Amateur Radio, Technology

Ain’t Nothin’ But a Baofeng, Chicken Wing

Do you like ham?  You don’t have to eat ham to like it because now you can do the Baofeng UV-5R+ Plus.

I’m not paid to make sense so suck it up, Buttercup.

I’m talking about the most awesome ham *radio* ever.  Well, it’s definitely the smallest and cheapest ham radio ever.

Leave it to the Chinese to make a good thing cheaper – and add on a flashing LED flashlight to boot.  First it was Dim Sum, then Bruce Lee and now, ladies and gentlemen Baofeng.

As is standard with all Chinese products, there are a few flaws that you have to live with as punishment for not paying enough as follows:

  • horrific user manual with creative Chinglish
  • a bit of overheating

Not too bad, considering my radio and a handful of other accessories came to less than $100 on amazon.ca.

Here is what I gained:

  • super small ham radio
  • improved sound quality over my 15 year-old beast
  • an LED flashlight…. ?
  • VHF frequencies (my other one didn’t have it)

As much as I don’t want to admit it nor support it, my experience shopping on the Rainforest-like web shopping site went very well.

I will very likely, in the next little while, put a post together that brings all the Baofeng Wisdom of Ancient China together in one convenient place so keep your eyes out for that .

 

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