TIDRADIO TD-H3

The app can program it over Bluetooth; the steps below use the keypad so nothing else is needed.

Photo: TIDRADIO product photo

The keys you will use

Knob on top

turns the radio on and sets the volume. Turn until it clicks, then about a third of the way.

PTT

the big button on the side. Push to talk, let go to listen.

Side keys

the two small buttons under PTT: the upper one opens the squelch so you hear everything, static included; the lower one is the flashlight. Both can be reassigned in the menu, so if yours do something else, that is why.

MENU

opens the settings. Inside a setting, MENU also means "start changing it" and "save it".

▲ ▼

move through the settings, change a value, or nudge the frequency.

EXIT

backs out one level, and leaves the menu.

VFO/MR

switches between typing a frequency (the screen shows a frequency) and a saved channel (the screen shows a channel number).

A/B

the screen shows two lines, A and B; A/B swaps which one is live.

✱

a short press starts a scan; hold it to lock or unlock the keys.

#

swaps high and low power.

Number keys

type a frequency.

How the menu works

The settings are one list you scroll by name, not by number, and every change goes the same way:

• Press MENU. The screen shows a setting's name.
• Press ▲ ▼ until the one a step names shows (SQL, STEP, SFT-D, OFFSET, T-CTCS, TXP and so on).
• Press MENU once more to start changing it.
• Press ▲ ▼ to pick the value, or type digits where a step says so.
• Press MENU to save. Press EXIT to leave the menu.

The TIDRADIO phone app can program every channel over Bluetooth and is the easier way once you have more than a few; the steps here need only the keypad. If a key does nothing, the keys are locked: hold ✱ for two seconds. Written from the radio's menu list, not its printed manual: send the manual and this page gets the same per-key detail as the QRZ-1's.

Set it up, in this order

1. Squelch

   Menu → SQL → 3.

2. Frequency step

   Menu → STEP → 5K.

3. VFO mode

   Press VFO/MR until a frequency shows. Menu → DUAL WATCH → OFF for now.

4. Simplex first

   Type 146520. Menu → SFT-D → OFF. Menu → T-CTCS → OFF.

5. Offset for a repeater

   Menu → OFFSET → 0.600 on 2 m, 5.000 on 70 cm. Menu → SFT-D → + or − as the record says.

6. Tone

   Menu → T-CTCS → the tone from the record. R-CTCS off.

7. Power

   Menu → TXP → HIGH.

CHIRP knows this radio as TIDRADIO TD-H3: you can load the repeaters from Near you into channels later; for the first contact the steps above are enough.