No, I haven't. Most of these Baofeng radios operate the same, so if you find one with a similar display in the UV -17, 18, 21 series, they are likely the same radio with different cases.
I got my UV5-RM 8W "multiband" same as RH open versions and same blue screen as your version - but the AM Airband is not true modulated AM i suspect. very bad , picks up planes well but sounds FM on AM. impossible to make out what they say
I bought this radio to start listening, I am unlicensed and just started looking into HAM. I realised after a bit of searching that these may not be the best for TX when the time does arrive but I have paid less than £30 gbp to be able to start listening.
I"d say so. My radio wasn't clean in 2 meters but it has an FCC ID. I suspect that is for the receivers not the transmitter. Hams have the responsibility to operate within specs.
Gadget Talk great review. I must say however that if anyone intends to use the 5RH ONLY FOR LISTENING, then harmonics can be disregarded. On the latter however, for transmitting, youve made the right point!!! No one wants to upset the HAM hobby due to the spurious signals from transmitting. Im no ham myself but have some reasonable sound knowledge, like what frequencies not to use. I stay compliant at all times due to the nature of having no licence. If i love the hobby, why would i want to ruin it? Enough of me ranting, great video 😎👍
Sounds like you're only about a couple of hours away from getting a technician class license. Check out ham study.com. I'll bet you'd do well with just a couple trips through the questions. It's free.
@GadgetTalk4U I done a practice test and got 48% LOL. I never studied it. Maybe I should have LOL. It's only Christmas. Merry Christmas Gadget Talk. Keep up the good work!!!
Hello. I have an old anytone handheld radio and it works on the vhf band. I don't know what i press, but the range is now shortened from 150,000 to 174,000, instead of 136,000. Does anyone know what is the problem?
Nice video as usual! One would think that if Baofeng has a radio that is "clean", The GT-5r, they would use that as a platform.. The screen and antenna look very similar to the Radtel 470-490 variants..The Radtel 470 I have actually has a decent AirBand reception, but my actual on the air voice I use the GT-5r.. Once again, thanks for an informative no frills video!
I have a Baofeng UV 6r that is incredibly clean. I was very surprised by it. It's also a solid 7w transmit on 2 meters. It had some odd things though. The squelch can't be adjusted in it's own CPS or chirp. They actually disabled the ability to change it from default for some strange reason
I'll be releasing a review on the 5RM in a couple of days. Unfortunately, like the 5RH the spurious emissions are out of tolerance. Too bad. Otherwise a cool radio.
I have the 5RM from Amazon. Seems to be just like any other Bwoofang except with a larger battery and more memory locations. Audio reports going through a repeater 32 miles away and 1100 feet high on low power were comparable to my ID-52a, just a little lower volume. My power test on high were 4 watts on 2 meter and 5 watts on 70 centimeter and that is using the Telewave 44AP wattmeter.
So as someone who knows absolutely nothing about radios, I just bought this to mess around with and learn something, just to get a foot in the door cause the topic seems super interesting to me. Is there anything I can do about the signal purity or should I just stick to listening with it? I probably wouldnt be doing much if any transmitting with it cause I dont quite understand the local laws yet.
This is a ham or amateur radio. You shouldn't be transmitting without a license. Signal purity doesn't matter if you are transmitting. Find a ham club to help you get licensed.
The UV-5RM/UV-5RH seem to come in 2 main variants: the variant marked as 5RM appears to be a dual bander with airband recieve, whereas the 5RH marked ones tend to be tribanders without airband reception. One bodge to account for poor power filtering would be to use half-wave antennas, as the odd harmonics would see much higher impedance.
Great informative video! I was looking at that, I am a big 220 fan, it's to bad about purity, I agree with you, this is not rocket science to fix that problem, considering it's fixed in it other of their radios. 73's WA2TWF
My UV-5R8W arrived yesterday and it was supposed to be my introduction to ham radio. It didn't take much research to see that it's garbage and it's probably going to get me laughed at, if not directly, in my local ham community. I've already ordered an FT-60RW to replace it and I'll probably be returning this one to Amazon. I might keep it though, I'm not sure, it was very cheap And even though it's not very good, it is good enough.. In an emergency situation, it could probably work okay to set it to the frequency I want to use and just hand it to somebody and show them the very basics of how to use it. In an emergency, if you only have one radio, how are you going to communicate with your local peers you need to stay in contact with?
