UV-5R radios

[WSCG458]

I was given 2 BAOFENG UV-5R radios that the box said were GMRS compatible.  They came with the charger 2x, extra antenna (abbreviation AR771) 2x , and the ear pieces 2x. Do I need to up grade to a better  GMRS radio?

[SteveShannon]

4 minutes ago, WSCG458 said:

I was given 2 BAOFENG UV-5R radios that the box said were GMRS compatible.  They came with the charger 2x, extra antenna (abbreviation AR771) 2x , and the ear pieces 2x. Do I need to up grade to a better  GMRS radio?

Have you tried them?

Do they do what you want?

If yes, then you don’t have to upgrade. 
If no, then perhaps you either need to upgrade or change to a different service. 

[OffRoaderX]

11 minutes ago, WSCG458 said:

Do I need to up grade to a better  GMRS radio?

As @Sshannon eluded to, only you can answer that question.

[WRYS709]

1 hour ago, WSCG458 said:

I was given 2 BAOFENG UV-5R radios that the box said were GMRS compatible.  They came with the charger 2x, extra antenna (abbreviation AR771) 2x , and the ear pieces 2x. Do I need to up grade to a better  GMRS radio?

Nah, they're free.  Play with them until you want more out of an GMRS radio and then upgrade!

[Socalgmrs]

I still use uv5r radios all the time.  I have many other motorola and wouxun radios as well but the cheap boof wangs get used more.    all the hand helds all transmit just as far $20 or $500 

[WRDJ205]

6 hours ago, WSCG458 said:

I was given 2 BAOFENG UV-5R radios that the box said were GMRS compatible

Great “price” for some decent radios to learn on.   Gives you a chance to listen and learn repeaters and programming (if you want to go that way).  

[Lscott]

6 hours ago, WSCG458 said:

I was given 2 BAOFENG UV-5R radios that the box said were GMRS compatible.

They are, but not legal to transmit with on GMRS. Of course that hasn’t stopped people from doing so. You can program them up for Ham, GMRS and commercial frequencies all just for monitoring as a cheap scanner just fine.

[OffRoaderX]

1 hour ago, Lscott said:

They are, but not legal to transmit with on GMRS

Incorrect.. If the (factory) box says "GMRS Compatible" as stated by the OP (and it was not written in crayon) then it is the GMRS version, which is FCC Part 95 approved for use on GMRS meaning they are perfectly legal and within FCC guidelines to transmit on GMRS with.

[Socalgmrs]

1 hour ago, Lscott said:

They are, but not legal to transmit with on GMRS. 

AND…. Even if that’s true, he did say gmrs compatible, who cares.  I’d be very willing to be there are more non compliant radios in gmrs then compliant. 

[Lscott]

9 minutes ago, WRXP381 said:

AND…. Even if that’s true, he did say gmrs compatible, who cares.  I’d be very willing to be there are more non compliant radios in gmrs then compliant. 

Some people do care.

One major issue with the UV-5R, at least the early models, they were noted for dirty transmitters. The joke was they were multi-band radios, i.e. you could talk on several bands all at the same time! Some people quit using them specifically because of that.

[OffRoaderX]

16 minutes ago, Lscott said:

"Some people" do care.

I was going to say the exact same thing.

and just so everyone knows, the newer UV-5Rs do not suffer from the horrible deadly spurious emissions/"dirty transmitters" like the early models that you referenced.  

[SvenMarbles]

Spurs on harmonics, even on the dirtiest Baofeng aren't a factor, They're 50mw worst case scenario, and they aren't going to bug anything of significance.

[OffRoaderX]

Just now, SvenMarbles said:

they aren't going to bug anything of significance.

LIES!! I know this for a fact because the guy that posted that spurious RF emissions from a UV-5R will totally black-out emergency services started his post by saying  "..I have been a licensed ham radio operator for 23 years"... and in his forum signature there was license number and a list of all 17 radios that he owns.. So, yah, he was totally legit.

[Lscott]

1 minute ago, SvenMarbles said:

They're 50mw worst case scenario

You would be surprised how far 50mw will go. People talk to low earth orbit satellites on just 5 watts just fine for example. There is a reason why the FCC has emission limits. It might not bug you but it will somebody else and I can assure you they won’t consider it “in significant.”

