Baofeng Baofeng UV-9R

[bitmorechoke]

There doesn't seem to be much info here about this radio. I recently asked about mics and got no responses, so I thought I'd start a new thread about the model in general and post what I learn. I'm not a particularly experienced radio user (although I'm learning fast) and I'm also not familiar with Baofeng's model evolution, so if anyone is able to add info please do.

I'm a volunteer bush firefighter and wanted my own dual band VHF/UHF radio that could monitor our local VHF fireground channel, as well as a UHF CB channel that is commonly used by firefighters and residents locally during incidents. My need is mostly just for situational awareness when away from the truck or if meeting a crew on location, but obviously I want the ability to transmit if necessary. I also wanted something a bit rugged and water resistant.

The 9R appears to come in a few different versions, with no obvious way to reliably distinguish the variants. Some eBay listings even picture various versions and say that the variant sent will be at random. There are various designators used - 'Plus', 'Era' and' Upgraded' - but I couldn't really find any consistency to the claims or images.

I found a local (Aussie) seller that had a reasonably consistent listing, and I received the version I preferred (full width speaker bars and backlit orange keypad):



It claims to be 18W although I don't believe that for a moment.

I also ordered a speaker mic and programming cable. Obviously these are different to most Baofeng accessories as they use a surface mount connector:




First impressions are that the radio is well built. It's no motorola but it feels a lot more rugged than all the Uniden HTs I have. It seems to use the same user interface as other common Baofeng models (which is actually reasonably intuitive, if tedious, once you get a feel for it) and it was pretty quick to program with my simple needs. It works as expected, can monitor both channels simultaneously and sounds loud and clear both as a transmitter and receiver. It has a good keylock that can be set to reactivate after a timeout, so I don't have to worry about bumping buttons or transmitting on the wrong channel.

 

[ko6jw_2]

No Baofeng (none, nada, zilch) is type accepted for any radio service except GMRS and this is not that model. This radio can only be used legally on amateur radio bands with a license. Using it on fire channels or GMRS/FRS is illegal. They are not well made and the receivers overload easily which means that you may not hear nearby transmissions. That could be fatal in a fire situation. They don't meet any standard for water or dust resistance. Not what you want in any fire situation.

Why do we have to keep repeating this?

 

[bitmorechoke]

SPEAKER / MIC



Unfortunately the Baofeng speaker/mic for this radio is utter junk. It works fine, but is very plasticky, and has a wobbly plastic key with no spring or damping that acts directly on a tiny tactile microswitch. It is REALLY easy to key accidentally, even with careful handling. It would be fairly simple to improve - if you could find just the right size of coil spring to sit around the tiny button and slip over the stud on the back of the key, it would require more pressure for those two things to meet and activate the switch. It is possible that mine is just missing its spring, but I doubt it.

However a google search has turned up the following Ailunce mic, which looks like it might fit - comes in two versions, H103ML (IP55 with earphone jack on top) and H103M (IP67 without). I've ordered the jack version and will let you know if it works.

 

[SteveC0625]

No Baofeng (none, nada, zilch) is type accepted for any radio service except GMRS and this is not that model. This radio can only be used legally on amateur radio bands with a license. Using it on fire channels or GMRS/FRS is illegal. They are not well made and the receivers overload easily which means that you may not hear nearby transmissions. That could be fatal in a fire situation. They don't meet any standard for water or dust resistance. Not what you want in any fire situation.

Why do we have to keep repeating this?

Did ya miss the part about the OP being in Australia? Different rules over there.

No disagreement on the low quality vs firefighting use comments.

 

[bitmorechoke]

No Baofeng (none, nada, zilch) is type accepted for any radio service except GMRS and this is not that model. This radio can only be used legally on amateur radio bands with a license. Using it on fire channels or GMRS/FRS is illegal. They are not well made and the receivers overload easily which means that you may not hear nearby transmissions. That could be fatal in a fire situation. They don't meet any standard for water or dust resistance. Not what you want in any fire situation.

Why do we have to keep repeating this?

Thanks for your input, but I'm well aware of these issues, and it's not really what I'm here to discuss. For one thing legislation is jurisdiction-specific, so it is a bit pointless to mention one without the other. Secondly, we have radios available on board the trucks and we use these as the situation warrants. But being in a rural area, a lot of the time we meet on site at small, easily handled situations, with no real means of communication until we meet up. What I was looking for is a way to hear any activity and PERHAPS contact other crew members in that CALM environment.

In the same way I know which helmet or gloves to wear, I also know which radio to use.

I am not advocating the use of cheap eBay radios by emergency service responders in life-threatening situations.