Don't worry about being laughed at. Many who might do so likely have several UV5Rs themselves. It's an entry level radio, sure, but it's where thousands of hams got started.
Currently in the budget category, I like the Baofeng UV-21. There are also a couple of older Retevis ham radios that are a good fit for those who are outdoors a lot.
I haven't seen an ad for that radio suggesting it has an internal APRS capability. Do you have a link? I've already done a video about APRS using Baofeng with APRSDroid and interface cable. Cheers.
Apparently it depends on from where you procured your device whether Air Band works or not. Some retailer was selling them unlocked but all that is really known is that Baofeng adds don't always turn out to be true.
Don't blame Baofeng, blame the people who are trying to save $3-4 on a $25 radio by going to random sellers without checking what the store history or age is like.
I have the UV-5R+ and a UV-5R that is marked as "GMRS Certified", among other radios. Among the cheap ones, the Quansheng UV K5(8) is my favorite - Mostly because of the open firmware. Unless Baofeng opens up the firmware so it can be modified (or someone cracks it), I doubt I'd buy one.
The K5 is unique in having open source firmware options. I'd be happy if more manufacturers of budget class radios simply allowed users to update the firmware like Tidradio does.
Jim, thanks for this straightforward no-nonsense review. I really wanted to try this radio, mostly because Baofeng's other displays are terrible. (although the 5RH dim red menu is pretty bad, too) But the 2nd harmonic is a definite no-go for me. Thanks for saving me from a bad purchase! 73 K3GEM
Today, they all pretty much mean the same thing. Walkie talkies were the big green radios you see in WW2 movies. After the war, I believe it was Motorola who made a radio they called a handheld transceiver, or HT. HT morphed into handie talkie in some settings.
I'm 72 yrs old, i have never heard of a handie talkie, i started off with a cb in the 1960s seen tons of ads and commercials throughout the years but never once did i ever see the term handy talkie used as a definition for a handheld 2way radio
With the heat from reviews like yours that show up the excessive harmonics the manufacturers of these will have to take notice and clean them up (eventually). Thanks
@bradmiles8242 It's possible but kind of pricey. Uniden has a couple of scanners (SDS100 and SDS200). They are between $650 and $700. They'll receive trunked digital systems. Not sure about encrypted systems. Some public service agencies still use basic FM, but not many.
This radio may have signal purity issues, but as it stands in the USA, it's still a fact that no one is on these frequencies! It's no excuse for Baofeng to skirt the laws/requirements, but I live in Washington, D.C., and I can scan VHF/UHF day in and day out and never hear a peep! So why should I care whether my transmissions are exactingly pure? It would be nice if they were; it's just not worth it as things are now. The fact is, no one is out there.
Two things. First I look at this from a consumer point of view. The manufactures know how to build clean radios and I think I deserve to get one. I wouldn't stand for other categories of defective products so why radios? Next, Jason over at Ham Radio 2.0 has done a couple of videos on "empty repeaters" and issued a challenge. He suggests everyone throwing their call sign out at least once a day instead of just listening and answering when you hear one. Seems like a good way to start a change in usage. You might also check with/join the club that owns the repeater and volunteer to host a check in net a couple times per week. The club I belong to has 2 nets per day that generate quite a lot of traffic. Good Luck and 73.
Jim, "spurious emissions" are total nonsense. Using test equipment to SEE "microwatt emissions" from a radio using 5-10w power Is silly and don't indicate ' nuisance power'. Other testers often stand another radio just feet away from the offending radio! 😂 If you connected the test radio to a Diamond X-300 antenna, using a power amplifier, then those emissions might affect another user, perhaps in the military airband. The whole "emission" thing is an invention of the American FCC to limit the number of Chinese radios entering the country. the Chinese manufacturers know that. Mike G7MJT/M7WGX
I try to do pros and cons. I've panned several (including this one) for spurious emissions. From a feature set and price they're not hard to like. The spurs are a big problem, in my opinion.
