Firmware change:
1. Powertone renamed to "LowBat Tone". May be activated ("On") and deactivated ("Off").
2. If TX-group is set to a certain ID and RX-Group is set to "none" the radio will now still receive the TX-group that has been set.
3. Access policy is set to color code, press and hold the PTT button to release and immediately press PTT to launch, no need to wait
4. Increase the microphone gain and set it on the programming software.

Software changes:
1.side buttons changed to Front buttons
2. Increase the microphone gain setting in the general setting. The digital gain option [0~5] gears correspond to 0dB, 4dB, 8dB, 12dB, 16dB, 20dB respectively.
The analog gain options [0~5] are corresponding to 12mv, 10mv, 8mv, 6mv, 4mv, 2mv
3. Increase batch import and export channel information and contacts
　

CLICK HERE to download.

Manufacturer's Finding about GD-73's BER

Mentioned by many hams, the high BER (Bit Error Rate) problem of GD-73 is what we were most concerned these days. We worked for weeks trying to solve this issue in order to provide a better hotspot user experience. Following is the progress about what we found.

1. The GD-73 uses a new-generation chip C7000 and the latest crystal oscillator 29.00AN, which is relatively better than GD-77’s. They can provide the GD-73 with not only better performance and stability, but also a higher possibility for the later upgrade. Besides that, the BER can also be easily controlled below 1.5% under factory test.
　

2. Tested by a professional machine R8000B at 445.125MHz, the BER of the GD-73 is below 1.5%. The radio works well with clear sound. Please note that every single GD-73 has been tested before sending out.

Conclusion: The GD-73 complies with good standard. Tested by R8000B machine, the BER is stable at around 1% without any hotspot issues.

The high BER happens only when you use MMDVM multi-mode as hotspot base, resulting from its built-in module as well as simple calculation.

MMDVM applies ab RF module of type ADF7021. In its manual, it mentions that for the ADF7021, indicators are poor at suppression of receiving adjacent channel and image channel, which would result in a high BER, in a way.
　

Note that the BER is the result of total number of bits in FEC error correction divided by total number of bits of effective frame.

However, even though you are using MMDVM, we’ve received some customers report saying that tested in a real situation with MMDVM + Pi-Star hotspot: despite a high BER (between 4 and 6%) reported by MMDVM + Pi-Star, no transmission quality losses or interruptions were reported by the communication partners.

Judging from the current situation, there is no other ways to lower the BER for the GD-73 from the manufacturer side as it is already below 1.5%, but we’ll keep looking for the root cause. If users find quality losses because of a high BER, please adjust the QRG or TX/RX offset on your hotspot settings. If this doesn’t work, please contact support@radioddity.com to provide further details so that we can deep dive into it.