How to Program a D878UV — Step by Step

A DMR radio that is also a perfectly good analog handheld. What follows is the analog half, done from the keypad — the digital half is a different job, and it is explained here rather than pretended at.

This page covers: AnyTone AT-D878UV, AnyTone AT-D878UV PLUS, AnyTone AT-D878UVII, AnyTone AT-D878UVII PLUS. They share the same firmware, so the steps below are identical on all of them whatever name is printed on the front.

The menu changes shape depending on which channel you are on

Chan Set shows a different list on an analog channel than on a digital one, and the numbering gets reused — item 4 is TX Power on a digital channel and TCDT, the transmit tone, on an analog one. So steps counted out as "the fourth item down" from a video are not safe here. Set the channel type to analog first, and go by the NAME of the setting rather than its position in the list.

The analog side is the part you can do from the keypad

This is a dual-mode radio and the two halves are programmed very differently. Analog — repeaters, tones, offsets, simplex — works entirely from the keypad, and that is what these pages cover. The DMR side does not. Talkgroups, contacts, zones, colour codes and your DMR ID are built as a codeplug on a computer in the CPS software and loaded in over a cable. That is not a shortcoming of this radio, it is how DMR works everywhere. Start from a codeplug somebody has already built for your area, then use the keypad for your analog channels and the day-to-day settings below.

The II is not the same radio as the original

The D878UVII and D878UVII PLUS have larger memory and, in AnyTone's own words, firmware and CPS that are NOT compatible with the D878UV. The keypad menus below are common to all of them, but do not move a codeplug or a firmware file across that line. The older D868UV is a close relative with much of the same menu structure and will find you this page, but it is a different radio running its own firmware.

What you can do on this radio

Rather do this on your phone, standing at the radio?

The app walks you through the same steps one at a time, on a screen sized for a phone.

Open Radio Rosetta

Save a repeater to a memory channel on a D878UV

Unlike most handhelds, this one makes the channel first and fills it in afterwards. So you create an empty channel, put it in a zone, and then walk back into the same menu to set the frequencies and the tone.

Have these to hand before you start

  • The repeater's output frequency — what you listen to.
  • Its input frequency, or the offset if you would rather let the radio work it out.
  • Its tone, if it uses one.
  • Which zone you want the channel to live in. The radio will ask, and it will not let you skip the question.
  1. MENU, then Settings, then Chan Set, then New Chan.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch New ChanThe screen should show: A prompt for a channel number.
  2. Type the channel number, confirm, then pick a zone and confirm to save.type the channel number›MENU›touch a zone›touch Confirm To SaveThe screen should show: Saved.Watch out. Zones are not optional on this radio the way memory groups are on a Baofeng. A channel has to live in one, and a channel in a zone you never select is a channel you will never find again.
  3. Back in Chan Set on your new channel, set Channel Type to A-Analog.touch Channel Type›touch A-AnalogThe screen should show: A-Analog.Watch out. Do this before anything else. The rest of the menu changes shape when you do — the tone settings simply are not there while the channel is still digital, which is why people conclude this radio cannot do CTCSS.
  4. RX Freq, then type the repeater's output frequency and press MENU to save.touch RX Freq›type 146.940›MENUThe screen should show: Your receive frequency.MENU saves and P2 backs out without saving — worth knowing before you type six digits.
  5. TX Freq, then type the repeater's input frequency the same way.touch TX Freq›type 146.340›MENUThe screen should show: Your transmit frequency.You can set the offset instead if you prefer, but typing both frequencies leaves nothing to be misunderstood, and on this radio it is no more work.
  6. TCDT sets the transmit tone. Scroll to the repeater's tone and save.touch TCDT›▲▼ your tone›MENUThe screen should show: Your tone.TCDT is transmit, RCDT is receive, and RTCDT sets both at once. For a repeater, TCDT alone is normally all you need.
  7. Name gives the channel something readable.touch Name›type a name›MENUThe screen should show: Your channel name.This radio will happily name a channel from the keypad, which the cheap handhelds will not. Worth doing while you are here.

Set the channel type first and the rest follows. If the tone settings are missing when you get there, the channel is still set to digital — go back to Channel Type. There is also a shortcut for creating channels: hold MENU until the display says "Next Please Press Dial Key", then press P1.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL) on a D878UV

Three separate items, and picking the right one saves you undoing the other two.

  1. MENU, Settings, Chan Set, TCDT — then scroll to your tone and save.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch TCDT›▲▼ your tone›MENUThe screen should show: Your tone under TCDT.TCDT is the transmit tone, the one a repeater listens for. It offers CTCSS from 62.5 to 254.1 Hz — 51 of them — and 1024 DCS codes.

RTCDT sets the transmit and receive tone together in one go, which sounds convenient and usually is not — a receive tone will silence the radio for anything not carrying that exact tone. Set TCDT alone unless you specifically want the radio quiet.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the receive tone on a D878UV

  1. MENU, Settings, Chan Set, RCDT — scroll to the tone and save.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch RCDT›▲▼ your tone›MENUThe screen should show: Your tone under RCDT.
  2. Squelch mode, further down the same list, decides what the radio does with that tone.touch Squelch mode›▲▼ SQ or C|T›MENUThe screen should show: SQ, or C|T.SQ opens the speaker on any matching carrier. C|T opens it when a matching tone arrives. This is the setting that decides whether a receive tone actually silences anything.