I bought the UV-5RH specifically because it has the Air Band after much research. Testing it out and it wouldnt lock into any AB freq. Now I find out that some do and some dont(some firmware bs fine-print V1 and V2??). How the hell can you sell a product with the same model name/number that are two different radios with totally different radio functions. Hopefully we can firmware flash this nonsense away
I feel your pain. Ali Express has some good pricing but, at least with these types of radios, model labeling and capabilities are a crap shoot. I study each offering closely, look at the specification pages and model choice pages and still end up with something other than I thought I was getting, sometimes. Frustrating, to be sure.
As I've often said, with budget class radios, you often do get what you pay for. For many, though, they're a good entry vehicle to the hobby. I try to do videos that will help people decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@GadgetTalk4U Normally yes, but it would be better if they gave real data, I changed this radio for a Radtel 890 with air band, without any major pretensions, it cost me 25dlls, it says it is 5w and the reception is good, it is what it is and it seems great to me, although I also keep my uv5r which says it is 8w but it gives a maximum of 6w, just because I like it.
That must just be your radio my radio dose meet the FCC standards on my TinySA Ultra. You got a bad radio there, or you just lying as we could not what radio you had connected to your TinySA. Personally I believe you are lying.
I have no reason to lie and you have no reason to claim that other than being mean spirited. Big variations within a model's production is also a quality control issue. There are similar variation in videos with the RM version.
if you have to search that hard to find a flaw with a $20 radio it's a pretty damn good radio.
Baofeng is the reason I got my HAM license.
You're not alone. Thanks for watching and commenting. 73
Hey Jim, another absolutely great video!!!! Did you ever review Uv18 Pro Max Gps radio? I just cannot find it here on youtube
No, I haven't. Most of these Baofeng radios operate the same, so if you find one with a similar display in the UV -17, 18, 21 series, they are likely the same radio with different cases.
How you compare, Baofeng UV-17Pro and your BaoFeng's UV-5RH? Any advice? Thanks
Similar features but the UV-17 Pro I reviewed had much better signal purity.
I got my UV5-RM 8W "multiband" same as RH open versions and same blue screen as your version - but the AM Airband is not true modulated AM i suspect. very bad , picks up planes well but sounds FM on AM. impossible to make out what they say
I bought this radio to start listening, I am unlicensed and just started looking into HAM.
I realised after a bit of searching that these may not be the best for TX when the time does arrive but I have paid less than £30 gbp to be able to start listening.
I just ordered two on temu, Ill be checking them if they have the FCC stamp.
I know, that output signal is not pure, but antenna should cut off the second harmonic, right?
No. I believe you're thinking about a band pass filter.
do they share the same batteries as the UV-5R?
No.
Thanks for the detailed video. So is this a good radio for basic things??
I"d say so. My radio wasn't clean in 2 meters but it has an FCC ID. I suspect that is for the receivers not the transmitter. Hams have the responsibility to operate within specs.
Gadget Talk great review. I must say however that if anyone intends to use the 5RH ONLY FOR LISTENING, then harmonics can be disregarded.
On the latter however, for transmitting, youve made the right point!!!
No one wants to upset the HAM hobby due to the spurious signals from transmitting.
Im no ham myself but have some reasonable sound knowledge, like what frequencies not to use. I stay compliant at all times due to the nature of having no licence.
If i love the hobby, why would i want to ruin it? Enough of me ranting, great video 😎👍
Sounds like you're only about a couple of hours away from getting a technician class license. Check out ham study.com. I'll bet you'd do well with just a couple trips through the questions. It's free.
@GadgetTalk4U I done a practice test and got 48% LOL. I never studied it. Maybe I should have LOL. It's only Christmas.
Merry Christmas Gadget Talk. Keep up the good work!!!
