Baofeng UV-5R

[n1das]

BAOFENG has another new inexpensive portable, the UV-5R. I suspect it might eat into sales of the UV-3R portable.

I recently picked up a UV-5R up from 409shop.com for $56.00.
BAOFENG UV-5R Dual Band UHF/VHF Radio - 409Shopwww.409shop.com

Anybody else have one of these?

 

[kf4uuz]

The specs look OK. The price is very attractive.
Keep us posted. What is your experience so far?


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

 

[gewecke]

BAOFENG has another new inexpensive portable, the UV-5R. I suspect it might eat into sales of the UV-3R portable.

I recently picked up a UV-5R up from 409shop.com for $56.00.
BAOFENG UV-5R Dual Band UHF/VHF Radio - 409Shopwww.409shop.com

Anybody else have one of these?

Nope! :lol:


73,
n9zas

 

[mrwilson706]

Now all we need is alpha-numeric memories! Can't wait to see this thing evolve further.

Regards,
Mike

 

[BrickOLore]

Now all we need is alpha-numeric memories!

As you wish... alpha tags...
Brick O'Lore: Baofeng UV-5R: Alphatags

And a size comparison...
Brick O'Lore: Baofeng UV-5R: Size Comparison

I think I got a bum antenna with mine...
Brick O'Lore: Baofeng UV-5R: Stock Antenna

 

[geomagneticstorm]

I received mine on Monday and I'm impressed with it. For the price it's great!

However, it's not a Wouxun.Think of it more as a further evolution of the UV-3R. The receiver seems to behave the same as the UV-3R's, and sadly the CTCSS decoder as well. I found that computer RFI was defeating the CTCSS on a few frequencies here, same as the UV-3R. So that could be more robust!

Also, the volume doesn't go all the way down! It's not as bad as the volume issue on the UV-3R, but in a quiet room you can easily listen to it with the volume turned all the way down.

Thankfully the good far outweighs the bad. For $56 you get a really decent radio. It's a steal at that price. With a spare battery my total was $75 shipped. You can't go wrong for that price. Is it perfect? Oh heck no, but for that price you have to be willing to overlook a few things. Same with the UV-3R. You get more radio than you're paying for!

The Wouxun UVD* series radios are better than the UV-5R, but they also cost about twice as much or more. (Especially so if you want 2.5 Khz channel steps.)

As for the antenna. Yeah, I had some issues with the stock antenna as well. It still works, but when I put it on the first time it made some "cracking" sounds that spooked me. So I also have the Wouxun dual-band antenna on mine now.

 

[detroit780]

Alpha

Got mine today from Import Communications formally Wouxun.us

$65 shipping included and it is alpha numeric

Les

Now all we need is alpha-numeric memories! Can't wait to see this thing evolve further.

Regards,
Mike

 

[W9WSS]

Since most of the people who have posted here already have their UV-5R's now, I would like to know who offers the best pricing, most reliable, and fastest shipping?

I already have a Kenwood programming cable which I'm told works for the Baofeng. I would like to order the radio, leather or vinyl protective case, and possibly an extra battery.

I know there are eBay sales, The 409 Shop, Hawaii Radio, Wouxon Radio, and others.

What say you?

 

[JTMax]

Baofeng UV-5R scanning issues

Has anyone had issues with scanning the memory channels? I have my UV-5R running side by side with my Yaesu FT-60R, both programmed with the same ham repeaters and the UV-5R fails to stop on any of the channels during memory scan and the Yaesu stops on transmissions everytime. When I manually step through the memory channels it will pick up transmissions OK. It just won't work in scan mode. The scan resume method is set to CO and for testing purposes the squelch is set to 1.

Has anyone had any success using memory scan? Maybe I have a bad unit.

 

[n8nnx]

I would omly buy my baofeng uv-5r from importcommunications.com or wouxun.us (same company)
Ed is the best to deal with and has fast shipping and great customer service.

 

[gallagher073]

Has anyone had issues with scanning the memory channels? I have my UV-5R running side by side with my Yaesu FT-60R, both programmed with the same ham repeaters and the UV-5R fails to stop on any of the channels during memory scan and the Yaesu stops on transmissions everytime. When I manually step through the memory channels it will pick up transmissions OK. It just won't work in scan mode. The scan resume method is set to CO and for testing purposes the squelch is set to 1.

Has anyone had any success using memory scan? Maybe I have a bad unit.

I have the same problem..... :-(

 

[gallagher073]

change your SC-REV Setting to CO and you should be all set - just fixed mine

 

[judyfinkle]

Mine does the same thing.
SC-REV is set to CO.

Jay

 

[bob-the-scanner-man]

I personally love these cheap Chinese-made portables. They're a great response to the people that want $80-100 for their 15 year old handheld with dying battery packs!

