Baofeng Comparison

LA3ZA has compiled a handy chart to compare the Baofeng UV-5R, UV-82, and the UV-B5.

Of course, my favorite is the GT-3*.

*Yes, I'm just saying that to stir up trouble.

That was quick.

I ordered one of those cheap Baofeng UV-5R radios today. It was delivered in about 30 minutes using Amazon's new Prime Air service.

Baofeng UV-5R: $30.99 Free Shipping

The Amazon Lightning Deal on the Baofeng UV-5R is for $30.99 plus free ship. I was hoping for a crazier half-off type deal.

Baofeng UV-5R: Amazon Lightning Deal - Starts Now

The deal starts now.



Deal seen first on AR-15 forum
About Amazon Lightning Deals

Baofeng UV-5R: Amazon Lightning Deal

I'm not really sure how this works, but there is an Amazon Lightning Deal on the Baofeng UV-5R tomorrow at 11:50 Eastern (16:50 UTC). It is currently showing for $39.99 USD with free shipping. I'm assuming that the price drops to some impossible to resist number when the deal starts.



Deal seen first on AR-15 forum
About Amazon Lightning Deals

For the Toolbox

Here is another great item for your toolbox... Silver Sharpies. They are great for a variety of uses. For one, I mark the various power supplies for my HT radios. No more matching plugs to make sure I have the right wall wart for the UV-5R or UV-3R.

I also use them for my magazines. Since all the magazines look a like, it is important to have an easy way to identify one that starts having problems.

Inflatable Antennae

Inflatable Antennae... now, if they would just make one for an UV-5R we'd be in business.

Zastone ZT-9908: Digital Radio

Nate found another digital radio... the Zastone ZT-9908. You can get one for $97 at Amazon or $103 on eBay.

"Zastone (a company known to release clones of the UV-5R, and more recently a clone of the BJ-9000) have updated their website recently."

They are now offering a UHF only digital radio. Users manual is here (PDF). And the specs are as follows:

Features

DPMR Digital Standard

Analog ,Digital , both ,Channel Selection

Multi Working modes optional

Aadvanced Organic Electroluminesence Display

UHF430-470MHz

199 storage channel

Single Call ,Selective Call ,Group Call function

Message Edit ,Send and Receive support 

ANI ID Function

Time display & setable

CTCSS 50/DCS 104

DTMF Function

Multi Frequency Step Setting

Repeater Offset

Priority Channel Scan

Scanning modes Selection

Channels Name Edit

Specification

General：

Frequency: 430.000MHz—470.000MHz

Channels: 199

Channel space: Digital：6.25 kHz ；Anolog：25/12.5kHz

Size: 132*63*40mm

Operating Temperature: -10-- +55 degrees

Power Voltage: 7.4V

Standby Current: About 35mA

Weight: about 300g

Transmitter:

RF power output: 7.4V   HI≈4W±1dB   LO≈1W

Emission Current: HI≤1.6A   LO≤0.80A

Maximum Frequency deviation: Wide band±5.0/Narrow band 2.5kHz

Harmonic: <-65db div="">

Adjacent channel Power: Wide band 60DB/ Narrow band 65DB

Receiver:

Sensitivity: <0 .25uv="" db="" div="" s="">

SQ sensitivity: <0 .16uv="" div="">

Intermodulation rejection: 55dB

Audio output: ≥800mW

Receiving current: ≤300mA

SQ standby: Average 35mA

Including 

Radio ZT-9908 *1

Battery 1800Mah *1

Charger *1 (AC adaptor & desktop)

Antenna *1

Back clip *1

Strap *1

Manual in English *1

Baofeng UV-5R:

John passes along the following:

"The (Chinese) Radio Documentation Project has just gotten its latest update by Jim KC9HI.
If you are the owner of a UV5R (or any of it's cousins) this IS the manual.
A copy is available at http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/UV5R-Manuals.html"

 It is a great resource (and in a convenient PDF file). If you have a UV-5R, you will want to snag a copy.

