N4CA
Member
Some are, some aren't. But for licensed hams on the ham bands, it doesn't matter.
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Which Chinese HT? Or...
- Thread starter KK4TTR
- Start date
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Some are, some aren't. But for licensed hams on the ham bands, it doesn't matter.
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nd5y
Member
Some are. Some aren't. It depends on the manufacturer and the vendors or importers. They only need FCC Part 90 certfication if they are intended to be sold in the USA to users in the services that part 90 covers. Some of the vendors and importers have them custom built and certified to sell them for "commercial" use. For amateur use they don't need certification.
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I don't believe the OP has said anything about using these radios outside the amateur radio bands.
Many VHF/UHF amateur radios sold in the U.S. have FCC Part 15 certification because of their scanning capabilities. I don't believe FCC Part 97 certification is required except for amplifiers in the 10 and 12 meter bands.
KK4TTR
Member
Emergency doesn't have to be limited to SHTF scenarios, but any catastrophic event which disrupts normal activity. I'm from the coast and hurricanes are a normal occurrence, but the cell towers get overloaded due to everyone trying to get in touch with someone to find out if they're OK.
Hurricane Sandy is a perfect example of a SHTF scenario because everyone was so unprepared. If everyone kept their fuel tanks at least full, considering all of the vehicles on the road, that's a heck of a reserve, and it would have consumed less fuel when everyone wanted to top off.
However, this discussion is about emergency communication. 2m is going to be available for HT and mobile relatively cheaply. I may end up going with single band for both a rugged HT and mobile. We bought the chinese HT's because it's something my wife and I can start using while I continue to research 2m HT and mobile, although I'm leaning toward the Yeasu FT-60R as previously stated. I have other friends who have HAM equipment and it will be fun working out contact protocols with them.
The mobiles I'm currently looking at are the Yaesu FT-2900R 75 Watt 2 Meter and the ICOM IC-V8000 2M 75W MOBILE because of the additional output over the typical 50W mobile. The mobile will be used as a base, and the HT's will be used as mobiles, for the time being.
Hurricane Sandy is a perfect example of a SHTF scenario because everyone was so unprepared. If everyone kept their fuel tanks at least full, considering all of the vehicles on the road, that's a heck of a reserve, and it would have consumed less fuel when everyone wanted to top off.
However, this discussion is about emergency communication. 2m is going to be available for HT and mobile relatively cheaply. I may end up going with single band for both a rugged HT and mobile. We bought the chinese HT's because it's something my wife and I can start using while I continue to research 2m HT and mobile, although I'm leaning toward the Yeasu FT-60R as previously stated. I have other friends who have HAM equipment and it will be fun working out contact protocols with them.
The mobiles I'm currently looking at are the Yaesu FT-2900R 75 Watt 2 Meter and the ICOM IC-V8000 2M 75W MOBILE because of the additional output over the typical 50W mobile. The mobile will be used as a base, and the HT's will be used as mobiles, for the time being.
VE7WV
Member
If it's a question of budget, you might try the used market for your mobile rig(s). I've had very good luck finding solid 2M (and in one case, a dual band) mobile rigs on the used market... never bought a lemon yet and it seems the good ones just don't wear out. In one vehicle I'm still using a multi-band IC-901 I bought in the early 80's. Somehow I doubt it will ever die.
Does buying reliable pay in this day and age of cheap imports? For me I hate buying disposable anything especially electronics so I don't mind paying a little more; sometimes a lot more.
Does buying reliable pay in this day and age of cheap imports? For me I hate buying disposable anything especially electronics so I don't mind paying a little more; sometimes a lot more.
The Chines radios do have an advantage with an excellent price point. I have a Wouxun HT, and I use it frequently. However, I think the Yaesu radios are better long term/emergency investments. I have both a 170 and 270 that I use in the field (when I don't need dual band).
The Yaesu radios are rugged, take standard batteries (with the accessory battery pack), charge/work directly off 12 VDC and are pretty easy to program. The only thing I don't like on my 170/270 radios is the mic/ear jack. It's a proprietary design and is sometimes difficult to work with.
The Yaesu radios are rugged, take standard batteries (with the accessory battery pack), charge/work directly off 12 VDC and are pretty easy to program. The only thing I don't like on my 170/270 radios is the mic/ear jack. It's a proprietary design and is sometimes difficult to work with.
