FCC banning FRS combination radios September 30 2019

[Clusterfrack]

I agree with @mtnbkr. I use my Baofengs with a chode antenna a lot--for short range comms in the backcountry, often when cell service is the fallback. I wouldn't count on them for anything more important. I have a Yaesu HT (with rollup antenna) and a Garmin InReach for that. The InReach is an outstanding communication tool, but expensive given the initial cost and subscription.

[mtnbkr]

BTW, I stumbled upon this bit of info on another forum and thought it might add some context to what I've been ranting about here with regard to Baofengs:

Before 2020 the ARRL routinely tested handhelds to see if they were in compliance with FCC spectral purity.

Data for Baofeng radios published in the January 2020 QST page 61:

Year*****Radios*****Compliant******Borderline***** *Noncompliant
2016*****108*********9%***********33%**********57%
2017*****88**********5%***********26%**********69%
2019*****45**********9%***********13%**********78%

In 2016 Wouxon was 83% compliant/17% noncompliant out of 45 radios.

Everything else was 100% compliant. Which means that if it is advertised in QST, it has a very high probability of being compliant.

Also, as you can see, as time has passed, they've actually gotten worse. Fewer examples tested, but a higher percentage were noncompliant. Wouxon, another chinese radio I have some practical experience with, seems to be better, but still not as good as those from the "big three".


***to enforce table spacing because I can't forum today.

Chris

[Guerrero]

BTW, I stumbled upon this bit of info on another forum and thought it might add some context to what I've been ranting about here with regard to Baofengs:



Also, as you can see, as time has passed, they've actually gotten worse. Fewer examples tested, but a higher percentage were noncompliant. Wouxon, another chinese radio I have some practical experience with, seems to be better, but still not as good as those from the "big three".


***to enforce table spacing because I can't forum today.

Chris

This should help reinforce your point

[jh9]

BTW, I stumbled upon this bit of info on another forum and thought it might add some context to what I've been ranting about here with regard to Baofengs:



Also, as you can see, as time has passed, they've actually gotten worse. Fewer examples tested, but a higher percentage were noncompliant. Wouxon, another chinese radio I have some practical experience with, seems to be better, but still not as good as those from the "big three".


***to enforce table spacing because I can't forum today.

Chris

Data for Baofeng radios published in the January 2020 QST page 61:

Year     Radios     Compliant      Borderline       Noncompliant
2016     108           9%           33%               57%
2017      88           5%           26%               69%
2019      45           9%           13%               78%

Use the [code] tag to get fixed with font

[RoyGBiv]

This should help reinforce your point

Holy cannoli !

I knew they were dirty, but, wow...

Thanks for that.

[ST911]

BTW, I stumbled upon this bit of info on another forum and thought it might add some context to what I've been ranting about here with regard to Baofengs:

Also, as you can see, as time has passed, they've actually gotten worse. Fewer examples tested, but a higher percentage were noncompliant. Wouxon, another chinese radio I have some practical experience with, seems to be better, but still not as good as those from the "big three".

***to enforce table spacing because I can't forum today. Chris

Interesting, thank you. I'm running that Yaesu parallel to a UV5R and BF8-8HP to see what I see.

I don't know if or how it might relate to your table, but I'll note: Over about the same period of time, I saw progressively fewer firmware versions and programming errors/quirks. Might be a big leap, but I wonder if there was a sufficient amount of radio-to-radio, vendor, or manuf variations to mask issues. And/or some production variable narrowed to produce the measures you post.

[mtnbkr]

Interesting, thank you. I'm running that Yaesu parallel to a UV5R and BF8-8HP to see what I see.

I don't know if or how it might relate to your table, but I'll note: Over about the same period of time, I saw progressively fewer firmware versions and programming errors/quirks. Might be a big leap, but I wonder if there was a sufficient amount of radio-to-radio, vendor, or manuf variations to mask issues. And/or some production variable narrowed to produce the measures you post.

That I couldn't tell you.

Another test I'd like to see is one showing the difference in receive performance between a Japanese radio, a Baofeng with the factory antenna, and a Baofeng with a high gain antenna (such as a roll-up j-pole at elevation or a handheld yagi). I don't think most people appreciate what results from having a higher gain antenna and a front end without sufficient filtering.

Slight veer off topic...
I went camping this weekend with another amateur radio guy and a mutual friend (not into radio). Other radio guy and I putzed around a lot with HF radios and various antennas (both of us making DX contacts into Canada and Europe at QRP levels from the WV mountains).

We also did a distance test with our HTs on their lowest power settings. I walked in one direction with my Yaesu VX-7r set at .05w, he used his Icom at .5w. We got about 1.5miles apart in rolling and wooded terrain before we got tired of the exercise and went back to camp for beers. At the most distant, he was hitting my signal meter at about half to two-thirds scale, but still perfectly understandable (slight bit of hiss). On his end, I was perfectly understandable, but with a little noise. We probably could have gotten another half mile or more apart before quality was reduced enough to require increasing power. Both of us were using rubber duck antennas on our HTs. His was the factory one, I was using a shortened 2m antenna from Smiley Antennas (4" long vs the factory 8" antenna).

Chris

[mtnbkr]

This should help reinforce your point

Thanks. Yeah, that's a good visual representation.

Chris