‰ NOW 35 WPM ‰ TEXT IS FROM MARCH 2017 QST PAGE 51‰ WITH THIS RADIO, CHANGING FREQUENCY IS EASY AND STRAIGHTFORWARD. ONCE THE CHANNEL IS SELECTED, OPERATION IS SIMILAR TO TRADITIONAL HANDHELD RADIOS. WHILE MAKING A DMR CONTACT, I RECEIVED POSITIVE FEEDBACK ABOUT THE TRANSMITTED AUDIO A LITTLE BIT HIGH PITCHED, BUT VERY CLEAN AND NATURAL. IN ANALOG, THE RESULTS ARE SIMILAR. ON THE RECEIVING END, IT SOUNDS VERY GOOD AND THERE IS MORE BASS. I NOTICED, DURING MY FIRST TRANSMITTING TEST, THAT MY AUDIO WAS NOT VERY LOUD. LATER, I FOUND OUT THAT I WAS TALKING IN FRONT OF THE KEYPAD AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RADIO. THE MICROPHONE IS LOCATED NEAR THE SPEAKER ABOVE THE DISPLAY, AND TALKING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE SPEAKER MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE. THIS RADIO CAN SCAN, BUT YOU WILL NEED TO ADD THE DESIRED CHANNELS INTO THE SCAN LIST VIA THE PROGRAMMING SOFT WARE. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL THE CHANNELS CREATED FOR EACH TG NEED TO BE ON THE SCAN LIST, OTHERWISE THEY WONT BE SCANNED. SOME VERY LIMITED CONFIGURATION CAN BE DONE WITH THE KEYPAD. HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES TIME AND DATE, ADDING A CONTACT, CHANGING THE POWER, BACKLIGHT, AND A FEW MINOR OPTIONS. THIS RADIO HAS MORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS AVAILABLE VIA THE PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE. CONCLUSION BRIDGECOMS D 500 WAS FUN TO PLAY WITH BECAUSE IT OFFERS SO MUCH TO DISCOVER. I USED IT FOR 13 HOURS WITHOUT LOSING A SINGLE BAR ON THE BATTERY INDICATOR. IT SEEMS TO HAVE POWER FOR EVER. THIS IS A ‰ END OF 35 WPM TEXT ‰ QST DE W1AW ƒ