Nice detailed review. Thanks for the antenna tests. I got 2 of these a few days ago and have been going through them pretty thoroughly. I am getting about 7.5w on H, 4.5w on M, and 1.4w on L on the GMRS freqs. I did test on the 2m call freq and got 9w, but I don't use this radio for 2m. I bought the minimal set that only has the one short antenna. I have no way to test the antenna other than comparing it to the GMRS tuned antennas that I currently have for other radios. So, with my current GMRS antennas, I can easily open and talk on the closest repeater to my house with the AR-5RM, which I can not do on my other 4 and 5 watt radios with the same antennas. I also can not even open that repeater with the AR-5RM using the included short antenna you tested.
One little thing that might be a big thing for some. is the placement of the USB-C charging port that is on the battery. Many times these ports end up on the bottom of the battery or radio so you are not able to stand the radio up while charging. The port on the AR-5RM is on the back of the battery and has a little rubber cover.
One last thing. This radio has the typical Roger Beep, but it also has a MDC1200 sounding tone just for fun.
This is a decent radio for the $30 I paid.
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Baofeng AR-5RM
