BaoFeng UV-5R plus Dual Band 136-174/400-480Mhz Ham Two-Way Radio

[W2NJS]

UV-5R notes...

Those folks aren't that far off target, Baofeng put out the radio and has been constantly tweaking and fixing the bugs and got the certification later on. So some radios may not be certified and Baofeng UV5r is a work in progress.

That may be, but the fact is that the current crop of UV-5R radios carries an FCC certification number.

And with regard to packaging, I paid about $65 shipped for:
1 UV-5R with FCC Part 90 certification
2 short batteries
1 drop-in charger
1 earphone/microphone combo unit
1 programming cable
1 program disk
1 carry strap
1 dualband antenna

And the whole thing came from a stateside company.

One of the notable shortcomings of this radio is that you can not put in channel labels via the front panel but must use the computer program to do so. Not the biggest deal in the world but a function that most other manufacturers manage to do from the radio's front panel.

 

[scannerfreak]

Thanks to all who have posted info here, appreciate it. I just purchased one off Amazon. Like others have said, how can you go wrong for the price.

 

[KD0USR]

New guy to Ham here. I picked up a Baofeng UVR-5RA online for $44 shipped.

It's has dual band (2M and 70cm)

Listed as a 'Dual Band/Dual Watch, CTCSS Scanning Transceiver'

After getting my ticket, one of the local Ham's helped me get it set up enough to use (over the phone)

It works great if I'm walking outside, but inside my Jeep, or in the house, not so great.

But I have heard that is common with the 'rubber duck' antenna's.

It looks similar to the one the OP posted, but I'm not sure what 'NXDN' is, still learning.

I picked up this one: Amazon.com: New Baofeng UV 5RA Ham Two Way Radio 136-174/400-480 MHz Dual-Band DTMF CTCSS DCS FM 5W Amateur Radio UV-5R Transceiver - 2013 Latest Version with Enhanced Features: Car Electronics

 

[donnie_ke6don]

First of all, Congrads on getting your ticket.
Look into getting an outside antenna for your Jeep.
Iv got a Diamond mount with a Larson dual band antenna using a Yeasu HT on mine and it works great.
Im not sure if the Baofeng uses a reverse SMA connection or not.
If so. those are available.
I got the Wouxun and a mag mount for the wifes car and it seems to work great.
Hope this helps.




73

 

[KD0USR]

First of all, Congrads on getting your ticket.

.
Im not sure if the Baofeng uses a reverse SMA connection or not.
If so. those are available.
I got the Wouxun and a mag mount for the wifes car and it seems to work great.
Hope this helps.




73

Thanks donnie!

The Baofeng does not use a reverse SMA, it has an 'SMA Female', but I have found the adapter for it.

Looking at doing just that for now. There's a Ham Fest coming up in May, I figure I'll see what's there, before buying a mobile unit. Might find a good deal on a used one.

One of the local guys has a 'helper repeater' on his garage (for lack of a better term/correct term-lol)

If I change my T-CTCS freq to match it, then I can hit the local repeater much better.

He is less than a mile from me, as the crow flies, and the repeater is around 6 miles.

It works well when I'm out in the shop.

Great bunch of Hams here, and everywhere I'm finding out. Ham's are as good as, or better than, Jeepers are, when it comes to helping new guys out!

73

HB

 

[W2NJS]

The antenna that is incorrectly called a "reverse" SMA has the SMA pin in the radio and a hole in the antenna's connector on the antenna. What some consider a "standard" SMA (as is often found on ham HTs) consists of a hole in the connector on the radio and a pin in the connector on the antenna. Motorola uses the "reverse" type, but now the Chinese radios are made with the same type as the Motorola radios. Adapters for either style are available but they usually make the antenna stick up too far above the radio; you can easily adapt neoprene grommets and washers to make the adapters look better. You will also find SMA-to-BNC adapters on eBay so you can use older single and dual band antennas with the SMA connectors.

 

[rapidcharger]

It works great if I'm walking outside, but inside my Jeep, or in the house, not so great.

HT's aren't of much use in buildings or in vehicles. You're gonna need a mobile or base radio with a decent outdoor antenna if you want to use your radio in the car or home with any degree of reliability.

 

[Ed_Seedhouse]

HT's aren't of much use in buildings or in vehicles. You're gonna need a mobile or base radio with a decent outdoor antenna if you want to use your radio in the car or home with any degree of reliability.

