Boafeng GMRS-V1

[a0008550]

I've spent the last 2-3 days playing with the V1 I just received.  I don't have equipment to test the actual wattage this thing is putting out, it does have an option of selecting Hi/Low power on a per-channel basis, and the simplex channels are all set to low power by default whereas the duplex channels are set to High. There is however, nowhere in the manual nor on the radio itself that specifies what High TX power vs Low TX Power actually is.  That said:

 

I found the build quality to be far superior to a typical bubble pack radio, however short of the ICOMS I own (F21GM and F4TR1) and the Motorolas I used back in my days as a paramedic (Big bricks that could be thrown, full force against a brick wall and still keep going).  Overall I think this thing could take the beating of normal wear and tear, but I doubt that it would stand up to hard core duty on a daily basis.  Still for ~$55 it's hard to beat.  

 

Simplex transmission is clear and loud on the receiving end, the supplied rubber  duck is good enough, but I swapped it out with a Nagoya 701C and the difference was undeniably noticeable.   In fact, with the 701C, I was hitting a distant repeater much more consistently and on the RX side, I was receiving weaker signals than I was able to do with my ICOMS which ARE 5 watt radios IIRC.  I don't know if it is the wattage or the fact that the 701C is tuned better than the antennas on my ICOMs, and in the end I can't tell you if this is legitimately a 2 or a 5 watt radio, but I would be just as comfortable talking through one of these in an emergency as I would my ICOMs.

 

Programming from the keypad is not difficult, but getting the programming cable and doing it via chirp would probably be easier.  Everything is selectable and modifiable except that you can only TX on the GMRS frequencies. Tones can be programmed directly from the keypad and you can program additional channels VHF and UHF bands for scan-only operation. The one problem I had is that I could not program my local NOAA weather channel.  I can switch to VFO mode and enter the frequency and receive the signal, but when it came time to saving the frequency to a channel, it would not do it.  Any other frequency seems to save without a problem except for that one.  

 

I haven't had it long enough to comment on battery life but they do take the larger BL-8L 3600 mah battery that you can get for the uv-82 HP's

 

One thing that surprised me was how compact this radio is.  It is tiny and I am seriously considering the larger battery just to make the thing more substantial.   

 

Hope that helps.  I'd be glad to update this later with more info if anyone is interested.  I know there was a lot of curiosity about these radios.  For the price of a pair of bubble packs, this radio has been a real pleasure to use so far.  

If you get the extended battery for your GMRS-V1 please let us know how it works out for you and any major pros or cons compared to the stock battery. Thanks!

[berkinet]

One potential issue with thé GMRS-V1 is that it does not operate on the FRS only channels:

8 467.5625

9 467.5875

10 467.6125

11 467.6375

12 467.6625

13 467.6875

14 467.7125

 

I believe this is an unavoidable consequence of allowing a detachable antenna.

 

While not a major issue for many users, this limitation might impact people who would like to use these radios to interoperate with users on the FRS only channels. It looks like if you want full FRS/GMRS coverage you are still limited to "ham" (I.e. uncertified) radios like the UV-82, PX-777, etc., and be sure to observe the 500mw power limitation on the FRS only channels.

[Hans]

Cool video, a0008550.

[dstock]

Newbie here, first post actually!

 

I picked up one of these radios recently and have noticed a couple things.

 

1)  The GMRS-V1 starts with channel 0 instead of 1 so if you are using this radio with your more typical GMRS radios like Cobra, Motorola etc. your channel numbers are all off by 1 channel, i.e Ch. 1 on a Motorola is actually Ch. 0 on the V1.  I'm hoping this can be reprogrammed with CHIRP but haven't tried it yet.

 

2)  The scanning function for CTCSS tones doesn't work very well, or I'm doing it wrong.  I suggest having a printout of the CTCSS tones of whatever other radio you are trying to communicate with as there isn't a standard it appears across the many consumer GMRS units.

 

Obviously if you are using the V1 with another V1, neither of these issues matter, nor are they deal breakers when using with units for other manufacturers, just something to be aware of should you purchase a V1.

[berkinet]

1)  The GMRS-V1 starts with channel 0 instead of 1 so if you are using this radio with your more typical GMRS radios like Cobra, Motorola etc. your channel numbers are all off by 1 channel, i.e Ch. 1 on a Motorola is actually Ch. 0 on the V1.  I'm hoping this can be reprogrammed with CHIRP but haven't tried it yet.

Yes, and no. You can reprogram the locations like any other radio. But, there are fixed functionalities that cannot be changed, and are not apparent in the CHIRP interface.  Specifically:

You can only transmit on locations 0 to 23

Only locations 16 to 22 have an offset for transmit, and that is fixed at +5mHz.

 

So, if you want to be able to transmit simplex on all 15 GMRS frequencies and use all 8 repeater pairs, you must start in location 0.

