Baofeng Performance

[Wh1t3nukle]

Friend provided this link (let me know if broke) showing testing: http://citizenmilitem.com/?tag=baofeng

I only use mine for Simplex.

For repeater comms, it's been said that some tower owners are banning users of said radios as they cause spurious transmissions.

I thought to mention here for people's awareness as well as any other verification of performance issues as well as Tower Owner responses. Any other insight would be helpful as the concern that crosses my mind is in the case of spurious transmissions impacting actual public safety channels, etc.

 

[Frdmskr]

Horribly unreliable. The Chinese radio that seems to be best is the Hytera DMR radios. Expensive. Most others have technical and reliability issues.


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[Herbie]

Not entirely surprising. Will hold on to my Baofeng as a nice portable backup or hand-off unit, but was already planning to replace it for other reasons...

 

[lysol]

I'd like to see the statistics for how much of an inflation of HAM users there was/is after the Baofeng radios came to be.

 

[Herbie]

I'd like to see the statistics for how much of an inflation of HAM users there was/is after the Baofeng radios came to be.

That's a fair supposition. I admit, the low cost of entry these days was one of the spurs that got me to re-up my license after a lengthy gap.

 

[swduncan]

For repeater comms, it's been said that some tower owners are banning users of said radios as they cause spurious transmissions.

Interesting. How does one ban someone from a repeater?




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[Wh1t3nukle]

Agreed Frdmskr, Herbie, and lysol.

As to banning, I'm not exactly sure how it would be done, but it should be as simple as the tower owner monitoring and logs callsigns. Call signs are public available knowledge and could be followed up with a letter. I'd presume the tower owner probably gives a verbal notification.

I've got no confirmation of this, hence also why I've brought it up for awareness. I have a Yaesu mobile and handheld. Like Herbie, my BFs are for loaners and strictly on Simplex. It would only be last resort to change to a repeater (in my usage) for these radios, especially given the data.

 

[MTN4RNR]

Agreed Frdmskr, Herbie, and lysol.

As to banning, I'm not exactly sure how it would be done, but it should be as simple as the tower owner monitoring and logs callsigns. Call signs are public available knowledge and could be followed up with a letter. I'd presume the tower owner probably gives a verbal notification.

I've got no confirmation of this, hence also why I've brought it up for awareness. I have a Yaesu mobile and handheld. Like Herbie, my BFs are for loaners and strictly on Simplex. It would only be last resort to change to a repeater (in my usage) for these radios, especially given the data.

The BF's worked well on the MET trip, but I picked up a Yaesu myself this last week.

 

[4x4junkie]

As to banning, I'm not exactly sure how it would be done, but it should be as simple as the tower owner monitoring and logs callsigns. Call signs are public available knowledge and could be followed up with a letter. I'd presume the tower owner probably gives a verbal notification.

.

I don't understand what banning a user from a repeater would accomplish... A radio that puts out spurious emissions cannot cause a repeater to do the same... So why would a repeater or tower owner even care? The problem (and responsibility) is solely upon the user having the dirty radio.

 

[lysol]

I honestly don't know how they could crack down on this... These things have flooded the hand HAM market. I mean you are supposed to have a License to use GMRS, but everyone that has them has no idea they shouldn't be using them. But that doesn't stop them. I'm sure that there could be a lot of "talks" if enough problems arise, but I don't think any hard action will be taken. I agree with 4x4junkie that it is the responsibility of the operator.

With this said, my only HAM is a Baofeng and it's been great. I do hope to one day get a decent mobile rig with more watts, but for now, it's all I got.

 

[FordGuy1]

Its all about protecting market share. Baofeng is taking sales and they don't like it.

 

[Thoreau]

Its all about protecting market share. Baofeng is taking sales and they don't like it.

Who is 'they'? QST magazine is a function of the ARRL, who doesn't manufacture any radios, thus have any market share to be concerned about.

There's a lot more to it than just spurious emissions too. I have four Baofeng radios (a pair of 888s's, a BF-F8+, and a UV-82HP) in addition to my Yaesu's (FT1XD, VX-7R, ft277r, and hx370s, plus two mobile rigs.) The Baofengs are halfway decent, especially given the price, but there are a lot of things that make the Japanese radios better for many applications.

Durability:
All four of my Yaesu radios are waterproof/submersible and have been put to the test (well, except the FT1XD which I only recently bought, so haven't had it in a storm yet) and with the storm chasing/tracking/photography I like to do, that's important for me. Equally useful when hiking and backpacking. Those radios are also built like tanks with heavy duty chassis' and they can and often do take a beating.

Batteries:
I'll give the BF-F*+ (a uv5r variant) credit in that I love the aftermarket battery option for a 3800mAh battery. Doubles the size of the radio, but it's still well above the 1800mAh factory battery. That said, I'll be damned if I'm gonna leave any of those batteries charging when I'm at work or otherwise not nearby. I would bet money that none of the Baofeng batteries have any type of thermal protection circuit and when it comes to Lithium Ion, that's a problem. (Hell, most of the batteries have indentations for the positive, negative, and temp contacts on the back. Only two of those actually have any metal/contacts installed. Guess which two.) See the recent fun with those 'hoverboard' things for why I am as cautious as I am on this matter =)

Usability is subjective, so I won't even bother going into that.

I use my radios for everything from ham-nerd ragchewing on local repeaters to trail comms to public safety communications for local public events. The Yaesu's are what come with me into the field.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I think the biggest issue with the chinese radio market is that they do nothing to let buyers know how much trouble those radios can cause with interference, operation on public safety frequencies, etc. The Baofeng 888s pair that I bought came pre-programmed with 16 frequencies and one of those was a spot-on match for one of AZ DPS's main channels. That kind of crap *IS* a major problem. It wouldn't be so bad if they just set the band limits for amateur radio (which is about the only service most of those radios are even legal for, and of course still require a license) as that would at least isolate the interference potential.

 

[FordGuy1]

If you talk to your local Motorola or radio rep, they will tell you the amount of business they are loosing to this Chinese crap. Our company uses hundreds of hand held radio's, we used to deal with Motorola commercial sales, we had a rep that serviced us. In the last year or so we started a trial using the Baofeng's, we bought 50 at a time, they cost $16.00 each and work very well. Our salesperson even admitted, he would do the same, $250.00 vs $16.00. For us we lose a lot of radios and it is not a situation where it could be a life saving emergency, so it works. It's a bummer to give more business to a company like Baofeng, but it just makes sense. The good new is a lot of people are at least trying ham because of the price, getting away from C.B's is nice, especially in a group.

 

[k9lestat]

My baofengs work fine. This maybe to much person info but my decision to purchase them was the money. Two radios for less than 2 half butt frs units. And I'm looking at the tyt of wouxon quad bander again price. If it works well I use it. If it'll and Atv unit.

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