Baofeng UV-5R Dual Band HT

[KD5PCK]

Does anyone own this radio? Just curious as to what your thoughts are. $65.99 on Amazon. Even if it dies after a year, that's one heck of a price.
41s5uMNnwhL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
Here's the link to the HT on Amazon:http://tinyurl.com/7apgzqk

[K4AX]

I've got one, I love it, great HT for the price, and the build quality is better than any Chinese HT I've seen, and I've seen pretty much all of them as I've been buying them for over five years now.

Anyway, if you're looking to buy from a us seller and not from 409shop in HK, then I'd get it from Ed at http://importcommunications.com/
65 shipped and he ships quickly.

[N7GH]

I purchased one off of EBay--under 45 dollars including shipping to my door from Hong Kong. The radio is a basic 2 Watt HT, it works well. It is so small that I could hardly belive it works, it's about the size of a 25 stick pack of gum. I live in a area that does not have many repeaters and those that are around are far apart: this little radio will not make the haul for anything that is more than about a mile or 2 away from you. I sold mine to a club member that wanted one to carry in their pocket when they were in town--about a mile from the repeater, and he loves it. Adding a bigger antenna helps, but really, the reason you buy it is because it's small. It really looked strange with my Diamond triband sticking out the top of it. The manual is done by a non-English speaker (I even hesitate to say a person with English as their second language), but there is a manual downloadable on line that was done by a fellow HAM. So basically, if you have a collection of repeaters within 2 miles of where you want to use the radio, it will probably work good for you. Programming, as true on every HT I've ever had, is an exercise in frustration--buy the software and cable for programming.

BTW: be warned--in the manual it says press knob in and turn... what they really mean is pull knob out and turn. Also the "Alarm" goes out over the air when you activate it.

[WA6MHZ]

Think the HT N7GH is speaking of is the UV-3R. The UV-5R is a 4W HT, with Touchtone pad and a nice 3 color LCD display. Actually, the UV-5R letters are a little smaller than the UV-3R. I have both the UV-3R+PLUS and the UV-5R. Both are best programmed through a Kenwood type programming cable. The earlier UV-3R's had a single jack much like the Yaesu VX series.

I have an extensive writeup on both. Lessee if I can find the links.......

The UV-5R is indeed a FB HT and better than the 3R in most ways. Most important is that it has a real volume control while the 3R has a digital volume control that just KINDA works.

I have tested the 5R on Packet and it works!

Both use a BASS ACKWARDS SMA connector for some silly reason!

[N7GH]

Think the HT N7GH is speaking of is the UV-3R. The UV-5R is a 4W HT, with Touchtone pad and a nice 3 color LCD display. Actually, the UV-5R letters are a little smaller than the UV-3R. I have both the UV-3R+PLUS and the UV-5R. Both are best programmed through a Kenwood type programming cable. The earlier UV-3R's had a single jack much like the Yaesu VX series.

I have an extensive writeup on both. Lessee if I can find the links.......

The UV-5R is indeed a FB HT and better than the 3R in most ways. Most important is that it has a real volume control while the 3R has a digital volume control that just KINDA works.

I have tested the 5R on Packet and it works!

Both use a BASS ACKWARDS SMA connector for some silly reason!

Yes, I missed it was the 5R--I saw the pic and didn't read the title well.

[K8ERV]

. Most important is that it has a real volume control while the 3R has a digital volume control that just KINDA works.

They seem to have fixed the vol control on the mark 2, mine works properly. And the audio is the loudest and clearest of any of my many HTs.

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

[K4AX]

Hams are the only ones using rigs with female SMA connections, commercial rigs using male connections. I don't even know why there is a difference for why the "big three" chose different connections for amateur radio HTs.

Have you noticed the Uv5r's receiver is off? On 2m it's down 2khz best I can tell. I've two of them now, both have the same issue.

Both use a BASS ACKWARDS SMA connector for some silly reason!

[AB5N]

Yup.. just got two... check out my review on Youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56PvtAqacz8

[K3NXU]

UV5R Quick Reference/Software Drivers/CHIRP. www.miklor.com/uv5r

I've had mine for 2 weeks and love it.

John k3nxu

[K3NXU]

It's a great little HT. I have one and I love it.
BTW: You can order it directly for $48.50 which includes a drop in charger and free shipping.
See the links in http://www.miklor.com/uv5r

John K3NXU
.