UV-5R Dual Band Two way radios with headphones, walkie talkies 1800mAh Li-ion Battery and Charger Included(Black)

If you're in the market for a cheap but capable ham radio, you've certainly heard of this before. It transmits and receives on the 2m and 70cm amateur bands, using a "direct conversion" receiver, which isn't as sensitive as a more expensive super-heterodyne circuit. But if you're looking at the UV-5R, you know what you're getting. It's a profoundly capable radio for twenty bucks, but it's not going to win any awards. Well, maybe "best loaner" because if someone breaks the radio you lent them, you're not out a million bucks! Another place this excels, parents, is for your kids -- if they're just flirting with ham radio as a hobby, you can buy one of these super cheaply to see if they're really into it, or if it's just a passing fad. Still, it's not super easy to use, and kind of confusing. You'll almost certainly need a programming cable and a copy of CHIRP, freeware radio-programming software maintained by volunteers, so count on another ten or fifteen bucks to get the cable (shipped), so put that in your budget, too. It uses the popular "K-plug", which is a copy of the Kensington plug; any other radio cable that uses a K-plug is extremely likely to work with this radio.Power is adequate to hit nearby repeaters, but not super impressive, and the antenna is just … okay.The charging cradle is clearly flimsy junk but gets the job done; you'll need the whole cradle to charge, and it plugs into a standard wall socket. Extra-large batteries are available that more or less triple the capacity of the stock compact battery, and adapters taking both AA and AAA batteries are available and only about five bucks -- I keep one around just in case. Sadly, batteries with USB charging aren't yet available; some exist, but the charging circuit is built into a fancy USB cable, rather than the battery itself. It's more compact than traveling with the charging cradle, but it's still something to lose.Please note this is NOT a business-band radio, a GMRS radio, or a MURS radio. You can listen to those channels, but it's against the rules to transmit on them with this, and you shouldn't go find the cheat code that lets you transmit out of band. If you want a business radio, the Baofeng UV-82c is approved for business band UHF and VHF, and there are other versions of these radios modified and permitted for use on MURS and GMRS. You're probably going to ignore my advice and unlock this radio, but at least please don't make a pest of yourself at least.

I've only had this for a couple weeks now but I am impressed. This is an incredible bargain for what you get. I have a Yaesu FT-60R, but it's in storage and I wanted to see how this would work for me. Is this radio better than the Yaesu? No. This radio is not as well built, and the menu system is more cumbersome than the Yaesu's, which is somewhat of a pain too. That said, the UV-5R is a fantastic radio which I will definitely recommend to any new ham who may not be ready to spend a bunch of money on a single radio while they get a introduction to amateur radio, and may want to save up for a DMR ready radio next, or even save up a bit more and get a good HF rig. If you do buy this radio, and don't know someone who has a programming cable for it, be sure to buy one at the same time. I also have the little Baofeng speaker microphone and am really happy with that as well.One feature I love about the UV-5R is the commercial FM radio reception feature. This little radio has quickly become one of my favorite pier fishing accessories. I can monitor the repeater I want, and listen to music at the same time. The led light feature is also nice for finding my way in the dark.I can't speak to the battery life yet, because I have never had mine die yet. I frequently leave the FM radio on for hours and there's barely any decrease on the meter. The charging cradle works fine, but is a loose fit. I don'r have a charger for the car yet, but I hope to find a decent one soon.With such a low price, you should have a few bucks left over to buy a couple accessories and still have less than $50 invested. That's a steal for a great basic setup.

Not the easiest radio to use if you're a beginner or novice. That said, I knew a teeny bit about radio programming from my job in EMS.I highly recommend as others have said that you get hold of a cable that works with the camera so you can use free software like Chirp to easily program. Otherwise it's going to be a nightmare and you may just give up. For only $10 more than this radio there are kits that include an extended range antenna, the software and the cable and of course the radio which is a great deal.That said, once I got the half dozen frequencies I wanted to scan programmed in the radio has exceeded expectations. I love that it is made of high quality materials, just like the big dog brand name radios it attempts to imitate.The speaker is loud and crisp, and battery life even on scanning mode is excellent getting about 4-5 days of near constant use in scan mode.Speaking of scanning - I'll agree that scan mode is slow when speaking strictly of frequencies. Once you've programmed in the memories however, scanning on station mode is very quick. I could see how this may be annoying however if in a new area to you. In that case you may want to go with a more robust dedicated scanner option.Overall, I am very thrilled with this radio and it has served its purpose more than admirably during the recent California power outages. It was such a gift to be able to scan for wildfires with the power and phone lines out for periods of 6 days like I experienced.I love these Baofeng radios and to be honest it may be responsible for my burgeoning interest in HAM radio operations! May even get my license at some point!