But, you can set location Names. So, you can "Name" location 0 as "GMRS 1"

 

Again, CHIRP will let you set anything, but the radio will only do what it is preprogrammed for.

[dstock]

Yes, and no. You can reprogram the locations like any other radio. But, there are fixed functionalities that cannot be changed, and are not apparent in the CHIRP interface.  Specifically:

You can only transmit on locations 0 to 23

Only locations 16 to 22 have an offset for transmit, and that is fixed at +5mHz.

 

So, if you want to be able to transmit simplex on all 15 GMRS frequencies and use all 8 repeater pairs, you must start in location 0.

But, you can set location Names. So, you can "Name" location 0 as "GMRS 1"

 

Again, CHIRP will let you set anything, but the radio will only do what it is preprogrammed for.

 

 

 

Got it, thanks.

 

Using location names is a great work around, thanks for the idea.

[dstock]

Yes, and no. You can reprogram the locations like any other radio. But, there are fixed functionalities that cannot be changed, and are not apparent in the CHIRP interface.  Specifically:

You can only transmit on locations 0 to 23

Only locations 16 to 22 have an offset for transmit, and that is fixed at +5mHz.

 

So, if you want to be able to transmit simplex on all 15 GMRS frequencies and use all 8 repeater pairs, you must start in location 0.

But, you can set location Names. So, you can "Name" location 0 as "GMRS 1"

 

Again, CHIRP will let you set anything, but the radio will only do what it is preprogrammed for.

 

So far CHIRP isn't working with this radio, although it works fine with my UV82HP.  Anyone else run into this?  There isn't a "GMRS-V1" in the pull down menu and "UV82HP" doesn't work either.  Thoughts?

[berkinet]

So far CHIRP isn't working with this radio, although it works fine with my UV82HP. Anyone else run into this? There isn't a "GMRS-V1" in the pull down menu and "UV82HP" doesn't work either. Thoughts?

Make sure you are using the latest "daily build" and note it is listed as a BTECH radio, not Baofeng.

[dstock]

Make sure you are using the latest "daily build" and note it is listed as a BTECH radio, not Baofeng.

 

Ahh...I do have the latest build but I was looking at Baofeng not BTECH, thanks for the help!

[lthorpe]

I got one (BTECH GMRS-V1) about a month ago, so far, so good. I will definitely buy a few more.  I am enjoying all the extra channels I could scan. 

The only con I found using this radio so far is not being able to transmit on channels 23 to 127.    

To get around this, I have been programming repeater names, freq and pl codes in the none transmit channels. 

While scanning I could see the name of the repeater that's active, then put the pl code into the REPEATER  pair down on  15 - 22.

 

Thanks for all the info.

 

I also have a few Tera TR-505's, which are good radios, just not programmable unless connected to the computer. 

Now there are being locked to one channel and given to the wife and kids.

 

. 

[tty]

I had one of these few weeks ago which I returned because of some cosmetic issues. My new one will arrive tomorrow.

My number one complaint is that GMRS channel starts with zero and it carries on. I know about the workaround of renaming the channels, but it would be so much easier if Baofeng started with Channel 1, then they should have also "skipped" channels 8 to 14 and not programmed the GMRS channels on those banks.

This helps when you are navigating without looking at the screen, you can just listen to the "channel number" and know you are on the right GMRS channel.

 

They should have also left more channel banks for programming additional GMRS repeaters. This is just to future proof the unit, as I can definitely guess the number of GMRS users are going up.

 

I would also choose two of these units against one Midland XMT100 for versatility and better features.

[tty]

Any comments on this radio, 

 

Yes we know its a cheap radio.

 

So that's out of the way.

 

I'm measuring output power  around 2 watts on low power, and about 3.5 watts on high. I get a similar reading with my two UV82's on the same (GMRS) frequencies. The UV82's  have 2 watts on low  but have 4.75 watts on high on amateur frequencies. So I assume, that the GMRS-V1 is just a dumbed-down UV82, they could have at least tweaked the output power for GMRS freqs.

[jwilkers]

I'm measuring output power around 2 watts on low power, and about 3.5 watts on high. I get a similar reading with my two UV82's on the same (GMRS) frequencies. The UV82's have 2 watts on low but have 4.75 watts on high on amateur frequencies. So I assume, that the GMRS-V1 is just a dumbed-down UV82, they could have at least tweaked the output power for GMRS freqs.

They are only part 95 approved for 2 watts. Their higher power grant was dismissed.

 

AntiSquid Disclaimer: All posted content is personal opinion only and may not imply fact or accusation.

[kpeck1959]

Looking forward to follow-up comments on this radio and any upgraded accessories found to be useful, like an antenna etc.

[forest]

I have three of the boafeng gt-3 they seem to have all the same program set-up just different case however they too are pretty bullet proof however I would upgrade the antana