Hey all:
I got my hands on the baofeng UV3r dual band last night.
First impressions are good. the radio is very small, well built and has
great tx and rx audio.
As a size reference, the radio is the same height as a standard bick
lighter, about an inch thick and perhaps 2.5 inches wide.
It has 4 buttons on the front, two buttons on the left side, and the PTT on
the left side. It has a single pin speaker mike/data jack and the charging
port on the right side.
On the top is one detented control knob that you must pull up to turn...push
down and it locks into place.
The antenna jack is a standard female SMA type.
TX audio is clear and crisp, and rx audio is more than adequit.
When you enter the menus, it always lands on menu number one. The menus and
settings do wrap, but they will always land on number one, and the default
setting of 0 or off when you enter each setting.
The power button is rounded, compared to the other 3 buttons on the front
which are rectangular.
The PTT, mode, and light buttons on the left side are all different shapes,
and are tactily different from each other.
I've been trying to get the programming software to work with JAWS.
Everything shows up with jaws, except the most important part, where you
edit each memory channel.
That too is doable, but it's tedious...once you understand how to access the
RX, TX, tx tone and rx tone, and wide/narrow fields, you can use the mouse
clicker, escape, and space bar to access each channel to edit it.
I have tried to examine the .dat file that is produced when you save your
settings, but it is all jibberish...unlike other dat files I've seen which
can be edited in a common notepad text editor.
If I can get a better handle on the programming software, I'll post my
comments, and write up something for Icanworkthisthing.com.
Programming by hand is nearly impossible, unless you wish to try and count
by 5, or perhaps 25KHZ steps. You can set the programming software to tell
the radio to set the VFO on a specific frequency, then set your step size in
the menu's to 25KHZ. Then, you can turn the knob on the top to your desired
frequency, counting from your preset frequency.
The actual programming of a memory channel is as easy as on the TH F6A or IC
T90...press a button, select the memory channel, press another button and
it's saved.
However, locating the correct frequency is more difficult as the radio has
no keypad for direct entry.
You can also set the FM broadcast radio frequency via the software, so that
the first time you access the FM radio, it'll be on your chosen frequency.
You then just need to count in 100KHZ steps on the top knob to locate the
station of your choice. The radio will go back to the last known station
when you return to the FM radio.
Also, if you have the FM radio on, and the frequency you were monitoring
before becomes active, the radio will automatically switch back to what ever
frequency/channel you have it set to...then, when the frequency goes quiet
again, it'll return to the FM radio until you exit the FM radio.
It also has a built in flash light function, not that it is much use to most
of us hi.
But you can use the flash light without having the radio turned on.
Power settings are done via both the initial memory programming, and via
menu 7...high and low...high is 2W output on VHF/UHF, and low is half a watt
on VHF and UHF.
It's more like a self programmable commercial radio than an amateur radio.
There is no reverse function, there is no DTMF function, there is no keypad.
I've got weather channels programmed on certain channels so that I can have
an audible reference point to know where I am...for instance, I have weather
programmed in on channel 1, 162.400, then 10 common ham freqs programmed.
Then, channel 12 is weather again, and after that are another 5 frequencies.
Then, weather again in channel 99...so I know that if I hear weather on two
channels side by side, that one is chan 99, the next is chan one...then I
just have the ten ham freqs memorized in order as I have all my radios
programmed the same.
Then, if I hear only the one weather channel as I'm flipping through, I know
I am at my next block of frequencies...which are also memorized in order.
This is pretty much the only way to determine where you are as you obviously
can't just press 001 or 000 to go to a specific channel.
So, from an accessibility, and blind user stand point, not great, but from a
cost and usability and over all cool stand point, excellent.
Great for "local" amateur/FRS/GMRS communications.
Radio comes with a lanyard strap, a speaker mike ear piece, a belt clip, a
desktop charger for the battery, a VHF and UHF antenna *they're two separate
antennas*, a 3.9V 1500MA battery and the wall wart charger.
The radio will run off of 11 to 16V dc so you can run it straight off your
cigarette lighter or power supply. You can charge the battery by plugging
the charger into the radio, or by taking the battery out and dropping it
into the desktop style charger.
73
Colin, V A6BS
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