Baofeng BF-F9V2+ TX power measurements.

[slimbobaggins]

Hey guys,

First time posting. I work with a couple guys that are into Amateur Radio and they've kind of got me a little interested, so I picked up a Baofeng BF-F9V2+ off of Amazon because of the cheap entry point... I don't want to commit a lot of cash unless I know I'm going to stick with it.

I was curious what the output power of this thing actually is, so I plugged it into a spectrum analyzer and made a couple measurements across the two frequency bands, on "high" power.

I did this earlier (and didn't take pics) and I hit 7.1W (on what frequency I forget), so perhaps I need to toss it on the charger tonight and repeat tomorrow. It hasn't been charged I got it, which was the last week of December, and I've used it a couple times to listen to the radio while working around the house.

Test setup: Keysight Field Fox in Spec An mode, with a 30 dB wideband input attenuator. That's the other source of potential error in these measurements, I tried to use an external source to cal the Spec An for the target frequencies, but the cal may not be spot on, and a couple tenths can make a big deal. If I can find a higher power test source, I'll redo this. My test source only goes up to 12 dBm.

I set the center frequencies to the center of the two bands, with a 100 MHz span.

Radio:

Test Setup:

136MHz:

155MHz:

174MHz:

400MHz:

440MHz:

480MHz:

So, output power bounced between 37.3 dBm and 38.2 dBm... 5.37W to 6.6W.

Hopefully I didn't break any forum rules by posting these pics via photobucket. This is how I usually do it on forums, and I didn't see anything in the rules forbidding it.

- Jim

 

[N4GIX]

That's a pretty clean signal. There's one spur visible, but well within acceptable limits.

 

[billy1962]

That's a pretty clean signal. There's one spur visible, but well within acceptable limits.

100 Mhz Span... is not enough to see the harmonics

 

[slimbobaggins]

100 Mhz Span... is not enough to see the harmonics

True, not the purpose of my test though. But if there's interest, Ill open it up to check for harmonics.
The span was selected for convenience of not having to constantly adjust things as I recorded lower, middle, and upper for both bands.

 

[N4GIX]

I would be interested to see if Baofeng has improved since last year's Dayton Hamvention. At that time, a huge percentage of these radios were tested and found to splatter all over the place. One radio in particular showed the second upper harmonic with more power than the tuned frequency!

 

[slimbobaggins]

I would be interested to see if Baofeng has improved since last year's Dayton Hamvention. At that time, a huge percentage of these radios were tested and found to splatter all over the place. One radio in particular showed the second upper harmonic with more power than the tuned frequency!

I'll redo the test next week to see what the harmonics look like (snow day today).

If you go to Dayton, you may or may not have run into one of my mentors at work, John. His callsign is WD8MQN.

 

[N4GIX]

If you go to Dayton, you may or may not have run into one of my mentors at work, John. His callsign is WD8MQN.

I just received my ticket for the 2016 Dayton Hamvention in the mail this morning. I also made reservations for four nights in a nearby hotel. There's an RTA stop right in front of the hotel for a 40 minute bus ride. I'll keep an ear open for John.

 

[slimbobaggins]

Bump... I'm looking at this thread from work, and it doesn't look like my pics are showing up... but work may have just blocked them. Can anyone else see the SA shots I took?

 

[KevinC]

Bump... I'm looking at this thread from work, and it doesn't look like my pics are showing up... but work may have just blocked them. Can anyone else see the SA shots I took?

Looks like Photobucket is having issues.

 

[N4GIX]

All the pictures are showing up fine here...

 

[slimbobaggins]

Yeah I see them now. Site must have been down earlier.