Baofeng Radio

For a small handheld radio, you may want to consider a small solar panel made for recharging such small device batteries. Then have some spare rechargeables on hand, and cycle through them so they all get used. They can go bad sitting, not being used or charged.

Heck yeah! Good thinking, OP!

Great thread 5 stars!!

Well, I was thinking to buy one, they are pretty cheap and they could come handy in case of need!

Thats not the case here. Mine is still fine and it rarely gets used, i usually only use it listening to local hams bitch on 2meters once in a while. I bought her one a couple months after i purchased mine and she uses it all the time listening to FM, her battery took a shit even though its used and charged regularly.

Just wondering if other peoples baofengs are still running fine. They are cheap radios after all and you get a bang for the buck. But none of us knew what the longevity of it would be. Just curious.

I bought one in 2015. It was stored in a box with the battery still attached. Fired it up a month ago and 90% charge.

Great!

They are a great buy for little money. You should get two if money allows, still under 100 bucks for two!

True. I have a few of them, and even if they are off for a year, they turn on ok, without charging.

Yeah, she uses hers a lot for the fm radio feature. So she has cycled it a lot and it probably just went bad from so much use. They are great little radios. Mine is still going strong to.

Yes, they are a bargain, for sure.

When the lights go out
What frequency we dial into /?
I need to program it now
Just saynn..

need help uv5r. losing my friggin mind.

When power gone out. Now tower would be able to relay your message. And these radios are not strong simplex solution.

Get the AA adapter thing.

Start with going to:
[link to www.repeaterbook.com (secure)]

Look for local repeaters in the 2m and 70cm bands. Plug them in.

Add 146.52 which is the 2m national simplex calling frequency and 446.00 for the 70cm simplex calling frequency.

If you do not have an amateur radio license, please only listen. Hams will SDF you if you cause problems. And consider getting your license, it's a little effort to study and $15 for the exam. Then you'll be able to practice with your radio and become confident in how to use it.

Many repeaters have a backup power solution of some sort and form part of the emergency response infrastructure. They would probably get resources as long as possible.

You are correct about the simplex solution. I have a 2m j-pole 30 feet in the air and have never heard a simplex signal during the local net check-ins. A rubber ducky on a 4w(?) radio isn't going to be useful unless there are others in the local area.

The batteries have a small plug on the side (no the radio) and you can get a USB cable to plug directly into the battery to charge it.

[link to encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com (secure)]

Or you can use the cradle with the same cable.

1. 10 Watt solar panel with USB
2. A few large batteries
3. USB cable

It's a 2 meter transceiver with FM radio and an emergency LED that you can charge with sunlight. Not bad.

And then of course combo this with other items that will charge using USB.

Everyone violate the FCC at once.

One...
Two...

Question: I have mine set to NOAA but it is static and not working like normal. Is this normal?

Mine are surprisingly still good.

7.4V Li-Ion.

I have about 8 of the Baofeng BF-F8HP's for my local MAG.

However, I am slowly switching to the Yaesu FT-60R

Much better radio.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No

piece of SHITE!

no violation to listen

Your a moran, you dont know shit about HAM radios

They sell a battery box that takes regular AA batteries....it clips in just like the lithium battery....I bought a couple just in case the lithium batteries die in an emergency...

If you need spare batteries evike has them for a great deal.

Also you can get an adapter deal that takes 6 AA's for $3.95 on ebay.

I have spares and ways to charge in the field but it's definitely something a lot of people forget.