Quote Originally Posted by zteknik View Post
I never really got into the Baofeng. I mostly have Icom, Yaesu, and a few B.K.s. But for the money it would be worth having a few tucked away.
The thing that kills it is trying to find a good cable to program it with. Manually programming can be a pain but it's doable.
I have all the big name brands as well (been buying radios since I got into ham when I was like 7...) and I will never argue that these are in the same realm. However, as you mentioned, for the price I can stash a pile of these with the batteries removed and in a metal container, and they will likely survive even an EMP type of SHTF scenario. I now have my better radios for personal/family, and cheaper radios that I can hand out to folks as our plans unfold and a number of groups link up and head to BFE.

Any of the FTDI cables, like the one I linked, will work just fine with windows and mac (I think linux as well, but I honestly haven't tried... I have an rdp linux machine if someone needs me to try it)...

Quote Originally Posted by brutal View Post
The Radioddity antennas are coming slow boat out of China so I ordered some 7.5" and 14.5" ExpertPower antenna for around twice the price, still pretty cheap. Hell, after I ordered some UV-5R+ I dove in and ordered two UV-82. Still only 5/1W but the reviews on them seemed more positive (bigger buttons). extra batteries, larger batteries, etc. it's starting to add up and I haven't even touched one. LOL.

Now I have to go figure out a sub $100 RC boat that I can get before Monday...
Yep. I have a handful of them already, and just bought a few more to stash. Upgraded antennas, a couple of 25W truck radios that cover the same bands (playing with a solar powered, "drop" repeater for SHTF), batteries, etc... I've spent more than a few dollars with china on these...