Baofeng G11S GMRS Walkie-Talkie Review & Range Test

[@djsoundzentertainment42]

Proof that the antenna's efficiency is more important than wattage alone.

[@JacobWinkle]

Ya, I bought a ham radio book to learn more before I bought a radio and act like a fool haha. Was learning about sound waves and things of that sort. Read some forms and people made a really good point about that, you could have the best radio in the world but if you take the antenna off. Your radio is no better than the cheapest radio out there. I don't have a Ham radio or license but I have my GMRS license since 2020 and I run a MXT400 in the car with the long Midland antenna which I think is 36 or something like that I believe but I wanted to stick with the brand to brand antenna and has been working fantastic since 2020. Antenna is mounted on the roof as from my understanding, is the best place for antennas and made the decision to drill a hole in the roof instead of using a magnet as magnetic mounts can cause interference with the signal. Hope this helps anyone getting into radios.

[@etmccaus]

Budget radios in a Aston Martin? Now I've seen everything. :-)

[@bulldogbrower6732]

I’d love to see the results of these radios on your 113 acre ranch at 1, 2, and 3 miles. After all, these are walkie talkies and are not made to transmit through the metal roof of a car. A ground test would certainly be valuable information for hikers and campers. Thanks for taking the time to review the GMRS ranges.

[@BrianGreenstone]

I thought about doing that, but I think I need more than 113 acres to do a proper test. It’s not far enough from any one point to any other point. Maybe a state park would be better because I’d have miles to work with.

[@justicejones5025]

Great video - thanks... I may end up buying a pair of the G11S's. Subscribed.....

[@negolfman]

Remember the FM radio feature on the Baofeng.

[@waynecox5138]

Also if I had a ranch and cabin in the hill country of Texas (envy), I would look at something like a RADIODDITY DB25-G GMRS MOBILE RADIO for the cabin.

[@Zach-K7FC]

The radio rabbit hole goes deeper. It’s almost sacrilegious to say a Baofeng is better than… anything. Glad you’re enjoying radio communications. Keep up the radio videos.

[@BrianGreenstone]

I wasn’t aware they had a bad reputation. I’m loving this pair, however. Might not have the range of my Wouxan’s, but I still like them more.

[@Zach-K7FC]

@@BrianGreenstone If you’re looking for more info on GMRS radios NotARubicon on KZbin is the people’s champion. You could get more range with a mobile radio with a mounted antenna outside your metal car. Mobile GMRS can go up to 50 watts of power. I realize you probably don’t want to do that to a high end vehicle though. There are also temporary window antenna mounts, that allow you to put the 771 on the outside of your car for better reception.

[@stevenw4334]

but they kinda are better not alot but better.

[@starsoldier3643]

I'm thinking on buying these radios on the first.

[@ReallifeBambiDeerattheFarm1]

I have 2 KG-805 radios and couldn't be happier with them. The Midlands are just toys compared to them. Just my opinion. From WRDZ563

[@robertmeyer4744]

yes they are great radios for the money. I have the Baofeng G11S been using them, great battery life. also with the Nagoya NA-77G antenna gives quite a range boost. and the Retevis RB 27 is the same radio just different color. everything swaps over. and Baofeng makes the UV5X GMRS radio and that is 5 watts.also known as UV5G . That extra range happens some time in UHF radios. isotropic tunneling . it's a air mass that causes UHF to tunnel along. also known as inversion . There is videos that explain on youtube. nice test in a car. with the removable antenna you can use car antenna on roof like a mag mount. as for GMRS it is legal . FRS is not. and they charge from Bigblue folding solar USB panel as well as a power bank. USB charging is the way to go. and the G11S will fit in the Retevis drop in charger as well. That one has a USB A plug on it. also the ch 8 to 14 are low power only .and the speaker mic is a great add on. just keep dry or put in large ziplock bag and you can use inside the bag.

[@shawnwade302]

Another thing is nice is currently the FCC license for the gmrs frequencies has dropped from $70 for a 10-year license down to $35.

