Baofeng GM15 Pro/ Raddioddity GM30 and why I love them despite annoyances

[WRYC373]

The GM-15 Pro which is the same as the GM30 is an awesome cheap HT and here is why almost everyone in my GMRS group uses them.

 

1. Repeater Capable and programmable on the radio.

2. Easy to use and the Baofeng lady explains things in the menu so they make more sense.

3. Sounds good, the speaker is not the best speaker ive heard but its better than many of the other sub 30$ HTs.

4. Basic Power Meter on receive.  

5. Good range and the amazon pack includes a ABREE AR-771 type whip and again the pack is less than 30$. 

6. Can listen to FM Radio and 2M/70CM Ham band

7.  UV-5R programing cable works on it (again more below).  

8.  USB C Charging  and  good battery life

9.  Convenient Wrist Strap and okay belt clip.

10. Light up buttons (GM15 Pro only?)

11. Easy to remove antenna and good spacing to fit pretty much any aftermarket antenna or adapter.

12. Pretty good manual

13. Sync allowing you to see channel names and freq on the display at the same time

14. Dual monitor is available if you like that.

15. NOAA weather channel scanning automatically

 

Things I do not like

1. Biggest issue for me is that its not Dust/Water Resistant.

2. Saving per channel CTCSS/DCS sucks on the radio  (but not completely impossible with help of Baofeng lady's guidance)

3. Belt Clip is weak and attaches to battery.

4. Battery has 3 pin charging on the battery but no base charger included or sold (why? Yes it has USB C but base chargers are nice. Maybe another base fits but idk which one.)

5. Not CHIRP Compatible and seemingly no plans to be so from Chirp

6. GM-30 Program needed to program it as Baofeng never released their version of the programming software. (My Cable required me to find some drivers as well for it to work on windows 10 and 11 tried both and then settings in device manager needed to be changed to compatibility modes).

7. Its a typical SOC GMRS Radio (but who cares at less than 30$).

 

 

 

So for using it around town and at the farm it works well. It is is cheap and we have talked 30miles+ house to house on these with really good clarity.

 

If you want to mud wrestle with a radio this is not it. If you drop things in your toilet this is not for you. If you talk mostly simplex and like to carry your radio around and want something better than a midland bubble pack or a basic baofeng this is a good option with lots of options on the radio.

 

Overall Id give it a B+ for a GMRS Radio there are things I wish it had (at least a little dust resistance) but most of them have solutions.

[WRUQ357]

I have 3 UV-5R's that I programmed for GMRS like everyone does. My first foray into HT's. I have a MXT 275 for my jeep that works great for what it is. I decided to get a regular GMRS radio and the GM 30 fit the budget. I'm still learning.

[WRZF693]

On 12/14/2023 at 3:02 AM, WRYC373 said:

I purchased the GM15 pro and it's okay.  I have been able to talk to a buddy at 4.3 miles in a semi urban area with trees and strip malls and he came in good and heard me good on his Tid radio although I don't know what model he had.  

I'm going to buy one of the wouxuns radios for their true 5 plus watts and then get a good antenna and an extra mobile antenna because I can't hit repeaters where I live. That said, the repeaters are like 35 miles away as the crow flies with many forests and buildings and small hills between me and the repeaters which are up high however.  I don't know that the wouxuns will hit them either, but they have a good reputation and super heterodyne receivers which makes them better to receive on I understand and the quality is better even though they are also Chinese like most 99 percent of the radios / HTs for sale ..

I wish I could find a US made GMRS radio, but that's about as easy as finding Jimi Hoffa or cost more than the national debt.

The GM15 is an excellent first time radio though.  I totally agree.  I've not tried the GM30 but I did use  the GM30 for programming the GM15 pro with chirp I believe it was. I have it on my laptop...

Happy bewyears all . 

Tim ( wrzf 693)

---------

 

The GM-15 Pro which is the same as the GM30 is an awesome cheap HT and here is why almost everyone in my GMRS group uses them.

