Lamar County Sheriff using Baofengs..

[Motoballa]

Okay, look.. I thought this was a complete joke when I saw it. I started to recognize the body of the radio, the screen placement, and the colored buttons as well as the antenna.

https://youtu.be/6YJZ-9C45uM?t=9m2s

Here is a better shot: https://youtu.be/6YJZ-9C45uM?t=11m28s

What do y'all think about this?

 

[DJ11DLN]

I'm not going to waste my limited bandwidth sifting through a 13-minute video to get a glimpse of a Baofeng. If you can't post some screen shots I'll just take your word for it that they are using them.

On one hand, You Do What Ya Gotta. If they're that broke, I wish them well and hope they have some spares programmed up and ready to go.

On the other hand, decent Land Mobile stuff can be had pretty cheap on the used market...I'd think they would be better off pursuing that solution than relying on CCR's.

 

[Motoballa]

I'm not going to waste my limited bandwidth sifting through a 13-minute video to get a glimpse of a Baofeng. If you can't post some screen shots I'll just take your word for it that they are using them.

On one hand, You Do What Ya Gotta. If they're that broke, I wish them well and hope they have some spares programmed up and ready to go.

On the other hand, decent Land Mobile stuff can be had pretty cheap on the used market...I'd think they would be better off pursuing that solution than relying on CCR's.

I provided time stamps and it should automatically take you there lol..

Here is a screenshot: http://prntscr.com/guwct3 (hope it doesn't take up too much bandwidth.. lol)

I sent it to a friend and he said his Fire Department in Alabama uses them, they are VFD so that makes since I guess.

I guess it's not too bad that the PD are using them. I just know if I was an Officer, I'd appreciate an emergency button.

 

[n3obl]

Any public safety agency using these are just opening themselves up to a lawsuit. I would not want to trust my life on a baofeng radio in a critical situation.

 

[SCPD]

I do believe they make business and industrial fcc certified portables if im not mistaken. Not your bubble pack amazon specials. They may be basic but if they are type certified and pass it is what it is. Some small entities go to whatever is type certified and cheapest who don't need bling bling.

 

[SCPD]

Hmmm, I know they do make type accepted portables but unsure what model that is in picture. Reality is if you think that is bad you should see what other small entities with limited funds use. It's possible he has it as a perosnal use since it's dual band. You would be surprised what I've seen out there being used since it's handy. I've seen some wear those plus the actual assigned duty radio due to one entity being vhf, another uhf near by but no funding or approval for a fancy apx. Not saying I agree or disagree but it's "modern America".

I provided time stamps and it should automatically take you there lol..

Here is a screenshot: http://prntscr.com/guwct3 (hope it doesn't take up too much bandwidth.. lol)

I sent it to a friend and he said his Fire Department in Alabama uses them, they are VFD so that makes since I guess.

I guess it's not too bad that the PD are using them. I just know if I was an Officer, I'd appreciate an emergency button.

 

[SCPD]

I do want to add I agree with mission critical use and standards. But reality is not every town, county or entity had a radio shop, or contract with a shop. Believe it or not many new contracts do not get approved by local commissions or clowns running the show find cheapest path. Crazy as it sounds it is reality in many parts of this country.

I should also add the business and industrial or their version of mission critical that passes does have a emergency button. It isn't like a kenwood, icom or motorola but if the console can see it and the radio is accepted by standards I guess it is what it is.

 

[mmckenna]

And not every public safety agency has a radio department or "radio guy". They make have worked with a local shop to fill their needs. One day officer Bob talks to the chief and says "Hey, why are we paying $700/radio, I can get them off Amazon for $35". Being that many small departments are on very limited budgets, have better things to spend their money on, it's not surprising at all.

But, I'd take the video with a grain of salt. Just because it's on you tube…. well, you can fill in the rest.

 

[Motoballa]

I understand Mckenna lol. LosRio it's a UV-5R variant.

 

[KC4RAF]

If a person/agency has a very limited budget, they then do what they can.

 

[iMONITOR]

Where are Motorola's 'public safety' radios manufactured these days? I'm guessing it's not in the U.S.

