Baofeng Ham Radios - Pros & Cons

A club member bought this little radio on Amazon and brought it to the last meeting. I'd have to say the build quality is impressive.
Physically it's not made cheap at all.

 

BTECH radios are not manufactured by Baofeng.

 

I believe they are made by Baofeng. If not they are Basically the same family tree of generic Transceivers. They certainly are not Kenwoods. Was making an observation of basically the same knock off in person. Appearance wise the Btech looked really nice. It didn't have the cheap feel to it.

 

sorry to say i like the radio its great for any ham. and you dont have to worry if you drop it or walks of the table in other hands. easy to program with RT software like allthe radio i do have. the radio sounds good and works well . fantastic for go kits too.
i see your opion is very one sided as to you must work for a company that likes to rip of Hams as such yeasu and icom and kenwood. the make there prices way to high and to much unused junk in a radio which can be better if they do theres as a basic model and software can upgrade to the needs as a individaul may want or need..........but no matter what i will promote a super little radio for what it is darn good.....Beofeng is worth it.......it sets on a higher seat then most other of expensive overpriced lies of radios out there.
w1lwt-Lee

 

Why? They don't have Baofeng's FCC ID grantee code.

 

It might be made by QYT. The Btech is identical to one of the QYT transceivers. Baofeng, QYT, Btech they are all in the same family of the Baofeng type radios. Regardless of the name Under the hood the Btech certainly fits into the Baofeng discussion. It's about the size of two packs of cigarettes. Perfect fit for small cars or motorcycles.

 

There is a difference in the Firmware.

Btech is Baofeng Tech.

 

I'm thinking about getting one of Btech radios just to have. I was impressed with the build quality. Until I saw one in person I wouldn't have believed how well it's made.
$114.00 shipped. 2 meter 70cm.

 

You may want to look at the Btech UV-5001. The extra power is nice.

I bought one to play with. It has adjustable Mic gain, Many radios do not, and are known to have bad audio.

Drilling a bigger hole in the Mic opening, Is not ideal for adjusting audio. All radios should have adjustable audio gain.

 

I bought a Baofeng UV-5R+ and when I tried it,it didn't even reach the repeater which I reach with my Wouxun KG-UV 8D with no problems.
So after some tests I found out that the Baofeng doesn't even send,or maybe like 1 watt only. And after 30 mins of using and trying out,the PTT-Button felt off.
I prefer the Wouxon KG-UV8D, for 130€ you get a better quality and a colored screen,and it works very fine, simply menu.
73
LX2WP

 

I purchased a UV-5R nearly 3 years ago to listen to the local repeaters when I was studying for my ticket......and so far it has out lived a Kenwood and a Yaesu.

It was my only radio and was used every day during my first year as a licensed HAM. Since then, it has also gone along on a multitude of camping trips, hiking trips, ATV excursions, and fishing trips...not to mention surviving the daily grind of the farm.

It was an absolute Godsend when we got caught up ion the Gatlinburg fires back in November.

 

I have a yaesu FT60 and from day one it's had a scratchy volume pot. Drives me nuts. My neighbor has had a $50.00 Baofeng handheld a few years now with no issues of any kind.

 

QST, November, 2015, Page 75

 

Well as a new ham here's my two cents.

Whilst I agree with a lot of the points raised there are some I disagree with. I am a student on a limited budget so cannot afford all the expensive radios. To get into the hobby I purchased a UV-5R from Amazon. Its a fantastic radio at a low price point, you cannot get better for the money. Personally when out and about I would rather use a cheap £20 radio than a £600 Kenwood th-d74e for example. Especially if there is risk I could break it. For the price of the Kenwood I could have 30 odd uv5r's.

In terms of quality I can fault it personally. I have read reviews of different issues other people have experienced and to be fair what else would you expect? it's cheap and it's Chinese, I expect the quality to be low. Therefore when it breaks it doesn't matter, its so cheap I can buy another one. A friend has purchased the Kenwood mentioned, within three months its broken yet his Baofeng he has had for the last couple of years is still going strong.

Who cares if it doesn't conform to part 97? As long as it does what it was designed for and not cause interference does it really matter? Most data I have seen about not conforming to part 97 isn't actually that far from conforming. There are also a lot of Baofeng's then do conform. How will you know if you have a conforming one? You would have to have it tested, I don't know about you but I don't know anyone that can do that?

In terms of power output mine is right on the money and I have the equipment to prove it. To those that are not getting the stated figures it could be a number of things. You also need to be aware that manufacturers exaggerate their specs slightly to make it more appealing. Even so Baofeng are the only manufacture that has a HT that goes over five watts (that I know of). I don't know about you but I'm not lugging round a portable like the Yaesu 857 and the battery. My back is shot! HT is perfect.

In terms of mods, I purchased the upgraded antenna (771) but not noticed any difference. to those I spoke to the sound quality was fine, I was getting 5-9 reports. I have also check my charger and it was fine. solder joint better than even i can solder.

M6IGG

 

Nothing wrong with Baofeng radios. They are nice little transceivers. Just like cars, A BMW is no better than a Ford. It's all in the name.