UV-5R

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I just got two of these Baofeng radio's to use in the woods, anyone know the best way to set them up so they have good distance but don't bug anyone?
 
I just got two of these Baofeng radio's to use in the woods, anyone know the best way to set them up so they have good distance but don't bug anyone?

please let me know what you get for distance out of these. I picked up a set of corbra walkies at walmart that supposedly had a 25 mille range. they didn't work too well on a road trip when i could see the lead car about half a mile away.

So, i'm looking for something with a little more oomph.
 
these seem crystal clear when at close distances. I haven't tried using them on a repeater band though.
 
It's not really called a repeater band, I was a little confused and that's why I asked. Keep in mind you are supposed to have a license when you transmit on a repeater.
 
It's not really called a repeater band, I was a little confused and that's why I asked. Keep in mind you are supposed to have a license when you transmit on a repeater.

if you transmit on this radio at all on 2 meter or 70 meter bands you will need at least a technician license
 
if you transmit on this radio at all on 2 meter or 70 meter bands you will need at least a technician license

Exactly. I'm all for Mordeeb breaking the law as long as he makes a conscience, educated decision to do so and understands the consequences. I would hate to see you get in hot water and plead ignorance.
 
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Exactly. I'm all for Mordeeb breaking the law as long as he makes a conscience, educated decision to do so and understand the consequences. I would hate to see you get in hot water and plead ignorance.

I recently got my Technician's license and have this radio, but now I'm interested as well in figuring out if I should get one for my brother so we can communicate back and forth over the FRS band and achieve much better distance
 
I recently got my Technician's license and have this radio, but now I'm interested as well in figuring out if I should get one for my brother so we can communicate back and forth over the FRS band and achieve much better distance
Get him to get his Tech license, then you guys can use 2M and he'll have another cool thing in his wallet.
 
There's a good thread or 2 in here on that, but the really short story is:


* Get the ARRL Technician study guide and spend some time with it.
* Go to qrz.com and grind through the Technician practice tests over and over. They have the same exact questions/answers as the pool of 350ish questions the FCC draws from to make a test. Once you pass it 4 out of 5 times you are ready for the real test.
* Find a local Ham club. They can administer the FCC test and many clubs hold test sessions once a month. Even better, join the club and hang out with them a bit. Learning from people is better than books.
Note: In the studying, don't wory about the theory much. If you stick with ham radio as a hobby the theory will come in time. Do learn the rules and operating procedures enough to stay out of trouble.

Also, several clubs, including the one in Gloucester (www.caara.net) give "get your Tech. in a day" classes once or twice a year. My son and I got ours that way. We arrived Saturday a.m. no preparation, studied under their guidance all day and passed the test that evening. That was almost 3 years ago, but if I recall about 8 NES people got their licenses that day.
 
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I wouldn't use FRS, thats UHF. Set them up on a MURS freq such as 151.82 , 151.88, 151.94. These are unlicensed VHF freqs that travel farther.....You don't need a license for them.
 
Last week I picked up three of the slightly updated model, the UV-5R+, and was stunned by the performance they provided given their very low cost. I paid $58 each for a package that included both a radio and a speaker mike. Shipping was free and I received them three days later. The seller was out of Hong Kong but had a distribution center in Kentucky to handle shipmnets. I took one right out of the box and have been using to work some of the 2 meter repeaters in metrowest Boston. I easily hit the Wesford repeater from the Lexington - Bedford line which has to be at least 12 miles away. All transmissions were loud and clear. Same for other repeaters in Belmont and Burlington. And I have yet to even charge the battery for the first time! The hardware appears to be very well put together. Anyway, at $58, the radios are practicaly disposable.

My other HT radio is a Yaseau FT-60 which cost $160 on sale at HRO. Normally, I really try to avoid Chinese buying products whenever possible because of that country's unfair trade policies. But I made an exception this time, rationalizing that decision based on the fact these low cost radios would give me the chance to introduce my two sons to amateur radio at an affordable price. My plan is to give the radios to them as Christmas presents hoping it will serve as an incentive to get their Technician's licenses. Naturally, I had to buy one of the radios for myself, too, so I could learn how to use it so I could show them. I do a lot of foreign travel and it will be handy to bring along on trips.

On line reports include some complaints about the radio, especially, regarding the stock antenna they come with which is said to be low gain and the fact BaoFeng does not provide any meaningful documentation or instructions. I agree, the maual is completely useless. The best source on how to set up and use the radio is on an online user group through Yahoo. By the way several good and inexpensive after market upgrade antennae seem to be available from Nagoya, Diamond and others for about $10.

