InterceptRadio.com Forums

My radio was delivered via USPS today.
Looks pretty cool. I expected to feel more cheap but it's well built.

The included cd and manual have something left to be desired. Most of the ReadMe files on the CD are in Chinese and it seems to be a generic CD for different radios. I have not yet figured out which one of the many .exe files installs the programming software.

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CD sounds pretty typical of Chinese stuff. There's also Chirp--softare designed to program radios from many different manufacturers.

Chirp does not support this radio yet (including the daily build).

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Reports from around the web indicate it does if you select 3R.

Yeah, I'm aware of that. This is the newer UV-5R+Plus.

It's hard to even find info on this radio yet.

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Got it working with Chirp and a newer version of the Beofeng software.(use error)

This is a good source for info. My guess is that most of this stuff also applies to the +Plus version.
http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/

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If it only had a DVSI board in it.. :sigh:

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Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!

Hi guys
I was thinking of buying one of these portables. I have been without ham dual band portable for some time and thought this radio might be an interesting project. I'd be interested in what some of you still think of the radio. Yes it's a cheap radio with very little investment. But if the radio is a bust then I'd rather put the money into something else. After buying the radio, cable, spare battery, the optional mic - the investment is still over $100.

So do you current owners still like the radio? Do you think the portable needs to mature longer while Baufeng continues to make firmware upgrades? That's really my biggest concern - the user is stuck with whatever firmware quirks that the radio version has out of the box since it can't be updated by the user.

Thoughts are appreciated. Thanks

I like the radio very much. A few things to note.

1. Regarding the stock battery. It runs on it for a very long time on a charge. A couple of days. And there is no extended battery for the Plus so keep that in mind.

2. Typical Ebay auction for the radio + one of the accessories is 60.00. And purchasing the other accessory separately (either the mic or programming cable) is about 10.00. So, total price is well below the 100 mark.

3. The most expensive and best accessory to buy for the radio is a antenna. I got this http://www.diamondantenna.net/srj77ca.html

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Thanks. Did you have to pay any customs duty tax on your shipment? Looks like Sainstore still ships from China. A different Ebay reseller, NicheOne, now has some listings saying they have US stock but the price is higher than if you use one of their auctions that ships from China. Was curious if this item incurs any duty tax or if they ship it as a "gift" thus avoiding taxes.

Do you have firmware version 281? I could swear that I previously saw listings showing firmware 291. The Yahoo group refers to versions 291 and 293. I'm wondering if Baofeng reverted back to an earlier firmware version due to some reported transmit problems.

Marking things as gifts to avoid taxes it's against the rules, but it doesn't matter since you don't have to pay any anyways.

No on the extra taxes. I purchased it from that seller NicheOne on Ebay. His selling practices are a little sketchy, but in the end I received the radio pretty quick. The order was processed via Amazon and shipped from the Midwest somewhere. Even though the item location described in the auction was AZ.

My radio has 281. The 291 firmware, from what I understand is for the non Plus version of the UV-5R.

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Thanks much. This info is a great help. It will be nice to hopefully get back on the air soon. I have never tried any of the local repeaters around here yet. No argument that some of the listings are very questionable (and confusing). I found it amusing that some of the overseas sellers would state "item will be shipped as a gift to avoid duty taxes" (to answer Atomic Taco).

If nothing else, this will be a good radio to just keep in a backpack or the car glove compartment for ham and FRS use.

Thanks again.

No problem.

Keep in mind, that Yahoo forum you are looking at is for the UV-5R (not the plus). A lot of the info there still applies to the the Plus, but not all. So be aware of that when reading through everything.

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