Buddy,
Thanks for the info. The new Anytone radio was my only question. Ed did
not say anything about speech, please let us know if you find out anything
about these new radios.
Bob, K8LR, [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Buddy Brannan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: To K8LR, Bob
Hi,
I=92m not Bob and i don=92t play him on TV, but I=92ve somehow managed =
to become Mr. Chinese Handheld Radio Guy. Here=92s what I know about =
these.
If you want =93best price=94, it=92s far and away the Baofeng UV5R, =
which can be had from Amazon for $29. Yep, really.=20
If the information Ed posted about the Wouxuns is correct, it might be =
well to stay away from it. According to Ed, they all have this small =
problem where they may possibly lose their memories. I=92ve had mine for =
something close to four years and this hasn=92t happened to me. Yet. But =
maybe you don=92t want to take the chance.
I would stay away from either of the TYT radios. I have a TH-UVF9, and =
it really isn=92t as usable as the others are, mainly because important =
things like CTCSS, deviation (wide or narrow), and step size, are not =
directly settable from the keypad, meaning you have to set them using =
up/down arrow keys, and there=92s no way to know where you are in the =
setting.=20
Now, for usability, that=92s a hard question to answer. Here are some =
observations that may help though.=20
The Wouxun radios time out very quickly when you=92re in the menu. So =
you=92d better work quickly, or you=92ll have to do your programming =
over. And by =93quickly=94, I mean three seconds. Both the Baofeng and =
the Puxing PX-UV973 take a lot longer to time out. The Baofeng is a good =
10 seconds before the menu times out, and the puxing is similar. =
However, you don=92t get any audible warning from the Puxing that the =
menu has timed out, where you do on the Baofeng.=20
All three, Wouxun, Puxing, and Baofeng, allow setting of CTCSS or DCS =
tones from the keypad. However, the Baofeng and Puxing allow you to =
directly specify the tone, such as 1862 for a 186.2 tone, where the =
Wouxun requires that you select from a number list, where, for instance, =
36 is 186.2. Setting tones on the Puxing is also a little more =
difficult, but not by much. I need to hurry up and write the Puxing =
eyes-free thingy.
The Puxing is the only radio of the three that offers a true dual =
receive. However, it=92s a little difficult knowing which band is =
active, as there isn=92t any audible indication of this. You can work =
around this by setting the volume of the secondary band differently from =
the primary band; also, if you turn off the dual receive, you=92ll =
always return to the main band, so you can always get back to a known =
state.=20
All three radios have similar frequency coverage.
The Wouxun and Baofeng keypads are kind of sideways, with ABCD across =
the top, and 1,2,3,* 4,5,6,0, 7,8,9,# in rows of four. The Puxing has =
ABCD across the top, and a standard layout 12 key touch tone pad below. =
The Wouxun has a nice locator dot on the 5 key, but the others do not.=20=
All of them have drop-in chargers. The Baoffeng has the best battery =
selection, coming with an 1800 MA/H battery and having a 3800 MA/H =
available for less than $20. The Puxing has the smallest battery at 1200 =
MA/H. 1800 MA/H is available from China on eBay if you look. (It might =
be 1600 MA/H, but what=92s 200 MA/H between friends?) All of them have =
good long battery life, but especially the Baofeng if you put on the big =
battery, which makes it feel a bit more like HT=92s of old.
Oh, one other thing. Programming repeater channels is a bit more =
convoluted with the Baofeng, requiring that you program in receive and =
transmit frequencies separately. This effectively means you program each =
channel twice. Wouxun and Puxing remember repeater offsets just fine.=20
All of the computer software is pretty horrible, except perhaps the RT =
Systems software, which costs as much as or more than the radio itself. =
I don=92t have the RT Systems software for any of these myself, sorry.=20=
Pricing. As mentioned before, the Baofeng can be had for as little as =
$29 from Amazon. The Puxing is between $75 and $80. The Wouxun is around =
$100, but Ed no longer sells it. Lots of others do, though.=20
I don=92t have much information that=92s of any use about the new =
Anytone AT-3318UV, sorry. Hope to find out more.=20
Vy 73, de KB5ELV
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