Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
I know that here on ExPo we like to brag about the expensive "name brand" gear we use but I'll bet I'm not the only licensed Ham here with one of these cheap little Baofeng radios. After spending a few years turning up my nose at these "cheap Chinese radios" my curiousity finally got the best of me and I ordered one from Amazon. I mean, at $25, what did I have to lose? I'll spend twice that on a dinner with my wife at a chain restaurant, so why not?
I got it because I sold the old, decrepit Yaesu FT-50 that I bought probably 15 years ago. That Yaesu was complicated to use (IMO unnecessarily so) and I think the one I got had actually gotten damaged or something because the VFO knob didn't always work right. It was old, LONG out of production and not "user friendly" at all so I sold it, as-is, to a local Ham operator.
One of the reasons I got the Baofeng was because it IS so common. IMO there's a kind of "wisdom in the crowd" when it comes to tech stuff. IOW, if EVERYBODY is using something, then it must work OK, right?
But even more so, if a product has a lot of "users", then that means that there is a huge "knowledge base" of information that I can tap into, and that's the real reason I wanted to try the Baofeng.
I just got the radio on Friday and "unboxed" it Saturday. It seems like a nice, solid little unit. I immediately went to YouTube and started searching for UV-5r videos to watch and I wasn't disappointed. In less than 20 minutes I had figured out how to easily program frequencies into the radio, save channels and even save repeater frequencies with offsets and CTCSS tones (something I was never able to figure out on the Yaesu.)
So far it seems like the little radio can hit the repeaters in my area with no difficulty. I haven't (yet) gotten around to getting the CHIRP software for it but I'll get it eventually.
I think one of the best things about the Baofeng is the simple menu system. There is only one "level" of menu, with 40 different menu options. This is compared to the Yaesu which had multiple, "nested" menus (one menu for setting frequencies, another menu for offsets, another menu for DCS/CTCSS codes, etc.)
I've complained (in this forum and elsewhere) that modern Ham radios seem to be made for "enthusiasts" who want every feature, bell and whistle possible on their radio equipment, but that this desire often makes the radios very complicated to use for "non enthusiasts" who just want to communicate. Things like multi-function buttons (where one button has multiple functions depending on what other buttons you push) and "nested" menus (where there is not one menu but multiple menus for different operations) are the things that make a radio more difficult to use for a casual "user."
The Baofeng seems to address this concern by making the radio relatively simple to use. I really think there's a reason these radios have become so popular. It's not just the cost, it's the simplicity and ease of operation too.
I got it because I sold the old, decrepit Yaesu FT-50 that I bought probably 15 years ago. That Yaesu was complicated to use (IMO unnecessarily so) and I think the one I got had actually gotten damaged or something because the VFO knob didn't always work right. It was old, LONG out of production and not "user friendly" at all so I sold it, as-is, to a local Ham operator.
One of the reasons I got the Baofeng was because it IS so common. IMO there's a kind of "wisdom in the crowd" when it comes to tech stuff. IOW, if EVERYBODY is using something, then it must work OK, right?
But even more so, if a product has a lot of "users", then that means that there is a huge "knowledge base" of information that I can tap into, and that's the real reason I wanted to try the Baofeng.
I just got the radio on Friday and "unboxed" it Saturday. It seems like a nice, solid little unit. I immediately went to YouTube and started searching for UV-5r videos to watch and I wasn't disappointed. In less than 20 minutes I had figured out how to easily program frequencies into the radio, save channels and even save repeater frequencies with offsets and CTCSS tones (something I was never able to figure out on the Yaesu.)
So far it seems like the little radio can hit the repeaters in my area with no difficulty. I haven't (yet) gotten around to getting the CHIRP software for it but I'll get it eventually.
I think one of the best things about the Baofeng is the simple menu system. There is only one "level" of menu, with 40 different menu options. This is compared to the Yaesu which had multiple, "nested" menus (one menu for setting frequencies, another menu for offsets, another menu for DCS/CTCSS codes, etc.)
I've complained (in this forum and elsewhere) that modern Ham radios seem to be made for "enthusiasts" who want every feature, bell and whistle possible on their radio equipment, but that this desire often makes the radios very complicated to use for "non enthusiasts" who just want to communicate. Things like multi-function buttons (where one button has multiple functions depending on what other buttons you push) and "nested" menus (where there is not one menu but multiple menus for different operations) are the things that make a radio more difficult to use for a casual "user."
The Baofeng seems to address this concern by making the radio relatively simple to use. I really think there's a reason these radios have become so popular. It's not just the cost, it's the simplicity and ease of operation too.