do you know of any equipment that can accomplish question #2 (doesnt have to be GSM/FRS at all, public frequencies would be fine). I’d really like to be able to get setup like that, where I can leave a unit at both my wife’s work and at our barn and be able to talk over those radios but because there’s other people there I dont care to let use my license so I’d only want them to be able to talk on the legal to transmit on the public channels but still hear me on mine.
Amazon has the BF-F8HP and the same store there sells the UV5RA in a pair with double everything for almost the same price. For the average user is the BF-F8HP that much better? Of course I want the F8 -it’s got more power, but for camping do I need that much more power?
I thought you only needed one radio to function as a repeater… now it’s two with a jumper between them like a telomere on a dividing cell. Whycome ya’ gotta use two of them radidios to make a repeater?
Adobe, sorry I just realized you are in Europe and might not get the spelling to sound like the ignorant red necks of my humble heritage. Humor is tricky.
do you know of any equipment that can accomplish question #2 Sorry no ...
For the average user is the BF-F8HP that much better? Its should be better for everyone , Its tri power , 3 power settings , so you use what you need , what makes it better is it has more power .
More range = Just make a external antenna , something like a vertical dipole , some RG58 , BNC connectors and a pole ( telescopic ) , even a commercially made magnetic base antenna , as long as you can get it up ( height )
I got this radio a month ago but got a problem with the power output.
If i use try to select high/med/lo transmit power on a saved frequency it always default on high i can’t set it at med or lo,meanwhile when not use a saved frequency i can set it either high/med/lo.
Anyone got the same problem as me?
i was always gonna TRY one of the cheap 2m hand rigs always on ebay and such… it wouldnt take much power for me to reach my local 2m repeater tower that a local club (MARC) keeps up.
I dont know about the OTHER countries, but, here in the US ?
any licensed HAM operator is allowed to own/MODIFY/use … “any” radio equipment, it is assumed as a licensed amateur, you are knowledgeable enough to ensure you are not transmitting on “no no” frequencies.
for instance, the 25 or 35 watt 2m mobile rig i used to run in my delivery truck for several years? it was perfectly legal that i opened up the freq’s, so i could LISTEN to the many local police departments that use the same freq just out of 2m… i am trusted not to transmit on that freq, naturally.
it was handy to drive around letting the rig “scan” my 2m repeaters i talked on, and if there was no action, it gave up local police calls too.
but thanks for the write up on the rig… i remember the baofeng name for cheap 2m rigs, wasnt there another cheap chinese name in 2m hand rigs too? cant recall it now…
Is that battery mod difficult to do? Would you be willing to explain how it was done? I would love to get a bigger battery onto something other than uv-5r.
You can always check “E-ham” but like Amazon reviews you can’t rely on everything you see there as being accurate. Still good for finding common issues and problems and sometimes the solutions for them.
I just got my Mark III a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to spot a sale item which came with the 3800mAh battery! It is big and clunky but lasts literally forever. Have been listening and scanning a few minutes every day and even after all this time I haven’t had to charge it yet!
But the AA battery mod is something I would prefer because the car charger solution is a joke. (putting the device into the (desk) drop-in charger while driving is not that great)
ps: I still don’t have the CHIRP cable yet and the plastic/chrome on/off switch is a turn-off. Need to replace it.
The Mark III is actually a good device for the price. 8W is true for me, have significantly increased performance with a good antenna. the one in the package is not bad either.
Remember to use Baofeng BF-F8HP in the CHIRP program for the GT-3 Mark III TP and not the Baofeng UV-5R (for the GT-3 Mark II) when you get your cable.