[illinoisguy]

I just ordered a Baofeng uv3r and I am looking forward to it as a beater. But I have to say that the yaesu ft-60r is one tough radio. I've heard of people dropping off their house and from high towers and surviving. I currently am on a uv-3r forum and they seem to have a wide range of problems.

I bought one and its in the mail now but it will be a beater. Still, the yaesu does still have resale value. My everyday carry is pretty much the ft-60r. Its dependable and tough. If I am working out in adverse conditions, then I will use the baofeng.

 

[SunwolfNC]

I'm such a noob when it comes to electronics and I know I've needed to rectify my lack of equipment for the homestead and vehicles. Thank you for showing me these little gems.

If it helps you or others, I found a nice intro video on the `tubes. There are others, but this one seemed to cover all the basics and was quite informative.

 

[WolfSpring]

If you want a total beater/brick get a used ICOM, I found and old on IC-32AT made in the late 80's it's a solid brick can drop it off a roof, it is more money but still well under 100 bucks, I think I paid 70 for it 2M/440 and it has the whole freq range unlocked to include the NOAA weather channels, I can transmit and receive outside of ranges, not that I would use this illegally mind you, but it works great when I'm working with ski patrol freqs as well I can get on there channels. You truely get what you pay for with radios, and I'd pay 40 bucks for a cheap backpack/backup radio. I've got a Chinese wouxun radio that I thought would crap out on me but it works great everywhere I've gone.

 

[SunwolfNC]

Thanks Wolf!

Question: These raidos are bascially portable ham radios, right?
I'd need a license and callsign to actually use them correctly?
I don't mind if I need to take some classes and get licensed, I just want to make sure I go down this path the right way, ya know?

 

[WolfSpring]

Yeah they are 2 meter and 70cm band radios 144/440 as they are also known you need the technician level license which is the entry level one. But they are portable, and depending on battery life very nice, they look like cheaper versions of my $120 woxun which if I charge full it will last daily use up to 3 days and if I don't use at all I've gone weeks and it still turns on out of my backpack. So they are probably a great deal at 40 bucks on Ebay. I might pick up a couple for each of the vehicles at that price.

http://www.qrz.com

http://www.hamuniverse.com

two of my personal opinion best information sites for ham radio out there.

 

[KF4LNE]

I have a UV-3R that I carry in the car. I have used it many times as a backup radio and when my FT-8100 in the car crapped out mid-QSO nobody seemed to notice that I picked up on the 3R where I left off on the 8100. The UV-3R isn't really what I would call an EDC radio, but it is a good backup radio and its inexpensive enough to have a few on hand to hand out to friends when the time comes. It isn't easy to use the VFO function, its small and the PTT button is isn't sized right for a large finger. These radios could easily be mistaken for a common bubble pack FRS radio. They do deliver the advertised 2 watts and the battery seems to last for a while. I have used mine to work APRS for hours at a time and it works great. I have also found that some of the LG and Kyocera mobile phone chargers will fit the radios DC jack. I am planning to order more of these radios to hand out to new members of my group and to use as convoy radios. The locking knob makes them ideal for use in a situation where there are unskilled radio operators.

My EDC radio is a Puxing PX-888 and it is a wonderful radio and actually delivers the 5 watts it claims.

 

[RKW]

That's interesting. I also just bought a Baofeng uv3r off FleaBay and am waiting for it to arrive. I also have a Yaesu ft-60r.

You mentioned that if you were "working out in adverse conditions", you would use the Baofeng. My understanding is that the adverse conditions best not be wet ones because the Baofeng is not water proof or even water resistant. Is that true?

 

[KF4LNE]

My understanding is that the adverse conditions best not be wet ones because the Baofeng is not water proof or even water resistant. Is that true?

I ave used my 3R outside in the rain several times and it seems to be doing fine. I don't believe its water prof, but it seems to hold up fine in the rain and snow. But as always, YMMV.

