🇨🇦 This is a review of the Talkpod A36plus Max Long Range Two Way Radio with two Rechargeable Batteries, Airband Receiving & Scanning, and NOAA Weather Receiver.

This Radio is certified by Industry Canada as a GMRS radio IC : 22327-A36PLUS which is supposed to ONLY transmit on 462MHz & 467MHz (which I believe 467MHz was reserved for repeaters, and was removed in 2016?) there's is also a maximum power limit required that I don't believe is configured correctly out of the box. (0.5 W for channels 8-14 and 2 W for other channels) They all seem to be set to high power by default.

Apart from the above, my radio is able to transmit on the amateur radio bands (which is great if you have a license, as I do, but otherwise illegal to transmit on). This radio is also set up to transmit on 350-400MHz which is for government use and very illegal to transmit on.

The good news is that this radio can be programmed and all of the above issues can be fixed.

***Please don't transmit on any frequency that you don't have a license for as you can get into serious trouble.***

Now as for the rest of the kit, it has a lot of good stuff that includes: 2 - USB-C chargeable batteries, a wrist strap, IP54 rated radio (with SMA male connector), removable antenna (good for 136-174MHz & 400-470MHz), 120V desktop charger (charges battery on radio or alone), USB-C charging cable with power supply, programming cable, a small manual, and a belt clip (the picture shows 2 belt clips but the description only listed one).

The A36 plus radio actually has way too many features to list, but some of the more important ones are, 999 memories, 8 Watt transmitter, 3 programmable buttons, dual frequency monitoring, very nice colour display, radio is programmable by Talkpod or CHIRP software (both free), 8 character memory labelling (which can also be done via the keys on the radio), Canadian weather band (receive), commercial FM broadcast (receive), airplane AM (receive), etc. It also displays a QR code that takes you to the radio's website where you can get programming software, a comprehensive multi-page manual, and firmware updates. Overall it seems to be much more flexible than other similar radios. The firmware version of my radio is the latest (V1.6).

I have tested the power output on the 2M (144MHz) band at 9W (better than rated), but couldn't test 70cm as I'm currently missing a test cable (will update when I re-test).
Note: I'm also unable to test 462MHz (GMRS) power for the same reason.

I have also found (with help from the internet) that the transmitter is improved from the last version of this radio and is fairly clean.

Also, it seems to have quite good audio (both ways). It's much nicer than a similar unit that I own (starting with the letter B) as you can set the 3 programmable buttons to things like squelch setting, reverse (transmit/receive frequency), and memory name/frequency toggle, etc.
Overall it seems very well thought out.

Both batteries were fully charged when received, but I should point out that the charging terminals on the back of the battery are live. So even though they are recessed I'd recommend keeping them away from metal objects (like keys in a pocket).

I have included many pictures and hope they are useful.
The radio, as programmed, can receive and transmit:

136-180MHz 144-148 AMATEUR 2m
174-180 restricted*
200-260MHz 219-225 AMATEUR 135cm
200-216 restricted*
350-400MHz Government use?
400-520MHz 430-450 AMATEUR 70cm
462&467 GMRS
470-520 restricted*

*(TV band & wireless mics)

And receive only on:

65-108MHz FM broadcast radio (mostly)
108-136MHz AM airplane band
162-163MHz Canadian weather band

Overall I think that this is a great deal,but have to remove one star due to the out of the box programming. 4 stars.

I've tried to be as complete as possible and hope you find this review helpful.