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I'll give you TWO tips! always back-up your channel set before doing a factory reset dont run with scissors

I recently picked up a Baofeng AR-5RM. The kit included the radio with battery, a standard "701 clone" antenna tuned to FM (broadcast radio) / 136-174MHz / 400-520MHz, an Abbree AR-771 VHF/UHF antenna, a desktop charger, wrist strap, belt clip, and a manual which turned out to be better written than the manual for my old UV-5R radios. For those who are unfamiliar with this radio, it is pretty much identical to the UV-5G Plus, the UV-5RM Plus, and possibly other Baofeng radios. It's marketed as pushing up to 10w transmit power. The radio is quite a bit larger than the older UV-5G (UV-5R sibling). The screen is much nicer, though I've seen complaints that it's hard to read in bright sunlight. I suspect that's true, though it's still legible to me. The menus seem better laid out, but maybe that's because the display has more characters, so it's easier to understand what the menu is saying. Compared to the UV-5R's 128 memory locations, this radio has 999. Just about the first thing I did was use my old Baofeng UV-5R USB cable to program it with Chirp. This process went smoothly, and the data upload/download is about twice the speed of data transfers with the older UV-5G. Chirp is going to be Chirp -- if you know how to use it with one radio, it works just about the same for any compatible radio, with the addition or subtraction of a few field columns depending on the radio you're programming. I noticed that this radio allows up to 12 characters in the channel name field. And it offers three power levels, low, medium, and high. Through some testing I determined that these equate to about 2.5w, 5w, and 10w. Spurious emissions.... When transmitting with my older UV-5G and looking at the spectrum waterfall on my RTL-SDRv4 I would see a sharp peak at the frequency center, with two short peaks a few kilohertz away in either direction. This isn't terribly surprising, as my SDR's antenna is only six feet away when I test. But when I transmit with the AR-5RM and observe the waterfall, I don't see those secondary peaks on either side of the frequency center. I also used some software to do a wider scan with the SDR to see if there were other significant emissions across a broader portion of the UHF spectrum, and really didn't see much, in my unscientific test. Next I hooked up the Surecom SW-102 along with a dummy load, and tested power output at 2m, MURS, Marine VHF, 1.25m, 70cm, and GMRS frequencies. At low power, the output was usually in the 2.3-2.7w range, with a bit of a dip, closer to 1.9w in the 1.25m band. At medium power, there was another dip down to just over four watts at 1.25m, but in other VHF and UHF portions of the RF spectrum power was very close on either side of 5w -- sometimes a little over, other times a little under, but just barely. At full power it came in around 8.2w in the 1.25m band, but everywhere else was between 9.4w and 10.2w. It's worth noting that as a GMRS radio (for which it isn't type approved), it would be inappropriate to set it up to transmit on GMRS channels 8-14, since they're supposed to be 0.5w channels, and this radio really doesn't go below about 2.5w. For MURS (for which it is also not type approved) you're also pushing it a little, since MURS is supposed to be <2w. But 2.5w is only 25% too powerful, versus 5x more power than it should be putting out, which is the situation for GMRS 8-14. The antennas: I did sweeps with a NanoVNA within each of the ranges mentioned above; 2m, MURS, Marine VHF, 1.25m, 70cm, and GMRS. The included antennas perform fairly well. The shorter one had an SWR of <2.5:1 throughout all the ranges except 1.25m, where it was something like 3.5:1 -- not appropriate for use in that band. The longer antenna scored consistently better in all of the ranges I tested. Still not really appropriate for 1.25m. With both antennas, they tended to see a bit too much rise near the top of the Marine VHF spectrum. If this spectrum is important you would probably want an antenna better tuned to that set of frequencies. But they both did pretty good at 2m, MURS, 70cm, and GMRS. I compared a Nagoya NA-771G, and it did even better at GMRS frequencies, at the expense of slightly higher SWR in the lower parts of the 70cm band. The 771G did okay in the upper portions of the 2m band, and MURS as well, though it's not designed to be a dual band antenna. Testing with the long antenna (the Abbree 771) at 5w (medium power) I hit the Ogden repeater (43 miles away) and the Promontory repeater (64 miles away). It helps that I have line of sight to those repeaters. Over Simplex I tested at about 3 miles and 5 miles from my home at each power level using both the shorter and longer antenna. The 5-mile test was more interesting, so I'll rank the results of that test from best configuration to worst. First, though; I did manage to get through to my home, with where I had a VOX recorder set up, using each of the configurations. I'm going to mix my RA-87 (40w radio) with MXTA-26 for comparison: Best to Worst: Retevis at 40w: Full quieting, no static at all. Crisp sound. Retevis at 25w (M): Nearly full quieting, no static. Crisp sound. The noise floor was just very slightly higher. AR-5RM at High with long antenna: Obviously it's going to sound a little noisier at 10w with a 771 clone antenna than the Retevis, but still very good. Retevis at 5w (L): slightly higher noise floor than AR-5RM at 10w. AR-5RM at Medium power, long antenna: noise floor was just a little higher than before. AR-5RM at High power, short antenna: I had to listen