 

[Blackrock]

I had a Yaesu FT2500M in my rock crawler that had been in it for 6 years. It is built like a brick s*** house and has never failed me. I did just recently replace it with a Kenwood 271 to get more memory, but the 2500M is still in fine shape. I put it on the IFR, checked it out and found it to be right on. I have since donated it to one of the guys on our Search and Rescue unit who has a license, but couldn't afford a mobile radio for his truck.

As far as Icom goes, I still have an ICOM 2350 dual band in my truck, and after all these years it just will not quit. The best dual-band I have ever seen.

 

[ohgary]

There is a HUGE difference in quality between a Baofeng and a yaesu radio. I would not want a Baofeng as my only radio, but does make a nice backup radio.

 

[SunwolfNC]

Yeah they are 2 meter and 70cm band radios 144/440 as they are also known you need the technician level license which is the entry level one. But they are portable, and depending on battery life very nice, they look like cheaper versions of my $120 woxun which if I charge full it will last daily use up to 3 days and if I don't use at all I've gone weeks and it still turns on out of my backpack. So they are probably a great deal at 40 bucks on Ebay. I might pick up a couple for each of the vehicles at that price.

http://www.qrz.com

http://www.hamuniverse.com

two of my personal opinion best information sites for ham radio out there.

Thanks very much.

 

[SunwolfNC]

I have a UV-3R that I carry in the car. I have used it many times as a backup radio and when my FT-8100 in the car crapped out mid-QSO nobody seemed to notice that I picked up on the 3R where I left off on the 8100. The UV-3R isn't really what I would call an EDC radio, but it is a good backup radio and its inexpensive enough to have a few on hand to hand out to friends when the time comes. It isn't easy to use the VFO function, its small and the PTT button is isn't sized right for a large finger. These radios could easily be mistaken for a common bubble pack FRS radio. They do deliver the advertised 2 watts and the battery seems to last for a while. I have used mine to work APRS for hours at a time and it works great. I have also found that some of the LG and Kyocera mobile phone chargers will fit the radios DC jack. I am planning to order more of these radios to hand out to new members of my group and to use as convoy radios. The locking knob makes them ideal for use in a situation where there are unskilled radio operators.

My EDC radio is a Puxing PX-888 and it is a wonderful radio and actually delivers the 5 watts it claims.

From a quick look around the Puxing PX-888 isn't legal in the US due to FCC regulations/lack of their approval. Looks like a nice radio though

 

[bhowle]

Can this radio display "alpha tags" rather than frequencies on the display.

Unskilled operators seem to be able to do better with the alpha display.

TNX,

-bob

 

[RKW]

My uv-3r arrived and I've been playing with it long enough to render a few first impressions. Bad first:

1) My biggest disappointment is with the speed of the scan while in memory mode. Very slow. Do not buy this radio if you place a a high importance on scanning public service (PS) channels or any other scanning activity where speed is necessary because the activity level is high. It's just too slow to do that in any practical way. My FT-60r works very well in that role, however.

2) It seems to inexplicably drop signals during reception, regardless of the signal strength. While scanning, it will latch on to a strong signal, like a fire command center, then continue on scanning before the transmission has been completed. Yes I've adjusted the squelch.

I've ordered a Diamond SRH-519 as a replacement for the stock ant. That may address #2 above. Feels strange to spend more on the antenna than I did the radio.

Good:

1) Easy-peasy to program. I didn't buy the programming cable and I'm glad I didn't. I had it jumping through hoops within 2 hours of taking it out of the box. You could hand me a factory default uv-3r and I could have it working the local repeaters and scanning (slooowwwly) the PS channels in 20 minutes.

2) Reasonably good battery life.

3) Surprisingly good quality.


Note: there are no restrictions on the transmit. No mods required. Potentially, any jerk with $46 ($31.32 and shipping) could buy one and molest the PS airways. That aint good.

