| KD7AWG |
Rating:  |
2016-12-04 | |
| Good HT - Sloppy Assemby |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I bought this HT because it was cheap and it was recommended by a local ham.
First, charge the battery (overnight will do) and reset the HT. Allow several charge-discharge cycles for the battery to reach its full storage.
Get the cable and software. I was given a “mongrel” programming cable that did the job. Links to drivers and software came from Miklor and CHIRP.
On your PC, use an account with administrator privileges, first install the driver and plug in the USB cable. After the driver has installed, check the Device Manager looking under ports, (COM and LPT). If you see a yellow triangle, disconnect the cable and uninstall the device. Plug the cable back in, if there is still a yellow triangle, unplug the cable and uninstall the device and its driver. If the software cannot see the HT, check the com port (mine was 3). I had to reinstall the drivers several times. Re-booting each time to get rid of the yellow warning. If you switch USB ports from the one you installed the drivers/CHIRP with, you may not be able to connect the HT to the PC.
Be sure the connection to the HT is good and all the way in. These are some of the problems with the cable and software I had with Windows 8.1.
The radio is a lot of fun. I tested the receiver on “A” Mountain, which is 2,900 HAAT. Got the weather broadcast from Northern Arizona with some fried eggs with the supplied antenna.
Next on to the base of Tumamoc Hill, the home of dozens commercial transmitters and PBS TV. I started scanning from 144MHz to 148MHz and 440MHz to 440MHz. Not one squelch break from intermod.
Xmit was good, too.
The CHIRP software loaded all the Pima County repeaters from an option. I did not check the accuracy of their entries. I also put my name and call on the “power up screen;” too cute!
Battery life is OK with the supplied battery. Make sure the HT seats firmly in the charger. Look for the red charging light.
Update:
I just bought my third Baufeng UV-5R+ about 2 weeks ago. I got the one with the 3800 MA/HR heavy duty battery in camo (I keep thinking about Rambo just looking at it). The “wall wart” charger is still the .5 amp @ 10 VDC model as the “stock” battery charger. It took overnight to initially charge the larger battery.
Now the fun part: the battery would not lock in place. I had to remove the upper back, unscrew and move the lanyard hook up towards the top of the HT to get the battery to lock in. Note: the star wrench size for this operation is not the same size as the bolts holding the escutcheon.
The belt clip arrived in THREE pieces. The bracket pivot pin from the clip is just held in place by the force of the spring. I put it back together and put a dab of Weldwood contact cement between the actual belt clip part of the bracket and each end of the pivot pin. The pin on the first HT I bought was loose in the bracket and I did the same with it.
There is a definite risk (IMHO) of the bracket falling apart and the HT falling off you belt. Use the glue before this happens.
I don’t expect “aircraft quality,” but this is just sloppy assembly and non-existent quality control. this detracts from the superior cost versus performance of this HT.
30
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Earlier 4-star review posted by KD7AWG on 2016-06-26
I bought this HT because it was cheap and it was recommended by a local ham.
First, charge the battery (overnight will do) and reset the HT. Allow several charge-discharge cycles for the battery to reach its full storage.
Get the cable and software. I was given a “mongrel” programming cable that did the job. Links to drivers and software came from Miklor and CHIRP.
On your PC, use an account with administrator privileges, first install the driver and plug in the USB cable. After the driver has installed, check the Device Manager looking under ports, (COM and LPT). If you see a yellow triangle, disconnect the cable and uninstall the device. Plug the cable back in, if there is still a yellow triangle, unplug the cable and uninstall the device and its driver. If the software cannot see the HT, check the com port (mine was 3). I had to reinstall the drivers several times. Re-booting each time to get rid of the yellow warning. If you switch USB ports from the one you installed the drivers/CHIRP with, you may not be able to connect the HT to the PC.
Be sure the connection to the HT is good and all the way in. These are some of the problems with the cable and software I had with Windows 8.1.
The radio is a lot of fun. I tested the receiver on “A” Mountain, which is 2,900 HAAT. Got the weather broadcast from Northern Arizona with some fried eggs with the supplied antenna.