Be careful with this one. With a receive tone set and the squelch mode expecting it, the radio stays silent for everything that is not sending that exact tone — including, quite often, the repeater you are trying to use. If your D878 has gone mysteriously quiet on one channel, this pair is the first place to look.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the offset direction and amount on a D878UV

You have a choice on this radio that most handhelds do not give you: set an offset, or just type both frequencies. The second is harder to get wrong.

  1. MENU, Settings, Chan Set, Offset — then use the up and down keys to set the amount.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch Offset›▲▼ the amount›MENUThe screen should show: The offset frequency.
  2. Or skip the offset entirely and type the repeater's input frequency into TX Freq.touch TX Freq›type the input frequency›MENUThe screen should show: Your transmit frequency.Nothing to get backwards, nothing to convert, and what you see on the screen is exactly what the radio will do. On a radio where typing a frequency is this easy, this is usually the better habit.

If you are not sure whether the offset took, look at TX Freq. Whatever is in that box is what the radio will transmit on, however the number got there.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the squelch on a D878UV

  1. MENU, Settings, Radio Set, Ana SQ Level.MENU›touch Settings›touch Radio Set›touch Ana SQ Level›▲▼ 0 - 5›MENUThe screen should show: A level from 0 to 5.Watch out. Five steps, not the ten a Baofeng gives you, and it is under Radio Set rather than Chan Set because it applies to the whole radio rather than one channel.

The manual is explicit that this only affects analog channels — digital channels do not use it, because DMR either decodes a signal or it does not. If you turn this up and a digital channel is still noisy, that is not what is wrong.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Change the transmit power on a D878UV

  1. MENU, Settings, Chan Set, TX Power.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch TX Power›▲▼ Low, Middle, High or Turbo›MENUThe screen should show: The power level for this channel.Power is stored per channel here, not for the radio as a whole. Turn it down on the repeater you can hit from the sofa and leave it up on the one you can barely reach.

You can also put TX Power on one of the programmable side keys — PF1, PF2, PF3, P1 or P2 — under Settings, Radio Set, Key. That makes it a single press when you are actually on the air rather than a menu trip.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Listen on the repeater's input on a D878UV

Two settings on this radio sound alike and do different things. Reverse is the one that answers "can I hear that station directly". Talk Around is not.

  1. MENU, Settings, Chan Set, Reverse, and switch it on.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch Reverse›▲▼ On›MENUThe screen should show: Reverse on.This swaps the receive and transmit frequencies AND the tones with them, so you are now listening on the repeater's input — hearing what the repeater hears.
  2. Talk Around, a few items above it, is the different one.touch Talk AroundThe screen should show: Talk Around on or off.Watch out. Talk Around makes the radio transmit on the repeater's OUTPUT frequency, so two of you can talk directly on the frequency you were both already listening to. It does not let you hear the repeater's input. Reverse is for finding out whether you can work someone direct; Talk Around is for actually doing it once you know you can.

The useful sequence is both, in order. Reverse to check whether you can hear the other station without the repeater, then Talk Around to move the conversation off it — and remember to switch Reverse back off, or you will be transmitting on the repeater output while listening to its input.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Name a memory channel on a D878UV

  1. MENU, Settings, Chan Set, Name, then type it in on the keypad.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch Name›type the name›MENUThe screen should show: Your channel name.Watch out. The manual notes this only works in channel mode, not VFO. If Name will not accept anything, check you are not sitting in VFO.

This is one of the real advantages this radio has over the cheap handhelds — a Baofeng cannot be told a channel name from its own keypad at all, and this one can. That said, if you are naming more than a handful, the CPS on a computer is far faster.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Delete a memory channel on a D878UV

  1. In channel mode, MENU, Settings, Chan Set, Delete Chan — then confirm.MENU›touch Settings›touch Chan Set›touch Delete Chan›touch ConfirmThe screen should show: Delete? and then the next channel.Watch out. It deletes the channel you are CURRENTLY ON. There is no channel picker — so make sure the radio is sitting on the one you mean before you go into the menu.

There is a shortcut too: hold MENU until the display says "Next Please Press Dial Key", then press P2 to delete the current channel. Quick, and quick to regret — the radio moves to the next channel afterwards, so it is easy to delete two if you repeat the gesture.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off the roger beep on a D878UV

Short answer: there is no roger beep on this radio to turn off. It does not send a tone at the end of your transmission. If something is beeping at you, it is one of these instead — all under Settings, then Radio Set, then Voice Func.

