Watch This Before Buying A Baofeng Ham Radio... Or Another One

There are some confusing trends in Baofeng Ham Radios that I think I need to speak about. These talking points come directly from the MANY questions I get online. I hope this helps everyone considering buying a baofeng.

(This is an affiliate link)

As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Support Ham Radio Crash Course Content
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Current Shack Config (includes affiliate links)

Connect with Ham Radio Crash Course
Physical Mail.............►Josh Nass P.O Box 5101 Cerritos, CA 90703-5101

Music by Sonic D:

#HRCC #hamradio #amateurradio

[TheNotaRubicon]

I "love" my Boofwang UV-5R !

[themueth]

Thanks for the check back to earth, I'm new at looking and it was so easy to take off with all the "better" stuff.

[trevormurphy]

I dropped mine in a bucket of water and it did survive but I didn’t turn it off for like a month and let it dry out looking at it right now still works perfectly fine I suggest everybody who’s thinking about buying one of these radios just go out and buy one they’re complicated but you’ll have a blast The way society is going today I don’t know why people don’t have more I know for a fact governments don’t like that a normal person can get one and program it whatever happened to a CB radio growing up in Newfoundland every single family member had one in their car my grandma had one of those police scanner clock radios next to her bed Memories

[tylerclark]

the fed doesnt want you to have baofengs

[IrregularInterest]

I finally upgraded to a Yaesu FT-65 last year after getting my feet wet with the UV-5R and have been loving the radio. Does everything I need it to do and the documentation and build quality inspire a lot of confidence in me as a newer ham.

[FuZhixiang]

I always recommend starters to play with Baofeng for trying the hobby. If their passion wears out fast, the sunk cost will not be a big deal. Otherwise, one year later, they will probably want to change a rig. Then I'll recommend them to buy better ones, letting Baofeng be backup radios.

[PelenTan]

Excellent. A lot of really good information that clarifies a lot of things. This should be one of the "must-watch" videos for those still on the newer side of ham radio.

[blahblah]

Thank you for your videos. I appreciate you teaching. I love to learn.

[TheAmazingPaulrus]

Out of the radios I have, it's been hard to beat the two-pack of UV-5R8W (8-watt version) pack I bought on Amazon. Performs about the same as my first BF-F8HP, which was all that I could find in stock when I made that purchase, and was $30 cheaper per unit. On UHF, they outperform my 5 watt GMRS radios by no small amount, despite being about the same price.

[SatomiForward]

This clears up so much for me with amateur radioing

[ScottGodwin-lfns]

Please keep putting out the well thought out videos to the ones of us that are looking to get in the ham radio field. You make it ease to understand how to help us build what we want . Thanks a lot😊

[LordRa]

Thank you you conveyed so much information in such a small amount of time. This helped me out a lot.

[txfotog]

THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU! for the recommendation on upgrading to a mobile rig fairly quickly...if possible. I do the same any time I get the chance.
I started with a Baofeng UV5R, and have an BHF-8+%$& and I have the tri-band model as well. I really don't have an issue with them. I agree with all your points here.

I know that doesn't fit everyone's style and that it's a personal preference (hiking, EMCOMM, tactical, etc.) to use an HT and uses vary for different parts of the country and how you use them. But I hear so many new hams trying to get on repeaters and their signal strength is there but their audio is so low that we have to ask them repeat things 2-3 times. I hope they understand we aren't doing that to be mean, and we're trying to explain to them what might be happening but I think some get frustrated and sometimes give up on the hobby. So thank you, as a mentor for so many, for trying to explain about upgrading and not sinking your whole budget into the cheap gear. I hope it helps them.

Great content as usual.
73! -Michael WA5AZQ

[kuuv]

The first UV-5R I purchased had a bad internal microphone. I bit the bullet and bought another one, and it has worked great. I have worked the crossband repeater on the ISS with my UV-5r and and an attic 1/4 wave homebrew antenna.

[MrRadioRover]

Lots and lots of good advice and solid wisdom here. Well worth watching. Well done Josh!

[robertreid]

Really sound advice, thank you. I'm about to take my Foundation (beginners) Ham exam here in the UK. But there is so much kit on the market, its really brain overload. Thanks for clarifying!

[turkeytrailhoneybeefarmgeo]

If you are listening this you are the resistance.

[kove]

Thank you for pointing out the problem with the waterproof versions and the connectors. I wouldn't have considered that, plus saved me $15 and gained confidence. If you need advice with lawn care at some point, I'd be happy to return the favor. 👍

[jackKFIT]

More great advice!! I may be the exception but I have 5 Baofeng ht's and 3 QYT mobiles that all continue to work great. I graduated to an ICOM 2730a portable but still use a QYT mobile for digital VHF with my ARES group. Definitely recommend the antenna upgrade for the UV-5R. K5FIT

[Crblnd]

You make so wonderful videos, quality content on youtube is a gem. I have a few UV-5R, I love them, then I have normal 446mhz radios(super cheap once). They are a great tool when riding bicycle with the kids. Instaid of screaming "watch out", just calmly use the radio. "there is a truck about to pull out, stop and wait". Or when we play hide and seek with radios, so much fun. I cheated once and used a camouflaged net, the kids god so bored unable to find me, they went inside and got an ice-cream.