Hello. I have an old anytone handheld radio and it works on the vhf band. I don't know what i press, but the range is now shortened from 150,000 to 174,000, instead of 136,000. Does anyone know what is the problem?
Nice video as usual! One would think that if Baofeng has a radio that is "clean", The GT-5r, they would use that as a platform.. The screen and antenna look very similar to the Radtel 470-490 variants..The Radtel 470 I have actually has a decent AirBand reception, but my actual on the air voice I use the GT-5r.. Once again, thanks for an informative no frills video!
I have a Baofeng UV 6r that is incredibly clean. I was very surprised by it. It's also a solid 7w transmit on 2 meters. It had some odd things though. The squelch can't be adjusted in it's own CPS or chirp. They actually disabled the ability to change it from default for some strange reason
How to use the wireless program for this radio 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
I like your channel. You’re not the typical less than happy ham.
Thanks. I try to stay positive. Life's too short to always be mad at something.
Why didn't you show or tell us what the emissions were like on the 70mm band?
@@carlbittner9691 The 70cm band requirements are not as specific as 2M and 1.25M. Those specs stop at 225MHz.
5RM is the one to review, latest available on Amazon. 5RH is similar, same maybe. Who knows, they’re just dumping HT on us from every angle.
I have a 5RM and I am liking it so far
Same… bought 1. Now have pair coming tomorrow. 3’s a party.
I'll be releasing a review on the 5RM in a couple of days. Unfortunately, like the 5RH the spurious emissions are out of tolerance. Too bad. Otherwise a cool radio.
I have the 5RM from Amazon. Seems to be just like any other Bwoofang except with a larger battery and more memory locations. Audio reports going through a repeater 32 miles away and 1100 feet high on low power were comparable to my ID-52a, just a little lower volume.
My power test on high were 4 watts on 2 meter and 5 watts on 70 centimeter and that is using the Telewave 44AP wattmeter.
Thanks for watching. Do you have access to a signal analyzer. Very curious if the results are different.
@@GadgetTalk4U I do have a tiny SA but I need the correct attenuator can you recommend one?
@@Rusted_Linkamzn.to/48xSRh4
@@GadgetTalk4U I actually have a NanoVNA H-4. Will that work? I did recieve the attenuator as-well.
So as someone who knows absolutely nothing about radios, I just bought this to mess around with and learn something, just to get a foot in the door cause the topic seems super interesting to me. Is there anything I can do about the signal purity or should I just stick to listening with it? I probably wouldnt be doing much if any transmitting with it cause I dont quite understand the local laws yet.
This is a ham or amateur radio. You shouldn't be transmitting without a license. Signal purity doesn't matter if you are transmitting. Find a ham club to help you get licensed.
The UV-5RM/UV-5RH seem to come in 2 main variants: the variant marked as 5RM appears to be a dual bander with airband recieve, whereas the 5RH marked ones tend to be tribanders without airband reception. One bodge to account for poor power filtering would be to use half-wave antennas, as the odd harmonics would see much higher impedance.
They are both TRI Band Transceivers ........
I am big fan of Baofeng radios, no problems using it.😎
What's a good radio that have a good signal suitable for Radio Amateurs? Thanks
Tidradio H3, H8, Radioddity GT5R, Yaesu HTs, Wouxun KG Q10H. I have reviews and links with some discounts on all these radios. Cheers.
@@GadgetTalk4U thanks 👍👏
The quansheng uv-k5 / 6 costs about the same, but has much purer signal in vhf/uhf range.
Great informative video! I was looking at that, I am a big 220 fan, it's to bad about purity, I agree with you, this is not rocket science to fix that problem, considering it's fixed in it other of their radios. 73's WA2TWF
Thanks for watching! 73
My UV-5R8W arrived yesterday and it was supposed to be my introduction to ham radio. It didn't take much research to see that it's garbage and it's probably going to get me laughed at, if not directly, in my local ham community. I've already ordered an FT-60RW to replace it and I'll probably be returning this one to Amazon. I might keep it though, I'm not sure, it was very cheap And even though it's not very good, it is good enough.. In an emergency situation, it could probably work okay to set it to the frequency I want to use and just hand it to somebody and show them the very basics of how to use it. In an emergency, if you only have one radio, how are you going to communicate with your local peers you need to stay in contact with?
