Story About The QUAD-5 The QUAD-5 is unique in many ways. It is an improved version of the AT-5555 or Alpha Max. It is flexible through the ability to be programmed by a computer and the files can be saved for later use. Conveniences such as programming the EMG button for a particular frequency within a band for instant frequency jumping. Or programming certain channels for frequently used frequencies during events among other options make this a very flexible radio. You might think of it as a programmable 10 Meter scanner that transmits. Or you can use it without changing the programming and have a high quality transceiver with 10 Hz frequency resolution clarifier and frequency display. Having been involved with the design changes I don’t feel comfortable reviewing this product, however I feel compelled to tell the story about it. Its predecessor was available with no warranty which slowed sales even though it was an excellent radio. The Quad-5 comes with a one year warranty and Top Gun Technologies has all the common parts in stock for repair. The orange lettering on the black front panel is easy to read and has a soft glow electro-luminescent back lit panel for night viewing. Also the LCD can be switched off if you want. I have check the transmit audio with various microphones, the older Telex/Turner RK-56, Top Gun TG-56, Ranger SRA-198 with almost identical sound quality. The Astatic 636L has a lower tone quality but still sounds excellent. Also the Astatic D104 Silver Eagle has a full tone sound, even though you would expect it would have a tendency to be more high pitched with that mic. The audio doesn’t need improvement as in most radios, and you will notice Top Gun Technologies doesn’t even recommend their CP-1 or MD-1 to improve the performance. Not only every channel is programmable, it holds a 7 digit transmit and separate 7 digit receive frequency. Certain features can be enabled or disabled PER CHANNEL such as BUSY, ECHO, HI-CUT, +10KHz, NB/ANL, RB (roger beep), and SCAN. See: https://www.topguntec.com/index_htm_files/QUAD- 5%20Progamming%20Manual.pdf to view and save the programming manual. Not only can button beep be turned of, it has a volume control that ranges from off to 63. I don’t like the annoying beep of some radios because of the high volume. The beep at a low volume is not annoying and is very helpful confirming your selection, especially when using the UP/Down buttons on the mic. Even though the mic has UP/DN/AQ capability it is a 4-pin mic. Almost any Cobra/Uniden/Galaxy 4-pin mic will work, except the mics with electret condenser elements. Pin 4 is used as the input for the three features. Switching different resistors to ground tell the processor what is selected. See: https://topguntec.com/quad_5_favorite_mic_mod.htm for details on modifying your mic to work the UP/DN/AQ features. In export mode there are 20 additional channels per band that can be programmed for your most frequently used frequencies. Or special transmit/receive offsets for repeater or private one sided communication. There are so many options available to make this transceiver very versatile. Keep in mind, it only has to be as complicated as you want, The radio works fine for those that don’t have computer knowledge or want to play with the programming, although if you have a computer it is very straight forward and easy to do. You can read the radio program and save it to a file before you start to restore your original setup if you get in a jam. With or without programming I think you will really like this unit.