Baofeng UV-5R: $32

I've lost track, so is this the lowest it has been?

Baofeng UV-5R for only $32!!!

(Shipping is free with Amazon Prime or if you are willing to wait.)

Via Mark WB3CAI (@marksenk)

Baofeng UV-5R: Noise Canceling Feature

Hans has the details.

I say just move the slower processing unit a few inches closer to the source. That should take care of it and, if you position yourself correctly, you will have stereo sound!

Baofeng UV-B5: Miklor Reference

John (K3NXU) started with the UV-5R information. He added the UV-82. And now, you can get information on the UV-B5.

TDXOne TD-Q8AH:

Via Nate... a followup on the TD-Q8AH.

The guy doing the video doesn't like it. And the batteries aren't compatible with the UV-5R.

Baofeng UV-5R and TDXOne TD-Q8: Menu Comparison

Just a comparison of the menus of the two radios as part of Nate's analysis.

	UV-5R	TD-Q8
0	SQL	BEEP
1	STEP	SQL-LE (SQL)
2	TXP	SQL-LE
3	SAVE	VOICE
4	VOX	SCN-QT (CTSCSS/DCS SCAN)
5	WN	VOX
6	ABR	AUTOLK
7	TDR	TXP
8	BEEP	BCL
9	TOT	CS-REV
10	R-DCS	WN
11	R-CTSS	C-CTC
12	T-DCS	R-CTC (=RX-CTCSS/DCS)
13	T-CTCSS	T-CTC (=TX-CTCSS/DCS)
14	VOICE	SAVE
15	ANI-ID	TOA
16	DTMFST	TOT
17	S-CODE	WT-LED
18	SC-REV	RX-LED
19	PTT-ID	TX-LED
20	PTT-LT	ROGER
21	MDF-A	SFT-D
22	MDF-B	OFFSET
23	BCL	STEP
24	AUTOLK	CHNAME
25	SFT-D	MEM-CH
26	OFFSET	DEL-CH
27	MEM-CH	CH-MDF
28	DEL-CH	PF1 (Side Key Fn)
29	WT-LED	TDR
30	RX-LED	ANI
31	TX-LED	PTTDLY
32	AL-MOD	PTT-ID
33	BAND	DTMFST
34	TDR-AB	IDEDIT
35	STE	RESET
36	RP-STE	PONMSG
37	RPT-RL	DW
38	PONMSG
39	ROGER
40	RESET

Baofeng UV-5R: TDXOne

Nate has been surfing around the interwebs again and is having some fun with YABUV5RC (Yet Another Boafeng UV-5R Clone).

The BaofengGate Conspiracy

From all the Baofeng UV-5R clones we've seen in the past two+ years, this gets the prize for being the most "original".

It all started after I've spotted a seller named "A-plugs" or "A-Plus" selling this radio in their virtual AliExpress store 913499:

Firstly, they have an original name: TDXone

They have changed as much as they could:
- Volume knob.
- Antenna connector (and a different looking antenna).
- Speaker 'grill'
- Location and shape of the RX/TX LED
- The side buttons are both under the PTT, and are both black.
- Shape and location of the VFO/MR and the A/B buttons.
- The belt clip.
- And the charger looks different too.

The specs shows it to be the version where you can either have a standard 144/440 MHz radio or a 220/440 MHz radio. (See the note here regarding versions.)

Now changing labels and plastic is a very Chinese like thing to do, but changing the antenna connector? This is very suspicious.

Then I found the culprit: From the state of Ohio: Universal Radio Inc - apparently, this just appeared about two weeks ago on their website: TDXONE TD-Q8 HT.

This radio is also sold on eBay, but get this, only by Americans. Two sellers, one a company called Lentini Communications, Inc from Berlin, Connecticut, and the other is also from Ohio, that not only claims to beat "Universal" in price, but that the radio is graded IP65.

