Cheap Comms - Baofeng Radios

Since some may not keep up with what the FCC is doing, I figured I would post this here...

Given the FCC's change of policy released here, they are effectively working towards banning the Baofeng radios (cheap, relatively useful) as of 9/30/2019...

Now, I'll head off the bunnies with saying that I know they aren't the best radios, and yes, you need an license to operate them in some of the bands that they cover (HAM and GMRS), but they cover the FRS bands for normal daily use, and let's be honest, the FCC isn't going to give a shit whether you have a license or not in a true SHTF scenario. (I am a licensed radio operator, and they work well enough to hit the BARC repeater from my house in Longmont, while I'm in the basement).

Comms are important for SHTF.

So, I would gently suggest that you consider what your comms plans are, because cell isn't going to work (VZW had a decent outage here in CO today, likely caused by Century Stinks inability to maintain uptime), and consider buying some form of radios. These are a good option, especially for the price.

The best pricing I have found is here. Seriously, less than $20 each, shipped if you buy 4 or more.

I would recommend upgrading the antenna with either of these two options:
Option 1
Option 2

The model I linked can be easily programmed for use on lots of different channels using the USB programming cable, and CHIRP (free software). If you buy a USB cable, like this one, make sure it is the FTDI chipset, to avoid having to install drivers.

If there is interest, I will write up the process of programming these radios with CHIRP and the cable, and I can provide a generic config that includes lots of options.

Yes

Amen to this post! I?d love to see a good write up on programming cuz I?ve not been very successful at it.

Thank you!


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What are your thoughts on using them in MURS?
And buying a few to use with the family while camping and hiking?

The hardest radio to program I have dealt with (even with chirp) if you end up in a new area unexpectedly trying to program freq via the radio makes you want to use it for smoke signals

eta I have 6 of these most with the bigger batt packs but they are fall backs

Yes please,

It's a shame these are not a little more water resistant.

Ever have any issues with them truding around in the woods wet/snowy with occasional use out of pocket?

I've only used them hunting and on caravan road trips.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sellersm

Amen to this post! I?d love to see a good write up on programming cuz I?ve not been very successful at it.

Thank you!


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Manually programming them is a fools errand, it can be done but it is far better and actually easy to use Chirp on a PC or laptop

Wow, this gained more traction than I expected.

I guess I will be writing up the programming side of this... That's fine, just gonna take a bit when I'm not at work.

A couple of quick responses:
I disagree with DFB and agree with TD1164 that programming with chirp is easy. Programming without chirp isn't impossible, but it's not intuitive. I have to keep in mind that I have been programming HAM radios since I was 7, and so I am used to learning new stupid menu's, verbiage, etc... The only time I have ever HAD to program by hand is like what DFB pointed out of being in a new area and trying to hit a repeater. In order to program for a single repeater, it's not that bad. I'll walk through that as well.

For MURS, as Vitesse mentioned, this is one of the down falls of a $20 radio. MURS requires very specific channel widths (11.25 and 20khz) while the rest of the world runs on 6.25, 12.5, 25, and 50khz (pre FCC narrowbanding - long story) but that means that the majority of radios built to function for anything beyond the MURS bands are using a different channel width. From a radio design standpoint, it's not easy to include odd channel widths with standards. So, what this really means is that you can run these radios on those bands, but you won't be matching the actual specifications of the band, which means you are breaking FCC rules and regs. Also, using a radio not certified for MURS on a MURS channel is not permitted by the FCC so you are breaking FCC rules and regs there too... Will it work with other BF/China radios set to the same freq and parameters? Yep. Will it work with actual MURS radios? Haven't tried it, but you might be able to make it function. Is it allowed? No, so I would recommend not doing that.

Anyway, more later.

I have to follow a tutorial with chirp for sure