 

1. Repeater Capable and programmable on the radio.

2. Easy to use and the Baofeng lady explains things in the menu so they make more sense.

3. Sounds good, the speaker is not the best speaker ive heard but its better than many of the other sub 30$ HTs.

4. Basic Power Meter on receive.  

5. Good range and the amazon pack includes a ABREE AR-771 type whip and again the pack is less than 30$. 

6. Can listen to FM Radio and 2M/70CM Ham band

7.  UV-5R programing cable works on it (again more below).  

8.  USB C Charging  and  good battery life

9.  Convenient Wrist Strap and okay belt clip.

10. Light up buttons (GM15 Pro only?)

11. Easy to remove antenna and good spacing to fit pretty much any aftermarket antenna or adapter.

12. Pretty good manual

13. Sync allowing you to see channel names and freq on the display at the same time

14. Dual monitor is available if you like that.

15. NOAA weather channel scanning automatically

 

Things I do not like

1. Biggest issue for me is that its not Dust/Water Resistant.

2. Saving per channel CTCSS/DCS sucks on the radio  (but not completely impossible with help of Baofeng lady's guidance)

3. Belt Clip is weak and attaches to battery.

4. Battery has 3 pin charging on the battery but no base charger included or sold (why? Yes it has USB C but base chargers are nice. Maybe another base fits but idk which one.)

5. Not CHIRP Compatible and seemingly no plans to be so from Chirp

6. GM-30 Program needed to program it as Baofeng never released their version of the programming software. (My Cable required me to find some drivers as well for it to work on windows 10 and 11 tried both and then settings in device manager needed to be changed to compatibility modes).

7. Its a typical SOC GMRS Radio (but who cares at less than 30$).

 

 

 

So for using it around town and at the farm it works well. It is is cheap and we have talked 30miles+ house to house on these with really good clarity.

 

If you want to mud wrestle with a radio this is not it. If you drop things in your toilet this is not for you. If you talk mostly simplex and like to carry your radio around and want something better than a midland bubble pack or a basic baofeng this is a good option with lots of options on the radio.

 

Overall Id give it a B+ for a GMRS Radio there are things I wish it had (at least a little dust resistance) but most of them have solutions.

 

[WRZY946]

I've got a pair of them and they seem to handle fine. The repeater capability + programmable without a computer are the two biggest selling points. The USB-C is nice, the whip antenna being included is nice, but ultimately it's being able to set up stuff myself for repeaters and active local freqs that sold it for me.

I intend to get some better handhelds and a decent 50W mobile sometime this year, but I'm not sure what yet.

[GreggInFL]

Agreed.  I have a pair and would recommend for a new user.

[WRZF693]

Agree. I have the GM15 pro and have had really good luck with it.  I'm about to give it to my buddy after I receive and test my new Wouxun kg916 I just bought from Bettersaferadios.. Can't wait to see how it does.  The GM15 pro has been great. Simplex to my friends Tidradio we were able to talk no problem at all in a semi suburban small town here at 4.3 miles and it's kinda busy with strip malls and lots of trees, etc, but he was straight down the road.  We could hear each other like we were right next to each other with just a tad bit of static.  I also monitor the NOAA weather channel which I think comes from a town 30 miles away and it sounds great too.  

[JoCoBrian]

We bought GM-30's in February last year.  Very happy with them.  I live about 20 miles south of the Indy 600 repeater and we can't hit it reliably with them....even with the better RD-232 antenna.  But that's OK, we're out on the edge of the repeater and lot of stuff between us and the repeater site.  I fish a lot in the summertime, at a pond that is about a mile from home.  I can talk with my wife and she can talk to me on the GM-30's with no problems.  When she takes her daily walk around the block, she is about 2.2 miles away and we can still converse with little difficulty.  These are the only GMRS radios we use currently.  I do have a TK-880 Kenwood that I hope to set up as a base radio and I hope to get an antenna up 20-30 feet....should have no probs hitting Indy 600 then.  67 days until Spring...  