There you go, the BaofengGate conspiracy is solved.

(And I waited so long to post this, Nate kept digging. - Brick)


The BaofengGate Conspiracy Part II

Some more information about the 'conspiracy':
The domain: tdxone.com belongs to Universal Radio Inc.
I believe the eBay seller from Adamsville, OH, is Walter KD8HWG.
The radio appeared several month ago, maybe around April.

There is a weird claim that keeps repeating itself about this clone:
128+128 Memories, what is that about?

TDXone logo:



Software Download
Specs

This frequency range post here is interesting. Universal talks about the frequency range, but fails to mention that there is a 220 version. The 220/440 versions cover 219-225 MHz, The good people of Universal, left the specs as 245-246 MHz which is really only interesting to you if you want to use it in Thailand.

And looking at the TDXONE TD-Q8 Controls:

- Is "#" the confirm button? For UV5Rs, you press the MENU button again to confirm an action.
- On the bottom left: Scan? What happened to the Monitor function?
After examining the users manual (keep reading), I found out that the graphics was misleading, MENU still confirms changes, and the monitor function still exists.

Menu comparison chart is here.

Yet another American company has it: Radio Inc

Users Manual is here (PDF).

Anderson Communications from Australia also has it. His version is TD-Q8AH with a "super high capacity battery".

From the manual I've learned that the menus are slightly different, and you can change the functionality of one of the side buttons, edit channel names, and the ANI.

They also added PL/DCS scanning.


(And I still didn't get it posted, so he dug some more... - Brick)

The BaofengGate Conspiracy Part III


Also aaRadio.com has it too...

But they call it Tongdaxin TDX1 Q8.

Which brings a whole slew of more information:

TDXChina.com carries the name Tongdaxin.

Their website, shows that this radio is actually 3 sub models:

TDX-Q8(CH)
TDX-Q8(BH)
TDX-Q8(AH)

And there is the TDX-Q8-silver which has the same case as the TDX-Q8(BH); they might be the same radio.

A clone that looks like a simply relabeled UV5Rs: TD-Q6
A clone with an interesting keypad layout: TDX-Q7

And something that looks new and probably not on market: TDX-Q10
Of-course you have a bunch of the usual commercial radios.

(After all that, all I have to add is I think the picture at the beginning of the post makes this the perfect HT for a Cylon - 70's version. - Brick)

Quansheng TG-K4AT (UV)

Nate has been following up on the Quansheng TG-K4ATUV that he first talked about here. (Following is Nate's research with some edits from me - so assume any mistakes are mine.)

This is a radio I've sent you the link for, a long time ago, but there wasn't much discussion about it. Now there is a short video:



And a 26 minute full un-boxing, comparison and demo video in Russian:



Can't speak Russian, but minor things like language barriers didn't stop me before:

Highlights:

- Seems like he is happy with the quality of the plastic.
- The battery label reads: 7.4V 2000mV
- The radio is slightly larger than the Baofang UV-5R (slightly taller and wider, roughly the same thickness), including the display, which will be easier to handle for all those who say that the UV-5R was too small. I think the display is clearer/easier to read too (nice side by side picture at 07:50).

* Note that in the video he is also comparing the radio to the TG-K4A - a mono-band radio that, ahmm, 'resembles' the Yaesu FT-50.

- The charger he got (European plug) had the AC plug going directly to the charger's base (no wall wart like the UV-5R).
- The charger has an indentation at the bottom that enables you to charge the battery without the radio (very useful if you use multiple batteries).
- He is talking about the layout of the keypad which is 0 at the button, "like in a telephone'.
- The rubber that protects the accessories jacks has a hinge, it doesn't hang on a band like the one in the UV-5R.
- All in all the quality of the build seems very similar.
- Has both 2.5KHz and 6.25KHz steps.
- Keypad operation is the same as the Baofeng UV-5R.
- A/B operation, if I understand correctly, if you started in A, and a signal made the radio go to B, it will eventually go back to A after 3 seconds of inactivity (I think the A/B on the UV-5R stays where the last signal came from).
- The flash light LED can light up as usual, but it can also be in flashing mode (like the UV-82).