[WRYZ926]

Here is a GMRS certified UV-5R 

[SvenMarbles]

16 minutes ago, Lscott said:

You would be surprised how far 50mw will go. People talk to low earth orbit satellites on just 5 watts just fine for example. There is a reason why the FCC has emission limits. It might not bug you but it will somebody else and I can assure you they won’t consider it “in significant.”

I wouldn't, because I know how this stuff actually works in practice. Especially on Terra Firma. 50mw will get a block or so away on UHF, and as an "untoned" signal, it's not getting into any public safety systems' comms for example. I use a HackRF with a 20mw transmitter as a piece of test equipment. If I barely leave the room with it, it's ineffective. 5 watts is 5000mw. That's,.. not the same. Also there's that whole ABSOLUTELY pure line of sight that sat comms enjoy. Yes 5 watts will go into the sky forever. But it won't leave your neighborhood past the dirt hill 2 miles away..

[Lscott]

13 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

Here is a GMRS certified UV-5R 

And here’s one that isn’t. Look it up.

[Lscott]

8 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

I wouldn't, because I know how this stuff actually works in practice. Especially on Terra Firma. 50mw will get a block or so away on UHF, and as an "untoned" signal, it's not getting into any public safety systems' comms for example. I use a HackRF with a 20mw transmitter as a piece of test equipment. If I barely leave the room with it, it's ineffective. 5 watts is 5000mw. That's,.. not the same. Also there's that whole ABSOLUTELY pure line of sight that sat comms enjoy. Yes 5 watts will go into the sky forever. But it won't leave your neighborhood past the dirt hill 5 blocks away..

Of course if it’s next door or a few houses away I’m sure it’s going to bother you.

UV-5R VHF Harmonics Test.pdf

[SvenMarbles]

2 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Of course if it’s next door or a few houses away I’m sure it’s going to bother you.

UV-5R VHF Harmonics Test.pdf 154.98 kB · 0 downloads

You think so? Those people who are just doing their vanilla life thing watching TV and stuff? They're going to have their spectrum analyzers out just friggin policing the RF floating by? 

Hey I'll tell you what.. When I get that knock on my door from that neighbor I just made a new friend anyway..

[SvenMarbles]

Hey do I get t bit*h when my neighbor over here has some Chinese wireless pad phone charger that's putting hash all over my AM?

What authorities do I need to notify?

[SvenMarbles]

Everyone out here these days is making Aliexpress NOISE. But since I know what radio is, I gotta be the one to pipe down?

[Lscott]

4 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

Hey I'll tell you what.. When I get that knock on my door from that neighbor I just made a new friend anyway..

Hope you do. If not don’t cry about it on this forum.

 

3 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

Hey do I get t bit*h when my neighbor over here has some Chinese wireless pad phone charger that's putting hash all over my AM?

What authorities do I need to notify?

If the AM radio falls under FCC Part 15.5 you’re likely S.O.L. The FCC will tell you to complain to the manufacturer of your AM radio.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-15

[SvenMarbles]

Good lawd.. Ok god bless you...

[SvenMarbles]

I don't pretend to know the FCC codes front to back, so I looked that up. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-15/subpart-A/section-15.5

 

I'm also not a lawyer. But I don't even see what part of that makes it so that I have to just DEAL.

 

Man whatever. Not trying to start fights with goofs on here any more. Maybe you just didn't think i'd look. You'll "quote FCC rules" and I should've just been like "whoa, the important man has spoken".

Go jump in a lake..

 

[Lscott]

Just now, SvenMarbles said:

Good lawd.. Ok god bless you...

It’s just unfortunate that most people assume if their cheap electronics is messing up due to interference from a “properly functioning” radio transmitter it’s their problem, not the radio operator’s.

One interesting suggestion has been to put up the antenna(s) and don’t transmit for a week or two. When the neighbors notice them and come knocking because they “assume” it’s you just show them the end of the coax laying on the floor, no two-way radios in sight. When they see it can’t be you they’ll just go away and quit being a**holes.