several times to hear the difference between high/short and medium/long. But medium/long won by a hair. AR-5RM at Medium power, short antenna: Still pretty good, but high/short was a little less hiss. AR-5RM at low power, long antenna: Noise floor was quite a bit higher, and some static coming through. AR-5RM at low power, short antenna: Considerable hiss and static, but my voice was still very clear, easy to make out. I should have tested against my older UV-5G but I ran out of time. At higher powers, the difference between the long and short antenna wasn't as important. At lower powers, the antenna length mattered a lot more. Overall, though, antenna length seemed to make more difference than power level. Configuration: I don't see much point in draining the battery and singing my eyeballs by transmitting at 10w all the time. The sound quality at 5w from 5-miles away was pretty good, particularly with the longer antenna. And I was able to hit those distant repeaters at 5w. Therefore, as I configured the radio with Chirp, I set channels 1-7, 15-22, and repeater inputs to medium - 5w. I set MURS to Low, 2+w. Marine VHF/16 and the 68,71, etc working channels are set to Low (2+w). I haven't tested it with an antenna -- only with dummy load -- at 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm, and currently have it configured to not be able to transmit on any frequencies. And I've set GMRS channels 8-14 to not transmit, since its minimum power level is way too high compared to the requirement of staying below 0.5w on those channels. To configure it to not be able to transmit on a frequency that you have programmed into its memory slots, you set the "offset" to "off." At that point, when you hit PTT, nothing happens. In Chirp there are four possible offset modes: (blank) which is no offset/simplex; off which is no transmitting possible, + (positive) offset, and - (negative) offset. Air band: I've listened to air band with this radio. When you set it into the airband (108.0000 - 135.99875MHz) it automatically switches to AM, and will not transmit (tested with a dummy load). It does pick up ATC just fine. Battery life: I've never run it all the way down, so I don't know. But I do like that you can charge it either from the desktop base, OR with a USB-C plug. In the spirit of avoiding surprises: This radio, at least in the package I bought, doesn't come with a USB data cable. But it works with the same data cable used with the UV-5R or UV-5G. And within Chirp you chose the Baofeng 5RM profile (my UV-5G uses the Radiodity UV-5R profile). The green button (search): Hold the green button for a few seconds. The phone will say "Search." Now hold the PTT on another radio. In a few seconds this radio will show the frequency, and a second or so later, will show the DCS or CTCSS tone. Then it will let you save it into a memory bank. I can't remember for the life of me how to delete it (other than with Chirp) but that's in the manual, for sure. The point is that you can pair it up to another radio that is already set to a frequency and tone quickly and easily. I tend to be the one setting up my radios and handing them out to family members when we go skiing or hiking, so it's probably not a feature I'll need much. But if you find yourself bringing a radio to an event where you know others will be using GMRS or FRS to keep in touch, you can get paired up to their radios easily. I'm well aware this isn't a $50, $80, $100, or $150 two-way radio; it's a $35 (with extra antenna) multi-band two way radio; it should, by all rights, be a much worse radio. But its power levels are quite close to what's advertised, within about 5-6% of advertised across most of the bands I tested. 1.25cm is kind of the exception, being more like 10% off. But still, this radio is better than it should be. It feels pretty solid. Its sound quality is quite good. Listening to my recordings, it sounds like it transmits clearly. Scanning is pretty slow -- scanning is always slow on 2-way radios I've used. Squelch isn't perfect -- scanning 2m repeaters I keep getting hung up on one that must have another more distant one on the same frequency, too far to hear, but powerful enough to break squelch even when I have it set high. When people review equipment there's often some level of confirmation bias. I'm probably looking for reasons to like the radio, and to defend my purchasing decision. If I were looking for negatives, things not to like, I would come up with a few: It's quite a lot bigger than the UV-5G / UV-5R. It doesnt' fit into a pocket as easily. The included ABBREE 771 knockoff antenna feels cheaper than my Nagoya 771G, and the 701 knockoff is even cheaper than that. The scan button requires a long press, and an accidental short press puts you into a DTMF transmit mode that you can't seem to get out of except by hitting the "monitor" button once, which is an undocumented path. The antenna jack is SMA-M, whereas the UV-5G was SMA-F, so I had to order different adapters to be able to use an external antenna. The dust cover over the mic/speaker/data ports feels like it could wear out if you're opening and closing it a lot. Unlike the UV-5R/G you can't alter the levels associated with the squelch settings. That was a common customization people made with the UV-5R series. The USB-C charging light on the back of the battery shows a dim green when fully charged -- too dim to see in outdoor daylight. You can't set the power level low enough to meet power requirements for GMRS 8-14, but I don't really care about using those channels anyway; my mobile radios can't use 8-14 either. In the overall picture, those are minor things, for a $30-35 radio.

