I would have gotten it Friday, except that the mailman decided I didn't need to have it yet. Didn't even knock. Sigh. Maybe he's afraid he'll catch something from the weird blind people.
For those of you just tuning in, the Baofeng UV-5R is a dual band 4-watt HT, 128 meory channels, features very similar to the KG-UVD1P. It can be had from http://www.importcommunications.com for $65. With the couple of improvements I'd like to see, I'd say it's well worth $65, even with a couple of rough edges or some might say shortcomings.
So far, so good. The only issue I'm noticing is a somewhat reluctant 8 key, you have to press it a bit harder than other keys, sometimes, to activate. This is probably my specific unit, and it's not worth sending back to Hong Kong (I bought before Ed at Import Communications had it for sale. I won't make that mistake again.) Can't say anything about the backlight or the top LED or any of that, sorry.
Initial observations:
It isn't a lot smaller than the Wouxun KG-UVD1P, but those couple of millimeters in each direction do make a difference. It's a nice shape and feels good in the hand. It's also slightly lighter weight than the Wouxun.
The rubber duckie isn't terribly flexible. Reminds me of the one that came with the Kenwood T_hF6A, except a little shorter.
I like that the wrist strap and belt clip attach to the radio, not to the battery. That means only one of each is needed.
The keypad is slightly smaller, with buttons slightly closer together, though this isn't a real problem. There is not a tactile dot on the 5 key as there is with the Wouxun. Again, not critical but the dot is a nice touch.
Programming and frequency entry:
I'm not sure what the default channel step is. However, entering frequencies is straightforward. If you try to enter a UHF frequency while on VHF or vice versa, you'll get an error tone. I suppose you can set different offsets for A and B VFO's, but aside from being able to easily tune and use repeaters without programming them, there's not a lot useful there, since programming memories requires that the receive and transmit frequencies are saved separately. This means you have to know them both, or be able to figure them out; memories don't store offsets as they do in the Wouxun.
Horray! You can adjust menu parameters numerically. That is to say, menu, 2, menu (for power), then 0 for high and 1 for low. An even nicer touch: you can directly enter CTCSS tones. So for a 186.2 tone on transmit, you'd enter menu, 13, menu, 1862, menu. No more memorizing CTCSS tone tables.
The Baofeng does talk less than the Wouxun, and some additional feedback would be helpful. I like that pressing the "Up" button makes a tone from low to high, and the reverse for pressing "Down". Similar feedback would be useful on the A/B button and on the band button. It also beeps if you enter an illegal menu entry, for instance, pressing "2" in the power menu will result in a different tone than pressing "0" for high or "1" for low.
Unlike the Wouxun, the Baofeng has a very generous timeout on the menu. There's a good 8 seconds between opening the menu and the menu timing out, so lots of time to press the right buttons. I think the Wouxun gives you like 3 seconds.
That's about all I know so far. More as I find it, and I'll get to work on the Baofeng Eyes-Free Guide.
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Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY
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