New CHEAP Chinese Dualband HandHeld coming

Sounds like a real deal--thanks BT

 

I have a pair of the Baofeng UV5R radios. Great little units and are great for backups to my Icom gear.

 

Maybe a year or so ago I purchased a BaoFeng UV-82. Kind of oddball operation but it works pretty well with decent range. I replaced the factory antenna with a Nagoya NA701 for just a smidge (I think about 2db) of gain and it's about 8 inches long. THe aftermarket antenna was less than ten bucks and the radio itself was under $50.

That Wouxon looks almost decent, BT. Two years ago I shunned the Chinese radios, but it looks as though they may be improving and it's tough to get around the price.

I have a couple of Baofeng 888 UHF 16 channel HTs that cost only about $25, are programmable and run about 2W according to my service monitor.

At that price, if it should fall out of your back pocket and make a splash, all one would need to do is hold the handle down on the flush tank a little bit longer than usual and go order another.

 

So this would be a good radio to get my feet wet I'm guessing then?

 

Ham Radio Outlet has them at $110 with free shipping:
Wouxun KG-UV8D | Wouxun KG-UV8D VHF/UHF Dual Band 999 Channel Handheld

 

Could anyone comment as to why you'd want either the Wouxun KG-UV8D vs. the Baofeng BF-F9 V2+? I'd really appreciate any observations, facts, and suggestions.

 

@NVBeav - They are very inexpensive dual-band (UHF/VHF) radios that get the job done. They have a fair amount of bells and whistles (although not quite as many as radios costing literally 10 times as much) for the price. Deals can quite literally be had for $40 on the Baofeng radios.

They use standard accessories and accessories are compatible across brands (the Wouxun and Baofeng are both Kenwood knockoffs so they use the speaker-mic and a couple of other add-ons). Additional vendor specific add-ons like batteries are also very inexpensive.

With an decent external/mag-mount antenna for the car, 5W in the car is very usable. Replacing the factor "rubber duck" antenna with a Nagoya (or other knock-off) improves both send and receive by about double (yes, double). A home-made sleeve dipole (PVC, coax and aluminum tape) almost tripled my distance on the same 5W.

I own the predecessor to the KG-UV8D (KG-UGD1P) and it's been a very solid little radio. I also own a BF-F9 and that little thing is just as impressive. I have the standard battery and the extended battery, the whole thing cost me $59 with a Nagoya antenna.

If you buy either of those radios, be SURE to get the programming cable as it will make the initial programming MUCH easier. Both have the ability to program from the keyboard but without a cheat sheet, it's not at all intuitive.

 

@DarkLight - Thank you for writing that up; it answers a lot of questions -- going to have to join a local group and get back into Ham radio.

I'll try the BaoFeng + programming cable. Looking at Nagoya antenna; several lengths available (8", 8.5", 15.6", 16", 2.5", 22" roof mount [not available at Amazon]). Dang, got to clear my shopping cart and try the SurvivalMonkey link .

 

The key on the antennas (locally attached, not remote/mag mount) is to make sure you get the right connector. Both of the radios (and all or most of their siblings) use the SMA Female antenna. For your mag mount, you will most likely need an SMA to BNC adapter (used to be $3 at Radio Shack).

Cheap mag-mount:
Amazon.com: Nagoya UT-108UV Radio Antenna, SMA Female 15.6" Inch Whip High Gain VHF/UHF (144/430Mhz) Antenna for BaoFeng, Pofung, Kenwood, Wouxun, Yaesu Compatible Two-way Radio Walkie Talkies: Electronics

Rubber Duck replacement:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ESXKKXW/?tag=survivalmonke-20

 

I got my BaoFeng BF-F9V2+ (a pair of them), a couple extra antennae, and a programming cable. I've got a lot of ham stuff to review and learn; I can see that these units will be for local communications only. It will be interesting to see what is available for 6 to 40 M radios (after getting goals accomplished with BF-F9V2+ :^).

Sorry, I won't review... someone else with a lot more knowledge than me will have to do that. They seem to be working without any trouble out of the box.

The one thing I'm happy to have done is install the CHIRP software. It took a while to figure out what was meant by "programming" your radio, but now I see. It was very handy to download a .csv file and upload all the local repeaters and what-not to the units. Also, making a backup of various images is very handy. The only issue was getting my computer to use the older driver for the programming cable (got it working with directions from the excellent DanPlanet.com help page).

Cheers!