 

[hill]

If it's the same as Ailunce mic the Motorola EX500 and EX600 mic series will work, but I never tried them out.

 

[bitmorechoke]

If it's the same as Ailunce mic the Motorola EX500 and EX600 mic series will work, but I never tried them out.

Nice tip, thanks. It looks awfully similar. If the Ailunce fits the Baofeng then it's probably a good bet that they all share a design.

I'll update when I can.

PROGRAMMING

OK this is where things get particularly ugly with this one. If you are not already familiar with the various issues around programming these Chinese radios, you ought to do a bit of reading before you go out and buy. But even if you are, brace yourself.

In a nutshell, these things all use a serial interface. If you are an average computer user like me, you'll want a USB to serial interface, typically in the form of a cable. But it's a smart cable. It has a chip in it. And if it's a cheap Chinese cable, it'll invariably have a cheap Chinese chip in it that is a copy (fake/counterfeit) of a 'Prolific' brand chip. Apparently Proflific got fed up with people faking its chips and tweaked both its chips and the drivers that run them. So now we're in driver hell, trying to download and install old versions of drivers, and stop Windows from updating them with new ones that don't work.

But it gets worse. There are pages dedicated to working around those issues, and tools people can use to delete updated drivers and reinstall working ones. I could not find a single one that actually worked for me on Win10. So I started looking into cables that use FTDI chips instead (more expensive, but less hell) - and ran into one ham and particularly thorough eBay seller that has so far been beaten by the 9R, even using FTDI chips. He says "Until I figure out why the UV-9R and UV-9R Plus, that I own, fail to work with most cables my cables that all work with the UV-82xx radio I will not sell another cable for the UV-9R and UV-9R Plus. I do not recommend buying these radios."

So there you have it. This model may be just about the worst one you can possibly pick if programming is important. I really only cared about 2 frequencies anyway so it wasn't a dealbreaker, and I did ultimately manage to get it to work - by using an old laptop running XP, the driver installer that came on the CD with the cable, and the latest version of Chirp. Even then it was a bit glitchy, but I did what I needed to do.

 

[buddrousa]

As is the case with most $20 Radios but glad you have got it working for you. Also glad you know when and where to use this Radio.

 

[AK9R]

It claims to be 18W although I don't believe that for a moment.

A year or so ago, I heard a local ham talking about a Baofeng handheld he had purchased that claimed to put out 15 watts, so I tracked down the eBay listing. It was for a UV-9R PLUS that looks similar to the photos you posted, but not exactly the same, and the seller claimed 15 watts output.

I bought one.

It puts out about 6 watts on my service monitor.

 

[KK4JUG]

If it put out 18W, you would almost need a car battery.

 

[ko6jw_2]

Did ya miss the part about the OP being in Australia? Different rules over there.

No disagreement on the low quality vs firefighting use comments.

Actually the rules in Australia are clear cut. No Baofeng radios are legal in Australia.

See illegal-radios-warning

 

[KK4JUG]

Actually the rules in Australia are clear cut. No Baofeng radios are legal in Australia.

See illegal-radios-warning

Now THAT'S good information. FCC, are you listening?

 

[sallen07]

Actually the rules in Australia are clear cut. No Baofeng radios are legal in Australia.

See illegal-radios-warning

Which very well be true ... but note the source: a radio dealer, not the Australian government.

 

[ko6jw_2]

Which very well be true ... but note the source: a radio dealer, not the Australian government.

I expect the dealer would like to sell more radios not less. However, they refer to Australian government regulations and seem pretty authoritative. Note that these types of radios are also illegal in Japan. Japan does have a 900MHz "GMRS" band. Saw lots of those radios for sale.

The US made a huge mistake allowing these radios into the country in the first place.

 

[AK9R]

Meanwhile, back to the OP's question(s) which are speaker mics and programming issues specific to this radio.

 

[ko6jw_2]

Meanwhile, back to the OP's question(s) which are speaker mics and programming issues specific to this radio.

The mic and programming questions are irrelevant since the use of the radio is not legal in Australia. Baofengs work with Kenwood mics. I also have a Heil headset with a Kenwood two pin plug that works very well. Of course, it cost almost as much as the radio. I use it with a B-Tech GMRS radio. Type accepted in the US.

 

[AK9R]

The mic and programming questions are irrelevant since the use of the radio is not legal in Australia.

The OP has been presented with that info and it's up to him to deal with it. Thank you for your answers to his questions.

 

[bitmorechoke]

Baofengs work with Kenwood mics. I also have a Heil headset with a Kenwood two pin plug that works very well.