Cars I would agree with in general, houses are more variable. If you are in a wood frame house your HT will likely work reasonably well unless you have a stucco finish on the outside (they use wire mesh to hold the stucco on). If it has metal wall studs that will hurt things, and if you are inside a concrete with rebar building you will have problems.

It all depends on how much metal surrounds you. If you can find a plastic or composite car you can likely use the HT there too. I had no trouble reaching a nearby repeater from inside a metal car last week, but it was quite nearby.

Anything metal that forms a complete or partial Faraday cage will cause problems.

 

[KD0USR]

HT's aren't of much use in buildings or in vehicles. You're gonna need a mobile or base radio with a decent outdoor antenna if you want to use your radio in the car or home with any degree of reliability.

That's the plan! I'm finding that radios are much like Jeeps and firearms, can't have 'just one'!

.... If you can find a plastic or composite car you can likely use the HT there too.

Anything metal that forms a complete or partial Faraday cage will cause problems.

My HT works much better in my wifes car (Saturn Vue) which is a lot of plastic/composite.

My Jeeps and truck, not so much. The roll cage in the Jeeps makes a great 'faraday cage'

I'm saving up for a mobile unit, I got the Baofeng so I would have something to use after getting my ticket.

At $44 shipped, it was hard to pass up! My son is also interested in Ham, and is studying for his Tech right now.

I figure I'll be handing this HT down to him once he passes his test. Seeing as he's 11, and I know his track record with anything electronic, it's a great deal!

 

[robertmac]

I still say you get what you pay for. 5 watts might work in open country. But, no substitute for a good mobile radio. There is far too much picket fencing, dropped signals, kerchunking with these low cost radios.

 

[KD0USR]

I still say you get what you pay for. 5 watts might work in open country. But, no substitute for a good mobile radio. There is far too much picket fencing, dropped signals, kerchunking with these low cost radios.

Have to agree. I'm missing out on being able to talk, as they cannot hear me well enough.

Even with just monitoring, when in the heart of the city, or my Jeep, the RX isn't great.

Pay day is coming!

Right now, I'm looking at a decent mobile unit for the Jeep, then a base for the shop, and eventually one in the house...if the wife lets me! LOL

Might end up making the 'Ham shack' out in the shop.

 

[RadioChief55]

Question, while in scan mode, my UV-R5 will stop on a channel stay on it for about 10 seconds then drop out with a weird noise and start scanning again. It will stop on the channel again if it is still active. When the radio isn't scanning it obviously doesn't drop out. ANy ideas? Thanks

 

[tomcat58]

scan problem

Go to menu item 18 and select CO and the scanned channel will then not break off after 10 seconds

 

[tomcat58]

Go to menu 18 and set it to CO and then active channel your using won't cancel and resume scan after the 10 seconds..

 

[RadioChief55]

Thanks, that worked. Is there a way to adjust the time it stops on a channel? Now it seems to stay on a channel for almost a minute before it starts scanning again.

Thanks
John

 

[Jurassic69]

So, I see there is the UV-5R Plus, but I also have found a UV-5R+ Plus, looking the same, but advertising tx/rx up to 520mhz (vs 480mhz on the UV-5R and UV-5R Plus). Is this a typo/scam?

 

[RadioChief55]

I have the UV-5R and it does 500 mg

 

[KK4QDQ]

My UV-5RE does up to 520mhz.

 

[dfbarnes]

I just have to chime in here about a positive experience with the UV-5R... which my wife has taken from me to monitor (not transmit) my public safety freqs while I'm at work (not because she has ANY interest in what I do, but she wants to know if I'm telling the truth when I say I'll be late for X reason.)

Anyway, I'm a Mac guy. Anybody else?

I had the programming cable left over from when I bought it and used a PC to program the UV-5R, so I decided to try CHIRP on the Mac for programming.

Worked FIRST TRY. No problems, tinkering, configuring, northing. Plug in the cable, launch the Mac version, pick the radio, and done.

Awesome to have a $50.00 Chinese radio programmed so easily from the Mac. Find me a big three radio and software that works from OS X.

 

[Scoman]

First time poster and owner of a UV-5R +. I'm a mac user but have not been able to programme it using chirp, any help please?