I was also attracted to the radio because they both receive and transmit on all VHF frequencies between 136 and 172 Mhz; and UHF between 400 and 480 MHz. Obviously, this creates a danger potential for operating out of band on unauthorized frequencies so one has to be very careful. But in an emergency that flexibility could prove to be very useful. One of the key factors driving my interest in amateur radio is for SHTF situations where cell, phone and Internet coverage might not be available. Transmit power can be set at either 4 Watts or 1 Watt.

Inexpensive cables ($6-to-$10) and freeware programming software are available but at this point I have only programmed my radio manually. Storage space is limited to 128 channels. It also covers the receive mode for FM between 65 and 108 Mhz and

For anyone thinking of getting a ham license, this product woud be a really good and inexpensive way to start. A person can study and pass the Technician test with just a day or two of study so there is really no excuse for not getting legal first before going on the air. I HIGHLY recommend that! You will learn a lot in the process.

For those interested check both Amazon and ebay for the best price. I purchased my through a "BUY' listing that showed up as NICHEONLINE and dba the SAINSTORE. I believe the company is located in Hong Kong but they ship from a DC in Kentucky and I received the radio 3 days after I ordered it and the shipping was free!

I will continue to use the radio and let you know in follow-up posts if a wring out any other problems or obvious deficiencies.

Follow-up Information: I purchased an inexpensive program cable for $6 on ebay and used the free online application "CHIRPS" to program the radios and it work like a charm! I found it was best to use driver file from online sources (for Windows 7) rather than from the CD that came with the file. I also found a source for extra lithium battery packs for about $7 each so I picked up three and they work great. After six months my radios are still going strong!!!
 
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Last week I picked up three of the slightly updated model, the UV-5R+, and was stunned by the performance the provided for their low cost. I paid $58 each for a package that included both a radio and a speaker mike. Shipping was free! I took one right out of the box and have been using to work some of the 2 meter repeaters in metrowest Boston. I easily hit the Wesford repeater from the Lexington - Bedford line which had to be at least 12 miles away. All transmissions were loud and clear. And I have yet to even charge the battery for the first time! The hardware appears to be very well put together. Anyway, at $58, the radios are practicaly disposable.

My other HT radio is a Yaseau FT-60 which cost $160 on sale at HRO. Normally, try to avoid Chinese buying products whenever possible because of that country's unfair trade policies. But I made an exception this time, rationalizing that decision based on the fact these low cost radios would give me the chance to introduce my two sons to amateur radio at an affordable price. My plan is to give the radios to them as Christmas presents as an incentive to get their Technician's licenses. Naturally, I had to buy one of the radios, too, so I could learn how to use it so I could show them. I do a lot of foreign travel and it will be handy to bring along.

On line reports include some complaints about the radio, especially, regarding the stock antenna they come with which is said to be low gain and the fact BaoFend does not provide any meaningful documentation or instructions. I agress, they are useless. The best source on how to set up and use the radio is on an online user group through Yahoo. By the was several good and inexpensive after market upgrade antennae also seem to be available from Nagoya, Diamond and others.

I was also attracted to the radio because they both receive and transmit on all VHF frequencies between 136 and 172 Mhz; and UHF between 400 and 480 MHz. Obviously, this creates a danger potential for operating on unauthorized frequencies so one has to be very careful. But in an emergency that flexibility could prove to be very handy. One of the key factors driving my interest in amateur radio is for SHTF situations where cell, phone and Internet coverage might not be available. Power is either 4 watts or 1 Watt.

Inexpensive cables ($6-to-$10) and freeware programming software are available but at this point I have only programmed my radio manually. Storage space is limited to 128 channels. It also covers the receive mode for FM between 65 and 108 Mhz and

For anyone thinking of getting a ham license, this product woud be a really good and inexpensive way to start. A person can study and pass the Technician test in just a day or two so there is really no excuse for not getting legal first before going on the air. I HIGHLY recommend that! You will learn a lot in the process.

For those interested check both Amazon and ebay for the best price. I purchased my through the "BUY' listing that showed up as NICHEONLINE and SAINSTORE. I believe the company is located in Hong Kong but they shipping from a DC in Kentucky and I received the radio 3 days after I ordered it!

I will continue to use the radio and let you know in a follow-up post if a wring out any other problems or deficiencies.

Thanks for the nice write up..... Will have to give these a look.....
 