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

Do you use these to talk, or to beat people away, physically?

[@jaybarr3307]

Doesn't look like it can stand up on a surface though. Probably can but, if not, it would bug me. Nice review. The one feature I wish you'd mentioned is whether we can store multiple repeaters using the same frequency, but different tones and whether it'd do split tones.

[@fastdude2002]

I have this radio. It will stand up but it’s not that stable. It does do split tones and has 24 DIY channels to store multiple repeaters on the same frequency but with different tones. It’s a great basic radio that I end up using more than my other radios. The only thing it doesn’t do that I miss is it will not scan to find what CTCSS/DCS tones another user is using so you can communicate with them if needed.

[@FaizulHamid]

great video, thanks

[@waynecox5138]

One more comment and I’ll quit blowing up your comments. I went and checked batteries. The 805g is only 200Mah larger. Not that much difference. The other Wouxun raidios I listed can use 3200mah batteries which are over twice the capacity.

[@unk8371]

What kind of car is that? The interior is nice!

[@TheBruegmann]

Aston DBX

[@shawnwade302]

Except for the flashlight feature the wouxun does everything baofeng does and more but the baofeng is geared towards more simple operation for people that are as big of a radio nerd as many gmrs licensed people are. It's a shame that those baofengs aren't 5 watts.

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

The UV5R ... (half the price)

[@casavilla458]

Also could have been a situation on the traffic more metal Vehicles more obstruction possibility or I should say less Vehicles than usual

[@jackalo626]

I am new and done much research but some questions I can't find answers to. I am interested in this Baofeng G11S but am unsure it does all I want. I want a gmrs communicator and police scanner to stay in touch with my neighborhood safety. The frequency I found these work on is "Scanning Receiver Frequency band: 136.0-174.0 & 400.0-512.0MHz" but my local police show they start with 851.xxx for instance. Can you elaborate on if this scanner will receive those and how to get those on this scanner if so? Thanks for your time and thanks for the video.

[@bjammer8936]

just watched your Fisker karma review, will you be getting the Fisker Ocean coming out in 2022/2023?

[@spyder000069]

Wonder how the Pofung P11UV would compare. Appears to be a G11S but they rate it at 5 watts and are $36 on amazon.

[@clydeosterhout1221]

It’s exactly the same.

[@phillipnelson6076]

You might get much better range with sm external antenna as the car shell will restrict signal propagation. Also aftermarket antennas are better than the stock (although the Midland handheld radios have fixed antennas ).

[@djsoundzentertainment42]

I believe he is doing the test this way to show how it would perform in a kind of "worst case scenario" to show real world range. No upgrading of antennas, no getting out of the metal car for them both to show a real way people use radios.

[@BrianGreenstone]

Yes, I actually shot footage testing it with my Nagoya NA771G antenna, but decided to edit all that out and keep the video simple.

[@phillipnelson6076]

My first GMRS radio was a Motorola which I used to communicate between my car and my daughters on a holiday trip. We got 2 miles in distance on a flat stretch in SC. However I have since gotten somewhat better radios with aftermarket antennas and the sensitivity of the radio "increased" with better antennas. With all the attention the past year or so with GMRS radios such a test would be interesting to the dedicated GMRS users.

[@Sav-E.]

Did the Nagoya antenna significantly improve the range over the stock baofeng antenna?

[@brianbrown4965]

the pont is your in a metal car and you will loose a lot of tx rx outside open range a lot better . nice vid

[@BrianGreenstone]

Yeah, I kept forgetting to mention in review that I was sitting in giant faraday cage.

[@ReallifeBambiDeerattheFarm1]

@@BrianGreenstone You should look into a nice MNO antenna for the car. That will increase range dramatically. 73 from WRDZ573/K0CBS

[@TheSoball358]

I get 5 miles on my motorola t465. Yes, its scratches and there is static. But were hitting that range np.

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

That car's mainly plastic.

