First Impressions and Quick Review of the Baofeng BF-F8HP

[ryansoh3]

@ryansoh3

@cajampa

What do you guys use HAM radios for? is it just an powerful walkie talkie? Do you use them instead of a mobile phone?

Sorry if these are stupid question but besides on various LEO’s here in Sweden, i have never seen or heard about anyone using HAM’s.

Yeah, unfortunately (or fortunately) with the advent of the internet ham radios aren’t as attractive as they were before.

There was a funny list of why the number of new hams were declining… I’ll link it if I can find it.

Here’s the list: Why Ham Radio Is Dying

Why Ham Radio is dying:

Imagine you’re a 13 year old boy scanning across 20 meters on his grandfather’s radio. These are the typical things he’s likely to hear:

He hears information about a current medical condition.
He hears someone complain about the dumbing down of ham radio
He hears descriptions of malfunctioning body parts.
He hears descriptions of body fluids.
He hears a description of a recent surgery.
He hears someone describe a boil-like growth.
He hears someone describe the side effects of medication.
He hears someone talking about their first colonoscopy.
He hears someone describe how they lost their spleen.
He hears someone describe their wife’s root canal.
He hears someone describe an infection they have.
He hears someone describe how dry skin affects their sleep.
He hears someone describe an infection in a cow’s ear caused by a metal tag.
He hears someone describe a scar on their body.
He hears someone describe a chigger infection.
He hears someone say they’re going to cut their leg in half and get a new knee.
He hears someone tell you how long they’re going to live.
He hears someone say that children are the source of most of the disease in the world.
He hears drool drop on the microphone.
He hears someone describe their post nasal drip.
He hears someone describe an amoeba in their stool.
He hears someone describe a lice infestation.
He hears someone refer to their wife as “mother” or “mama”.
He hears a discussion about hunting and cooking possums.
He hears someone admit they eat horse meat.
He hears someone describe how to properly boil an egg.
He hears someone describe their home as a dwelling.
He hears someone say they ride a bicycle several thousand miles a year.
He hears someone pronounce “A-MER-I-TRON” as “AM-I-TRON”.
He hears someone wonder why the fan comes on in their amplifier.
He hears someone ask whether the DX is long or short path.
He hears someone call ’cq cq, hello cq” for so long without giving a callsign that you give up listening.
He hears someone say they “don’t know which direction their antenna is pointing”.
He hears someone give a 599+ signal report, then they repeat everything they say several times, several times.
He hears someone describe what they did 35 years ago that is better than anything you could do today.
He hears political ranting of any type.
He hears a pileup containing more than 3 people.
He hears someone describe why they don’t trust Bill Gates.
He hears someone say “there” after every other word.
He hears someone repeat themselves more than twice.
He hears someone repeat themselves, there, more than twice, there.
He hears someone describe why athletes make too much money.
He hears a conversation about why things today are so bad.
He hears an emergency communications net.
He hears VE7KFM.
He hears a discussion about urinal linings.
He hears an audio check that takes over an hour to complete.
He hears someone admit that dinner consists of tuna fish and a candy bar.
He hears W2NQ portable W7 call “CQ to check propagation.” (click for an interesting story on this guy)
He hears someone talk for 12 minutes and say nothing.
He hears someone complain about how contesting screws up the bands.
He hears someone complain about social security.
He hears someone complain about taxing social security.
He hears someone say the President’s doing just fine.
He hears someone attribute a social ill to a conspiracy theory.
He hears someone talk about the Kennedy assassination.
He hears someone complain about the ARRL.
He hears someone admit their name is Pincus.
He hears someone say “America’s best days are behind her.”
*I can personally attest that I have heard every one of these things on some band. No wonder young people are turned off.

[sandanbob]

Hank- would that be a 15Khz step?

[hank]

yes, kHz, corrected above with thanks.

_
> scanning across 20 meters on his grandfather’s radio
Well, the organ recital happens anywhere old folks gather.
Why, I remember back when modems were 300 baud …. but I digress …j

— N6VSB

[sandanbob]

No problem, and you are welcome.

[ryansoh3]

Quick update: I think I’ll be sticking to the F8HP instead of the GT-3 because the display on the GT-3 is quite hard to see when the backlight goes off.

Another bug I’ve noticed with the F8HP is when the keypad beep is turned off, the receiver would be muted when the squelch is set to 0 (opened up). This used to be a bigger problem when the receiver would be muted regardless of the squelch level on older firmwares, but it doesn’t seem to be completely fixed yet.

[SawMaster]

Guess it’s time to admit my other hobby too. Almost all countries have dropped the CW requirements for most license classes nowadays so those who once stayed away should reconsider. I’ve got too many HT’s now, my last was a Wouxun UV2D from back when they were made well. Can’t kill the bugger, but I hear the newer ones make decent paperweights and that’s about all. Baofeng took that market segment from them and has done well.

73 OM and enjoy,
Phil

[Metalophile]

I have been a ham for 28 years, since I was in college. The hobby is more than just handie talkies. You can communicate worldwide using shortwave, experiment with antennas, be a storm chaser, experiment with digital communications, control RC craft over long distances, etc. etc.

I have noticed an uptick in the number of new hams in the US. Mostly because of removal of morse code requirements, the availability of cheap, functional handie talkies, increasing popularity of RC flying, and more folks are recognizing that the world is just not right, and they want to be prepared in case SHTF.

[SawMaster]

15 years licensed here, General class and though rusty I did have to pass the CW test to get here. One of these days I’m going to knock the rust off my skills. CW is a great experience once you get the hang of it. And you can ‘talk’ directly with the world using CW and 2 AA cells- much farther that the best “thrower” will ever do on such limited power!

Phil

[ryansoh3]

Nice, thanks for sharing folks.

Korea has a nice Amateur Radio policy that allows you to transfer your own country’s license to a Korean one. I did that and got my Korean Ham license too. Korea still requires a CW (Morse code) test so it was good to have my license transferred.

[jhalb]

.....And I can't believe I just read all this.....all of it...

[swamperjmb]

I know this is a semi-old thread but Ryansoh3 is there any more updates on your BF-F8HP?

I’ve been looking real hard into getting one. I got the GT3 MKIII and I like it so far but they are just toys compared to the Big 3.

I’m also a licensed amatuer operator and have been for roughly 10 years or so and do enjoy 2 meter simplex or SSB when I get a chance.
I have talked to the space station a few times when I had my Yaesu FT-8800, that was a fun time for sure

[aaron.seaman (aaron.seaman@hotmail.com)]

just got a UV-5RHP from 446shop.com, there is a UV-5RTP, but find them are same for 5RTP/5RHP, all for Tri-Power 1/4/8 Watt Long Range Transceiver