The Anytone AT5555 28Mhz rig


I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d been looking at these rigs. Well, I have had the chance to play with one and I must say I’m not disappointed.

Quite obviously the rig shows its CB heritage. It’s quite big too. Certainly it wouldn’t fit in the centre console of my VW Polo in the same way that the FT8900 does.

The rig comes with a mounting kit for the car (which I made double as a stand) since the loudspeaker is on the bottom of the case, not ideal if you want to place it on a shelf in the shack.

I’ve found the rig fun and easy to use. As supplied in the AT5555N configuration from Nevada, the rig is 28MHz amateur band only. I quickly got used to the channel change moving me up or down 10khz and using the clarifier to tune in between in either 1, 0.1 or 0.01 KHz steps. This is only of significance on CW/SSB of course.

So far, I have had the rig connected up to the Butternut HF6V at home and have had a number of contacts around Europe using Sporadic E propagation. Some more distant signals have been heard from South America and the Middle East.

Output power is around 10W FM and a little more on SSB. Entirely adequate to make some fun contacts. Haven’t tried it on CW yet, but it should work with an external keyer.

I like the fact that the rig is available through Amazon making it easily accessible to someone who might be new to the hobby or getting back into it again.

If you’ve not played on 28MHz before then with rising solar flux, this is the time to do it!

Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].

6 Responses to “The Anytone AT5555 28Mhz rig”

  • K1VSC:

    Hey what’s the “40” up in the right hand corner? This leads me to believe that this is an illegal radio, does it operate out of band?

    I hope not, as if it does, anyone using it illegally, will feel the rath of the HAM GODS.

  • Harold kc2bpp:

    “You can’t be serious?”

  • Ian Boot, ZL1TXZ.:

    I find it interesting to read that someone looking at the rig picture would not realise that if it is channelised, then it would be a good idea to show which channel one was on (I realise it also shows the frequency elsewhere on the display), so channel 40. Very quick and easy to spot when mobile.
    Ian ZL1TXZ.

  • KB1QDC-Kevin:

    Boy it sure looks like a “CB” radio to me!!!!!

  • KD5RGJ:

    A HIGH PRICED RADIO FOR THE CHICKEN BAND !!

  • TM603:

    To be honest it’s pretty good, covers 25.605-30.115 mhz all modes, auto swr, swr and voltage protection, split channel operation, can easily be wound up to do 25 watts fm and around 40ssb peak with no other work required..
    Handles the power no problems, if anything i would say the rig is possibly a little to sensitive and is prone to picking up noise because of it, but easily cured by backing off the rf gain.
    On a test it heard stations that my icom 706mk2 and yeasu ft one were having trouble hearing.. guess it’s all the extra front end filtering on the hf rigs that make them deaf in favour of picking up noise.

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