BaoFeng BF-F8HP

CRSIII

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Hello all you hamsters and doodle boppers.
It has occurred to me that I’m in waaay over my head with this.
Am I overthinking this?
As I have stated before, I’m tech-savvy like a lug nut. I had the rare insight to get the programming cable, but alas, no computer. Why did I get the cable you ask? Who the F knows!
I primarily want to use this as a scanner, and not a transmitter. I have no fcc licenses.
Remember folks; nothing is idiot proof, given a sufficiently talented idiot!
Any advice?
Thanks.
 
I didn't find I got a great deal of ownership satisfaction out of a BF, but I was just ramping up when I bought it: you might consider studying for and getting your ham technicians license: it's the easiest and you'll learn some things along the way.

Presuming you have an actual computer available _somewhere_, you don't want to fool around with programming the thing by hand, as therein lies madness.
  • If you have the baofeng programming cable, that's all you need.
    • This is the one I got for $20, but there is a $10 one that I decided I didn't want to trust, but it might be fine, no clue.
  • Download the Chirp Software. There's a troubleshooting instructions page specifically about the bf.
  • Using Chirp, Import from Stock Config the FRS/GMRS channels and whatever else looks interesting (but remember, there's only 120 memory spaces or so, but chirp doesn't know that).
    • Iirc, without being a licensed amateur, I think one can make a case that transmitting on GMRS channels is not entirely illegal, and nobody has gotten in actual trouble for using it as an FRS radio, but, outside of an actual emergency, transmitting pretty much everything else is.
  • Go to repeaterbook.com and look at the 2m and 70cm lists for repeaters in your area. Plug the frequency, offset (usually default), and tones into Chirp. Various nets are active, generally at the top of the hour, during the week evenings and more on the weekend.
  • Also, you can plug in your nearest national weather service. Mine is 162.475, the others are also in the 162 range
Next thing you'll want is a better antenna, something like this or even (if you're only ever doing things from home) this (but you'll also need line and an adapter and do some mounting, the higher the better). After an antenna upgrade, about the next thing to do is get a better unit for what you really want to do: the BF radios don't do anything well, but are cheap and do a number of things poorly. There are probably better options depending on what you want to do, like scanners or even an SDR and a decent antenna (like the abovementioned discone).

Oh, and a tip: if you do have a second radio, be wary of putting a baofeng on the recharger while trying to use the other radio. It manages to emit tons of noise, completely jacks up the receive of my actual HF radio. It probably interferes with itself.
 
Last edited:
egcsg29u4qi71.jpg
 
I didn't find I got a great deal of ownership satisfaction out of a BF, but I was just ramping up when I bought it: you might consider studying for and getting your ham technicians license: it's the easiest and you'll learn some things along the way.

Presuming you have an actual computer available _somewhere_, you don't want to fool around with programming the thing by hand, as therein lies madness.
  • If you have the baofeng programming cable, that's all you need.
    • This is the one I got for $20, but there is a $10 one that I decided I didn't want to trust, but it might be fine, no clue.
  • Download the Chirp Software. There's a troubleshooting instructions page specifically about the bf.
  • Using Chirp, Import from Stock Config the FRS/GMRS channels and whatever else looks interesting (but remember, there's only 120 memory spaces or so, but chirp doesn't know that).
    • Iirc, without being a licensed amateur, I think one can make a case that transmitting on GMRS channels is not entirely illegal, and nobody has gotten in actual trouble for using it as an FRS radio, but, outside of an actual emergency, transmitting pretty much everything else is.
  • Go to repeaterbook.com and look at the 2m and 70cm lists for repeaters in your area. Plug the frequency, offset (usually default), and tones into Chirp. Various nets are active, generally at the top of the hour, during the week evenings and more on the weekend.
  • Also, you can plug in your nearest national weather service. Mine is 162.475, the others are also in the 162 range
Next thing you'll want is a better antenna, something like this or even (if you're only ever doing things from home) this (but you'll also need line and an adapter and do some mounting, the higher the better). After an antenna upgrade, about the next thing to do is get a better unit for what you really want to do: the BF radios don't do anything well, but are cheap and do a number of things poorly. There are probably better options depending on what you want to do, like scanners or even an SDR and a decent antenna (like the abovementioned discone).