I saw a lot of discussion on challenges loading airband channels and I thought I'd mention that there's some pre-programmed related frequencies in CHIRP. Go to File > Open Stock Config > US Aviation Frequencies.csv. Not sure if that helps anyone but thought I'd mention. They also have GMRS/FRS, Marine, etc. under there.

Two very important tips to always remember.

I'm glad to hear that you redid the connections and that improved things for you. While ABR makes excellent coax cables, their ABR240-UF is pretty much the same as RG-213. Line Loss per 100 Feet RG-213 - 5.28dB, 70% loss LMR240 (same as ABR240) - 5.40dB, 72% loss LMR400 - 2.87dB, 48% loss RG-58 - 9.16dB, 88% loss Again, The calculations were made using 50 watts in and an SWR of 1.5. I used the https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/ to get those numbers. Your numbers will be different depending on the actual gain of your antenna. Higher loss cable will actually show a lower SWR due to loss. Go with the best that you can afford along with the acceptable losses for your needs. I would go with the DX Engineering 400MAX or R&L Electronics Jetstream 400Flex before going with RG-213/ABR240/LMR240. ABR coax is good stuff and I use their cables for all of my portable/POTA setups. Check out the coax loss calculator I linked. It is very helpful.

I just got my RepeaterID for the RT97L and they even emailed me the file I sent them for the announcement for free. https://www.repeaterid.com/store/p16/RepeaterID_RT97L.html# I got it in 3 days and very easy to use. It works great!

Nahh get that antenna outside above the roofline and you’ll still gain ALOT of performance no matter what your topography is !!

Here's my experience with the subject. I'm a fan of DCS for all the reasons listed above. However, I have found that some radios take a slightly longer time to open with DCS than CTCSS. Not a problem for us "radio people", but I have a group of radios that I use with a local theater. Sometimes the users push and talk at the same time and the first syllable would be missed using DCS. I reprogrammed the radios for CTCSS and that solved the problem. Again, this might be a brand/model specific issue but something to take into consideration.

As mentioned, nothing will protect against a direct lightning strike. That being said, it is till a good idea to have lightning protection for the near strikes. Plus lightning arrestors will also help prevent damage from static electricity buildup on antennas when everything is properly grounded per NEC codes.

i think you wold be amazed at the number of repeaters someone sets up whom actually do not operate repeaters but do it because 'they can' This site is not a formal process. Anyone can set up a repeater here, even a Cave Man can do it.... Once someone set's up a repeater here, it's the responcibgly of that individual to maintain its status, not the site owner. If that person whom set it up died, moved on, or got bored and not having fun playing around,, oh well. it is what it is.

I am with the original poster. As a repeater owner, part of it is either listing the repeater as open and shutting off the requests, or checking the requests. The system does email repeater owners at their registered email address when a request comes in. So it's not like they aren't seeing it. If they have the function enabled for requests, then it would seem they want the requests. So they need to answer them in a timely manner. If they want the repeater listed but be private, to help eliminate interference, then it needs to be listed as such. But putting a repeater up, listing it on the site and then not bothering to answer requests is crap. If you don't have the time to do it, turn off the function or remove the listing. It's not rocket science. I understand that it cuts into your time. I had mine listed with requests for a while and after answering 200 something requests, I set the request function to off. It clearly states that requests are NOT needed and the PL for the repeater is accessible for any member of this board. It is open to all licensed GMRS users.

If I can catch the storm I disconnect the coax from the radio and put a shot glass over the connector. Plus it's lightning. It jumped from the cloud to the ground. It's going to do what it wants. A good grounded system will definitely help guide it to the ground but there is never a guarantee. It might find another path it likes better no matter how short the ground is through the wire. It's just as unpredictable as most of nature is.

I was actually reading your thread while I was messing with mine and the SWR meter this morning. Seems I fared better than you with 3 out of 4 units working. I'm trying to file a warranty claim on the janky one (I assume they'll get back to me on Monday) since I'm outside of the Amazon return window. I'll probably hang onto mine and use them as loaners or something if I ever get nicer radios.