 

[mmckenna]

Where are Motorola's 'public safety' radios manufactured these days? I'm guessing it's not in the U.S.

Quite a few are/were Malaysia.
You'd be hard pressed to find a radio built in the USA. I think Harris might, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[DJ11DLN]

I provided time stamps and it should automatically take you there lol..

Here is a screenshot: http://prntscr.com/guwct3 (hope it doesn't take up too much bandwidth.. lol)

I sent it to a friend and he said his Fire Department in Alabama uses them, they are VFD so that makes since I guess.

I guess it's not too bad that the PD are using them. I just know if I was an Officer, I'd appreciate an emergency button.

It wasn't intended as a criticism, of you or anybody, just a statement of fact. I use a Verizon jet pack because that's the only viable broadband here and the "unlimited" service throttles back to sub-3G speeds (i.e. just about unusable) if I hit 10 GB. So I have to be frugal with it. I know this may seem a bit alien these days with so many people having unlimited cable or DSL...it's the cost of living out in the sticks.

Thanks for posting the screen shot. My previous comments in re the use of CCR's in critical life-safety situations are unchanged.

 

[twjr80]

I've seen Lamar County SO use Motorola radios before at events such as the rodeo in Paris. I'm wondering if this guy was a reserve? Maybe they give the reserve officers the cheap radios

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I wonder what specific model BaoFeng radio they are using. I did an admittedly limited study of the FCC grants for the BaoFeng and other Cheap Chinese Radios and found that most did not even approach the 11K0F3E modulation that 12.5 KHz narrow band radios require. I was seeing numbers like 5KxF3E and 6KxF3E. It appears the FCC is rubber stamping these radios as being future 6.25 KHz narrow band capable.

This means these radios are delivering 5 or 6 dB worse S/N than a real 12.5 KHz radio would deliver. Consumers are not paying attention to this and the problem is only going to get worse as these radios slide from a $35 "solution" to $18.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I've seen Lamar County SO use Motorola radios before at events such as the rodeo in Paris. I'm wondering if this guy was a reserve? Maybe they give the reserve officers the cheap radios

Disposable "rent a cop". The issued him a .25 cal Saturday night special and plastic toy handcuffs to go with the BauFangdoodle.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Quite a few are/were Malaysia.
You'd be hard pressed to find a radio built in the USA. I think Harris might, but I'm not 100% sure.

Motorola had a plant in Malaysia for nearly 40 years. Many great radios were built there. The Saber boards were stuffed there and radios were "screw driver" assembled stateside. "Made in USA " sort of meant, "Final Assembly, tune and Test" in the industry. That Malaysia operation is probably now an out source vendor as I believe Motorola recently divested that business.

 

[SCPD]

I've seen Lamar County SO use Motorola radios before at events such as the rodeo in Paris. I'm wondering if this guy was a reserve? Maybe they give the reserve officers the cheap radios

I'm willing to bet the deputy pictured has a issued department radio. But like many town A is uhf, or has services in uhf conv, while county is vhf, etc, town B uhf with some vhf. Many see dual band and figure hey I can hear and program this up and have 1 radio. Considering he probably seen the price tag of a top vendor dual band people figure easy solution and think no more of it for analog.

Maybe he is also a ham and figured more comms he gets the better, who knows. Some entities can or only have 4 or 5 channels to scan daily and it is pretty much dead. Maybe he likes hearing the ham guys. Maybe one of his ham buddies reccomended it.

Until someone inquires or the guy or the entity speaks himself/itself it can go on all day how or why.

 

[SCPD]

Disposable "rent a cop". The issued him a .25 cal Saturday night special and plastic toy handcuffs to go with the BauFangdoodle.

Lol. Some areas out west reserves have full powers on duty. Some places requiring a certified officer of that state be near, others having powers under the sheriff while on duty. Most require the same training and hours as a full certified deputy.

Los Angeles PD has auxiliary officers. You'd never know if one was full time or the reserve. Same required training, hours etc, same uniform.

Others though I have seen where reserves have no authority at all or can't even carry a side arm or baton.

 

[GrumpyGuard]

He might also be a ham and carries his cheap radio to work.