Oh, and a tip: if you do have a second radio, be wary of putting a baofeng on the recharger while trying to use the other radio. It manages to emit tons of noise, completely jacks up the receive of my actual HF radio. It probably interferes with itself.
This makes me want to send it back 🙁
 
Hello all you hamsters and doodle boppers.
It has occurred to me that I’m in waaay over my head with this.
Am I overthinking this?
As I have stated before, I’m tech-savvy like a lug nut. I had the rare insight to get the programming cable, but alas, no computer. Why did I get the cable you ask? Who the F knows!
I primarily want to use this as a scanner, and not a transmitter. I have no fcc licenses.
Remember folks; nothing is idiot proof, given a sufficiently talented idiot!
Any advice?
Thanks.

It's only a dual band radio. There's a lot of frequencies you won't be able to pick up. Are you just planning on listening to general 2 meter/70 centimeter ham and possibly marine channels and FRS/GMRS?
 
Actually scan just a few PD frequencies and one FD

Do you know what frequencies they operate on? This way you can find out if they will actually work. I have some police/emergency frequencies plugged into my handheld Yaesu that is a much more sophisticated radio to the Baofeng. I also have a Baofeng and I don't use it anymore. I used to listen in on ham frequencies while I was in the process of getting licensed. Get your license (ticket). There is so much you can do with radio I wouldn't even know where to begin. I took an actual class that was taught at the radio museum in CT. They didn't just walk through the book they actually showed me how everything works.
 
Don't. They work great as scanners. Once you set that up they are a cheap way to monitor what's happening on your area
Jumping in here Carl. Let me know how you make/made out.

So, just picked one of these up.

Total learning curve. How does one begin to learn these? I believe they are programmable. Is there a download for the New England area that would be a good starting point to upload into it?

Where does one find information specifically on programming these devices, and secondly, on using these in general? Just dipping my toes into the water here, and trying to use this as a learning tool.

Thank you.


Edit:
Now seeing some of the links after the first message. Still wondering if there is a download to use. I am not too far from CRSIII.
 
If you sit the radio by a window facing the part of town with the PD/FD you might pick up some radio scanning between 151-159 MHz. You can only hear FM/FMN as the others are encoded. Here’s some examples from “West of Wormtown”. If you’re closer to Worcester, you could pick up some radio from there too, but they’re mostly 700+ MHz, out of your radio’s range, or encoded. There are plenty of schools, hospitals, etc. but transmissions are much less frequent than PD/FD and far less interesting.

So, it could be great of dull listening, depending on your location. If I scan the 2m/70cm ham simplex bands, my radio can go for hours without a peep west of MHT, NH. But my ICOM IC-R30 scanner picks up tons of stuff (for almost 10-times the cost).

If the Baofeng doesn’t work out, you could look for a used scanner on eBay and ask if the seller can program for Worcester County before shipping - some folks upgrading and selling their old scanner have the software and might just do that for you.

52554AA4-6AE4-481F-A20B-BE43597627B4.jpeg1BDE4FBA-3B07-484D-A9B5-6ECC78703EFC.jpeg
 
Jumping in here Carl. Let me know how you make/made out.

So, just picked one of these up.

Total learning curve. How does one begin to learn these? I believe they are programmable. Is there a download for the New England area that would be a good starting point to upload into it?

Where does one find information specifically on programming these devices, and secondly, on using these in general? Just dipping my toes into the water here, and trying to use this as a learning tool.

Thank you.


Edit:
Now seeing some of the links after the first message. Still wondering if there is a download to use. I am not too far from CRSIII.
you could start here


View: http://youtu.be/6uJOXJt8BT4
 
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