[garydrumm]

I have the GM-15 Pro as well and I love it. Very well built radio for the money. I have two of them. One for just general use, and the other stays in my Jeep for handing out on the trail or campground. Great little radio. 

[WRWB683]

I cannot change MOST of the parameters (like transmit frequency!) on this Baofeng GM-15 PRO handheld. I have MANY Baofeng handhelds and have no problem understanding and executing programming from the keypad, except with THIS radio, I cannot DELete channels at all, cannot save to any Memory channel... maybe because I cannot delete from them. But I am getting at least a connection and I can change the name of channels, and I was able to CHOOSE a channel that already had the frequency pair I needed, and I could change the CTCSS (PL code) to what I needed. But it seems it WILL NOT TRANSMIT from that memory slot (DIY-25) once I changed it, but it WILL transmit on any other DIY (Do-It-Yourself?) channel. I actually cannot change the transmit frequency on any DIY channel (only receive) this one happened to already be on the pair I needed (462.600/467.600) so all I did was change the CTCSS tone. AGAIN I CAN ONLY change ANYTHING using the software similar to Chirp that I downloaded from the Radioddity web site (free) for their GM30, which many folks say is the same radio. I can change all the parameters from the keypad in "frequency mode" (VFO) but cannot SAVE anything (to a Channel), even tho I have a thousand times on a dozen different Baofengs. Help!

[WRWB683]

I cannot change MOST of the parameters (like transmit frequency!) on this Baofeng GM-15 PRO handheld. I have MANY Baofeng handhelds and have no problem understanding and executing programming from the keypad, except with THIS radio, I cannot DELete channels at all, cannot save to any Memory channel... maybe because I cannot delete from them. But I am getting at least a connection and I can change the name of channels, and I was able to CHOOSE a channel that already had the frequency pair I needed, and I could change the CTCSS (PL code) to what I needed. But it seems it WILL NOT TRANSMIT from that memory slot (DIY-25) once I changed it, but it WILL transmit on any other DIY (Do-It-Yourself?) channel. I actually cannot change the transmit frequency on any DIY channel (only receive) this one happened to already be on the pair I needed (462.600/467.600) so all I did was change the CTCSS tone. AGAIN I CAN ONLY change ANYTHING using the software similar to Chirp that I downloaded from the Radioddity web site (free) for their GM30, which many folks say is the same radio. I can change all the parameters from the keypad in "frequency mode" (VFO) but cannot SAVE anything (to a Channel), even tho I have a thousand times on a dozen different Baofengs. Help! I ordered another on just in case it's this individual radio

[WRWB683]

I can't change the transmit frequency or offset on ANY channel and can only change the receive frequency on channels 31 and up. I have the Baofeng GM-15 PRO from Amazon and I'm using the GM30 software from Radioddity. Please explain how you are getting this radio programmed. I also cannot SAVE or DELETE any memory slots from the keyboard (and therefore can't change any parameters, since you can only change in Frequency mode and can only Transmit in Channelk (memory) mode. Just in case it was the radio only, I ordered another from Amazon. Now I have TWO useless radios.

[WRDJ205]

Does this help?

[WRDJ205]

11 minutes ago, WRWB683 said:

Please explain how you are getting this radio programmed.

You are still limited to the GMRS frequencies for TX.  You can add a different tone to get into a repeater.  If you have more than one repeater (in say a different location) you could put that into the DIY section (above channel 31).  

[SteveShannon]

On 4/15/2024 at 4:56 PM, WRDJ205 said:

You are still limited to the GMRS frequencies for TX.  You can add a different tone to get into a repeater.  If you have more than one repeater (in say a different location) you could put that into the DIY section (above channel 31).  

That’s what I tried to explain the other day. Xmit frequencies are fixed but it doesn’t matter because a person can still edit the receive frequencies. Just pick a channel with the correct xmit frequency and edit everything else. 

