Baofeng Fanboys & Fan Girls

[TeeDee]

I thought it maybe useful to have a dedicated Baofeng Thread as it seems that the unit is the most common entry gateway tool for getting into Radio Hamming or just a useful little bit of kit in general for el cheapo financial outlay.

Despite passing my Foundation course some time ago I never really got around to cutting my teeth and actually using it.
I aim to rectify that an expand my knowledge and skills base somewhat in the next few months.


I've got a UV-5R base unit and I've just treated it to an increased Battery pack , a Slim-Jim whippy aerial , and a Car charger.

No doubt more add on toys will follow.

 

[Billy-o]

I am going to follow this one. My great uncle was a ham radio guy in the 70s and 80s .. well, most of his life. He was a radio operator in the merchant navy in the war and after. Had a shed at the bottom of the garden and was a magnificent yakker, in the Rhondda tradition

 

[cipherdias]

This has my interest….


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[stevec]

Get the program lead, and download chirp. Go to repeater net and download the CSV file of the UK repeaters. You will need to modify the columns to match what the baofeng wants. Dead easy to program up lots.

 

[TeeDee]

So a random search off of Youtube I found this UK based chap who has written an easy-yo-understand guide to Baofengs. Which I've ordered and will review.

PrepComms UK: A Practical Guide to Radio Communications for the Bushcraft, Prepper and Wild Camping Community: Amazon.co.uk: Gledhill, Paul: 9781976937804: Books

Buy PrepComms UK: A Practical Guide to Radio Communications for the Bushcraft, Prepper and Wild Camping Community by Gledhill, Paul (ISBN: 9781976937804) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

And this link will give you a UK programmed Radio Base unit thats good to go right out of the box that needs no extra programming.

Emergency Radio | Pre-Programmed

www.prepcomms.uk

 

[TeeDee]

Online Foundation Course.

 

[Robson Valley]

I might have to plug something in and turn it on this winter.
73
de
VE7APC
r

 

[Bishop]

The Baofeng's are insanely good value. I've got a background in micro-electronics and there is no way I could even buy the components needed for a dual band transceiver let alone shoe-horn them into a case that small for under £30!

 

[SCOMAN]

I have one I’ve used for maritime VHF and recently for working local repeaters. I bought the longer whip many recommend bought have struggled with the car cigarette lighter plug as it’s a bit of a temperamental fit to my car.

 

[stevec]

Also you need to remember that the front end filters are very wide. They receive broadcast FM all the way up to the 70cm amateur band. You can get front end filters that stop desense when it gets overloaded by broadcast stations that you can't hear because you are on 144MHz

 

[Broch]

Just spent the afternoon getting to grip with Chirp!

I've loaded 16 VHF channels, 8 UHF channels and the business licence (5w) PMR channels - It was easier than I was expecting and I've no idea why I didn't have a go earlier!

Haven't put any repeater channels in yet.

 

[Broch]

I know some of you have tried other antenna with these units; has there been any significant improvement in performance?

I have built a simple radio frequency power meter and I have tried out a couple of dual frequency (2m/70cm) antenna but none of them give as good transmission power as the antenna supplied with the UV-5R.

 

[mikehill]

I found the Nagoya 771 was way better

 

[Buckshot]

Broch, are they branded or copies?
I've heard the copies are generally awful while the branded ones work better that the originals. i have a couple of after market ones but haven't measured them to check performance.
Anecdotally, they seem to work OK but I'm not testing them on longer distances.

 

[Broch]

They are branded, but it's difficult to be 100% sure these days , but they are from many years ago.

I've ordered a Nagoya 771; I'll see how it performs.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KC4PWQQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've also got a calibrated RF noise source so I should be able to get some kind of calibration on the power meter.

 

[TeeDee]

Just spent the afternoon getting to grip with Chirp!

I've loaded 16 VHF channels, 8 UHF channels and the business licence (5w) PMR channels - It was easier than I was expecting and I've no idea why I didn't have a go earlier!

Haven't put any repeater channels in yet.

What did you require to do the CHIRP upload?

 

[Oliver G]

There's a download cable, you can get it from amazon, goes from USB to the Mic and speaker jacks. The software should be free.

 

[Broch]

What did you require to do the CHIRP upload?

The USB programming cable:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CP0I474/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and then download the latest Chirp software.

Don't use any of the drivers that come with the cable; download the latest CH341 driver from the internet. Load that first, then plug in the cable so Windows installs it.

 

[SaraR]

I know some of you have tried other antenna with these units; has there been any significant improvement in performance?

I have built a simple radio frequency power meter and I have tried out a couple of dual frequency (2m/70cm) antenna but none of them give as good transmission power as the antenna supplied with the UV-5R.

Mine are better with bigger antennas but more prone to frontend overload.

 

[Broch]

OK, so I've carried out some tests using the standard antenna and a NA-771 and the results are interesting. Some of you may be interested in my findings.

My radio is programmed to provide 16 of the VHF channels (V16 - V46 even numbers); 8 of the UHF channels (U272 - U286 even numbers); and the 15 Business Licence PMR channels. I tested the RF output at the lowest and highest frequencies; low, medium and high power settings; and with the two antenna.

In the chart below it is clear that the NA-771 provides a good performance improvement over the standard antenna at the lower frequency but considerably lower power at the higher frequency - the standard antenna performs consistently over the frequency range.

The power meter is not calibrated so the data is for comparison only and the numbers on the left don't mean anything - the x-axis is just the three power levels (so the diagram should just be three points for each configuration to be honest)

OK, not entirely scientifically rigorous perhaps but an interesting result.