Baofeng Ham Radios - Pros & Cons

I had been very curious about amateur radio, but the price of gear seemed overwhelming. I never thought I'd be able to dedicate a large enough amount of money to dabble in amateur radio.

However, as a potential new ham, I could swing the $30 for a Baofeng HT, $20 for accessories, and $15 for my technician's license test without worrying too much. I'm sure Baofengs aren't the best quality equipment, but as a a low-barrier entry gateway to the hobby they sure seem great to me.

And, as an aside, I bought an Icom ID51-A to experiment with D-Star, etc. The radio looks and feels much more polished, but it's overwhelming in its complexity (at least to this newbie). I'm still using my Baofeng happily while I figure out the Icom ... but there may come a point when I give up the $300 radio and just enjoy using my $30 radio.

 

I won two of mine, and I bought three more of them. Very handy to keep around in the truck/car in the house, at work, etc. You never know when you need ham radio. I think it's cool that you can get a functional radio for so cheap. I got the programming cable and some free software off the internet, and I programmed all of them pretty much the same. I've even used them as loaner radios for events and for folks just getting started in the hobby.

My main portable is a Alinco DJ-500, and I love it. It is a lower priced radio than most. I like that it's durable, long lasting even on the stock battery (the extended battery is amazing!) and easy to program. The receive is also very good on this radio, not to mention the speaker is very loud and crisp.

I also have a Yaesu VX7R and that works well too. I just don't like the belt clip. Other than that, it works okay.

 

I bought a UV5R a little over a year ago for approx $24 as my entree into ham radio. Expensive? Nah, not at all. It was nothing more than an experiment to gauge my interest in ham radio. I fully expected to play with the Baofeng and move on, never giving a second thought to AR. Despite the dearth of conversations on the repeaters in the area, I saw some potential and expanded into HF.
Now, I love HF, I very rarely spend any time on 2M or above anymore.
So by your calculations, the $24 dollars was a very expensive and complete waste of money. By mine, my life is immeasurably enriched!

I expect that over the years, my Baofeng will continue to do it's job. Next year, the cost will be approx $12.
If it dies, big deal. I buy a new one, for at a guess, $15.
If it doesn't die, the cost goes down even more, maybe settling at $8.
Past that, maybe $4.

The Baofeng is a gateway drug. Although not free, the first hit is really cheap!

 

Buy what you can afford and push its limits. When you can comfortably afford better stuff, buy or build it. Or not. It's really your call.

There's lots of room for everyone

Me, I'm thinking of building something, and I'd consider myself an "appliance operator!"

 

good entry level HT for a newbie on a budget

 

They are addicting. I have 7 of them now.

Too bad that they all use different chargers.

 

I understand they've been banned from the DMR network around here.

 

I have several HTs. When there is a possibility of dropping or bad weather, I use the 5R. It just plain works. I checked it out on my TV dongle spectrum analyzer & while it's not as clean as my VX-5R, it's within specs. I have another that's in my glove compartment for emergency.

Ed

 

The UV5R gave me the push to get the license I'd been wanting to get since I was 10 years old.

Now I've got a FT-991 (nice, wish I'd gotten something else) and the Comet Tribander for the 2m and above stuff, but I still like using the UV5Rs, usually in the car with a mag mount. Even with a half-baked cheap mag mount, the range on these is amazing. With my weird mini-discone on the truck I can hold simplex conversations with my stepfather 30 miles away.

Checked harmonics on my AirSpy, nothing is "beyond legal spec". Would I like it cleaner? Yeah, but I can't afford that. Spent it on the base station. Which I hardly use.

Got the new BTECH UV5R tribander, that's working fine. Hook that or my "old" UV5Rs to my base station's Comet (roof mounted) and I've got a range of over 50 miles.

Are they the best radios? No. Are they the best thing to happen to ham radio in decades? Oh yes, they are. Possibly better than SDR (which is also a wonderful thing which I love). And...they're 25 bucks. I might add never had one fail (given away a few!) and they get smacked around pretty good in the truck.

The old rubber ducks they provided were not that great. The new ones seem pretty equivalent to the aftermarket stuff and I no longer tell interested parties to get a new antenna. Really don't feel it's needed.

 

Thanks for tips
I have a couple of the GT-3TP units that go up to 8watts. So far, they're still good about 8 months into use. I guess the bottom line is, we get what we pay for. Great in the short term, and we all love a bargain. Only thing is..... at what price? The cheaper these kind of units get, then probably, in the long term, the more expensive the better units get, as their sales number declines:-(

 

Tried many of these radios, and most of them have a birdie on 442.0 -- on the frequency of one of our local repeaters. Depending on how strong the repeater is, you may not hear the repeater well due to the birdie. Only one of the earlier models of Wouxon seems to not have this problem, but these chinese radios seem to usually have the 442.0 birdie.

Check out one before buying to make sure it's 'clean' on the frequency you plan to use.

 

That's because they have a 26 MHz reference oscillator. You will also probably have birdies on other harmonics of 26 MHz.

 

I was at the Orlando Hamfest with a friend. We both had Bao Feng radios. We tried calling each other but nothing heard. Seems these radios become de-sensitized in a strong RF environment. There were so many HT's getting keyed up that the front ends were over-loaded on our BF Radios. Moral of the story: Take a real HT to a hamfest!
73
AF4RK

 

I never said it was a complete waste of money. What I did say, or actually infer, was that the odds of the Baofeng lasting 30 years, used daily, with no problems and still functional was somewhere between slim and none. I know people here in town that have purchased them and had them die within a year with steady, daily use. For those that play with them and move on, $24.00 is cheap, for those that use them daily, I bet my Icom is cheaper and of a far higher quality when it comes to spectral purity with regards to FCC regulations, general quality of transmit and receive signals, etc. for daily use over the long haul. I thought my point was pretty obvious... and I'm sticking to it

And, as I also said, as a $10.00 (or $24.00) local repeater monitor, they're just fine.

 

I was a bit undecided about these guys, but for the price why not. After programing it all was well, nice receive but will go deaf near my pc. Seems like the front end gets overloaded easy. Second issue I found was the nice but unwanted spurs. My condo association when absolutely ballistic, even to the point of not allowing any transmitting deice in the association. I did manage to quell that at great cost to me. In short this cheap little handheld was a very expensive adventure.

Nice and cheap, as the old tried and true adage goes: you get what you pay for. I would NOY recommend or even give away one of these things to a new ham. I am a firm believer that in the long run we will lose more news hams after using this cheap thing. I would rather lend them my new Icom HT than give them a free cheap thing like this.