Next on to the base of Tumamoc Hill, the home of dozens commercial transmitters and PBS TV. I started scanning from 144MHz to 148MHz and 440MHz to 440MHz. Not one squelch break from intermod.
Xmit was good, too.
The CHIRP software loaded all the Pima County repeaters from an option. I did not check the accuracy of their entries. I also put my name and call on the “power up screen;” too cute!
Battery life is OK with the supplied battery. Make sure the HT seats firmly in the charger. Look for the red charging light.
30
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|
| N6BIZ |
Rating: |
2016-11-11 | |
| GREAT |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
They sound like crap .they take to long to program.
The rubber duckie antenna is junk .
And on and on
I now have 6 different boefengs and all of them sound TERRIFC and are easy to use
I also have a YAESU vx2 vx3 vx5 and a vx6 and none of the yeasus have nice clean clear crisp RX audio and XMIT as the boefengs I'll admit the take some time to program
For less than 30 bucks u can't beat the boefengs for performance ,and these "hams" who complain about then or anything else out here when most people give a product good grades don't even own a soldering gun or pencil
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Earlier 5-star review posted by N6BIZ on 2016-02-24
I HAVE ONE
ITS GREAT !!! |
|
| VE6ICE |
Rating: |
2016-09-24 | |
| BaoFeng Rubber Duck is quite good |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Have not used the Radio a whole lot yet, but the voice menu is pretty cool. Easy enough to program if you have a cable, which can be purchased on eBay for a few dollars.
I was however struck by the performance of the rubber-duck that comes with the unit.
For identification purposes, the unit under test is 6.5" long, from the top to the base of the RP-SMA Female termination, has a BAOFENG Logo molded into the side, with the B towards the base, and has a ring around the base labelled "FM/136-174/400-520MHz" which can be seen when viewed from the SMA end.
Test Results using an R&S ZVH8 Antenna tester and an N to SMA Male adapter.
VSWR = 1:1.8/1:1.8/1:1.8 @ 144/146/148MHz
VSWR = 1:1.3/1:1.1/1:1.8 @ 420/435/450MHz
VSWR = 1:3.6/1:15.1/1:2.4/1:6.1 @ 136/174/400/520MHz
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by VE6ICE on 2016-09-24
Have not used the Radio a whole lot yet, but the voice menu is pretty cool. Easy enough to program if you have a cable, which can be purchased on eBay for a few dollars.
I was however struck by the performance of the rubber-duck that comes with the unit.
For identifications purposes, the unit under test is 6.5" long, from the top to the base of the RP-SMA Female termination, has a BAOFENG Logo molded into the side, with the B towards the base, and has a ring around the base labelled "FM/136-174/400-520MHz" which can be seen when viewed from the SMA end.
Test Results using an R&S ZVH8 Antenna tester and an N to SMA Male adapter.
VSWR = 1:1.8/1:1.8/1:1.8 @ 144/146/148MHz
VSWR = 1:1.3/1:1.1/1:1.8 @ 42/435/450MHz
VSWR = 1:3.6/1:15.1/1:2.4/1:6.1 @ 136/174/400/520MHz
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|
| KJ6ETR |
Rating: |
2016-08-30 | |
| Power Output Problem |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought the yellow version of this radio. Should have read the reviews. Nearly every review had issues with the non-black versions. Mine only transmits at low power. I thought I had programming issues, but experimentation showed it is transmitting at low power on both hi and lo power settings. Last weekend worked with the neighboring ARES team in an exercise and was issued a black UV5R. Worked like a champ. For $35 I'll try a black one. Looking at the new tri-band version. |
|
| AH7I |
Rating: |
2016-08-28 | |
| Can't beat performance/price. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My last 2m activity was 30 years ago with an Icom 2AT. I wanted something for listening/checking into the local nets without spending $200 on a new radio. I sold the old 2AT because it does not have tones and I did not want to mess with installing a tone board.
I found.
