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The Baofeng UV-5R: Better than you thought . . .

2RT307 said:
I see in the posts that some fellas are having great results with the stock antenna. I am curious if anyone has tried other antennas, and what were the results? Also, have any of you guys picked up the speaker/mic and tried it?

73,
RT307
Click to expand...

I bought a few extra antennas for the UV 5R that I have. The stock rubber duck that came with mine works but not as well as the gain antennas' I bought. I got a few off of Ebay, I'm not sure right now what model numbers they are as I don't have it in front of me but one antenna is about 16 inches long, it really gets out there and hits a lot of distant repeaters, where the stock antenna cant' bring the same repeaters up. The gain antennas are relatively cheap on Ebay. Note that if you use one of the gain antennas that is real long you may have a problem with the HT falling over on the table or wherever you set it down . The longer antenna tends to put it off balance and it will fall over easily if you aren't careful.

I also got the speaker mic, and it works a lot better than the mic on the HT. What I did to improve the audio on the UV 5R is I took a tiny drill bit and carefully made the small mic hole a wee bit larger in diameter. This seems to have made the audio a little louder and cleaner sounding according to a few people I spoke with on my local repeater.
 
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I signed up for the Yahoo group, and went to the zoo. :laugh: Man, that is one crazy forum! I think the moderators may be a little overwhelmed with the amount of traffic there. One really good tip I did pick up: don't use the CD that comes with the usb cable to program your rig.... everyone says they are getting a nasty Trojan Horse virus as a Merry Christmas from the Chinese.

73,
RT307
 
The root cause of the increased traffic on that Yahoo group is from cheap assed non technical HAMS trying to get help programming the damn thing.

Most want instant gratification and someone to spoonfeed them info on how to program it. Normally, I say RTFM, but the one that comes with it scrambles my brain.

:D

The Boefeng is much nicer than the Wouxun, IMHO. (y)
 
I've only used the OEM antenna and it seems to work just fine. However, I have only had the opportunity to use it on VHF from local 2m repeater, which worked just fine but I'm only about 6 miles from the repeater / tower. It's also not surprising that I'm able to talk to my dispatch on narrow band freq since our repeater is on the same tower. I have not used mine on any UHF channels simply because nobody around here (Ham wise) is using UHF channels. I did get a SMA/239 adapter to hook up to an old VHF mobile antenna screwed to the guttering of the house to play about with simplex to see how it does.

There are a few minor things I do not like about the radio in functions / programming but overall for the cost of these units I love it (y)
 
For the money they cant be beat, however.

I find the stock battery less than adequate for all but recreational use, better get a spare or the 3800mah battery.

The antenna supplied was a strange hybrid, resonant on 2meters, and (almost) dead on GMRS freq but lacking on 440. This actually worked out pretty well for me until the solder joint broke. I suppose any "stiff" antenna could break like this.

One one of my units, part of the display shows dimly in cold weather, the first digit (think ch over ch 99) and the arrow pointing to upper or lower display. Strangely it lights up solid when powering on.

My other unit is currently somewhere deep underground in a cavern, it will be interesting to see how well it has held up in the cool moist atmosphere of the underground.
 
m42duster said:
The root cause of the increased traffic on that Yahoo group is from cheap assed non technical HAMS trying to get help programming the damn thing.

Most want instant gratification and someone to spoonfeed them info on how to program it. Normally, I say RTFM, but the one that comes with it scrambles my brain.

:D

The Boefeng is much nicer than the Wouxun, IMHO. (y)
Click to expand...

I now have two of these units, one a UV-5R+ (BFB297), and a UV-5R (BFB293). The Plus radio has a little nicer case, and a metal faceplate. Downside is it's a little heavier than the regular 5R. I used CHIRP to program, and followed the instructions. I have never programmed repeaters and tones, so it was a totally new experience for me. Fairly straightforward, and relatively easy to do. My driver for the cable was wrong, but by following the instructions from here: UV5R New User Guide, I got that straightened out. Cloned the second radio with no problems either. I have since ordered a couple Nagoya NA-771's to see how they perform. I only dropped 22 bucks on two antennas, so if they suck, I can just whip myself with them. :D

73,
RT307
 
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2RT307 said:
I now have two of these units, one a UV-5R+ (BFB297), and a UV-5R (BFB293). The Plus radio has a little nicer case, and a metal faceplate. Downside is it's a little heavier than the regular 5R. I used CHIRP to program, and followed the instructions. I have never programmed repeaters and tones, so it was a totally new experience for me. Fairly straightforward, and relatively easy to do. My driver for the cable was wrong, but by following the instructions from here: UV5R New User Guide, I got that straightened out. Cloned the second radio with no problems either. I have since ordered a couple Nagoya NA-771's to see how they perform. I only dropped 22 bucks on two antennas, so if they suck, I can just whip myself with them. :D

73,
RT307
Click to expand...
Let us know how those Nagoya antennas work out, as this might be the cheaper solution for this inexpensive radio's performance.
Just might buy a Nagoya myself and check it out.
 
m42duster said:
Good deal.

I really like mine. I've had mine longer than any other HT I have ever owned and I have owned many many various handhelds. For some reason, I really like this one.
Click to expand...

I have to say, I bought the UV-3R just before I got licensed for tech, and used it till I could get me a 10m/12m radio, later got me an all-band Yaesu-857D for the truck. I now managed to get me a UV-5R The 5R is not only built better than the 3R, but the alpha tags make using it a dream! I can't remember all the frequencies I plug into it, which is why I put them in the memory in the first place! Now if they just make a D-Star or a cheap HF hand held, we'd be set!
 
2RT307 said:
I now have two of these units, one a UV-5R+ (BFB297), and a UV-5R (BFB293). The Plus radio has a little nicer case, and a metal faceplate. Downside is it's a little heavier than the regular 5R. I used CHIRP to program, and followed the instructions. I have never programmed repeaters and tones, so it was a totally new experience for me. Fairly straightforward, and relatively easy to do. My driver for the cable was wrong, but by following the instructions from here: UV5R New User Guide, I got that straightened out. Cloned the second radio with no problems either. I have since ordered a couple Nagoya NA-771's to see how they perform. I only dropped 22 bucks on two antennas, so if they suck, I can just whip myself with them. :D

73,
RT307
Click to expand...

I am waiting for the Nagoya 660 to come in. Seen allot of good reviews on the Nagoya antennas. We will have to see.
 
I have the Nagoya 771 antenna on my Baofeng UV 5R and it works great. I have tried 2 other Nagoya shorter antennas but the 771 works much better for me than the shorter ones. I believe the 771 is almost 16 inches long so it makes it a little wobbly when set on the table.
 
I have heard of the Nagoya 771 and have read allot of reviews on it. From what I can see longer isn't always better. It would seem that it works well for VHF, but UHF performance is about the same a the stock antenna.
 

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