- Frequency Range: 136-174 / 400-479.995 MHz.
- Upgrade the frame material. Metallic, more durable and more fashionable.
- With full high two colors LED definition display, the screen exquisite clarity.
- The new English,German,French instruction, more convenient and more humanized.
- The New 2013 packing,more beautiful and quite well-done.
I purchased this radio sold by Sain Store, serviced by Amazon in October 2013 with Prime free shipping. The radio arrived 3 days later, however the unit shipped was the European Version with the incorrect power supply and lacking the FCC type label. I contacted Sain Store and was issued an RMA and shipping address and they replaced the radio with a US version with the proper labeling and power supply.
The Radios I received both had firmware version 281. Some units are also being shipped with version 291. Users should make note of which firmware they receive because the software version you use to program the radio is dependent on the firmware you receive. There does not seem to be any user functional differences between 281 and 291.
Impressions of the UV-5R Plus. This radio is nicely small yet not to small to operate. Like many of its Chinese contemporaries, it can be a bit quirky to program via the keypad but easy to do so with the software. Understand that easy keyboard programability is not nominally supposed to be a Part 90 compliant radio. Even so you can program frequencies, splits, Tones and DPL from the keyboard with some patience, but not channel names.
Pro's of the UV-5R Plus:
Extremely Affordable, including accessories like spare batteries.
Uses standard accessories including programming cable, mics, and antennas (with other Chinese radios such as Wouxon).
Radio has voice assist operation of many functions.
LED light is very handy.
Three color LCD backlight is useful (standby, Xmit and Receive can have colors assigned).
Small enough including antenna to fit in a pants pocket.
Sturdy construction.
Legal to use on both Ham and LMS (part 90) bands if you are licensed as a user.
VFO limits can be set to ham bands (or restricted to other bands)
Very wide frequency coverage as well as 2013 narrowband operation capability.
Can monitor FRS, GMRS, MURS, (transmit capable, but not legal lacking FCC part 95 type acceptance).
Can listen to Broadcast FM
Cons of the UV-5R Plus:
Manual could be a lot better
Not a true dual receive unit (its dual watch).
Scanning is slow, and you can't select/deselect channels to be scanned from the keyboard.
No copy memory channel to VFO function.
No PTT lock out function from Keyboard (or software).
No single channel display (would be ideal if it had a single channel mode that showed frequency and name and memory channel)
Carrier Squelch Level is not adjustable (its on or off, levels 1 through 10 are all the same).
No simple keyboard and VFO lockout insuring Mem Channel only operation (nominally a Part 90 requirement).
No AM Aircraft band receive (many won't care).
Would be even more usable by visually impaired if menu selections had voice prompts.
Overall impressions. The value for the money is outstanding. These cost under $60 delivered, for a versatile sturdy product with a good capacity LiIon Battery. The ability to cover HAM and LMS makes them ideal for Emergency, and Community Service organizations. While there are many things to nit pick at (see cons:) the usability of this radio especially when programmed with the freely available software (as well as third party software) and very affordable USB cable (about 10 bucks), is very good. Its lacks all the bells and whistles of a $ 400 dollar dedicated Japanese Ham radio, but it costs 1/8th as much and has part 90 certification for legal operation on Govt. and business bands.These radios have received pretty good reviews on the 'net. I bought one, then another for the sweetheart. Look and feel good. Seem to function well. As said on some site somewhere, It's basically a $200 radio subsidized by the Chinese gov't to sell for $58 to ruin the Japanese industry. If you're thinking of buying by all means go to the Yahoo groups Baofeng UV-5r placelots of good info, especially on programming the lil bugger. I received my first one overnite from Amazon, the second one took 3 daysto Hawaii! Sheesh. We're living in a dream worldenjoy it while you can! 73You will NOT find a comparable dual band radio within this price range! Heck, you probably won't find as great a radio for double it's price!
Just with everything that came in this package, I am able to hit a 2 meter repeater about 15 miles away from my home. I live in Florida, everything's sea-level. I have no idea what the max range of this is, as I've only been playing with it for about 3 days. But, to transmit and receive clearly at a 15 mile range for under $60....I am simply amazed!
Also, the radio is solidly built. It does not feel cheap at all. The LED flashlight is pretty bright and also has a strobe mode. The FM receiver works fine for me. When I'm bored, I listen to the FM radio at work and it always mutes the radio in time for me to hear 100% of the incoming 2-way traffic.
I use mine with my speaker/mic: Wouxun Walkie Talkie Remote Speaker Microphone
I also use this data cable, which I did have to "trim" some of the housing away to fit all the way into my radio: USB Programming Cable for BAOFENG UV-5R UV-3R+ Two way Radio With Driver CDI purchased 2 of these radios for me and my wife. The first radio out of the box was defective as the menu button did not work. I returned it and got a replacement. While trying to program the replacement radio, the 5 key stopped working. I returned the radios as if they do not work correctly out of the box there is little chance they will work later. Upon rating the radios a "one star", the vendor contacted me and asked me to change the rating. I did remove the review initally but decided others need to know what they're getting. These are truly nice radios if they worked and if they weren't so difficult to program.
If you do not need the keyboard, you may also want to look at the cheaper version. But since I have to have the latest toy, I bought this. I also purchased the Boefeng, BF 888's for my maintenance staff. They have no bells and whistles, but do exactly what I need and are dirt cheap. I did have a software conflict when programming the 888's so I recommend using a seperate computer for the 5R and the 888. Once I downloaded the software, it took about 20 seconds to program and clone other radios !! AWESOME.
mike
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