Baofeng UV-82 and UV-5R: Fight!

John (K3NXU) and Hans (PD0AC) both take a look at the UV-82 and the inevitable comparisons to the UV-5R are made.

Hans starts off with this:

"If you hate lengthy reviews: this is mainly a Baofeng UV-5R in disguise. If this is all you wanted to know you can leave now."

There is a lot more detail, so check it out.

The review did prompt me to ask:

"So what is your current favorite Baofeng if you were buying new without owning anything? What is your current favorite Chinese HT overall?"

And his answer was:

"For ham radio use the UV-B5 / UV-B6. While boring in appearance and lacking fancy options, these radios deliver. When price is less important, Wouxun is still the way to go (or maybe the Quansheng TG-UV2 if you don’t need DTMF)."

So, I still feel that the UV-B5/UV-B6 continues to fly under the radar. That's despite the love it has been getting on the AR-15 site. BTW - that thread alone has created about 30 new licensed hams.

Baofeng UV-82: Software

Interesting work by Jim (KC9HI):

"I don't have a UV-82, but having an interest in one, I downloaded the software and installed it to see what I could learn from it. The software that I installed for the UV-82 is v13.01.12. 

The software I am testing has an identical layout to the v12.05.06 CPS software for the UV-5R. With both Optional Features menus set to the same values, there is no difference that can be seen when switching between both programs. 

So how did it get all of the settings to be the same. Easy... I just loaded the .dat file from my UV-5R. It read it right in. Every channel and every setting is there."

Baofeng UV-82: Dual PTT

Lots of discussion popping up on the UV-5R Yahoo Group... and there is this tidbit:

It has a dual PTT, so you can transmit on A by pressing on the top of the PTT button or on B by pressing the bottom.

Baofeng UV-82

Hans spotted the Baofeng UV-82 a while back. He'd seen it on both e-Bay or AliExpress.

Features:
- Frequency Range: 136-174 & 400-520MHz
- Dual Band, Dual Display, Dual Frequency,Dual Standby
- Output Power: 5 / 1Watt
- 128 Storage Channels
- 50 CTCSS and 104 CDCSS
- Vox
- 1750 Hz Burst Tone
- FM Radio (65.0 MHz – 108.0 MHz)
- LED Flashlight
- Large LCD Display
- High / Low RF Power Switchable
- Wide / Narrow 25KHz / 12.5KHz Switchtable
- Emergency Alert
- Low Battery Alert
- Battery Saver
- Time-out Timer
- Keypad Lock
- Monitor Channel
- Channel Step: 2.5 / 5 / 6.25 / 10 / 12.5 / 25 KHz
- PC Programming

Nate sent me a note with some updates:

"Can be ordered now from a US dealer for $50:
http://www.radio-mart.net/Baofeng-UV-82-Dual-Band-Handheld-Transceiver.html 

It also states that this radio is "Pending FCC approval" (which they probably will get, like they did with the Baofeng UV-5R variety). 

Also, checked the pictures here:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2013-May-New-Arrival-Baofeng-UV-82-Dual-Band-VHF137-174MHz-UHF400-520MHz-Professional-FM-Portable/955846467.html 

Looks like you can unscrew the bolt that holds the Mic/Ear rubber cover, and bolt in an accessory plug, like you do with commercial rigs, which might suggest better build quality.
The two top LEDs on top might suggest dual RX at the same time, but you can't really tell. the display in the brochure isn't very encouraging (Only a single "S-Meter")."

Martyn posted his video of the UV-82 (see below) on the UV-5R Yahoo Group.