Review of the Baofeng UV-5R Plus (2013 edition)I purchased this radio sold by Sain Store, serviced by Amazon in October 2013 with Prime free shipping. The radio arrived 3 days later, however the unit shipped was the European Version with the incorrect power supply and lacking the FCC type label. I contacted Sain Store and was issued an RMA and shipping address and they replaced the radio with a US version with the proper labeling and power supply.
The Radios I received both had firmware version 281. Some units are also being shipped with version 291. Users should make note of which firmware they receive because the software version you use to program the radio is dependent on the firmware you receive. There does not seem to be any user functional differences between 281 and 291.
Impressions of the UV-5R Plus. This radio is nicely small yet not to small to operate. Like many of its Chinese contemporaries, it can be a bit quirky to program via the keypad but easy to do so with the software. Understand that easy keyboard programability is not nominally supposed to be a Part 90 compliant radio. Even so you can program frequencies, splits, Tones and DPL from the keyboard with some patience, but not channel names.
Pro's of the UV-5R Plus:
Extremely Affordable, including accessories like spare batteries.
Uses standard accessories including programming cable, mics, and antennas (with other Chinese radios such as Wouxon).
Radio has voice assist operation of many functions.
LED light is very handy.
Three color LCD backlight is useful (standby, Xmit and Receive can have colors assigned).
Small enough including antenna to fit in a pants pocket.
Sturdy construction.
Legal to use on both Ham and LMS (part 90) bands if you are licensed as a user.
VFO limits can be set to ham bands (or restricted to other bands)
Very wide frequency coverage as well as 2013 narrowband operation capability.
Can monitor FRS, GMRS, MURS, (transmit capable, but not legal lacking FCC part 95 type acceptance).
Can listen to Broadcast FM
Cons of the UV-5R Plus:
Manual could be a lot better
Not a true dual receive unit (its dual watch).
Scanning is slow, and you can't select/deselect channels to be scanned from the keyboard.
No copy memory channel to VFO function.
No PTT lock out function from Keyboard (or software).
No single channel display (would be ideal if it had a single channel mode that showed frequency and name and memory channel)
Carrier Squelch Level is not adjustable (its on or off, levels 1 through 10 are all the same).
No simple keyboard and VFO lockout insuring Mem Channel only operation (nominally a Part 90 requirement).
No AM Aircraft band receive (many won't care).
Would be even more usable by visually impaired if menu selections had voice prompts.
Overall impressions. The value for the money is outstanding. These cost under $60 delivered, for a versatile sturdy product with a good capacity LiIon Battery. The ability to cover HAM and LMS makes them ideal for Emergency, and Community Service organizations. While there are many things to nit pick at (see cons:) the usability of this radio especially when programmed with the freely available software (as well as third party software) and very affordable USB cable (about 10 bucks), is very good. Its lacks all the bells and whistles of a $ 400 dollar dedicated Japanese Ham radio, but it costs 1/8th as much and has part 90 certification for legal operation on Govt. and business bands.
My friend let me borrow one of his Baofeng UV-5R radios for a couple of weeks. I was really impressed with what this radio can do. For its price, it is one of the best deals ever in the history of ham radio!
I chose to buy a slightly updated version of this radio, the UV-5RA, which is also apparently known as the UV-5R+. Cosmetically, the UV-5RA has a much more solid case, with some interesting trim features. The display has slightly different, generally warmer colors than the UV-5R. In all other respects, the radios are pretty much the same.
To me, the most important thing about any kind of radio transceiver is RF performance, both transmit and receive. Although I haven't done any measurements, the radios RF performance is satisfactory for general purpose use. The front end of the radio is understandably not as good as the 'name brand' radios costing five times as much, but it definitely holds its own with them. Receive sensitivity is as good as typical name-brand radios. Off-channel rejection is not quite as good. But for general use with repeaters, the tone squelch feature makes up for this. One 'feature' you may or may not like is the display lights up every time the radio unsquelches, even if it is still tone squelched. I haven't played with the squelch settings that much to see if this can be improved. The display light can be disabled if desired. There is plenty of receive audio, something often lacking in inexpensive radios.
I haven't transmitted too much with this radio, as I live in an area that is very hard to 'get out of' even with higher power. But the radio works fine for the repeaters I can hit. One criticism this radio has received is poor audio quality on transmit. I have not experienced this problem. (Having a rich, heavy 'radio' voice probably helps in this regard.)
One rather quirky feature of this radio is that the antenna connection is an SMA male. Although SMA adapters are not hard to find, this is (in my experience) opposite of all other radios on the market that use an SMA antenna connection. This will also limit the possible choices for an aftermarket antenna, something many hams add to their H/T radios.
This radio has all the basic features that most hams need. It can do all the common analog and digital tone squelch functions on transmit and receive. It can monitor two channels at once, on any combination of VHF and UHF. The display can show either the frequency or a name for a channel. And the radio can apparently hold over 100 channels of memory, although I have only loaded about 25 memories. For manual tuning, the frequency can be entered directly at the keyboard, although all other parameters (offset, tone squelch, etc.) have to be manually entered in a menu system. There are some scanning features, etc. in the radio, but these are not nearly as extensive as on the more expensive radios. For me, this is not a problem, as I rarely use these kinds of features to begin with.
The major criticism these radios have received is that are hard to program. They really aren't all that hard to program, although there are a lot of steps to go through for each channel. But because most hams do not frequently reprogram their radios, this should not be a big deal. The programming cable and software are highly recommended, and make it easy to 'clone' these radios. (If you are like me, you will want more than one of these radios, anyway!) On the other hand, because these radios are so programmable, handling things like odd repeater splits, etc. is very easy. The radio does not know the 'band plan', so you will need to know the expected split on a repeater system while programming.
