Boafeng Uvr5 - Any good???

[BoneyT]

Looking at getting first pair of radios for me and the boy. Doing it on a budget and have looked into the Boafeng UVR5 on eBay etc. Cheap and cheerful? Or Cheap and nasty?! Would appreciate your thoughts on these specifically and alternatives, but not sets at over £50.

Thanks a million!!

 

[concretesnail]

The baofeng radios are cheap and work really well, although they aren't strictly speaking legal without a license due to output power, but you'll always find people using them.

 

[Steveocee]

Mine work absolutely fantastic. I do however own an OFCOM license to use them on dedicated frequencies so I can sneer at the peasants who don't.

 

[Lozart]

Mine work absolutely fantastic. I do however own an OFCOM license to use them on dedicated frequencies so I can sneer at the peasants who don't.

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Same.

 

[Sneaky]

Yeah I’m the pmr446 peasant ?

 

[Oneshotscott]

I'm thinking of getting a pmr but how do you guys find the range in both woodland and in built up areas? The advertised range will no doubt be unobstructed so I'd like to hear real world experiences on them.  

 

[Rogerborg]

I've only used cheap Cobra brand PMRs and the range was meh.  Outdoors any topology would break them up and indoors I was better off shouting.  Other brands and experiences are available.

I've got a Baofeng UV-5R now with much better range.  In theory, of course, I'd never use it, you understand, as I don't have a frequency loicence.  I certainly wouldn't use it on PMR frequencies so that I can talk with people using PMRs, even though that's the safest way to ensure that it doesn't interfere with any actually important radio use.

Using them on PMR channels would be like doing 90mph on an empty motorway at 3am, while some rando frequency could be like doing 90mph at 3pm outside a school.

In other words, both illegal, but with different consequences and morality.  You shouldn't do either, it goes without saying.

 

[Lozart]

I've only used cheap Cobra brand PMRs and the range was meh.  Outdoors any topology would break them up and indoors I was better off shouting.  Other brands and experiences are available.

I've got a Baofeng UV-5R now with much better range.  In theory, of course, I'd never use it, you understand, as I don't have a frequency loicence.  I certainly wouldn't use it on PMR frequencies so that I can talk with people using PMRs, even though that's the safest way to ensure that it doesn't interfere with any actually important radio use.

Using them on PMR channels would be like doing 90pm on an empty motorway at 3am, while some rando frequency could be like doing 90mph at 3pm outside a school.

In other words, both illegal, but with different consequences and morality.  You shouldn't do either, it goes without saying.

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Ah but if you stick to the Business Light frequency range (for example if you were to install the free software Chirp and download the BSL frequency selections) then you would be operating in a safe frequency range that doesn't interfere with any emergency services. Plus, if the site you play at has its own business use licence for their marshals then technically you would be covered by that anyway.

 

[Rogerborg]

you would be operating in a safe frequency range

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Like PMR?

that doesn't interfere with any emergency services.

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Like PMR?

Plus, if the site you play at has its own business use licence for their marshals then technically you would be covered by that anyway.

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If using the same frequency, singular, which would be like crashing a burning fuel tanker plane into a school for orphaned kittens when it's being visited by blind nuns.

 

[Lozart]

Like PMR?

Like PMR?

If using the same frequency, singular, which would be like crashing a burning fuel tanker plane into a school for orphaned kittens when it's being visited by blind nuns.

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Like PMR, but without all that tedious mucking about with the fact that a UV-5R isn't legal on those frequencies (power too high, removable antenna).

Not like PMR though because you have more power so you'll have no issue with range. If you run it in the BSL frequency range you are running in a legal range with a handset that will be legal if the site has their own licence. The licence covers a whole range of frequencies, not just one frequency per site.

 

[Rogerborg]

The licence covers a whole range of frequencies, not just one frequency per site

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Oh, I learned something today, I thought it was allocated frequencies, but it turns out it's "self coordination", i.e. "fight over them, peasants".

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/29272/ofw432.pdf

 

[Steveocee]

Oh, I learned something today, I thought it was allocated frequencies, but it turns out it's "self coordination", i.e. "fight over them, peasants".

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/29272/ofw432.pdf

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Yeah sort of.

You get alloted 7 or 9 frequencies to use and then it's fight over them as the chance of people using those is significantly lower than the PMR stuff.

You do get individual frequencies though if you register as a site as the spectrum is then allocated on your location (assumed the site isn't moving) but the "light" license a lot of the groups use is this self coordination stuff.

 

[Lozart]

Yeah sort of.

You get alloted 7 or 9 frequencies to use and then it's fight over them as the chance of people using those is significantly lower than the PMR stuff.

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But if you have a UV-5R then you can start doing all that funky CTCSS stuff so other people can't hear your super secret tactical directions, even if they're on the same frequency!

 

[Rogerborg]

But if you have a UV-5R then you can start doing all that funky CTCSS stuff

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Eh, even my Cobra MT600s have CTCSS.  PMR does work, it's just that the Baofengs offer so much more functionality for just a little more money (and of course plus your loicence tithe so that Ofcom can wish you luck finding a usable frequency).

 

[Steveocee]

But if you have a UV-5R then you can start doing all that funky CTCSS stuff so other people can't hear your super secret tactical directions, even if they're on the same frequency!

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You realise how CTCSS works don't you? It doesn't stop other people hearing you. It means that everyone can still hear you but if you set it then it filters out everything that doesn't use the same ctcss code.

Try it - Set your radio to transmit with CTCSS and then get another to receive on same channel but without CTCSS and low and behold you can hear it!

 

[Rogerborg]

Try it - Set your radio to transmit with CTCSS and then get another to receive on same channel but without CTCSS and low and behold you can hear it!

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Which can lead to much hilarity and head scratching when Alice can hear Bob, but Bob can't hear Alice.  It's easier to just try another channel without CTCSS, it's not like you'll have more than 16 channels in use on a typical airsoft site other than some massive milsim or festival.

 

[Oneshotscott]

So the general consensus is to buy a boefeng and pay the £75/5yr license? 

  Firstly I should go to more events and try to join a team and see what they run. 

 Thanks for everyone's input on this, a knowledgeable bunch you are. 

 

[Rogerborg]

So the general consensus is to buy a boefeng

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Eh. PMR446 is easier, the Baofengs are a bit of a sod to program. I've got mine dialled in to the PMR channels now (of course, I have never hit the transmit button) but it was quite the chore.

and pay the £75/5yr license? 

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Sure, in the same way that I'd never exceed the speed limit, anywhere, ever, for any reason, in any circumstances.

 

[Oneshotscott]

@Rogerborg tightrope walker.

You do know those dodgy ads in general chat are actually just OFCOMS way of checking in to see who's been a good/bad boy...

 

[Rogerborg]

You do know those dodgy ads in general chat are actually just OFCOMS way of checking in to see who's been a good/bad boy...

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That's the bit that really winds me up.  You pay £75 to Ofcom for access to a bunch of frequencies, and in return they don't enforce them.

Heck, I was tugged by the fuzz in the 1990s while running an unlicensed, over-powered CB set, "with my boots on" in the vernacular of the period. The only thing they cared about was why I was hanging out in a school car park at night - "Because it's got line of sight to all of Glasgow toon".  They didn't give a stuff about the legality of the wireless set, and I very much doubt that you could find anyone who would care about running a 2W set now unless you go out of your way to interfere with an emergency services frequency.