  1. Key Tone is the beep on every keypress. Beep Off silences it.MENU›touch Settings›touch Radio Set›touch Voice Func›touch Key Tone›▲▼ Beep OffThe screen should show: Beep Off.This is the one people actually mean nine times out of ten.
  2. Talk Permit is the tone confirming you got into a repeater at the start of a call.touch Talk Permit›▲▼ OffThe screen should show: Talk Permit off.Watch out. This is the closest thing to a roger beep on the radio, but it fires at the START of a call rather than the end, and only you hear it. Nobody on the far end is hearing a beep from you.
  3. Ana Idle and Digi Idle beep when the channel goes free.touch Ana Idle›▲▼ Off›touch Digi Idle›▲▼ OffThe screen should show: Both off.
  4. Startup Sound is the noise it makes when you switch it on.touch Startup Sound›▲▼ OffThe screen should show: Startup Sound off.

Turn Key Tone off first and see whether that was the noise you were chasing. If people on the air are telling you that you are sending a beep, it is not coming from this radio — check whatever repeater or hotspot you are going through.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off the voice announcements on a D878UV

Nothing to turn off here either. This radio does not read its menus out loud — there is no equivalent of the voice that announces every setting on a Baofeng, so there is no setting to switch it off.

  1. Everything the radio can be told not to make a noise about lives under Settings, Radio Set, Voice Func.MENU›touch Settings›touch Radio Set›touch Voice FuncThe screen should show: Key Tone, KeyTone Vol, Digi Idle, Ana Idle, Startup Sound, Talk Permit and the rest.It is a list of tones, not announcements. If the radio is talking to you it is a recorded voice message or an alert you have set up, not the menu system.

If you came here because the radio is making noises you did not ask for, the roger beep page next door covers the same menu and names each tone.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off dual watch on a D878UV

This radio normally shows two channels at once, and the one in bold is the one that transmits. That is the whole cause of the "why did it answer on the wrong channel" problem — and there are two ways to fix it.

  1. MENU, Settings, Radio Set, Sub Ch hide — then Sub Channel Off.MENU›touch Settings›touch Radio Set›touch Sub Ch hide›▲▼ Sub Channel OffThe screen should show: One channel only.This is the definite fix. One channel on screen means one channel the PTT can possibly use.
  2. If you would rather keep both, Main Ch decides which of them is the main one.touch Main Ch›▲▼ Channel A or Channel BThe screen should show: Channel A or Channel B in bold.Watch out. Bold means it transmits. There is also a dedicated key on the radio that swaps which side is main, which is easy to press by accident in a pocket — so if the radio has started using the wrong channel and you changed nothing in the menu, that key is the likely culprit.

Turning the sub channel off is worth doing while you are learning the radio. You can always turn it back on once you trust yourself to notice which side is bold.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Lock the keypad on a D878UV

  1. MENU, Settings, Radio Set, Key Func, Key Lock.MENU›touch Settings›touch Radio Set›touch Key Func›touch Key Lock›▲▼ Manual Lock or Auto LockThe screen should show: Manual Lock or Auto Lock.Manual means it locks when you hold the key down. Auto means it locks itself after a while on standby.
  2. Then choose what actually gets locked — the keypad, the knobs, the side keys, or any combination.touch Keypad Lock›touch Knob Lock›touch Side Key LockThe screen should show: Each one on or off.Watch out. Locking the keypad does not lock the knobs, and the channel knob turning in your pocket is the more common problem of the two. If a locked radio still changes channel, Knob Lock is the one you missed.

Two warnings from the manual worth passing on. Some of this depends on options set in the CPS first, so if a lock setting appears to do nothing, that is why. And Forced Key Lock prevents unlocking from the keypad at all — do not switch that on unless you are certain you know how you are getting back out.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Factory reset on a D878UV

Not in the menu. It is a two-button hold while the radio comes on — and on a DMR radio the stakes are higher than on an analog handheld, because what it clears is the codeplug somebody spent an evening building.

  1. Before anything else: read the codeplug out of the radio with the CPS and save it.The screen should show: A saved file on your computer.Watch out. This is the whole game. A reset takes your zones, your talkgroups, your contact list and every channel with it. With a saved codeplug that is twenty minutes; without one it is your whole setup, and if it came from somebody in your club you are asking them for it again.
  2. Switch the radio off.power offThe screen should show: A dark display.
  3. Hold the PTT and the PF1 key below it together, and switch the radio on while holding both.hold PTT + PF1›power onThe screen should show: Are you sure you want to initialize radio?PF1 is the key immediately below the PTT on the side of the radio, not one of the top buttons.
  4. Confirm to go through with it, or Exit to back out and start up normally.touch ConfirmThe screen should show: Initialize Radio, then the radio restarts.There is a real way out here — Exit at this screen leaves everything alone.
  5. After it restarts it asks for the time zone, date and time. Use the up and down keys to set each field and P1 to move along.▲▼ the date and time›P1›touch ConfirmThe screen should show: The date and time screen.Watch out. Set the time zone properly rather than clicking through it. The manual warns that skipping it gives you wrong timestamps afterwards, which matters if you are logging or using APRS.

Reset is rarely the right answer on this radio. Most "my D878 is broken" problems are a wrong zone, a receive tone, or the sub channel being the main one — all of which are fixable in a minute from the pages above. Reload a known-good codeplug before you reach for this.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

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