Don’t be fooled, it’s still a great radio.
Don't worry about being laughed at. Many who might do so likely have several UV5Rs themselves. It's an entry level radio, sure, but it's where thousands of hams got started.
If your HAM friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow them? Maybe they weren't your friends to begin with. Want a cookie?
What is the input password or default password of this uv5rh radio? I can't open my new baofeng uv5rh due to password input could you help me sir?
Try 00000000 or 12345678. Those sometimes work.
@@GadgetTalk4U thank you sir for answering my question! I tried 000000 and 123456 but it did not opened, is there any password on this radio?
So which radio you recommend?
Currently in the budget category, I like the Baofeng UV-21. There are also a couple of older Retevis ham radios that are a good fit for those who are outdoors a lot.
You forgot to check harmonics on 70cm?
Didn't forget. Rules on 70cm are different and having already failed, there was no point, in my estimation. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Sadly just bought a pair of these of AliExpress for emergencies and so I’ll probably just keep them charged and in a closet
Will you review the BAOFENG 5RH Pro, which has APRS?
I haven't seen an ad for that radio suggesting it has an internal APRS capability. Do you have a link? I've already done a video about APRS using Baofeng with APRSDroid and interface cable. Cheers.
Do you need any licences to transmit on this?
Yes. Ham Technician license or higher.
@@GadgetTalk4U Thanks!
Apparently it depends on from where you procured your device whether Air Band works or not. Some retailer was selling them unlocked but all that is really known is that Baofeng adds don't always turn out to be true.
Don't blame Baofeng, blame the people who are trying to save $3-4 on a $25 radio by going to random sellers without checking what the store history or age is like.
@@awdtw OK I get your point .. I should have said 'adverts about Baofengs' don't always turn out to be true.
I have the UV-5R+ and a UV-5R that is marked as "GMRS Certified", among other radios. Among the cheap ones, the Quansheng UV K5(8) is my favorite - Mostly because of the open firmware. Unless Baofeng opens up the firmware so it can be modified (or someone cracks it), I doubt I'd buy one.
The K5 is unique in having open source firmware options. I'd be happy if more manufacturers of budget class radios simply allowed users to update the firmware like Tidradio does.
Hola! Buen video pero... ? Que significa que no cumpla con los estándares requeridos, es perjudicial para la salud humana? Saludos!
In this case it means you're interfering with other frequencies
Jim, thanks for this straightforward no-nonsense review. I really wanted to try this radio, mostly because Baofeng's other displays are terrible. (although the 5RH dim red menu is pretty bad, too) But the 2nd harmonic is a definite no-go for me. Thanks for saving me from a bad purchase! 73 K3GEM
Glad it was helpful!
Is a Handy Talkie a gender neutral version of a walkie talkie or a handheld?
Today, they all pretty much mean the same thing. Walkie talkies were the big green radios you see in WW2 movies. After the war, I believe it was Motorola who made a radio they called a handheld transceiver, or HT. HT morphed into handie talkie in some settings.
I'm 72 yrs old, i have never heard of a handie talkie, i started off with a cb in the 1960s seen tons of ads and commercials throughout the years but never once did i ever see the term handy talkie used as a definition for a handheld 2way radio
With the heat from reviews like yours that show up the excessive harmonics the manufacturers of these will have to take notice and clean them up (eventually). Thanks
Yep, harmonics in microwatts are going to disturb so many people😂 It is ROT.
Will it pick up my local police department radio chatter
Likely not. Depends on your PD's frequency and mode. Most are digital nowadays.
@@GadgetTalk4U so what would I need unless it's impossible these days because it's not on any of these scanner apps
@bradmiles8242 It's possible but kind of pricey. Uniden has a couple of scanners (SDS100 and SDS200). They are between $650 and $700. They'll receive trunked digital systems. Not sure about encrypted systems. Some public service agencies still use basic FM, but not many.