- You're fine with the Chinese HT's. At their low price you can purchase backups and have extra batteries. If you're going to use them all the time, spend more and get better radios.
- Put a plastic zip bag with each HT and enjoy using them in the rain if you need to.
- Leave the radios in the vehicles and just take them out once or twice a month to charge overnight.
- Use Chirp to program them all the same with local repeaters and for simplex. (chirp.danplanet.com)
- Setup each radio with the same PL tone/squelch on the simplex frequencies you decide on, so you don't have to hear other people.
- Buy a 2m/70cm magnet mount antenna for each vehicle and make sure you have the adapters to connect to the HT antenna port.
- Make sure the magnet mount antenna can handle the wattage from the mobile unit.
- Run a line from the battery vs. cigarette plug for the mobile unit.
- A Diamond X50 antenna works well for home use and it will fit in your attic if your neighbors are the grumpy type about outdoor antennas.
- Use decent coax if your run at home is long.
- Your mobile unit will need a power supply in the house. (When the power isn't out)
- Connect it to a UPS, or have a battery charged for home use because if you need to use these radios, the power is probably off.
- Make sure you have an adapter to connect the HT to the antenna at your house too, because that mobile takes a lot of power. Besides...and this is the important bit, your HT's are only five watts if they're lucky. The HT's will hear the home station all day long as it uses 50 or 75 watts, but your five watt HT, even with a magnet mount antenna will only work so far. The mobile is nice and all, but turn down the wattage to five watts and save some battery life.
- A repeater will probably handle a 5w HT, but will it be working? How many others will be trying to use it?
*If you seriously want to have a conversation with someone in a vehicle while at home, or car to car, you'll both need mobile radios and the 50w of power. The 5w of the HT, even with an antenna on the vehicle is not all that great. You have the HT's, now just purchase the antenna's and try it with 5 watts. If that works for your needs good for you, but do not expect it to.
- Put a plastic zip bag with each HT and enjoy using them in the rain if you need to.
- Leave the radios in the vehicles and just take them out once or twice a month to charge overnight.
- Use Chirp to program them all the same with local repeaters and for simplex. (chirp.danplanet.com)
- Setup each radio with the same PL tone/squelch on the simplex frequencies you decide on, so you don't have to hear other people.
- Buy a 2m/70cm magnet mount antenna for each vehicle and make sure you have the adapters to connect to the HT antenna port.
- Make sure the magnet mount antenna can handle the wattage from the mobile unit.
- Run a line from the battery vs. cigarette plug for the mobile unit.
- A Diamond X50 antenna works well for home use and it will fit in your attic if your neighbors are the grumpy type about outdoor antennas.
- Use decent coax if your run at home is long.
- Your mobile unit will need a power supply in the house. (When the power isn't out)
- Connect it to a UPS, or have a battery charged for home use because if you need to use these radios, the power is probably off.
- Make sure you have an adapter to connect the HT to the antenna at your house too, because that mobile takes a lot of power. Besides...and this is the important bit, your HT's are only five watts if they're lucky. The HT's will hear the home station all day long as it uses 50 or 75 watts, but your five watt HT, even with a magnet mount antenna will only work so far. The mobile is nice and all, but turn down the wattage to five watts and save some battery life.
- A repeater will probably handle a 5w HT, but will it be working? How many others will be trying to use it?
*If you seriously want to have a conversation with someone in a vehicle while at home, or car to car, you'll both need mobile radios and the 50w of power. The 5w of the HT, even with an antenna on the vehicle is not all that great. You have the HT's, now just purchase the antenna's and try it with 5 watts. If that works for your needs good for you, but do not expect it to.
w2txb
Member
There is a restaurant in MD with a slogan of, "Good food ain't cheap; cheap food ain't good!"... that is a great philosophy when applied to most other stuff, including ham radio equipment. You get what you pay for. That is the good news.
The better news is that there are, as seen in several posts in this thred, some options for a bit more money that will be more reliable and provide better performance.
I spoke with one guy recently who bought the $50.00 HT and was not happy with it... he said that any nearby computers will blank out the receiver in his Baofeng.
Another guy I know who has one of the cheap HT's said the "advantage" of the radio is he just enters the frequency of a local repeater and the radio receives a bunch of other repeaters on different frequencies. When they bought the radios, they justified the purchased by saying that, if it fails or gets drowned in water (or other liquid), then they are only out the fifty bucks, despite customer tech support on the cheap ones being rather poor. Neither addressed the rest of the time, when a decently performing HT is what they needed and could have bought for a little more money up front. That "cost vs. price" thing comes to mind.All of the better known and established companies are producing some really nice HT's that do most everything quite well; the prices are not that bad, and the enjoyment/reliability gained will overshadow the added money spent to purchase them.
