Please Help Which Baofeng model?

[sandiegosand]

I'm a licensed gmrs user, and so far have just used bubble pack radios for my communication purposes. I'm looking to get a couple of the baofeng HT's so I can use GMRS, FRS, and MURS, and hopefully soon, ham. If anyone uses these (uv-5r, uv-5ra, uv-5r+) please let me know what you think of the different models. Also if you use any of the uv-b5 models let me know if they are worth getting over the uv-5r models.

Thanks in advance

 

[robertmac]

Are they certified for GMRS, FRS?

 

[KR7CQ]

They are not certified for those services, but you can bet there are many thousands being used for FRS and GMRS. There are so very few using these bands now, the FCC seems to be all but ignoring any type of enforcement.

It's not like anybody would ever know or care which cheap little radios you were using for GMRS.

These radios are intended for commercial uses.

 

[WB4CS]

As have already been said, the Baofeng radios are not legal for GMRS, FRS, and MURS. They are for Part 90 commercial/public service and amateur radio use. The radios are capable of transmitting on frequencies used on GMRS, FRS, and MURS but is not legal nor is the radio certified to put out a clean signal on those frequencies.

It's up to you on how you want to proceed with that information.

Other than bubble packs, there really isn't anything else available that's legal for FRS - mainly because of the FCC Part 95 rules that FRS radios cannot have a detachable antenna and cannot exceed 0.5W output power. There are a few Part 95 (and older Part 90) commercial radios that are approved for GMRS, the FRS/GMRS forum here has a few posts that can suggest such legal radios. There are only a small handful of manufacturers that produce legal Part 95 MURS radios, the Part 95 rules for MURS specifies that MURS radios cannot have a frequency agile transmitter (VFO) that can access frequencies other than the 5 MURS channels. Dakota Altert makes a few MURS handheld radios.

As for amateur radio use, almost any radio that can transmit in the ham bands is legal for use on amateur radio frequencies, even home built radios, as long as they conform to the legal specs for bandwidth and spurious emissions rejection.

If you decide to do the right thing and stay legal, it's just not possible to find an all-in-one radio that can cover ham, GMRS, FRS, and MURS.

Good luck.

 

[sandiegosand]

I was unaware that they are not approved for GMRS probably could have figured out they are not approved for frs.

But still, with that in mind i'm interested in getting into ham without getting into debt, so does anyone have a preference for any of their models?

 

[KC3BHL]

I have a uv-5r that I use both on the local VHF/UHF bands as well as to listen to at work on their freq. I am not currently approved to use the radios at work, so I disabled the transmit on that freq. I did the same with the local fire and police frequencies.

As a ham radio though, I get pretty good results with it. The repeater I usually connect to is about 20 miles away and I get good audio reports. I switch between using the HT itself, using the included ear bud/mic and a speaker mic and get good quality with all 3. I did upgrade from the stock antenna. Currently using one from amazon that cost about $3, and it is a major improvement.

All and all, I'm quite pleased what I can do with a cheap little radio running on 5W. The reasoning I went with the 5r and not one of the other models is the accessories. They changed the handset around a bit with other models that make it unable to accept some of the battery packs. I have both the AAA battery pack and the extended battery pack. Though I do believe it is the 5ra that you can now find to purchase with an extended battery pack instead of normal pack. And the extended packs can be modified to fit some of the other models if you look how to do it.

--
Tapatalked from my VZW Galaxy S III.

 

[N4CA]

The only non-cosmetic difference between the various uv-5r models is the firmware and that's just determined by when it was manufactured. Go here for lots of good info:
http://www.miklor.com

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