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| Baofeng UV-5R |
I once again found myself strapped for cash for a new radio project and sold my Wouxun KG-UV3D to help fund it. This left me without a VHF/UHF rig for a few months until I stumbled upon the Baofeng UV-5R. These little handheld VHF/UHF radio can currently (as of 12SEP13) be had from Amazon.com for a mere $32 USD. As the saying goes - "You get what you pay for", but in this case I feel like you actually get a little more than what you pay for. It's a very compact handheld radio that will easily fit in a pants pocket, or the nook or cranny of you rucksack. It comes standard with a respectable 1800mah Lithium rechargeable battery, that, from a full charge will power the radio on squelched standby for 2-3 days. It's fully capable of wideband TX & RX (be careful where you transmit!), 4 watts output, CTSS, DCS, standard repeater offsets, split frequency offsets, and dual channel receive. Needless to say it will functionally do 90% of what other fancy handheld radios will do, for a fraction of the cost. Now, keep in mind it is NOT waterproof, or dust proof, like the Wouxun, Yaesu's etc. but the thrifty know that a heavy duty Ziploc bag can solve that problem! I wouldn't expect this radio to survive a tumble off any mountain cliffs, etc. but if your life doesn't depend on it, no worries! Just go order another one! You could easily buy four of these radios before you're up to the initial cost of a Wouxun KG-UV3D. The UV-5R has a full coverage FM receiver which is a nice feature. It also has a bright LED flashlight on the top of the radio, that can be turned to strobe mode with a second push of the button.
So what are the negatives of the UV-5R? The stock antenna is inadequate, and you'd be wise to purchase a better antenna for ~$5 from Amazon. After a short QSO on 2m, the 2m loading coil on my stock antenna was nearly too hot to touch! That's not good at all...However, on 70cm's the stock antenna works pretty decently - granted, I have not done any SWR analysis or the like, but it works well enough for general use. Like the Wouxun, the UV-5R has an annoying TX/RX light on the front panel that you can not turn off. Some paint or tape might be a quick fix. The menu system is not intuitive at all, so I highly recommend you also spend the extra $6 or $7 and get the USB programming cable. The software included with the programming cable did not even install correctly for me, but the CHIRP software is available for download at no cost, and quite simple to use.
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| Annoying RX/TX LED |
In summary, the Baofeng UV-5R is a great buy at only $32 USD. It would make a great second radio to keep in your car, take on hikes, or anywhere where you don't want to risk abusing your shiny shack queen handheld radio. It would also be an excellent radio for new amateur radio operators wanting to get their feet wet, and try out VHF/UHF repeaters. I even expect young kids just getting involved in amateur radio could figure out how to get their hands on $32
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| Baofeng UV-5R size comparison to a normal sized mug. |
