Radios

AnyTone AT-D878UVII PLUS · Volume 4

AnyTone AT-D878UVII PLUS — Vol 4: Reference

Top-tier DMR handheld with dual-receive, Bluetooth, APRS, AES

4.1 Tips and tricks

These are the non-obvious operations that pay back the time to set them up.

4.1.1 Promiscuous mode for talkgroup discovery

Discussed in §3 but worth reinforcing here as the single most valuable operational mode on the radio. Before adding a new repeater to your codeplug, configure a single channel with that repeater’s frequency / colour code / slot, set the channel to dual-slot promiscuous mode, and listen for a couple of evenings. You’ll hear every talkgroup actually in use on that repeater — usually a much smaller set than what’s “available” on paper, and often including a few local-only talkgroups that aren’t published in the network directories. Then build the codeplug zone with the actually-used talkgroups, ignoring the rest. Saves a lot of dead-talkgroup clutter in your zones.

4.1.2 AES-256 — configure but don’t enable on amateur channels

Restating the §3 regulatory caveat in operational terms: with AT_Options flashed, the 878’s encryption configuration UI is fully functional, the encryption keys are stored, and a channel with encryption enabled will produce encrypted DMR traffic on the air. Don’t. On US amateur bands the operation violates Part 97.113(a)(4). Configure the keys (so they’re ready if you ever need them for an authorised non-amateur context — though the 878 isn’t Part 90 type-accepted either, so that authorised non-amateur context is hypothetical) but leave the per-channel encryption-key index at 0 (disabled) on every amateur-band channel. The full deep regulatory treatment is in Antennas Vol 31 §6 (Part 97.113).

4.1.3 Custom boot pic — the N0SWN callsign workflow

The 878 displays a configurable 160 × 110 monochrome bitmap at power-on, for ~3 seconds before the main UI loads. The boot pic is the N0SWN callsign in a stylised font (in programs/anytone-d878uvii/Custom Boot Pic/). Conversion workflow:

  1. Create a 160 × 110 image in any tool (GIMP, Photoshop, ImageMagick) — pure black-and-white, no greyscale (the radio threshold-binarises any colour input but gives nicer results from a deliberately 1-bit source)
  2. Save as 160 × 110 1-bit BMP
  3. Run the BridgeCom D878UV_Pic_Converter.exe tool (in the firmware bundle) → input the BMP → output a .bin file
  4. In CPS: Tool → Boot Image → load the .bin → save the codeplug → write to radio
  5. Power-cycle the radio → boot pic appears

Easy to do, easy to mess up the proportions. The N0SWN reference image is in the directory for reuse.

4.1.4 Bluetooth PTT — the in-vehicle game-changer

The BT PTT setup (WBP-1 or equivalent + BT headset) is the difference between the 878 being a usable in-vehicle DMR radio and being a fiddly handheld in a cradle. The latency is ~150 ms total which is unnoticeable on Tier II repeater operation. Setup once, leave paired, the BT components re-connect on power-on of the radio. The only operational gotcha is BT-headset battery life — the JABRA Talk 25 gets ~8 hours of mixed use; the Voyager Legend gets ~6 hours. Carry a USB-C charger.

4.1.5 Roaming zone for the local repeater pair

If you operate in an area with two DMR repeaters covering overlapping geography on the same talkgroup (common in suburban areas — there’s often a “north” and “south” repeater for the same network), build a roaming zone with both repeater channels and let the radio auto-switch as you drive between coverage areas. Without roaming you’ll either lose the conversation at the coverage boundary or be manually channel-switching at every hill. Threshold tuning is iterative — start at -110 dBm and 10 sec dwell; if the radio switches too aggressively in marginal coverage, raise the threshold to -105 dBm; if it sticks too long on a fading repeater, lower the dwell to 5 sec.

4.1.6 APRS over DMR via TG 5057

If you want APRS coverage but you’re in DMR-via-hotspot range rather than analog APRS coverage, configure the radio to beacon position over DMR to TG 5057 (BrandMeister’s APRS gateway). BrandMeister bridges those beacons into the analog APRS-IS network, so your position shows up on aprs.fi as if you were beaconing on 144.390 analog APRS. Per-channel APRS report config; beacon interval typically 5-15 min for stationary operation, faster for mobile. The hotspot doesn’t need any special config — it just relays the DMR data to BrandMeister and BrandMeister handles the gateway.

