Baofeng BF-888's

[joseph77]

Has anybody on here used these radio's ? Looking for any info i can get on the range from all the searching i have done on the net there are as many bad opinions as good.

[Billy]

Cheap they work.  I have tested a few, they generally do not put out the advertised power, 2.5 watts is about the best you can expect.  They are good radios for the glove box but not a quality radio.  That said they are less than $20.  I am not the radio police but the versions I have handled did not have any FCC Certification what so ever. 

[PastorGary]

Hello, Joe, and welcome to MyGMRS forums.  Noticed that you just received your license a few days ago. Please go through the Equipment Reviews section of the forum when you have some time. You may find additional opinions in that area concerning the 888 series and other offerings from that company. 

 

We are not saying one way or the other as to what equipment SHOULD be used by GMRS licensed operators, however, the majority of members here use accepted Part 95 and accepted Part 90 equipment.

 

Thanks and nice to have you here.

[Logan5]

The BF888 is a good simple non FCC certified radio. Please inform yourself and understand the BF888 is not part95 certified for use on the GMRS service . Use at your own risk. They can make great glovebox radios, but I would not store any radio with the battery attached., I am also sure the battery would need periodic recharging. I keep a UV3r in my glovebox and I must swap the battery every 45 days or so. The UV3r is a dual band radio and front key programmable, can be used on GMRS full power and MURS, if you use low power. the UV3r is also not FCC part95 certified but is commonly used by Hams and GMRS users alike, The BF888 and the UV3r are both rated at 2 watts and 1watt in low power so neither is acceptable to use on FRS. Fleabay has uv3r's at 35 bucks, so if you chose to, for a few more dollars you get dual band and front face programing,. Baofeng makes a lot of radios. So far none that I am aware of is part 95 cert.

[joseph77]

As far as regs i was just really wanting to use them as a cheap programable scanner for listening to some of the local ham operators evey now and then. For Gmrs i am probably going to get a pair of Icoms we use there product at work and it seems very durable.

[zap]

The 888 is rated a (per the sticker) at <4W. Which means less than 4 watts. I ended up throwing one on my General Dynamics R8000 and it cam back as 1.96W in the GMRS area so the sticker did not lie…it was less than 4 watts.

[Billy]

The 888 is rated a (per the sticker) at <4W. Which means less than 4 watts. I ended up throwing one on my General Dynamics R8000 and it cam back as 1.96W in the GMRS area so the sticker did not lie…it was less than 4 watts.

 

My numbers were a little better but that was my experience as well. 

[Logan5]

I thought the BF888 was only rated at 2w high and 1w low, so I just searched some e-bay listings and found this,

• Frequency: 400-469.995MHz
• 16 channel;50 CTCSS/105 CDCSS
• 1500mAh Li-ion battery; Low Voltage Alert; Intelligent Charging
• VOX Function; Voice Prompt; PC Programming; 3 Watt Transmit

 

Some e-bay listings claim 5 watt's, but then some e-bay listing make a lot of false claims. most say less than 3 watts. Even the Uv5r is only about 3.86 watts.

[joseph77]

Spec from BF-888S manual

 

SPECIFICATIONS

Frequency Range

400-470MHz

RF Rated Power <= 5W

Channel Capacity 16

Operating Voltage 3.7V

[tonto]

Has anybody on here used these radio's ? Looking for any info i can get on the range from all the searching i have done on the net there are as many bad opinions as good.

 

I have a couple 888s and they were OK for when my wife and I and her sister were taking a road trip (two cars).  I had some troubles when I was in Omaha when we were separated by a mile or so, but I think that was mostly due to me not using a roof-mount antenna.   I've programmed them so that the FRS channels are using lower power, etc, etc, I'm not trying to be mean with them or anything.

 

My brother-in-law and I can sort of talk to each other, we live about a mile away from each other.  It's not too bad.

 

I mostly bought them for SHTF communications with each other, and the occasional thing like road trips, paintball, etc.

 

 

 

But again, I'm mostly a prepper, and just use the radios incidentally.   Their real purpose, to me, is emergency use.

Edited May 17, 2015 by spd641
Edited due to comments

[ldcarson]

I have a couple and use them on occasion, but of the Chinese knockoffs, I prefer the Uv5R.  Having said that I just took a look at both and mine on High are holding at 3.25 watts.  Low power is .98 watt.  There is another one that I saw on fleabay that purports to have 8 watts transmit power.  I am down in Argentina at the moment, but when I come home for summer vacation I want to try the Radio Tone Duplex to see if it will pass the GMRS freqs.  I have one and it works great setting up a temp 2 meter VHF or 440 UHF repeater for amateur radio use.  The Li-Ion batter in it gives you about 24 hours sometimes longer use without power which makes it great for emergencies, however don't know if it will work on GMRS freqs....

[PastorGary]

Hello Larry and Welcome to MyGMRS Forums... nice to have you with us.

[ldcarson]

Thank You PastorGary.  I am already enjoying the boards....

[mabbent]

I plan to use a pair BF-888 in a portable repeater, mainly to use on camping trips. They should be fine with a low to medium duty cycle. I'll post my results/preformance as I continue on the project.

[zap]

I plan to use a pair BF-888 in a portable repeater, mainly to use on camping trips. They should be fine with a low to medium duty cycle. I'll post my results/preformance as I continue on the project.

That'll be interesting. I don't remember which RF module the 888's. The receive on the radios is pretty good (down to -126 dBm on the one I threw on my R8000). You can actually pull COR off of them if you know where to find it (and completely forgo the need for a true controller). The only issue I foresee is if using a duplexer, you will have roughly 1.5-2 dB of loss in the system meaning you may be outputting closer to 2 out of the duplexer.

[cdesigns]

I have 4 and I have them prepare with Encryption ON and non GMRS frequencies, only to be used when SHTF and the need of more privacy is required. 

[Logan5]

Voice inversion isn't really private.