Ham Radio - 3 of my budget transmitters ( Baofeng UV-5R - TYT UV8R - Tonfa UV-985 )

Comes under a variety of different names — found a review with links to sources:

Good quick summary on its features and quirks, with links to a FAQ:
It even has a button to call for MOM.
Oh, wait: “The Monitor button actually reads MOM, rather than MONI. Something got lost in translation.”

See also: 404 - Miklor

Yeah…funny how the Chinglish messes things up sometime

Mine does have the quirks which is annoying especially if I switch from A/B channel and the channel is live, it won’t break squelch until TX stops…which sucks when someone is talking a long time on the repeater…

Good little radios, but yeah…quirks…(or in M$ terms, its a feature not a bug) :slight_smile:

Nice the BTech doesn’t have those issues…cool

Saw on QRZnow.com that Baofeng is fixing to release those mobile radio setups too
http://qrznow.com/baofeng-tech-new-mobile-radios/

Payday I am going to order me one of those cheapo SDR dongles to test em out…hear they are pretty neat
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0129EBDS2?colid=1CKPREALJAYLA&coliid=I1298Z6US6WAMG&ref\_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl
I know there are much better ones out there…but they cost quite a bit more

I’ve been stalking around my house with my little AM radio recently, finding out which of my CFL and LED light bulbs are emitting radio frequency noise.
Surprisingly many of them do.

And I’m also starting to think about drivers as radio emitters —- I had one flashlight that became suspect one light a month ago when I happened to change its mode just as I walked past a car parked on the street — and the car alarm went off. (It wasn’t a proximity sensor of the “move away from the car” variety; haven’t gotten it to happen again. That was a LD-25 (2xAA) driver that was flaky at the time and since died).

Huh, I didn’t know about qrznow.com, though I knew about qrz.com; interesting site. No, this isn’t me:

but I can appreciate the depth of involvement

My local earthquake response folks are getting into using GMRS band radios, with a dedicated repeater uphill of town.

One warning from a ham with experience was that the cheap Chinese radios often come with a dedicated charger that must be unplugged once the battery’s charged.
No trickle mode, no full detection, and a dead battery in three days if the radio is left in the socket monitoring.

Not ideal.

I’m wondering if anyone has taken apart the charger for any of these and looked into replacing the guts with a smarter circuit.

On the brighter side, I notice a “Puxing PX-2R Updated” radio says they use the standard size Nokia cell phone battery.

That’s a smart design choice.

XREF, there are a bunch of ham radio threads here at BLF.
http://budgetlightforum.com/search?q_as=ham%20radio

I picked a thread that seemed likely worth bumping up.

My Baofeng charger stops charging (LED goes green) and no measurable current flows. I checked it a few weeks ago, however it is generally a good habit to unplug/switch off the charger after charging Lithium cells.

I use to have a couple of dual band radios ( 70 cm and 2 M ) with the limiter on the VFO disabled. ( handheld and mobile, both sommerkamp brand )

That let me transmit and listen on a lot of channels, and totally freak out friends with police scanners running ( for good reasons ) :smiling_imp:

Also done a bit of 26 - 30 MHZ back before the internet, still have one of those CB radios, it too with a much wider frequency range than normal. ( only 40 channels around 27 mhz is legal )

Antennas was just 1/2 wave or 5/8 back then, also had 2 antennas on my car, one for 27 MHZ and one for the modified dual band radio.

Not licensed for anything, pure pirate here, just like Danes in the good old days.

If i got myself a house again i would put up a fat ass directional HF antenna on a mast, and get some radios again.

I have two of those Baofeng UV-5R’s

Pretty decent for the price. I used to listen in on the local repeaters in South Florida but it seems they’re all but gone :frowning:

I did get an FCC Technicians license tho. Pretty much forgot everything so I still have no clue what I’m doing.

I think they are quite useful for emergencies when regular infrastructure disappears. Most cell phone networks are not build for high user loads (i.e. earthquake, disaster, …). Also good for driving with friends, hiking, or riding a motorcycle in a group.

Well to be honest i am sort of praying for a massive solar flare to wipe out a lot of telecom, among that mobile masts.

Then i will camp out on the street and watch the social media junkies go insane due to lack of likes or what ever drive that mess. :smiling_imp: