One thing I have not seen discussed in this thread is the question as to whether having a “better” antenna really helps with the Baofeng, at least with the original UV-5R. The radio has the selectivity of a Barn Door, and is very sensitive to interference. For other radios, including my VX8-DR, I often use a generic 1/4 wave, which improves the radios sensitivity, and ability to hit repeaters on the other side of a ridge near me. Adding that same antenna to the Baofeng causes local noise, such as my LED light fixtures to overpower real signals.

I followed the advice in the UV5R faq at Miklor.com, and bought what was known as the $3.79 special, and I never looked back. The antenna helps provide some front end filtering, which the radio really needs. Later versions of the radio, especially from Baofeng Tech have gotten better, but the basic 5R works better with a less capable antenna.

I highly recommend you use an SMA to BNC connector on the radio, and buy BNC antennae. In your car, you can get a mag mount with a BNC connector, and try various antenna types on the mag mount. The BNC connector has a longer life than the SMA connector built into the radio, and is replaceable when it wears out. It also facilitates removal of your walk around antenna, and connection to your car.

I also recommend looking at Miklor.com for a useful FAQ, on all things BAOFENG.

Bill (AB1LZ)

Would you believe? Sent from my shoe phone's big brother and still no keyboard. Please excuse auto connections caused by typhoons.

I found some longer, frequency trimmed antennas at Battery Junction. Similar to the Nagoya. some cover the MURS, some other sections of VHV/UHF, air band, etc.
You can get ground plane adaptors on ebay to convert a handheld, or mobile antenna to a base antenna, with three radials for under $10.

I found some longer, frequency trimmed antennas at Battery Junction. Similar to the Nagoya. some cover the MURS, some other sections of VHV/UHF, air band, etc.
You can get ground plane adaptors on ebay to convert a handheld, or mobile antenna to a base antenna, with three radials for under $10.

320A Antenna for Baofeng & Btech

Thanks Don,
Baofeng being for some, an entryway, somewhat implies some new folks and some basics, at times. I'm an example.

Below is what an hour or two searching found for HT antennas, based on comments about 2 brand and cost, Nagoya & Diamond, though at $35-40 for the HT, Diamond does have units equaling that range, versus only 3x the cost of the HT. (Better a cheap car w good tires, than the opposite.) But the point is very well taken. No $500 @ tires on a VW Bug.?Baby steps, learn as I go.?

Bill . . .

On Fri, 28 Jan 2022 11:22:37 -0800, "billsf9c via groups.io"
<OOWONBS@...> wrote:

I do have the "full kit," which included from stubby to extended tape antennas. I'm interested in vehicle antennas and hand/small pole, holdable, omni and directional antennas to improve reception and sometimes, directionality. As in a foxhunt, directionality can aid in search and rescue.

I can't help with any of these questions but to get the best out of portable,
hand-held use, the genuine Nagoya antenna is probably the best. The knock-offs
are crap and less expensive. It's not directional, though.

I got one of the actual genuine Nagoyas and it works well, all things
considered. My QTH is not far from the closest repeater but I can only maintain
contact in certain spots on my city lot. With a stubby duckie antenna, I doubt
I'd even open the repeater squelch.

For mobile use, I use the Comet triband antenna on a trunk lid mount to have
some gain on 2M and 440 and a useful antenna on 6M. You can hook up a handheld
HT to any antenna. Just make sure it's efficient since you only have a few watts
to use and every bit of that is precious.

You can also build or buy small amplifiers and some have receiving preamplifiers
to essentially make it the equivalent of a 25 or 50 watt mobile radio, but you
have to be close to a source of power other than the battery in the HT.

As for directional antennas for fox-hunts, any small Yagi or quad antenna should
work. A 3-element would give you a decent front to back ratio. You can web
search for those (yagi, fox, hunt).


Donald KX8K



----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP

Bill . . .

On Fri, 28 Jan 2022 11:22:37 -0800, "billsf9c via groups.io"
<OOWONBS@...> wrote:

Is this or the antenna group more appropriate, since we be are talking Baofeng?

It depends on whether your focus is going to be on antennas.

If antennas, it wouldn't matter which brand or model of handheld radio you have.
If it's about your Baofeng specifically, and not about antennas that would work
on any handheld, then the ham-antennas group would be best.

Donald KX8K



----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP

I'm in the antenna group, reading Files.

I do have the "full kit," which included from stubby to extended tape antennas. I'm interested in vehicle antennas and hand/small pole, holdable, omni and directional antennas to improve reception and sometimes, directionality. As in a foxhunt, directionality can aid in search and rescue.

Is this or the antenna group more appropriate, since we be are talking Baofeng?

Thx, 73s -

BillSF9c

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On Tue, 25 Jan 2022 01:48:15 +0000, "Doug J" <vk2xlj@...> wrote:

I wasn't after a general history, I was after a comparison between two specific models.

It looked to me that the history explained the variants. It appears that
paragraph 2 and 3 explain the + is just a cosmetic variant as far as what it
does but the battery may not be interchangeable with the non plus model.

I would suggest contacting either Baofeng or Baofeng Tech if you want to know
more.

Donald KX8K



----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP

On Tue, 25 Jan 2022 01:48:15 +0000, "Doug J" <vk2xlj@...> wrote:

BaofengTech is an American dealer, not the manufacturer.

Yes, sorry about that.


----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP

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On Tue, 25 Jan 2022 01:17:32 +0000, "Doug J" <vk2xlj@...> wrote:

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between UV-5R vs UV-5R+, apart from minor cosmetic changes to the case.

From the manufacturer:




------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BaoFeng UV-5R Radio Background

BaoFeng Introduced the UV-5R Dual Band, Dual Display radio in 2012. Since its
introduction the UV-5R has seen a massive success. The UV-5R has seen 2 major
changes since its launch with the second generation being signified by BFB297
Firmware (2nd Gen.) in early 2013 and the N5R firmware tweak in August of 2014.

There are several cosmetic variants of the UV-5R. These variants have no
differences from the UV-5R besides their cosmetic design along with the possible
removal of the ‘Band Key’ (no longer required in Gen. 2).

Variations include the: UV-5R v2+, UV-5RA, UV-5RE, UV-5R+ (Plus), along with
several other lesser produced variants. Some of these variations may also no
longer work with case specific accessories such as the original UV-5R batteries.

Late in 2013, the UV-5R also included a new variant generation with the inverted
(privacy) display series; with the introduction of the BF-F8+ and its own
cosmetic variants (such as the GT-3 and 997-S).

Finally, in the fall of 2014, the UV-5R saw the introduction to its successor
the 3rd. Generation BF-F8HP.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The original UV-5R could be set for out-of-band transmit. The FCC put a stop to
that a year or so ago.


Donald KX8K


----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP

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onemorep . . .

On Mon, 24 Jan 2022 13:09:44 -0800, "onemorep via groups.io"
<onemorep@...> wrote:

Using Chirp 20220118 the offsets I enter for my repeaters do not program, changes back to OFF. Used Query Data Source and entered manually based off RepeaterBook. First time Baofeng and Chirp user.

As Doug mentioned, Baofeng provides their own programming tool, though I used
CHIRP to program 3 Baofeng UV-5R's. I think your radio is a FRS/GMRS radio,
though, and mine is for the ham bands on 144 and 440 MHz, so what I mention
below may not apply.

If the radio is locked to only the GMRS frequencies, you won't be able to
program AND make it able to transmit on amateur radio frequencies. You MAY be
able to program the ham band repeater frequencies but it shouldn't let you
transmit on them. The transmit enable should either not be there or it should
revert to off. If the radio is a few years old, some Baofengs were able to do
this but the FCC came down on them hard and stopped them from offering these
illegal radios. I have some 888's which can be made to work on GMRS, FRS, and
the 440 MHz ham bands. I'm licensed for the ham bands, so it's not illegal for
me to use the 888's on those bands. These were sold as "license-free" radios
illegally in the US.

Note that if your radio is able to be made to transmit on amateur radio
frequencies, as some of the Baofengs were able to do so a year or two ago, it is
illegal to do so unless you are licensed. If you do and are found out, the fact
that your radio would be set to be able to do that would be additional evidence
of the crime.

I am not sure what you mean by you entered data manually. There's a feature in
CHIRP that lets you look up repeaters within a certain distance. I forget
exactly how that looks and what you need to choose since it's been a while, but
I was able to copy and paste from the Repeaterbook tab's rows to the main tab
that gets uploaded to the radio's rows one by one until I got all that I wanted.
Those entries on the repeaterbook tab had all the offsets, PL tones, and more,
so I didn't need to enter anything manually. Again, if this is a recent
production model for a GMRS (or FRS) radio, it should not be able to work on the
ham bands and that is by design.

If you want to use CHIRP and need more help with it, join the CHIRP group, too.


Donald KX8K





----------------------------------------------------
Some ham radio groups you may be interested in:
/g/ICOM /g/Ham-Antennas
/g/HamRadioHelp /g/Baofeng
/g/CHIRP

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>?I wonder how long the battery lasts at 8 watts with normal conversation?

That had to be 6-8 min / hr, not per 24-30 hrs battery longevity.

BillSF9c