I haven't ordered a Baofeng yet mainly because they keep coming out with new models and I can't decide which one I want but I do have a TYT UVF1 and it's an awesome radio. Mine survived a fall from a table to a conrete floor below. I expected to find a cracked case or scratches but it had none and still works just fine. It also survived getting knocked around on a hike down a mountain and getting rained on after a tornado came through my neighborhood and I carried it with me when checking on neighbors.

I know they have a "rugged" version of the UV-3R called the UV-3R + so I might give that one a try just to see if it really holds up. Of course I say that now but right when I'm ready to order on they'll come out with another model to distract me.

 

[1Guest]

I must admit that I wasn't expecting much for $55.00, but was I ever surprised.

This little UV-5R is one heck of a radio. Both transmit and receive are very strong. I can understand what's being said on the UV-5R while driving at highway speeds in my very noisy car, (convertible) which is more than I can say for my Yaesu 270r.
Most reports say they have a hard time understanding me when I'm on the Yeasu, but all say that they can hear me L&C when I'm on the UV-5R. Go figure right.

I must say that if one does buy a UV-5R, order extra batteries, and a battery eliminator, because the one down side of this radio is its short battery life. Maybe I have a defect, but the battery will only last a day at best.

A dual band radio made who knows where for $55.00? Yeah, I was a little slow on pulling the trigger as well. But there's no doubt about it, this UV-5R is well worth the 55 bucks, and more. I already ordered a second radio, and I'm seriously thinking of ordering a third before they catch on and the price goes up!
I bought the first radio from one of the big on line stores, the second one was bought off of fleabay, and that one is coming from Hong Kong. I'm waiting to see how well the Hong Kong deal turns out before ordering another radio. The down side of ordering from Hong Kong is the wait time, the plus side is the radio cost as little as $50.00 delivered. The extra batteries and the battery eliminator are pretty cheap as well.
One last thing. Buying the USB programing cable and the software is a wise move imo. Programming the radio by hand is a challenge, at least it is if you're like me, and you haven't had much experience programming radios. The included printed manual leaves a lot to be desired. For instance, there are no instructions on how the memory is programmed, or how to use the memory scan function.

Expect to pay an extra ten spot for the cable and the software.

Hope this gives those on the edge of deciding whether or not to try this radio a little insight. I looked at it this way, I can't hardly fill my gas tank for 60 bucks, so what the heck.
73.

 

[62Truck]

I have a friend that picked up two of these UV5's at a local ham fest. and I must say I was impressed with the feel of the radio. It feels nice and solid and the audio on both RX and TX are not that bad. It seems like they use the same firmware as the Wouxun's. The menu between my UVD1 and is UV5 had the same features and layout. One of the cool things with the UV5 I may add is the backlight it changes color. I would like to see them come out with a 144/220 UV5.

 

[F-STOP]

Help!

I have the same problem..... :-(

Can anyone shed some light on this? i have the same or similar problem:

I have this radio and am trying to use it for a cheap scanner on a few of my local emergency bands. I had no trouble putting in the channels into memory (manually, dont have program software/cord), but when trying to SCAN them, i hear nothing. The green RX light will come on when it hits a channel transmitting, and if i push on the MON button i can hear the traffic, but otherwise NO SOUND when it's scanning or receiving (without holding down MON button)? Dont think there's anything wrong with it, just my ignorance at programming something right....any suggestions?? THANKS for any insight you can provide!

 

[xerxes7]

Squelch adjustment

Press the MENU key and then select #0 (which is squelch = SQL) and then press MENU again and this will allow you to adjust the squelch as it is preset on 5 using your UP/DOWN keys to reduce the 5 to about 2. Press MENU to CONFIRM and then EXIT to go back.
You're going to have to set up a spreadsheet by hand using BF5R-CPS.exe but once you have set it up, you've got it for a long time. If you want to edit the spreadsheet (a *.dat file), you can use METAPAD.exe but you must not exceed the original file length. Use the PROGRAM item then go to WRITE TO RADIO and it will load all of the info on the spreadsheet, the same info into both bands - bummer! (Unfortunately, it loads the same info into A and B bands - the Quansheng TG-UV auto loads the VHFs into Band A then loads the UHFs into Band B which makes a lot more sense.)

 

[Phreakin318]

Since most of the people who have posted here already have their UV-5R's now, I would like to know who offers the best pricing, most reliable, and fastest shipping?

I already have a Kenwood programming cable which I'm told works for the Baofeng. I would like to order the radio, leather or vinyl protective case, and possibly an extra battery.

I know there are eBay sales, The 409 Shop, Hawaii Radio, Wouxon Radio, and others.

What say you?

nicheone on ebay $50.00 shipped took only 3 days in the usa ,they also sell the cable on amazon for $15 beleive it was

 

[jhooten]

The cable for my Wouxun UV6 works on the on my UV5

Download the software here:
Baofeng UV5R - Baofeng UV-5R