I just got one of these to see what I can do with it. Now, I know nothing about ham radio. I was hoping I could find some frequencies already being broadcast on by others out there with larger broadcast equipment that I might pick up from a distance. No luck so far. If I scroll through frequencies, I frequently land on some that have various buzzing sounds and noises, no actual voice though. The signal strength claims the signals are strong, so "something" is somehow being broadcast. Digital data?

What could I tune into, and how, in the NH area that would likely pick up chatter from distant strangers?

I also tried it between this and a FRS handheld I have. I can send from FRS handheld to BaoFeng, but not the other way around. Yes, I disabled that channel sharing thingy that FRS has to prevent people from hearing other groups when using the same channel. So, not sure why that happens.

Any more tips? I went to miklor.org for their "tutorial" which is not really a tutorial at all, and not helpful in explaining much.

Perhaps I should get a second one and at least be able to talk between the handsets.
 
I just got one of these to see what I can do with it. Now, I know nothing about ham radio. I was hoping I could find some frequencies already being broadcast on by others out there with larger broadcast equipment that I might pick up from a distance. No luck so far. If I scroll through frequencies, I frequently land on some that have various buzzing sounds and noises, no actual voice though. The signal strength claims the signals are strong, so "something" is somehow being broadcast. Digital data?

What could I tune into, and how, in the NH area that would likely pick up chatter from distant strangers?

I also tried it between this and a FRS handheld I have. I can send from FRS handheld to BaoFeng, but not the other way around. Yes, I disabled that channel sharing thingy that FRS has to prevent people from hearing other groups when using the same channel. So, not sure why that happens.

Any more tips? I went to miklor.org for their "tutorial" which is not really a tutorial at all, and not helpful in explaining much.

Perhaps I should get a second one and at least be able to talk between the handsets.

That radio should be able to talk to any FRS radio., keeping in mind that it its several times the legal power output for those frequencies, although there is little enforcement in that particular band.

There's something amiss with your transmit frequency in the UV5R. Check to make sure the receive and transmit freq are the same and its not applying a repeater offset to the transmit. Read the programming manual and look for that info.

You want to be in "simplex" mode which means transmitting and receiveing on the same frequency, as opposed to repeater mode in which the transmit freq and the rec freq are different.

As for looking for on the air activity, look online for lists of ham repeaters or scanner frequencies in the business band that fall within your local area.

Remember, ham operation requires a callsign/license and hams don't take kindly to people "kerchunking" their repeaters all the time. Listen, yes, transmit when you get your ticket. Also, interference with any public safety repeater or aircraft will land you in federal prison. The FCC is adament about this and locating a transmitter on VHF and UHF is like shooting fish in a barrel, its extremely easy and they will hang you out to dry.

On another note, thats alot of radio for the price.
 
Unless the device uses a repeater by default (does it ??), I won't be messing with any repeaters without a license. I don't know how to make it do that. At first, I just want to listen, and maybe transmit on whatever frequency would be allowed.
 
Does anyone know why I can only program in frequencies into this in 0.250 increments? If I want to enter in a MURS frequency of 151.820, I have to do 151.800 or 151.825. Am I doing it wrong? I presume it violates the MURS rules to not transmit on the exact same frequency as they say is valid?

Edited: Never mind.... just found the frequency step feature. What a weird default.
 
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Does anyone know why I can only program in frequencies into this in 0.250 increments? If I want to enter in a MURS frequency of 151.820, I have to do 151.800 or 151.825. Am I doing it wrong? I presume it violates the MURS rules to not transmit on the exact same frequency as they say is valid?

Edited: Never mind.... just found the frequency step feature. What a weird default.

I got caught by that last night. Started reading in the manual from miklor and found the step feature. Still not happy with my lack of knowledge on this so I will keep plugging away. I've got a three-ring binder with all the various docs I've downloaded about this puppy, so I just need to keep reading and learning.
 
I'm reading good things about the successor radio, the UV-B5 (or UV-B6 if you're into flashlights on your radio...[rolleyes]). Here's a pretty comprehensive review.

I'm consistently passing the technician and general class practice tests. Just need to get out and take the real test. I may just pick this unit up as a first radio when I do.
 
I have one on the way, I'd suggest you pick up the manual from niftyaccessories.com. It's MUCH easier to understand. If your radio did not come with the USB programming cable and the CD, you'll want one. I've been told this will unlock other features on the handheld. Finally if you want a bit more distance swap out the rubberducky for a better antenna Keep the RD for when you don't need the larger antenna.
 
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