--By Jay Farlow, W9LW

The Alervites brand model AT2 handheld transceiver offers features that are unusual in the amateur radio transceiver market.

According to the Baofeng website, Alervites is a sub-brand of the Baofeng brand. The website indicates that the company derived the name “Alervites” from the English words, “alert” and “elite” and the French word “vite,” which translates to “quickly.”

Description

The Alervites AT2 is a small, UHF-only, two-watt, handheld transceiver. It transmits (and receives) in narrowband and wideband FM and in a proprietary digital mode that’s akin to DMR but not compatible with tier-two DMR radios on the amateur market. The radio’s frequency range is listed as 400 to 480 MHz. This includes frequencies outside of the US amateur radio allocation, but the manufacturer has obtained certification under 47 CFR Part 90 of the US Code of Federal Regulations. Such certifications make it legal for licensees of US Private Land Mobile Services (including public safety, industrial and business users) to transmit with a radio on frequencies for which they are licensed.

The radio comes with a “stubby,” 3.75-inch helical antenna that has a non-standard, threaded stud connector.

The radio comes with a removable, 2,200 milliamp-hour, 3.7-volt, lithium-ion battery.

The radio has no keypad and no display apart from a few light-emitting diodes. The radio announces the selected channel via voice when the user adjusts the radio’s channel knob. The only way to set the radio’s frequency and other parameters is via an app. The manufacturer’s OLA app is available for Android and iOS mobile devices, and a customer programming software (CPS) app is available for Windows® computers. The Android and iOS apps communicate with the radio via Bluetooth. The Windows app uses a standard USB-C cable.

In addition to programming the radio’s frequencies, the mobile apps can use Bluetooth to remotely control the radio, send digital data from a connected mobile device through the radio, and use the radio as a Bluetooth speaker-microphone for the mobile device (e.g., for push-to-talk apps like Zello).

A digital encoder knob on the top of the radio allows users to change channels or select menu items. On the left edge of the radio are a push-to-talk (PTT) key and two “side keys” that are normally used to increase or decrease the receiver audio level. The front face of the radio has a large (approximately 1.5 x 1.25 inch) PTT key that under normal configuration duplicates the function of the PTT key on the side of the radio. The radio has an earphone jack and a USB-C jack on the side opposite the PTT key. Unlike many Baofeng brand radios, the manufacturer does not provide any kind of earphone with the AT2, but the radio itself is not much larger that some speaker microphones.

Menu System

The radio has a menu system that the user activates with a long press of Side Key 2, the key that also reduces audio volume. The radio will announce “high power,” indicating that the transmit power menu is selected. Rotating the encoder knob on the top of the radio clockwise selects (in order) the battery level indicator, frequency read-out, memory scanning menu, Bluetooth menu, VOX menu, and channel type (analog/digital) menu. As the user changes the above settings, the radio announces the change by voice. On the frequency read-out setting, the radio announces.

To set the frequencies of channels with the OLA mobile app, the user must first use the menu system above to activate the radio’s Bluetooth function and then use the OLA app to pair the mobile device with the radio.

Installing the Battery

The radio arrives without its battery installed but with its battery cover in place. Opened the battery cover by pressing the cover hard with both thumbs on either side of the belt clip, near the top of the belt clip, and while pressing, pushing the cover toward the bottom of the radio. After the cover was off, installing the battery and reinstalling the cover was easy.

Charging the Battery

The manufacturer sells the AT2 in sets of two radios, which is important for digital communications because no other radio on the market at the time this review was written could decode AT2 digital voice transmissions. With the set, the company provides an AC to USB-A 5-volt, 1,000 milliamp power supply and a “Y” cable with a USB-A connector at one end and two USB-C connectors at the other end. This allows users to simultaneously charge both radios via the USB-C port on each radio. Users may also use any other 5-volt USB power source (e.g., a USB outlet in a vehicle) to charge the radio.

Programming with a Mobile App

The manufacturer makes a free “OLA” app available on both the iOS (Apple) and Google Play (Android) app stores. This reviewer successfully added new channels with the Android version. After the OLA app connects with the radio it displays the radio’s current frequency configurations. The radio arrived with 16 simplex channels programmed for amateur radio frequencies; 10 analog (FM) channels and six digital channels. For each channel, a user can use the mobile device’s on-screen keyboard to enter receive and transmit frequencies and select either analog or digital mode. On both modes, the user may select wide or narrow bandwidth, whether to include the channel when scanning, whether to enable busy lockout when scanning, and low or high transmit power.

On analog channels, the user may select receive and transmit continuous tone-coded squelch system (CTCSS) frequencies or digital coded squelch (DCS) codes and “frequency hopping.” The manual does not explain frequency hopping and this reviewer did not test that feature.

On digital channels, the user may select an “Enc Key Index” from 1 to 31 or “off.” More about this feature appears later in this review.

On both modes, the OLA app has a “Channel Note” field for each channel, in which the user can type a channel name, for example. There is little value in doing so, however, because the app erases that field when it writes the channel configuration to the radio.

The OLA mobile app provides no way to import channel data from an outside source, such as the RepeaterBook website or a comma-separated values file.

It is possible to write the same configuration to multiple AT2 radios by disconnecting the Bluetooth link from the first radio, connecting to the second radio via Bluetooth and then writing the same configuration.

Programming with a Windows Computer

Download a Windows application labeled for AT2 from the manufacturer BAOFENG's website "Download" page. To make this app easier for readers of this review to access, here’s a link to the file, labeled “AT2_User_CPS_1.0.3.exe.” The above link enabled downloads of the app at the time this review was written. After installation, this app appears as “Bluetooth_User_Series.” With this app, this reviewer was able to read from and write to an AT2 that was connected to a Windows computer using a standard USB-C data cable. Like the OLA mobile app, however, this app provides no facility to import data from an outside source.

Wireless Cloning Function

Another way to program an AT2 is to copy another AT2’s configuration over the air. Users do this by setting both radios to channel 2 and then using a special key combination to enter a cloning mode on each radio. A user then presses the push-to-talk key on the radio that contains the desired configuration. Within a couple of seconds, the receiving radio has the same configuration. It doesn’t appear to matter if the receiving radio previously had channel 2 set to a different frequency than the transmitting radio. The user manual indicates that only channels one through 16 will be cloned. All 30 channels were cloned, however, during this reviewer’s test.

Geographic Range

With a maximum of two watts of transmit power and a “stubby” antenna that is well less than a quarter of a wavelength at 440 MHz, one would not expect to be able to communicate over long distances. This reviewer’s test validated that expectation. Using a simplex digital channel between the two radios, communication failed when the radios were less than a mile (less than 1.6 km) apart, with both radios outdoors in a suburban area. Users could reasonably expect slightly greater range over an open prairie and even greater range from mountaintop to mountaintop. Communication distance in a dense forest, however, might be even shorter than in a suburban area. At the high-power setting, an FM (analog) repeater approximately six miles (10 km) away easily received the AT2’s signal. This reviewer is aware of no repeaters that support the AT2’s digital voice protocol.

Conclusion

The Alervites AT2 is a small, lightweight, low-power UHF transceiver that might be of value to amateur radio operators who desire its features and who do not need to communicate over distances much longer than those that can be reached by an FRS radio. Amateur radio operators who wish greater geographic range, to communicate on VHF as well as UHF, or to communicate with users of more conventional digital voice modes such as DMR, would be wise to consider instead one of Baofeng’s other radios.