First, I would like thank Chris (NH7QH) at
Hawaii Radio Sales for sending me
the heads up about the UV-5R. Be sure to support Chris by visiting his
website for your Baofeng and other radio needs. (And no, Chris is not paying me to say this.) He's at
IWCE now and I hope he comes up with some new toys for us there.
I found out about the UV-5R being "in the wild" while I was at the UT basketball game last night. As I mentioned,
PA2OLD sent me this
link first. I was very excited to get confirmation that UV-5R was available so soon. No
KG-UV920R here. Unfortunately, trying to decipher a Chinese web site on an Android Phone while at a college basketball game with congestion on the mobile network is not fun.
Not too long after that, someone posted anonymously in the comments with the link to the 409Shop listing for UV-5R. And then in quick succession, Nate sent me the link and Carol from the 409Shop responded to an e-mail to inform me that it was available.
I felt like Will Bailey in this episode of the West Wing.
On top of all of this, Knology was having major problems in my area, so I had no cable internet at my house. I used the mobile hot spot on my Android phone, but the 3G was painful. It was all I could do to get this
simple post up last night.
So here is my more formal post about the UV-5R. I looked on the
Baofeng website, but did not see the radio listed yet, so here are the specs from the 409Shop page.
BAOFENG UV-5R 4W
136-174/400-480Mhz
BAOFENG UV-5R The transcevier is a micro-miniature multiband FM transceiver with extensive receive frequency coverage,providing local-area two-way amateur communications along with unmatched monitoring capability
VHF/ UHF DUAL-BAND TWO WAY RADIO
Frequency Range: 136-174 / 400-480MHz
Dual-Band Display, Dual Freq. Display, Dual-Standby
Output Power: 4 /1Watts
128 Channels
50 CTCSS and 104 CDCSS
Built-in VOX Function
1750Hz Brust Tone
FM Radio (65.0MHz-108.0MHz)
LED Flashlight
Large LCD Display
Hight /Low RF Power Switchable
25KHz/12.5KHz Switchable
Emergency Alert
Low Battery Alert
Battery Saver
Time-out Timer
Keypad Lock
Monitor Channel
Channel Step: 2.5/5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHz
Roger Set
■ Dual band, dual display, dual standby
■ A/B band independent operation
■ 128 groups channels storage
■ Shortcut menu operation mode
■ VFO & Memory channels scan
■ Emergency Alarm
■ Tri-color background light selectable
■ 0~9 grades VOX selectable
■ PTT & ANI ID
■ FM radio and 25 stations storage
■ Voice companding
■ CTCSS/DCS coder & tone searching
■ PC programmable
■ Wide/Narrow Band(25kHz/12.5kHz)
■ Transmitter time-out timer(TOT)
■ High/Low TX power selectable
■ Busy channel lock-out(BCLO)
Specifications:
General
Frequency Range
65-108MHz(FM Receive only)
136-174MHZ and 400-480HZ (TX/RX)
Channel No.
128
Frequency Stability
±2.5ppm
Antenna
High gain DualBand Antenna
Antenna
SMA - Female
Antenna Impedance
50Ω
Operating Voltage
DC 7.4V
Mode of operation
Simple or semi-duplex
Dimension(W x H x D)100 x 52 x 32 mm
Weight
250g (including battery, antenna)
Transmitter
Output power
4W / 1W (Max 5W)
Modulation Mode
16kΦF3E / 11kΦF3E
Maximum deviation
<5kHz(Wide) / <2.5kHz(Narrow)
Spurious Radiation
<7μW
Adjacent Ch. power
≤-65dB(Wide) / ≤-60dB(Narrow)
Pre-emphasis characteristics
6dB
Current
≤1.6A(5W)
CTCSS/DCS deviation
0.5±0.1kHz(Wide) / 0.3±0.1kHz(Narrow)
Intermediation sensitivity
8-12mv
Intermediation distortion
<10%
Earpiece / mic type
Kenwood Plug type
The package contents are listed as:
1 x UV-5R (VHF136-174Mhz UHF 400-480Mhz)
1 x 7.4V 1800mah Li-ion Battery Pack
1 x Antenna 400-480Mhz
1 x Belt Clip
1 x ENG Manual
1 x Desktop Charger ( 100V ~ 240V )+(2pin USA or 3pin UK or 2pin EURO or 2pin Australia)
1 x PTT Earpiece for free
The 409Shop has the UV-5R for $56 USD. Hopefully the description is correct (High gain dual-band antenna) and the package contents (Antenna 400-480MHz) is incorrect. Baofeng should have learned that lesson with the UV-3R when it provided the two band specific antennas originally.
Nate hopes, based on the description, that we can get U/U and V/V. I can't wait for somone to get their hands on one.