Don't get too hung up over 60 and 75W vs 50W; 60W is < 1dB more than 50W, and 75W is only 1.7 dB above 50W. < 1dB is almost impossible to hear even to an experienced ear, and 1.7 dB will only improve a very noisy signal to just pretty noisy, and not at all clear. And if you are going to communicate between the HT's and the mobile as a base, then the link distances will be solely limited to the 5W of the HT's anyway. If the unit has the extra power and it what you want, then OK, but don't go out of your way to buy something only because of 50, 60, or 75W.
You already have the HT radios, so pick up an antenna or two that can handle a 50-70 watt amplifier for two meters. Use the amplifiers when you need to, otherwise enjoy the 5 watts.
KK4TTR
Member
Excellent post and great advice!
I've got an emergency auto backup battery with a DC outlet for mobile power. Hadn't considered the range limitation of the HT for simplex. The mounted antennae should improve the range, and we'll do another check with the attic mounted base antennae and mobile.
I ended up getting a couple of Baofeng UV-B6's.
A base antennae and a mobile will be my next purchases.
It's all about antennas. Get what will work for you, but make sure they can handle at least 50, or 70 watts in case you get a mobile later. Try the HT's with the external antennas first. That setup may work for your needs and you're done. I just don't know how far you need to communicate and your terrain. It's better you test for yourself because an Internet Forum = Theory or experiences not exact to your environment.
By the way, if the setup/situation is primarily home to car use, leave the unit at home on all the time, or why bother at all.
By the way, if the setup/situation is primarily home to car use, leave the unit at home on all the time, or why bother at all.
brndnstffrd
Member
I know that the discussion has moved beyond HT batteries, but one suggestion for if you are going to leave an HT in the car is to get one of the battery eliminator packs. It clips into the radio in place of the battery pack and plugs into the cigarette lighter. You can get them for pretty much any radio these days and they are nice because you can just leave them in the car and not have to worry about battery charge/maintenance like you do with batteries.
N4CA
Member
+1 I have one for my Baofeng (I think it cost $8 shipped), but I just have it in the car in case I run out of juice in the battery instead of using it as the primary power. I like just being able to grab it and go.
barefootdipole
Member
No matter what brand of HT you get, i strongly suggest you add 12v battery eliminator packs for each one.......on one end these have a cigarette lighter plug that plugs into the cig lighter plug/accessory power jack of you car (or also your emergency battery in your house like a jump start battery/or other alternative power sources you have) and on the other end they have a battery emilinator 'pack' that slips in and replaces the battery of your HT......no worry about running THEM down with full HT output power or storage battery memory discharge !
the more power alternatives you have for your radios the better....
you also can run and charge some HT's directly off 12v with the appropriate accessory cables.....check each HT accessory list......
the japanese companies companies used to kill you with accessory prices.....the chinese companies are far far more reasonable with accessory prices.....this should NOT be your primary deciding factor on what HT to buy...but if you add up the prices of accessories you KNOW you will want to buy, it is an important consideration.....and costly......but obviously the radio itself is the primary concern....
also.....antenna coax adapter cables......if your HT uses SMA connectors...get yourself multiple types of adapter cables......get adapter CABLES, not adapters......they take the strain off the often weak SMA connector on the HT....the adapters will allow you to plug external antennas on your roof,attic,car, etc using ANY common ham connector like a UHF PL-259 (or BNC or N) onto your HT !!! a MUST HAVE when PLAN A fails and your HT rubber duck antenna just doesn't make it......SMA -> UHF or SMA -> BNC....ect.....
being able to run your HT directly off 12v and with an external antenna (both mobile and base) is essential to a properly prepared station.....and will make your HT far far more versitle and stronger in signal strength further away !
good luck....and don't forget to have fun !
the more power alternatives you have for your radios the better....
you also can run and charge some HT's directly off 12v with the appropriate accessory cables.....check each HT accessory list......
the japanese companies companies used to kill you with accessory prices.....the chinese companies are far far more reasonable with accessory prices.....this should NOT be your primary deciding factor on what HT to buy...but if you add up the prices of accessories you KNOW you will want to buy, it is an important consideration.....and costly......but obviously the radio itself is the primary concern....