These radios are also part 90 certified, so they can be used on commercial and public service frequencies. Although I have not tried to do this yet, I am occasionally in situations where having a part 90 radio that can transmit (and is easily reprogrammed without software) comes in handy. These radios can also do the new narrowband FM modulation that is now required on many commercial/public service radio systems in the US.
Battery performance is simply amazing. This is certainly one of the most surprising features. I can listen for days on a single charge, even with some occasional transmission. The battery pack is removable and swappable, so it is easy to carry a spare, if you transmit a lot. DC adaptors are available for situations where you may wish to power the radio from a power supply or car power.
There are a couple of very nice extra features, that make this a hard-to-not-like radio. One is a built-in FM receiver. Besides being able to use the UV-5R/RA as a 'transistor radio', the ability to listen to FM broadcast is useful during emergency communications. The other handy feature is a built-in high brightness LED that is intended to be used as a flashlight. Although not focused, this light is very useful and easy to use.
The bottom line? If you are a very active ham who uses their H/T a lot, needs extensive scanning features, or needs state-of-the-art RF front end performance, then one of the name brand units will probably be a better choice. But if you are less active, or want backup radio(s), or something just to monitor a local repeater, these little radios can't be beat. I have two already, and will likely buy a couple more!You will NOT find a comparable dual band radio within this price range! Heck, you probably won't find as great a radio for double it's price!
Just with everything that came in this package, I am able to hit a 2 meter repeater about 15 miles away from my home. I live in Florida, everything's sea-level. I have no idea what the max range of this is, as I've only been playing with it for about 3 days. But, to transmit and receive clearly at a 15 mile range for under $60....I am simply amazed!
Also, the radio is solidly built. It does not feel cheap at all. The LED flashlight is pretty bright and also has a strobe mode. The FM receiver works fine for me. When I'm bored, I listen to the FM radio at work and it always mutes the radio in time for me to hear 100% of the incoming 2-way traffic.
I use mine with my speaker/mic: Wouxun Walkie Talkie Remote Speaker Microphone
I also use this data cable, which I did have to "trim" some of the housing away to fit all the way into my radio: USB Programming Cable for BAOFENG UV-5R UV-3R+ Two way Radio With Driver CDI bought this as a first radio. I am about to take my Tech exam in a week and, with a little luck, will be a new "ham" when the FCC posts my call-sign. The radio's shipment was delayed by Hurricane Sandy so I have only been poking around for a few days.
(1) While I can not yet transmit (illegal w/o FCC license), I have tried playing with the radio to learn how to use it. Perhaps because I have so little experience, but the manual supplied combined with trial-and-error got me nowhere. (Well, it got the radio to play prompts in Cantonese instead of English.) To say that the manual is terse would be an understatement. Thankfully I found a Yahoo user's group that pointed to some helpful info.
Unless you already have experience with these HTs or other Ham radios, I would not recommend this radio unless a better manual becomes available. Using the supplied documentation is very frustrating.
(2) The first time I used the charger, after it fully charged the radio, I unplugged the transformer from the wall. The top of the plastic housing broke free leaving the plug and associated electronics attached to the outlet. Under the transformer's label is a screw-hole were, I am guessing, a screw should have been used to hold the bottom of the assembly to the top.
This radio could really benefit from a brief Dummy's Guide with step-by-step examples of how to set up Rx/Tx frequencies, repeater offsets, etc. With a good manual AND a better charger this would be a great deal for an amateur radio beginner.
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Follow-up after 1 week: I still have not transmitted, but:
A) On Rx the squelch value (1-9) does not seem to have any effect. The result is that squelch only breaks on strong signals. People commenting at other sites seem to suggest this was just on 2-meter. This is really annoying as you either turn squelch off (and hear noise) of get signals that are constantly being blanked when they fall below the S/N threshold.
B) Rx audio quality seems to be good. But this may be partly an artifact of 'A' above.
C) The male SMA connector on radio requires that you buy an adapter ($7 at Radio Shack, cheaper on line at Amazon) to use SMA-terminated antennas such as MFJ-1722S which are also male.
D) Unlike one reviewer's experience, my battery seems to hold up for ~30 hours (i.e., a long time) in Rx-only mode. But it also took hours to charge.
E) The problems with Windows device-drivers for the bloody USB-to-serial cables has prevented me from being able to program this radio using the computer. We were thinking of using these for the local CERT team this is a show-stopper. Nice toy but we will stick to the pro radios for real work.
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Three weeks after purchase:
(0) Now having a license, I can test the Tx path.
(1) On-line help (search for user groups) has made this radio usable. I can now program channels manually. I have been able to access several repeaters.
(2) When coupled with a 1/4-wave dipole (magnetic mount on car roof, I use MFJ 1722S w/separate SMA gender changer) I get good reports from contacts as far as 30 miles (when line-of-sight conditions exist). This is very impressive for a "$50 disposable radio". When LOS does not exist, I barely reach the repeater 1 mile from my home as expected for a VHF radio.
(3) While I am able to get full-quieting on repeaters 10 miles away (i.e., good RF), I have had complains that my audio signal is weak. It really does seem necessary to push the radio into your face and speak directly into mic hole. I have not tried an external mic to see if that helps. I may also try the "drill out the mic hole (carefully!!)" technique to see if more audio energy reaches the mic.
(4) I was frustrated by the inability to turn off PTT-ID tones, but this was operator error (the lousy manual does not help): channel entry has to be DELETED and then reprogrammed. Simply changing programmed channel's PTT-ID field to OFF did not help and state reverted to BOT when menu exited.
Overall I am pleased with the purchase. But someone could make a buck writing a Dummies Guide to the BaoFeng UV Radio Line.
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