4.1.7 JSON-to-CSV converter (V2.04 era)

The V2.04 firmware bundle ships with a small Windows tool called JSON_to_CSV.exe that converts the community-shared codeplug JSON format (used on several codeplug-sharing GitHub repos) to a CSV that the AnyTone CPS can import. Useful when a fellow operator shares “my full Michigan codeplug” as a JSON file and you want to merge the talkgroup definitions into your own codeplug without copy-pasting 200 entries. The tool is no longer maintained for V3.xx / V4.xx firmware but still works for the talkgroup / contact import paths (the channel-format JSON changed between firmware generations and won’t round-trip cleanly).

4.1.8 Hot keys for frequent operations

The 20 programmable hot keys are underused by most owners. Examples of useful bindings:

  • # + 1 = Send GPS position to TG 5057 (APRS-over-DMR beacon, on-demand)
  • # + 2 = Toggle promiscuous mode on the current channel
  • # + 3 = Switch to the hotspot zone (one-touch zone change)
  • # + 9 = Echo test (Group Call to TG 9990 — verifies the network path is alive)

Programmed via CPS → Optional Settings → One Touch Call. Persists across power cycles. The keypad-shortcut model is much faster than menu-diving for the operations you do every session.

4.1.9 The “where is digital monitor on the side button” CPS path

A frequent first-time-owner question because the menu is unintuitive. Path: CPS → Optional Settings → Key Function → SK1 Short / SK1 Long / SK2 Short / SK2 Long / PF1 / PF2 / PF3 → set to “Digital Monitor” (single-slot) or “Promiscuous” (dual-slot, some firmware versions only). The “Digital Monitor” function isn’t on the radio’s on-screen menu, only via the CPS-programmed side buttons. Set this once and forget it.

4.1.10 AT_Options re-flash after firmware update

A firmware update clears the AT_Options activation because AT_Options patches the base firmware in-place. The recovery is mechanical: re-flash AT_Options against the new base firmware (the AT_Options ZIP contains a writer tool that handles the patching) and re-enter the activation key. Forgetting this step and wondering why AES suddenly doesn’t work is a common post-update support question. Order matters: base firmware first, then AT_Options on top, then re-write codeplug.

4.1.11 Reading the AT_Options bundle’s bundled docs

Inside AT_Options_v9.zip is a small release_notes.txt and a feature_list.txt that document what each version of AT_Options actually adds — useful when comparing AT_Options v7 (V2.04 era) vs v8 (V3.04 era) vs v9 (V4.00 era). The version mapping is not obvious from the BridgeCom product page, and the feature drift between versions is real (v9 added the expanded GPS NMEA output and a few additional Bluetooth profiles not in v8).

4.2 Resources

Manuals and programming guides (the locally-cached copies in programs/anytone-d878uvii/):

  • D878UVII V2.04/AT-D878UVII-PLUS-USER-MANUAL.pdf — the user-facing manual, ~80 pages, covers basic operation, menu structure, button assignments. Adequate for the operator but not for the programmer.
  • D878UVII V2.04/AT-D868UV_D878UV_Programming_Guide_1.33.pdf — the load-bearing reference for codeplug authoring. ~200 pages, covers every CPS menu, every codeplug field, every interaction between objects. Goes deeper than the user manual on roaming, APRS, encryption, scan-list semantics. Still applies in most respects to the V3.xx / V4.xx firmware families even though it was written for V2.xx — the deltas are documented in each firmware release’s release_notes.txt.
  • D878UVII V4.00/roaming_wizard_guide.pdf — the V4.00-era roaming-zone configuration walkthrough, much friendlier than the original roaming setup procedure.

Vendor pages:

DMR network registration and infrastructure:

Community resources:

Cross-references within this series and the sibling Hack Tools project:

Books and longer-form references:

  • DMR for Radio Amateurs (John S. Burningham, W2XAB) — the standard amateur introduction to DMR; not 878-specific but the right starting point for understanding the network from the protocol up
  • ARRL DMR Resources page: https://www.arrl.org/dmr
  • AnyTone D878UV Owner’s Manual (BridgeCom-distributed; same file as the locally-cached PDF above)