[WRWB683]

NOPE. Sorry but I can't program this one via the keypad nor the software cable (I CAN connect and change SOME of the parameters on SOME of the channels, like tone and channel name). No matter WHAT I DO I cannot choose the correct frequency pair of my club's GMRS repeater in Dallas. I ordered ANOTHER Baofeng GM-15 Pro from Amazon with the SAME RESULTS. Trust me, I'm not an idiot, I have had an Amateur Extra license for the past 25 years, have designed and built many antennas and modified may radios, and I have 10 other Baofengs that I CAN program using BOTH the software and the keypad on the radio. I was able to get my money back from Amazon on the recent GM-15 purchase but the first one, I let it sit around too long and so it is no longer eligible for return. My fellow ham/GMRS buddies recommend throwing it in a lake. Meanwhile, I ordered the awesome multiband "UV-5 Upgrade" which is the UV-17R... THAT radio works like a charm, is multi-band, and I CAN program it via the keypad. I haven't even tried programming it with software (no need) but I am certain it would work. Meanwhile, I found that a handheld is too low-powered to hit the Dallas GMRS repeater from home, even connected to a 7-element beam (Yagi) so I went up to a full-power (40 watts? 50 watts? I'd have to measure it) radio and now I can participate in the Dallas GMRS repeater at will. It STILL requires the Yagi pointed in the right direction... because it is 30 miles to the repeater from my house.

Thanks for all the well-meaning replies

[SteveShannon]

23 minutes ago, WRWB683 said:

No matter WHAT I DO I cannot choose the correct frequency pair of my club's GMRS repeater in Dallas.

Out of curiosity, what frequency pair do they use?

[WSDA973]

Just got a Baofeng GM-15 pro from a friend this morning, since we both just recently got our GMRS licenses and set the pl on one of the repeater channels while it was in channel mode.... something that it looks like isn't supposed to be able to and had my first contact from inside my local McDonalds. got very good signal reports and the receive audio is awesome. Use Motorola equipment for my ham radio and P25 and I think the receive audio is just as good on this little baofeng. It also has the Abbree AR-771 GMRS antenna along with a shorter antenna. Using the Abbree AR-771 antenna on it and think probably keep using that antenna. SO far it seems to be a great little radio. 

[emory]

On 4/17/2024 at 10:23 AM, SteveShannon said:

That’s what I tried to explain the other day. Xmit frequencies are fixed but it doesn’t matter because a person can still edit the receive frequencies. Just pick a channel with the correct xmit frequency and edit everything else. 

this is similar to the experience of using the BTech GMRS-PRO radio. it is extremely frustrating. to make matters worse, the GMRS-PRO uses a mobile phone companion app that basically pulls the rug out from under you on the regular because of this transmit frequency thing.

you can use the MyGMRS or RepeaterBook or RR listing and transcribe the frequency for RX and whatever tone you want but then for the input frequency it's just a list of standard GMRS frequency/ies and you configure everything and if it's not RX-only for scanning (like the SEPTA conventional simulcasts on `502.*`) are fine but the moment you have one you can TX to you can't VFO-style input the frequency it's a pull-down on the app and the moment you pick one that uses the right frequency for TX it renames the whole damned thing to the generic listing for that `GMRS.*` or `REPT.*` channel and frequency pair! it drives me crazy you have to really start with the TX frequency every time or you're just going to do everything two or three times.

i have a GM21 coming this afternoon, i think it'll be a good fit for my partner, mobile phone style keypad is more familiar for her and having it solely dedicated to GMRS and interacting with FRS radios will keep her from ending up doing truly embarrassing things like attempt to TX on the EMS channels or something. i think it uses Yet Another Application to manage and configure it though it looks like a lot of it can be done on-device. wish they wouldn't have this encrypted scrambling channel hopping option on only four of a dozen shipping HTs but nobody in Product at Baofeng or BTech wants to hear my opinions on that.