App Profile: Odmaster

Bill in Akron

Rating: 3/5

I used this app with a TIDRADIO TD-H8 ham version running on iPad OS. I opened the app with skip sign-in. To connect to Bluetooth I had to click the program button first, then go back to connect Bluetooth, select mfr. and model. It is necessary to go back to program, select channels, go back to read, go back to program, select settings, then go back to read again. This is necessary to pick up both the channels and the VFO settings. Make changes needed to either or both, then click write. If you aren’t careful, you may lose channel or VFO settings. The app is a bit dodgy in this respect. In all honesty it is probably easier to program the TD-H8 from the front panel because the TD-H8 is fairly easy and logical to program. Where the app would work best is for cloning new radios from one you have manually set up and read into odmaster. You switch radios by going back to connect Bluetooth and picking a different radio. It is hard to tell which radio you are programming unless you know the MAC address or have just one at a time turned on. You don’t get to save your settings to the app unless you sign in on line, which I don’t want to do. I already have enough compulsory accounts and I don’t want to set up yet another account.

Ryzon62

Rating: 3/5

While programming split frequencies and tones for my TD-M11 radios, I noticed that the RX and TX frequencies and tones are transposed from the values that appear in the PC software. If I read the radio then write the data using the app then read it in the PC software, all my TX frequencies and tones become RX frequencies and tones, and the RX frequencies and tones become TX frequencies and tones. I also noticed that the app only supports scramble mode 8, whereas the PC software supports modes 1-8. If you write to the radio, any scrambled channels will be reset to mode 8. Two things I did like was that I could remove a channel from the radio, which the PC software would not allow, and I could manually program a frequency, so not limited to drop-down options.

k6yxh

Rating: 5/5

Five Stars! I used Odmaster to program 20 Retevis radios in the field - no computer, just my cell phone running Odmaster and the Tidradio Bluetooth programmer device. I loved the channel display of channels that let me go directly to any channel by touching a tile! The programming was faster than using Chirp. I wouldn’t have been able to see my computer screen in the bright sunlight and I would have needed a way to keep my laptop charged. But with the tiny Tidradio Bluetooth programmer, I was able to program the radios in seconds! It was reliable and easy - much better than using a PC and cable. No problem with unsupported cables - the Bluetooth interface just worked.