There¡¯s also a really nice device by TIDRADIO: the BL-1 Bluetooth programmer!
They are available through Amazon for $19.99.
I don¡¯t recommend using it to program you entire radio as it can be very time consuming. But it works great to program a couple of channels or modify channel mistakes/changes. It will also hold several program downloads. Have no idea how many it will hold, but I have several scans on mine.
You can use it with Android or Apple device and you do NOT need a cable!
Just my 2 cents worth.
Rod
KC7CJO
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On Oct 13, 2021, at 19:23, Donald Hellen <donhellen@...> wrote:
?On Thu, 14 Oct 2021 01:00:46 +0000, "Doug J" <vk2xlj@...>
wrote:
The UV-5R is a good budget priced radio. They are good value for the price you pay, but they aren't top of the line. If you take them into town/shopping centres, they are prone to interference, as they aren't very selective.
I have a UV-5R also. I bought it from a retailer at Hamvention a few
years ago and got it with two of the extended batteries (they let me
swap and pay the difference between the small battery and the larger
one).
If you're not in a flat area or nor near a repeater, it may not be
worth getting a handheld. If you can have another ham in your club
come over and test to see if you can bring up the local repeaters from
your home, or wherever else you might want to use it, that would tell
you if it's a good purchase. Mine wasn't. I have one spot outside by
the garage where I can bring up one repeater, and I'm a bit noisy
getting into it.
One other thing to know ahead of time with most of these Chinese
radios is that you'll probably want a programming cable (get one from
BTech on Amazon and you'll be getting the one from Baofeng's USA
distributor), and CHIRP programming software (it's free). There's a
CHIRP group here, too, that I started so if you have questions about
using it, then post there. If you don't get the cable from BTech, get
one with the FDTI chipset. There are counterfeit cables with the
Prolific chipset and the driver will refuse to work with a counterfeit
cable in at least some cases. There's a third chipset that I forgot
what it's called and it will work, but finding the driver for it was
not easy. I have an "octopus" cable that has 8 or so different ends to
fit various radios, and I bought it just to see if it works. Other
then the difficulty of finding the right driver for it, it DOES
actually work, so I can program several brands of radios with it.
You can also get non-free software from RT Systems. You can get a good
cable from them and also great software, but CHIRP is good enough and
will save you money. Figure about $50 for the cable and software from
them. Figure less than $20 for the official cable, less for one that
works but isn't the official one (check Amazon reviews first as some
are a waste of money), and CHIRP software is free.
There are other Chinese radio HTs but Baofeng is probably the most
popular and least problematic. Don't try to save a few $$$ and buy
another brand. The Baofengs are already pretty cheap anyway. I won a
different Chinese brand of HT at our local hamfest and after finding a
cable for it, was unable to program it. I sold it for $5 at the next
year's hamfest, which is about 1/2 what I paid for the cable. It was a
waste of money to have even bought the cable! (Yes, I did tell the
buyer my negative experience.)
Donald KX8K
----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP
