Baofeng UV5R Review | Is it really worth the money?!

Quite a controversial piece of equipment on the market place, often labelled as a "cheap Chinese import" are these handheld radios really worth the money? Lets take a look and find out..

[@VA2DXR]

I have 3 of them, love them and also use 2 of the 8888s

[@RadioOddities]

For the money they are great radios

[@mw7fon709]

Actually a lot of people buy these radio for pmr and also a few friends of mine have them as back radio's on their boats which I have programmed with marine band freq ...so they are not specific for amateur use only

[@RadioOddities]

Is that not frowned upon though? Are OFCOM ok with that?

[@mw7fon709]

@@RadioOddities ....i haven't seen any where that they cant be used ...as they are programmed with marine band freq and you have a passed your src then i cant see a problem i would rather lose one of these over the gunnel than a £150 icom marine vhf

[@RadioOddities]

@@mw7fon709 yeah good point, if OFCOM are ok with it then it would be silly to risk anything more than one of these £20 set ups

[@dutchbeef8920]

I use mine as a cheap scanner, have got local business licences, local ham club and their net and PMR channels programmed in but also the UHF relay of the tower and ground frequencies of the local airport. They do scan be it slowly but with only around 30 channels it works fine. Especially the airport relay comes through very clear. I got it used of ebay very cheaply, have had no issues with it. I programmed it on the radio not chirp found it easy to do but then I don’t mess around with repeaters because im not licensed

[@k2cjbradio]

Yes, CHIRP makes a world of difference! I’ve had a UV5R for quite a few years. It’s a handy backup. I also think it’s a good economical entry level radio. I did do a non-scientific test on spurious emissions comparing it to an Icom T7A and it did show harmonics on a spectrum analyzer. They may have improved the filtering…at least I hope they did! Have fun with it! 73 de K2CJB

[@RadioOddities]

Far easier radio to use when paired with chirp. I’m led to believe the newer models are a lot cleaner than their predecessors- as a result of the FCC threatening to block their sale

[@cuddlybear_uk]

I have the updated UV-10R which has a slightly higher wattage and so far it's ok but in the city centre I find that many others can't hear me and I can't hear them but I have yet to try it somewhere I'm not surrounded by massive buildings.

[@RadioOddities]

Upgrade the stock antenna for improved performance

[@dougsbrat]

I have several, they are fine. I don’t have to fire up a spectrum analyzer to complain about filtering

[@RadioOddities]

Believe the problem was with the earlier models?

[@dougsbrat]

The antennas on the other hand are junk, order a better one. Hopefully you got the program cable. Those ear pieces should live in the box.

[@RadioOddities]

@@dougsbrat correct, not got the upgrade antenna yet but deffo will be purchasing.

[@otherstuf5]

It's PROFESSIONAL!

[@RadioOddities]

Good analaysis!

[@Dave44271]

Yes it is good for the price. Before Baofeng came along, it cost hundreds of dollars to start in the hobby of amateur radio.

[@box420]

Eh I keep one in my work backpack. To listen to noaa weather and other stuff. Never know when your going to need one

[@RadioOddities]

True, can’t get weather channels here in the uk but excellent for repeater work

[@markmorgan1716]

If I want to use it for air soft I shall you only need a licence if you want to use it as a repeater or part of a club not sure what you call it but using it for paintball or air soft is completely legal and no license is needed spoke to ofcom today

[@RadioOddities]

Yes but only if your not transmitting on the amateur frequencies

[@markmorgan1716]

@@RadioOddities which I wouldn’t be you can find channels that aren’t used for amateur radio enthusiasts but you basically said in the video anyone who doesn’t have a license who even holds the baofeng radio is breaking the law which isn’t true from what ofcom told me and they are the ones who issue the amateur radio licence that’s just my take on it

[@RadioOddities]

@@markmorgan1716 no you can use them for PMR which is unlicensed if it came across as that’s what I was saying I didn’t mean that

[@peterboyd2613]

Mine come in a crashed bashed up box just like that 😂

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

Still 20 dollars. Buy two.

[@RadioOddities]

Not a bad idea

[@charlieoscar09]

No it definitely is not......These throw spurious emissions all over the Spectrum stay well clear

[@RadioOddities]

That was on the earlier models, the news ones are pretty clean 👍🏻

[@charlieoscar09]

@@RadioOddities I think you will find they are not....There are a few videos on here showing these spectra analysed

[@RadioOddities]

@@charlieoscar09 they had to clean these radios up in order to sell them in the States, the FCC won’t allow them for sale otherwise.

[@michaeltrosenfeld]

How much do they throw vs what is allowed?

[@HarryHamsterChannel]

Try to relax. Can't afford 20 bucks?