The article? I'm a little skeptical, as the author seemed a little too "secret squirrel." On the other hand, Ellifritz linked to it in his weekly info dump.Originally Posted by RoyGBiv
The article? I'm a little skeptical, as the author seemed a little too "secret squirrel." On the other hand, Ellifritz linked to it in his weekly info dump.
From Older Offspring after a discussion of coffee:
"If it doesn't come from the Kaffa province of Ethiopia, it's just hot roasted-bean juice."
Apologies for a little drift. Radio noob here. Amazon has a few BaoFeng USB charging options. Do these work well enough? The charging station may not be convenient if peaceful protests break out in my neighborhood. I have USB power banks and car USB ports that could be used on the go.
I got my Tech a few months ago to use with my two Baofeng UV-5Rs so I've got some recent experience with this. First I'll second the recommendation for the site hamstudy.org. That site lets you track your progress so you know what questions you keep getting wrong. Once your ready to test you can either set up an online test or do as I did and look up a local test on the AARL web site. The licenses are processed very fast. I took mine on Saturday and had my call letters on Monday. The ATF should take some notes.
As for the radios themselves the Baofengs have become very popular with the tactical/airsoftmilsim crowd. Nothing like seeing a guy who spend thousands on NODs and is plugging his $300 Peltors and $100 PTT into a $30 Chinese radio. As others have said while you can listen all you want, you HAVE to have a license to transmit. These radios have access to a very wide selection of UHF and VHF frequencies that include the Family Radio Service, emergency bands, and business bands. However once you have your license your limited to 144 MHz to 148 MHz and 420 MHz to 450 MHz. Allot of people use these radios outside of the proper bands and with no license however as enforcement is spotty at best.
Once you get you License all set up your going to want to talk to someone. The best way to do this is to find your local repeaters and program them into your radio using a programing cable. While you CAN manually program this stuff in, Baofengs are so user unfriendly in this regard that I always just use a program called CHIRP to set up my frequencies. Repeaters, as you may already know, simply take your signal in on one frequency and then rebroadcast it in another frequency at much higher power, allowing you to have much greater range than you otherwise would have. Some repeaters are even linked into networks of multiple repeaters covering large areas. Using my UV-5R I can hit a repeater about 20 miles away and talk to the whole metro area that's 75-100 miles or more away.
Resources:
https://www.miklor.com/uv5r/ Good info on how to operate a UV-5R types, which should include BF-F8HP
https://signalstuff.com/product/supe...tick-sma-male/ I use one of these on my "main" radio. They work very well and i've had no isses with the radio being overpowered and going deaf.
http://www.arrl.org/ National organization of all things ham
https://www.repeaterbook.com/index.php searchable database of repeaters with everything you need to program them into your radio
https://www.radioreference.com/ You can look up local frequencies for both government and businesses. Be aware that many PDs etc. today have gone with trunked/encrypted radio systems that require more specialized equipment to listen in than a basic radio.
Great thread: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....-Amateur-Radio
On the radio itself:
On licensing:
الدهون القاع الفتيات لك جعل العالم هزاز جولة الذهاب
I just read this article:
https://www.integratedskillsgroup.co...take-a-baofeng
I already knew that BaoFeng's were literally a step up from nothing, so what's the next step above BaoFeng's? A Yaesu of some kind? Which model?
I'm still not quite sure about the specific thing I'm looking for in a basic HAM HT.
From Older Offspring after a discussion of coffee:
"If it doesn't come from the Kaffa province of Ethiopia, it's just hot roasted-bean juice."
What are you going to want to do with it?
I have a relatively expensive Alinco HT that has never performed any better than my cheapo Baofengs. In fact, the Alinco battery shit the bed after about a year and I didn't bother to replace it because I could buy 2 more Baofengs for the cost of the battery. I keep one Baofeng attached to my gear bag and try to remember to use it occasionally. The battery has never been dead, even after 6 months of sitting on the shelf.
I have lots of weather service friends/colleagues that own fancy digital Yaesu HT's. When it comes to hitting the local repeaters, my Baofeng is no less clear with no noticeable loss of range/distance.
Buy the Baofeng. See how you use it. If you wind up upgrading later for whatever reason, the Baofeng is a good backup that you've only spent $20 or so on.
Did you get a license??
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
My Baofengs have been very useful for short-range comms. But my Yaesu VX-8DR is in a different league. Under good conditions, I can open repeaters 50 miles away with the OEM duck antenna. With a rollup, it's even better. The Yaesu also shines in receiving weak signals, and is a very rugged radio.
Last edited by Clusterfrack; 01-15-2021 at 03:51 PM.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
That's a nice HT. Submersible.
Baofeng would be smart to come out with a version of the UV-5R that can get wet. It's the one feature that is glaringly missing. I carry a few Glad sandwich bags in my gear bag and use a remote mic/earbud most of the time. Functional, but, not glamorous.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
Discontinued
From Older Offspring after a discussion of coffee:
"If it doesn't come from the Kaffa province of Ethiopia, it's just hot roasted-bean juice."
HTs are a tricky thing. Manufacturers now try to stuff too much into them, making them support multiple bands, modes, and even receive (without transmit) on non-ham frequencies. While this sounds great on paper, the end result is a radio that doesn't perform well in challenging environments because the front end can't be too restrictive. I prefer single-band HTs without wideband receive for critical applications (which for me is a SOTA activation on a high-value summit). I've used my Icom IC-V8 (single band, no wideband receive) HT next to my Yaesu VX-7r (all the bells and whistles except digital) and the difference is immediately apparent. The Icom will hear signals the Yaesu is deaf to, even with squelch wide open. I still keep and use the Yaesu because it's more flexible, durable, and compact. But, when I go to a summit with plans to activate it on 2m, I take the Icom.
What do you intend to do? Repeater-based comms? Simplex? Are you operating portable (on foot) or mobile (in a vehicle)? How far away is the repeater or other station (if simplex)? What is the terrain like?
The Yaesu FT-25r and FT-65r radios are just China-manufactured Yaesus. They're better than Baofeng, but still suffer from some of the architectural issues of Baofeng (separate from the QC issues). If I wanted a good, basic Yaesu, I'd get the FT-60r. There's a reason it has been around for about 15 years. It's probably the best low-tech HT on the market right now and has a receiver virtually on par with my IC-V8. In Icom, you'd probably want to get one of their mid-to-high end models. Their entry-level radio, the IC-V86, doesn't have the best performance. It's a step down from their previous single-band radios like the IC-V8, IC-V80, etc. Kenwood's radios tend to get good reviews, and their entry-level HT seems solid. However, there aren't many out there.
Like RoyGBiv implied, get licensed. The Tech license is easy to get and they do exams online right now due to the pandemic.
Once you get licensed, I recommend getting involved with a radio sport like Summits On The Air (SOTA) or Parks On The Air (POTA) in order to get some reps in operating your radio and communicating with others.
My VX-7r is the VX-8's predecessor. With a slim-jim antenna up 15' or so in a tree on a summit, I've made contacts as far away as a confirmed 65 miles summit-to-summit. Others have gone as far as 100 miles. Bob Witte, K0NR, has a great web page on VHR FM operating, btw.
This Sunday I'm going out with a buddy to activate a nearby summit. We decided to make this a VHF activation. I'm going to use 2m and 6m (144mhz and 50mhz) via my two HTs and two slim-jim antennas (the 6m slim-jim is 10' long!). It also turns out this is the weekend for the ARRL VHF contest, so there'll be lots of folks on the air.
Chris
Reply With Quote
