New HT - Baofeng UV-B5

[KM4WLV]

I've added a new HT to the stables here and wanted to share it with you guys !!! I'm going this coming weekend to take my ham exam (after putting it off for years lol) and I wanted something that was "frequency agile", so I could program it on the fly if needed. I've of course got my fleet of Motorola's & Kenwood's when I need heavy hitters. I also do disaster response locally and nationwide with the American Red Cross and wanted something that was more agile that I could set up in the field if I didn't have time to get one of my Moto's or Kenwoods going.

I had my doubt's whether or not this radio would perform like I wanted, but for only $50 on Amazon I figured I'd take a chance. I've been very impressed, especially since this little guy can hit VHF & UHF repeaters that the radios I use on a daily basis can't. RX audio is ok but could be better, and I've been told TX audio sounds as good as my Motorola's. It is dual band capable and will do 5 watt's on both V & U. It has 99 memory channels, and will scan those memory channels however the scanning speed is quite slow. It has a segmented LCD and limits channel tags to 5 characters It also has a dual watch function where you can set up 2 different channels/freq's on the screen and it will for the lack of a better word "scan" those two channels. It bounces back and forth between the two about every 1.5 to 2 seconds. It has a skinny dual band whip that covers between 136-174 & 400-480. It uses the standard Motorola SMA connector for the antenna. It has a 2000mah Li-Ion battery and intelligent charger. From dead it takes about 4 hours to fully recharge and I've gotten a little better than 24 hours on a single charge with moderate transmitting. You can program it via PC also and it uses the 2 pin Kenwood/Moto type programming cable. I can't think of anything else right off so with that being said I hope you guys enjoy the pictures & if you think of anything that I haven't covered please feel free to ask !!! Thanks for looking !!!!

***Here is a link to the Baofeng site for the UV-B5 with some of the more detailed specs -
Product_BAOFENG official website_baofengradio.com ******

Full shot of the UV-B5
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Closer shot of the front
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Top view
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SMA Antenna Connector showing freq's covered
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Chassis with factory sticker (S/N blocked for obvious reasons)
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Back shot and Battery
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In Charger
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Box and Manual - Ignore the "High Illumination Flashlight" thing. The UV-B6 which is the same radio but instead of the channel knob it has a flashlight. They use the same box.
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[scannersnstuff]

very nice. a few queation's.

1. can it cover past 470.000 ?. for rx.
2.can you easily program it thru the keypad.
3.is there any lockout/nuisance channel delete, thru the keypad.

 

[KM4WLV]

very nice. a few queation's.

1. can it cover past 470.000 ?. for rx.
2.can you easily program it thru the keypad.
3.is there any lockout/nuisance channel delete, thru the keypad.

Let me see if I can answer your questions

1 - It will not go past 470 for RX. It sticks to the 136-174/400-470 range.

2 - Programming through the keypad isn't to hard after you do it a few times.

3 - There is a feature they call "Busy Channel Lockout", but I'm not sure how useful it is because I've not used it/tried it yet.

If you think of anything else please let me know !!

 

[scannersnstuff]

thanks so much for answering my first few. i thought of one more. can you program it right out of the box for public safety,or do you need to open the front end up with software ?. i'm sort of a radio genius,but a computer moron.

so i'm radioman, instead of rainman !.

 

[KM4WLV]

thanks so much for answering my first few. i thought of one more. can you program it right out of the box for public safety,or do you need to open the front end up with software ?. i'm sort of a radio genius,but a computer moron.

so i'm radioman, instead of rainman !.

No need to make any mods. It's wide open from 136-174 & 400-470, which could be a good thing and a bad thing for obvious reasons. Hopefully the ones that buy radios (whether it's this or another one) that have the capability to transmit across the entire spread won't be talking where they shouldn't, i.e. the NOAA Weather broadcast freqs, Public Safety, etc. We're all adults so lets act accordingly there.

I should have put in the original post that it will do both PL & DPL. Another thing (if you look at the key under the 9 key) it has a FM "radio" built in so you can listen to the FM broadcast bands, but it won't let you transmit.