nothing out of the ordinary but seems more than solid enough to last awhile. Having a good hook at the bottom should keep it from coming off your belt accidentally.
Included with the radio is a fairly standard 7.4v 1400mAh Li-Ion battery with drop-in charger contacts on the back. There is no USB-C charging on either the battery or radio, so you are limited to the drop-in charger with the My-EMR1.
Menu options in the My-EMR1 appear to be of the standard Baofeng type, with some minor wording and placement variations. It is likely from a third party such as Retevis or TYT and so has been slightly modded from the original.
If you want to program the radio with software it is CHIRP compatible although as of this writing there is no actual My-EMR1 entry, however it works with the TYT TH-UV88 selection just fine. You can just use a standard Baofeng/Kenwood programming cable that most of these types of radios use. It worked fine with the one I originally bought for my first UV-5R years ago.
Performance:
The radio performs pretty well with a fairly solid power line seen in the spectrum analysis shown below. It starts fine and remains consistent throughout transmission. There is a little bit of instability on the outer areas, but you would never hear something this minor.
There is only a small amount of sibilance in the audio, which is not at all unusual for inexpensive Chinese radios. Audio transmitted is pretty good, and received audio coming out the front speaker in the My-EMR1 is fair.
Looking at the antenna plot below shows that the antenna is actually pretty reasonable for a factory antenna. Both return loss and SWR are not bad at all in both the 2m and 70cm bands.
Power output of the My-EMR1 is better than average in this class of radio at 3.9 watts on 2m, and 5 watts on 70cm. Couple this with the nice antenna, and you should be able to really reach out when needed. No, it will not replace a mobile or base, but range should far exceed a standard UV-5R.
Images:
Radio Specifics:
| Screen readability | Very Good | |
| In-hand feel | Good | |
| Included antenna | Very Good | |
| Construction quality | Good | |
| Belt clip | Good | |
| Programmability | Good | |
| Transmit audio | CLICK TO LISTEN | |
| Frequency accuracy | 145.000 @ 145.000 | |
| Maximum power output 2m/70cm | 3.9 watts / 5 watts | |
| Actual weight | 230g | |
| Battery advertised mAh | 1400mAh | |
| Battery tested mAh | ||
| Radio manual | CLICK TO DOWNLOAD | |
| Programming software | CLICK TO DOWNLOAD | |
| Price based score 0-5 | 1 | |
| Overall score 0-10 | 3 |
Test Images:
If you are interested, click here for an article on how I test radios.
FEATURES:
- 200 Channels
- Dual-Band 2m / 70cm
- Built-in CTCSS/DCS
- Emergency alert
- VOX
- Scrambler
- LED status light
- Dot Matrix LCD display
- Lighted keypad
- yada yada yada
| PROS: | CONS: |
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Included with the basic kit is the My-EMR1 radio, antenna, battery, belt clip with screws, drop-in charger, and a better than most manual. They offer kits with 2, 4 and even 6 radios, the larger kits even include Faraday bags to “protect against EMPs!” and a tactical carrying case.
/Pretend -stop
Conclusions
Are you kidding me? Protect from EMPs? Who are you going to communicate with after an EMP, even if YOUR radio survives? No one, that’s who. Just wow!
So this is just a $33 TYT TH-UV88 with a different sticker on the front and on the battery. Then they mark it up to$139.99, then put it on a “1 DAY ONLY!” sale for $69.99. To take it a step further, those $69.99 “1 Radio & No-Programming” kits are marked “sorry, sold out!” These people can’t be religious because they would know they are on the express train down, first class.
Reading their website is just one deceit after another. Read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, and you will find “For global communications, ECHO link or something similar will be required.” First, ECHO link isn’t open to the public, you need an amateur radio license and then registration with ECHO link. So even if it is an emergency, you are stuck out. Second, an EMP just went off, the ECHO link towers are gone! Idiots.
So, who is doing this? That’s easy, look at the back of the box: Quanzhou TYT Electronics Co., Ltd, Quanzhou, Fujian, China. www.tyt.com, email: tyt@tyt888.com. Enough said.
Bottom line, buy the TYT TH-UV88, not the rebadged overpriced one.
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