Man... I wish I had watched your video before purchasing it. Well, at least it was cheap.
This radio may have signal purity issues, but as it stands in the USA, it's still a fact that no one is on these frequencies! It's no excuse for Baofeng to skirt the laws/requirements, but I live in Washington, D.C., and I can scan VHF/UHF day in and day out and never hear a peep! So why should I care whether my transmissions are exactingly pure? It would be nice if they were; it's just not worth it as things are now. The fact is, no one is out there.
Two things. First I look at this from a consumer point of view. The manufactures know how to build clean radios and I think I deserve to get one. I wouldn't stand for other categories of defective products so why radios?
Next, Jason over at Ham Radio 2.0 has done a couple of videos on "empty repeaters" and issued a challenge. He suggests everyone throwing their call sign out at least once a day instead of just listening and answering when you hear one. Seems like a good way to start a change in usage.
You might also check with/join the club that owns the repeater and volunteer to host a check in net a couple times per week. The club I belong to has 2 nets per day that generate quite a lot of traffic.
Good Luck and 73.
Jim, "spurious emissions" are total nonsense. Using test equipment to SEE "microwatt emissions" from a radio using 5-10w power Is silly and don't indicate ' nuisance power'. Other testers often stand another radio just feet away from the offending radio! 😂
If you connected the test radio to a Diamond X-300 antenna, using a power amplifier, then those emissions might affect another user, perhaps in the military airband.
The whole "emission" thing is an invention of the American FCC to limit the number of Chinese radios entering the country. the Chinese manufacturers know that.
Mike G7MJT/M7WGX
And yet, those are the regs we have. The fact that some radios are clean points to sloppy engineering.
Is there a Baofeng you do like? Not being sarcastic...i'm serious.
I try to do pros and cons. I've panned several (including this one) for spurious emissions. From a feature set and price they're not hard to like. The spurs are a big problem, in my opinion.
@@GadgetTalk4U My question was literal. If you had to buy just one Baofeng based on your experience, which one would you buy?
I bought the UV-5RH specifically because it has the Air Band after much research. Testing it out and it wouldnt lock into any AB freq. Now I find out that some do and some dont(some firmware bs fine-print V1 and V2??). How the hell can you sell a product with the same model name/number that are two different radios with totally different radio functions. Hopefully we can firmware flash this nonsense away
I feel your pain. Ali Express has some good pricing but, at least with these types of radios, model labeling and capabilities are a crap shoot. I study each offering closely, look at the specification pages and model choice pages and still end up with something other than I thought I was getting, sometimes. Frustrating, to be sure.
The antenna that comes wire it does not look like it was made by Bao Feng
Looks like it would have AM radio on it.
check fcc testing by California company, then maybe recalibrate your vna
Seems you cant clone off of a uv5r
Yep. Too many differences in the data structure.
I have uv5rh pro max, 14.5w of txp i probe and my kenwood with 4w have better reception and transfer, this radio is trash
As I've often said, with budget class radios, you often do get what you pay for. For many, though, they're a good entry vehicle to the hobby. I try to do videos that will help people decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@GadgetTalk4U Normally yes, but it would be better if they gave real data, I changed this radio for a Radtel 890 with air band, without any major pretensions, it cost me 25dlls, it says it is 5w and the reception is good, it is what it is and it seems great to me, although I also keep my uv5r which says it is 8w but it gives a maximum of 6w, just because I like it.
That must just be your radio my radio dose meet the FCC standards on my TinySA Ultra. You got a bad radio there, or you just lying as we could not what radio you had connected to your TinySA. Personally I believe you are lying.
I have no reason to lie and you have no reason to claim that other than being mean spirited. Big variations within a model's production is also a quality control issue. There are similar variation in videos with the RM version.
Dont forger: any cheap radio that sells well will have even cheaper spec'd knockoffs made. CC might have one of those.
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Way too Corney acting
You just think you are too cool. Get a grip.