At least it's not water infected like mine got. I went from a 1.15 to a 2.08 and reception and transmission were affected substantially. Under 26ºF everything went good. As soon as it went over freezing it went bad. After the cold weather went away so did my reception and transmission. Replaced the bad antenna and coax section got swapped over to Heliax. Great stuff. Good luck with solving your issue. It's never fun when it happens and you can't figure out why.

Picked up the KG 1000G Plus to use as my base station to complement the repeater I have at my shop. The repeater makes it fine into the house but sometimes the house has a hard time getting through the trees to the shop repeater. Going from 20 to 50 watts is only a bit more than 3dB, but it seems to work from the repeater to the house. I had already setup the CPS with my channels and only needed to read the radio and write back. The CPS doesn't cover the A,B,C,D buttons so I'll have to do those manually. Like the power button in that you don't need a long press to turn it on. People complain about the screen brightness. Not exactly screaming bright, but it's in a lighted shop and not in a dark vehicle. Since I already have a KG XS20G I'm already pretty familiar in the way it should work. Wife doesn't know yet. I'll probably install it after she goes to bed and she'll see the new radio when she gets up. LOL. Hoping it might get rid of some of the off center DMR that I have in my area. The XS20G lets it right through with the SOC receiver. Hoping the Super Het might limit or eliminate it.

Is the other person using vox? Vox acts upon hearing a sound and as with everything the time it takes to key up can result in the very first sound being lost. If it’s truly a measurable delay from the time a sound is transmitted until the time it’s received, any humanly discernible delay would not be in RF reception, but delay could easily occur if any digital processing occurs, either at the transmitter or the receiver, or both. The other thing is that it’s always best to wait half a second after push PTT before speaking.

Yes, we'll take them. That's down near 6m territory.

They definitely are not legal for GMRS. Every time I try to use mine on GMRS frequencies the FCC helicopter lands nearby to write me a ticket.

Some of us pack heat and lie about vacations we never take.

The site guidelines (see number 8 ) ask that tones not be posted outside of the private area and tones that are not listed need to be obtained from the owner of that repeater on the repeater map site of mygmrs. You’ll need to send a request to the owner if the repeater isn’t open and tones are not posted.

I have a Baofeng UV-5R that has a PTT/mon/call button assembly that looks a lot like your AR_5RM. Maybe its the same? Like your AR_5RM, I can accidently key my UV-5R by just picking it up. I thought I would take the chance to see if I could increase its PTT pull weight hoping it is a fix to our shared problem. Good news, maybe? I was able to increase the PTT pull weight from 14oz to 1 lb 6oz without taking the radio apart. All I needed was a small thin flat screw driver and a 5/16 x 7/16 x 1/16 nitrile O-ring (available a Harbor Freight assortment box). Can't say its a super solid fix, but I tried it a bunch of times and banged the UV-5R around as hard as a dare, with no ill-effect. Providing your AR-5RM has the UV-5R's construction its a simple modification that is quick and easily reversible. How is works: Underneath the plastic PTT button you remove there is a thin sheet of silicone and under that is the REAL PTT, a membrane button on a PCB. The internal diameter of the O-ring you are adding is larger in diameter than the membrane button. With the O-ring in place, the plastic PTT button will have to overcome the additional resistance of the O-Ring before it comes in contact with the membrane switch. What I'm hoping that will make this fix reliable are the legs on the plastic PTT button that holds it in place will also prevent the O-ring from moving. Step 0: Verify your AR-5RM looks like it shares the same PTT button as my UV-5R. Step 1: Gently and carefully use a small blade or flat-screwdriver to pry out the plastic PTT button. This is just a piece of plastic that when pushed, in turn, presses on the real PTT button, a membrane button covered by a silicone sheet. Step 2 - Put the 5/16 x 7/16 x 1/16 nitrile O-ring in place centered vertically. Next gently and carefully re-install the plastic PTT button, PTT label down, being especially careful not to displace the O-ring. It is helpful to use the small screw driver to assist in the installation. Done! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

I've said this before, but the AR/UV-5RM is a better radio than you have a right to expect for the price. I was just now talking to someone using a Ham repeater 30 air miles away from me and he said I was loud and clear. I was sitting in my living room using the 5RM and a Nagoya 771 antenna. I routinely participate in Ham nets on a repeater 22 miles away and always get through clearly. My $30 radio is performing just as well as radios people spent a lot more money on. I do admit, however, that QC on inexpensive Chinese radios can be spotty and sometimes you may not get one this good. It's also likely that it won't last as long as a $300 top-tier HT...but it was $30.

I should add that the Spruce Mountain repeater is owned and operated by Jeff Hartford <n1snr@yahoo.com> - WQQG491 and site owner Dave Libby - WQOP567. They are happy to let folks use it, but would like to know who you all are, so please look them up and report in.