also.....antenna coax adapter cables......if your HT uses SMA connectors...get yourself multiple types of adapter cables......get adapter CABLES, not adapters......they take the strain off the often weak SMA connector on the HT....the adapters will allow you to plug external antennas on your roof,attic,car, etc using ANY common ham connector like a UHF PL-259 (or BNC or N) onto your HT !!! a MUST HAVE when PLAN A fails and your HT rubber duck antenna just doesn't make it......SMA -> UHF or SMA -> BNC....ect.....
being able to run your HT directly off 12v and with an external antenna (both mobile and base) is essential to a properly prepared station.....and will make your HT far far more versitle and stronger in signal strength further away !
good luck....and don't forget to have fun !
CaptDan
Member
In response to the original question which Chinese HT to buy I will share my limited experience with the Wouxun KG-UV6D V2 radio. We recently purchased four of them - one is out of service after about 4 weeks of use.
The radio's internal microphone is not working. When transmitting - the carrier signal is transmitted but no audio is transmitted. If an external microphone is plugged in and used the radio works fine. Upon doing some research I am told that there is a problem with an excessive amount of glue inside the case that holds an internal switch open after something is plugged into the radio - either to program it or an external or accessory microphone. I am told that it is not a difficult repair for someone who is technologically talented.
In my case I contacted Wouxun regarding warranty repair - the radio is only 4 weeks old. The only response I have received is:
Dear Daniel,
Nice day,
We have forwarded the problem to our technician .If have any updated ,we will inform you ASAP.
Sincerely,
NaNa
So far no update - no offer to repair or replace the defective radio. Nothing !
Other than this one issue with this one radio so far - they work great - do everything we ask of them.
So if the warranty is not an concern of yours - these are great radios.
The radio's internal microphone is not working. When transmitting - the carrier signal is transmitted but no audio is transmitted. If an external microphone is plugged in and used the radio works fine. Upon doing some research I am told that there is a problem with an excessive amount of glue inside the case that holds an internal switch open after something is plugged into the radio - either to program it or an external or accessory microphone. I am told that it is not a difficult repair for someone who is technologically talented.
In my case I contacted Wouxun regarding warranty repair - the radio is only 4 weeks old. The only response I have received is:
Dear Daniel,
Nice day,
We have forwarded the problem to our technician .If have any updated ,we will inform you ASAP.
Sincerely,
NaNa
So far no update - no offer to repair or replace the defective radio. Nothing !
Other than this one issue with this one radio so far - they work great - do everything we ask of them.
So if the warranty is not an concern of yours - these are great radios.
The most common and useful accessories for any HT are extra batteries and a better antenna. There are a lot of choices for each of those, pick the ones that suit your situation best.
All HTs are made for short range communications. It isn't reasonable to expect 'better' performance from them, any of them. They are a convenience kind'a radio, no matter how 'handy' they may be in particular circumstances. Sure, you may find an HT more convenient than a large radio, and with the right accessories they can perform as well as any 5 watt (low power) radio.
I have two of the Wouxun HTs, one a 'UV-2' and one a 'UV-6D'. They serve the use I have for them just dandy (and they are definitely more 'frugal' than other brands). Except for convenience sake I don't think I've used either 'seriously' in something like two years (which is good when you think about it).
The biggest problem with either radio is programming the @#$ things by hand, I just can't get the 'hang' of it. The programming cable is also a very nice accessory!
Are they the best things since a pocket on a shirt? Nope, but they do just fine in most cases.
- 'Doc
All HTs are made for short range communications. It isn't reasonable to expect 'better' performance from them, any of them. They are a convenience kind'a radio, no matter how 'handy' they may be in particular circumstances. Sure, you may find an HT more convenient than a large radio, and with the right accessories they can perform as well as any 5 watt (low power) radio.
I have two of the Wouxun HTs, one a 'UV-2' and one a 'UV-6D'. They serve the use I have for them just dandy (and they are definitely more 'frugal' than other brands). Except for convenience sake I don't think I've used either 'seriously' in something like two years (which is good when you think about it).
The biggest problem with either radio is programming the @#$ things by hand, I just can't get the 'hang' of it. The programming cable is also a very nice accessory!
Are they the best things since a pocket on a shirt? Nope, but they do just fine in most cases.
- 'Doc
- Status