[@waynecox5138]

These seem similar to the Radioddity GM-30. The Wouxun is also water and dust resistant if you’re operating in adverse conditions. The battery in the 805g should also be significantly larger. Wouxun has at least 3 higher level radios beyond the 805g. 905g, 935g and UV-9g.

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

I'd like to see how the radio holds up if he drives into a river. THAT would be a good review!

[@normanhill535]

67 hz tone is a common default tone.

[@damianoverlander6766]

Thank you for sharing . I am thinking to buy one Baofeng G11s but before I want to know if that radio use the same privacy code like Motorola , Cobra , Midland ?

[@BrianGreenstone]

I’m actually not sure if privacy codes work across brands. I’ve never actually bothered using privacy codes because They don’t really work. Any radio with privacy codes turned off can hear the conversations on a radio that has them on. It’s only private when everyone has privacy codes enabled.

[@clydeosterhout1221]

They do work together, as the tones are standardized. The tones in this unit are all found in drop down menus. The tones on Midland radios have to be derived from a chart in the manual.

[@coctailer]

Try the UV-9G :-)

[@cam_o_style91]

I got the same radio just another name retcv15

[@saltillokid11]

Would you happen to know how to unlock the privacy code?

[@BrianGreenstone]

I don’t remember the exact combination of things in the menu system offhand, but you have to find the send and receive code section in the menu, cycle through it until you get to off. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but I don’t have the units in front of me.

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

@@BrianGreenstone Wouldn't want you to break a leg actually trying these out.

[@BrianGreenstone]

@@HarryHamsterChannel I try them out and then forget all the details as I never have to deal with them again. I’ve got my pair setup how I want, so I haven’t had to mess with anything since then.

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

Why do you recommend these to people who might actually use them? Did you get them free, also?

[@BrianGreenstone]

@@HarryHamsterChannel eh? I recommend them because I like them. I have this set here with me at our ranch and I used them this morning. The Wouxun one are at home and so used them last weekend. I did these reviews a few years ago. Why would I remember the minutiae of the menu systems and exactly where certain features that so don’t use are? I’ve also tested a ton of dash cams, and other than the Garmins which I still use I couldn’t tell you much about the others since I really don’t bother memorizing things I don’t need.

[@normanhill535]

Antennas. Did you test it with a repeater? Good review

[@BrianGreenstone]

No, unfortunately, there are no repeater stations anywhere near where I live.

[@clydeosterhout1221]

They work well with repeaters. I can hit a repeater 20+ miles away, no problem. It has the regular 8 repeater channels, but it has an additional 3 banks of repeater frequencies, allowing you to program multiple repeaters with the same freqs, but differing tones.

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

You mean together? Side by side? Pick them up and everything? Where's the entitlement?

[@stevenw4334]

you doing a china radio test in a bugatti? Just saybiys a Bugatti get billion views aha

[@BrianGreenstone]

Not a Bugatti. I wish.

[@sdriza]

​@@BrianGreenstonetotally a Bugatti! (....more or less....)

[@BrianGreenstone]

A lot less

[@jamestreanor182]

aston right?@@BrianGreenstone

[@ernestrichardson40]

Power meter test is better you have 5 w radio you want to get as close to 5 watches you can if it says 3 Watts I'm sending it back I saw the uv-9 G power test and it hit 4 W out of 5 w that is not bad! That's the kind of test I like to see but running all over the planet trying to measure distance that is boring and inconclusive! Because you have all kinds of terrain obstacles therefore I gave you a big fat five thumbs down, sorry but you earned it and you didn't have to try very hard!

[@BrianGreenstone]

Huh?

[@spudthegreaterusa8386]

Forgot to take your meds?

[@justicejones5025]

I actually found the "running all over the planet" testing in the car pretty informative. Because that's exactly what I do with my GMRS - use it while hunting, and in caravans with other vehicles.. I've purchase several different radios over the years, but keep on coming back to the sturdy - Baofeng UV-5R. It's my go-to radio, and have one in the car, at work, at home.. I always love seeing reviews on new Baofeng's though..