Used UV5R with 3800mAH battery: $20
Programming cable(aftermarket): $2.23
AA battery pack(aftermarket): $2.01
It's easy to program with CHIRP.
The battery lasts for days.
Inexpensive AA pack for backup if I can't find a charger.
2m seems to work as well as my old IC2AT. I have not tried it on UHF yet.
Audio is good and loud.
I am less than 1/2 mile and line of sight of 50kW ERP FM BCB antenna and it is not a problem.
$25 well spent. |
|
| KB3WGE |
Rating: |
2016-08-27 | |
| BAD |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I used a friends once...in my opinion the radio sounded like crap...I'll take a Icom or Yaesu anyday respectfully submitted KB3WGE a.k.a."SPARKS" p.s. 73's ALL Jimi !!!!!!!! |
|
| K2IZ |
Rating: |
2016-08-26 | |
| Great Radio for Public Service Events |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have 2 of these HT's, I also have a Tri-Band that cost me over $300, our club and other clubs in the area do quite a lot of Public Service Events, one of them is a 6 mile cross bay swim, one operator in each boat.
I am very reluctant to use the $300 plus radio in this event, if by accident I drop it over the side I am going in after it, if the UV-5X+ goes in, well I'm only out $30 and I have a spare, along with a couple of extra chargers.
Yes programming it by hand is terrible but people have published crib sheets to do it in a few easy steps, I carry one of those in my go kit, I pre-program the radio before an event but if I have to change something quickly the crib sheet is excellent.
You have to watch what type of cable you use, prolific chips are out, FTDI is the type needed, I just ordered one from BTECH/Baofeng and they point you right to the CHIRP website for programming software.
As everyone says, the stock antenna is terrible, I'm using a Nagoya NA-701 and a NA-771 with very good results.
I consider these radios to be great for new hams, something cheap in price rather than spending a couple of hundred dollars and then find out they don't like that radio. |
|
| G4REK |
Rating: |
2016-04-12 | |
| RUBBISH |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Cannot understand why there are no references to the appalling receive performance of this set
they are truly dreadful.....the worst i have come across in our service department...
you do not need expensive test gear to work that out either
jim g4rek
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|
| W8LGX |
Rating: |
2016-04-09 | |
| Good for the Money |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Had a couple of these handhelds for 18 months now. Use them every day. Checked them out on a service monitor and they compare favorably with the Japanese handhelds as far as receiver sensitivity and transmitter power and modulation. Frequency stability is very good, the 440 frequencies in mine haven't drifted more than 50 Hz in 18 months!
Transmitter output is borderline as far as spurs. The receiver filtering is not that good. Get them in a large city downtown, or the Dayton Hamvention, and they pick up a lot of intermod. For comparison, my Kenwood THF6a screened out 80% of the crap my Baofeng was hearing at Dayton. Thus my "Good for the Money" rating.
I don't live in a large city, so the Baofeng is perfectly fine for me. Programming is near impossible unless you use the Chirp third party software.
I haven't seen the low modulation or Touch Tone problems that others have reported. They may have been in models earlier than mine.
Where you buy them seems to make a difference. Hams in my club that bought them from a well known dealer that was selling them in the arena area of the Hamvention last year are having serious problems with transmitter dropout. Maybe just a bad batch. Baofeng will only say that they are an "unauthorized" seller. I bought mine from Radioddity. Other sellers are probably as good, I just have no experience with them. I have no connection with Radioddity, other than buying radios for myself and others from them over the last two years, with no problems.
Would I buy one again? Yes, if I wasn't going to use it in a high RF level environment. |
|
| K5FFO |
Rating: |
2016-02-28 | |
| Good performer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought this little HT (actually 2 of them), about 15 months ago. They are rugged little radios. I have one set up at home on an external antenna, and one for portable use. Both get a good workout every month, and both perform exactly as they should.
The only reason I give them a "4" instead of a "5" is the manual programming is a slow pain in the rear. Takes some time to program about 40 repeaters into the rig.
Aside from the programming, if you want a low cost HT that is fairly rugged and simply works, this would be a good choice. |
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