The bottom line is I'm glad I bought it. My programming skills were peaked. Some of the things I picked up on contributed to the learning curve on my FT-60. I could always use another radio in my "go" bag. Would I buy another one? No, but I'm now considering buying the Yaesu VX-3R.

Check out this FAQ page for the uv-3r:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...oQzxQq8fv4AGp9SI0/edit#heading=h.5j81rrbqpyso

 

[illinoisguy]

I got my uv-3r a week ago and I would concur with

your assessment.

The two major drawbacks for me...

1) Very slow scan

2) no lockout feature

As to #1, it takes around 3 seconds to get through 9 channels. That could be a lot of transmission lost. It does hold 99 channels, but it would take a good 30+ seconds to get through 99 channels.


Bottom line it is a beater radio and not really a ham radio. I have a vx-2r which is similar and it is much better. However, the sound quality on the uv3r is not bad and it does use the cheapo batteries.

My recommendation is to not make this your first radio....backup only....

 

[riman]

I forget the option but by default it will only stay on channel for a few seconds during a scan.

 

[RKW]

I forget the option but by default it will only stay on channel for a few seconds during a scan.

#16 in the Menu called "SCANM". The options are "TO" and "CO". TO is a temporary stop on a channel if a signal is encountered. As you mentioned it's only a few seconds. Should be double that. CO is a continuous stop on a channel if a signal is encountered. Not sure how useful that is.

 

[RKW]

#16 in the Menu called "SCANM". The options are "TO" and "CO". TO is a temporary stop on a channel if a signal is encountered. As you mentioned it's only a few seconds. Should be double that. CO is a continuous stop on a channel if a signal is encountered. Not sure how useful that is.

I've been scanning all day, and I must admit I can see no difference between the "TO" and "CO" options. Both seem to place a 1-2 second delay.

 

[riman]

Mine works fine with the two options.

One issue I have seen is that with a tone on the RX it will drop sometimes. I usually leave my RX tone as none as I find it is very sensitive and will drop even though the signal sounds strong to me.

 

[Armordude]

RKW

You sound like an old hand at this :

Remember a few months ago when we spent a few hours on the phone learning how to program the FT-60R with the RT Systems software?

You have come a long way my friend! Thanks for stickin with it and contributing back here :thumb:

My uv-3r arrived and I've been playing with it long enough to render a few first impressions. Bad first:

1) My biggest disappointment is with the speed of the scan while in memory mode. Very slow. Do not buy this radio if you place a a high importance on scanning public service (PS) channels or any other scanning activity where speed is necessary because the activity level is high. It's just too slow to do that in any practical way. My FT-60r works very well in that role, however.

2) It seems to inexplicably drop signals during reception, regardless of the signal strength. While scanning, it will latch on to a strong signal, like a fire command center, then continue on scanning before the transmission has been completed. Yes I've adjusted the squelch.

I've ordered a Diamond SRH-519 as a replacement for the stock ant. That may address #2 above. Feels strange to spend more on the antenna than I did the radio.

Good:

1) Easy-peasy to program. I didn't buy the programming cable and I'm glad I didn't. I had it jumping through hoops within 2 hours of taking it out of the box. You could hand me a factory default uv-3r and I could have it working the local repeaters and scanning (slooowwwly) the PS channels in 20 minutes.

2) Reasonably good battery life.

3) Surprisingly good quality.


Note: there are no restrictions on the transmit. No mods required. Potentially, any jerk with $46 ($31.32 and shipping) could buy one and molest the PS airways. That aint good.

The bottom line is I'm glad I bought it. My programming skills were peaked. Some of the things I picked up on contributed to the learning curve on my FT-60. I could always use another radio in my "go" bag. Would I buy another one? No, but I'm now considering buying the Yaesu VX-3R.

Check out this FAQ page for the uv-3r:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...oQzxQq8fv4AGp9SI0/edit#heading=h.5j81rrbqpyso