Donnie Beam 1st impressions of Retevis RB86 GMRS Mobile Radio

Retevis RB86 GMRS Mobile radio is an IP67 waterproof GMRS mobile radio fit for family farm tractor communication, you can use Retevis RB86 GMRS mobile radio in your tractor, talk with your other GMRS walkie talkies, connect GMRS repeaters around you to get a longer calling distance, it is a professional tractor mobile radio specially design for the family farm.

Donnie Beam is a farmer from NC State, USA, he recently received his first Retevis RB86 mobile radio bundles for his tractor, enabling the tractor to communicate with other GMRS radios at home. With Donnie's permission, we share his first impression of the Retevis RB86 GMRS mobile radio with you, hope you can learn more about it.

The following is the original text, the picture is original by Donnie:

It looks like the radio(retevis rb86 gmrs mobile radio) came preprogrammed with the standard gmrs
stations but with privacy codes programmed, in my rural area there are
not many people on GMRS and I think most of the farmers I know would
be confused by the codes.

I have attached pictures of my meters readings.

power is great with me getting 8.5 watts on low, 13.8 watts on medium,
and 23 watts on high which is great for a radio being advertised at 20
watts (really looks good on your company). I was using a Wouxun
DWC30WIN for the power supply for testing set at 13.8v and a surecom
SW-33 for my measurements.

Retevis RB86 GMRS Mobile radio high power-23w

Retevis RB86 GMRS Mobile radio medium power-13.8w

Retevis RB86 GMRS Mobile radio low power-8.5w

From my testing inside my house the speaker sounds pretty loud on
high, may even be loud enough to hear over my tractor. The radio also
looks pretty solid and water proof. Is that a screen or sheet of
plastic over the speaker?

The harness looks good and the connection looks good and waterproof. I
used to be a mechanic and it looks like the kind of connectors I saw
on Trucks. There is a rubber piece on the rear of the plug that
already broke loose on me but I don't think it is an important piece
(I have attached a picture of it).

Retevis RB86 GMRS Mobile radio Power cord extension cable interface, the length can be adjusted according to needs

I tested the antenna's SWR with the RB86 and with out being attached
to metal it was high at 2.3 swr but when I set the bracket on a piece
of metal it read perfect at 1.00 swr. I think this will be an issue on
my tractor as I believe my hood is fiberglass which is common on
tractors in my area. Would there be a simple way to add a ground
plane?

1.00 swr

2.3 swr

Regarding the tractors hoods, we later received an update email from Donnie, both of his tractors hoods turned out to be metal. I could really use a magnetic mount. 

When Donnie receives the magnetic mount, we look forward to more wonderful feedback from him.

If you are interested in our Retevis RB86 GMRS mobile radio for your tractor, welcome to order by under link:

If you want to be our lucky review customer and get it for free, please contact us: info@retevis.com. We retevis solutions focus on supplying gmrs radio and long range radio solutions, if you have any needs, welcome to contact us.