$40 BaoFeng UV-5R Dual-Band Handhelds

R

robgendreau

Explorer
Joining and getting a free radio? Go for it. If you find you need more you can always upgrade. IMHO the basic amateur HT is gonna be solely the domain of folks like Baofeng soon; Yaesu and the others will move to more digitally oriented HTs with lots of bells and whistles for the extra $$. But it's always good to have a backup, and even though I prefer my FT60 I still have a Baofeng around as well. For the price you can't beat it.
 
nckwltn

nckwltn

Explorer
I have been having some problems with my BaoFeng that others are having as well. Basically when you put another antenna on it, it overloads the receiver. An antenna which should increase reception, actually decreases it.

It looks like the issue may just be with some of the BaoFeng 5R units, as the guy noted in the thread that he returned the 5RA for another one and the new one doesn't have the same problems.

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.ph...etting-better-reception-than-Yaesu-X-6R/page3

I'm still happy to buy another one, and not drop 3-4x the cost on a name brand radio. I'm just not that into HAM right now, and these low priced units are all I'm interested in spending right now.
 
H

Harveytex

New member
Baofeng replacement antennas

I just ran across this forum and although I have no interest in off road activities I am interested in the Baofeng radios. Recently I did a little testing of replacement antennas and posted a web site with my findings. If you have any interest go to www.dacomp.com/baofeng.html and check it out. Thanks for allowing me to post this info.
 
C

crazy

Adventurer
I used to be the guy in the club with the "cheap Chinese radio". That is until I did a group buy and one of the guys that was giving me the most crap bought one.:bike_rider: Now I have the "expensive Chinese radio" when the Boafengs came out. There must be a dozen of them in my club. I guess it's ok to buy a cheap radio when it's $40 but not when it's $90.

What radio do I have? A Wouxun.
 
Vicreo A Legarreta

Vicreo A Legarreta

Vicreo
info for ham radios

hey all, I been a lurker for some time in this post, and I am to pull the trigger on a UV-5R from ebay, and yes a got my license here in mexico, seems that a lot are good comments on a chinese radio, I am not a pro on ham mostly a new be guy learning, I like is portable for my need and one is that I like to hike a lot, so hera is the real question , that has been a modification to used it in lower frequencies, like in the 26.065 to 29.695. I now is dumb question por the pro ham operator, but I am learning, or what radio do you recomend me.:sombrero:
 
psykokid

psykokid

Explorer
I picked up mine a couple of weeks ago off of amazon when they were down to 29 bucks shipped on prime. Got the hand held mic and the USB charging cable at the same time. Seems to be a decent little radio. I've been using it to monitor the police frequencies and a couple of repeaters in the area. I haven't charged it in a week to see how much battery life i can eeek out of it just monitoring. I lucked out and my programming cable works great. Going to upgrade the antenna to a Diamond SRJ77CA. I looked for one at the W6TRW swap meet and all the ones that were being sold there were counterfit/fake Diamond.

While I was at the swap meet I went ahead and took my Tech test last Sat, passed so I gave the General a shot. Failed miserably on that one but since i hadn't studied at all i wasn't heartbroken. Now just to hurry up and wait for the FCC to post my call sign.
 
G

GX470_Prado

Observer
n00b here So most likely this will be a dumb question but:

Can these BaoFeng's use the same channels/frequency as GSMR or FSR and whatever CBs use?
 
Crom

Crom

Expo this, expo that, exp
Technically yes for FRS and GMRS, no for CB. HOWEVER, to do so is illegal. Using them on FRS is illegal but it's also bad because FRS radios operate with 500 milliwatt and super negative gain antennas, this is done by design to limit range, whereas the baofeng will at a minimum use 2 watts of power and has a removable superior antenna. Using the baofeng on GMRS frequencies would be the least problematic as GMRS hardware and power usage is very similar (2 watts). GMRS is also a licensed service, so using the frequencies without a license makes one a pirate. Although if one behaves themselves and plays well with others, the risk is probably low.


GX470_Prado said:
n00b here So most likely this will be a dumb question but:

Can these BaoFeng's use the same channels/frequency as GSMR or FSR and whatever CBs use?
Click to expand...
 
pugslyyy

pugslyyy

Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
You can use it to monitor FRS/GMRS all day long but as Crom said transmitting is problematical. Also, FRS/GMRS use a lot of squelch tones which can be a hassle for a non-dedicated rig.

CB is AM so even if you could tune the channel you still wouldn't be able to hear anything.
 
transporterjr

transporterjr

IsLost
transporterjr said:
I'm taking a class for my tech license, $10 - include's Gordo's book. (The book would be good enough, but at least this makes me commit.
If I join the local club for 2 years ($50), they will give me a Baofeng handheld. While I'm not really on planning on HAM radio as a hobby, it seems the help I can get from a club and setting up the radio makes it worth it - and it helps support their 2 repeaters.

Some forums have suggested getting a different handheld for $100-150, but the reviews, and the people giving the course, give the Baofeng good reviews.

So considering the above - should I go for Baofeng?
Click to expand...

Got my (tech) license and gave the club 2 years dues ($50) so I'll be getting my "free" radio soon. I feel good about supporting the club as they have a repeater. And they are going to pre-program the radio before I even get it. I'll likely spring for a new antenna and figure out various power options (Battery packs, DC, AC adapters, etc. later.
I'm not sure how much of a "ham" I will be, we will see. I might see if I can get my old novice call sign from 37 years ago as a vanity call-sign, but I think the FCC won't want that as I would be on bands that a grandfathered Novice license could not use. That is, it could sound like I am operating on bands that I not allowed to be on. Maybe a variation with a new prefix or ????

Happy trails,
John
 
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