Boafeng GMRS-V1

[bud]

Any comments on this radio, 

 

Yes we know its a cheap radio.

 

So that's out of the way.

[Logan5]

I have not yet tested this radio, However I have tested many Baofeng and Pofung radios and they are strong rugged units.

[jmoylan69]

As logan said. i own 5 of the UV5R's and use the heck out of them in the wildland fire service. I also do not have the Baofeng GMRS -v1 but what i know about Baofeng (pronounced Pofung). id not hesitate to buy one.

[jwilkers]

Any comments on this radio,

 

Yes we know its a cheap radio.

 

So that's out of the way.

Well, at least it is 100% legal.

 

AntiSquid Disclaimer: All comments are personal opinion only and may not indicate a claim of actual fact.

[WQYA707]

I have two of these radios and have done some preliminary testing. I am a ham operator, and a member of our local ARES/RACES and NET/CERT organizations.

 

Baofeng has taken their UV82 radio and repurposed it for GMRS use. UV82 accessories, including the high capacity battery and AA battery pack, all work with the GMRS-V1. The radios are pre-programmed for the GMRS/FRS and GMRS repeater frequencies, with the repeater offset already set.  The radio will also scan the ham VHF/UHF bands (there are approximately 100 channels available), has a FM radio, dual watch and the rest of the UV82 and UV82HP features. Advertised power is 1W/5W.  The radio is programmable through the keypad and CHIRP; I highly recommend the latter. 

 

Before testing the radios, I cloned one using CHIRP, and made some modifications, including adding the VHF/UHF emergency communications channels for my area. Note that the pre-programmed GMRS frequencies/offsets can not be changed and the radio cannot be programmed to transmit on any other channels.  The GRMS PL tones, channel names, power level, and scanner inclusion can be programmed. Programming is straightforward, as is cloning a CHIRP image from radio to radio.

 

In my test rig, I used an inline power and SWR meter and tested the units with both the stock antenna and a J Pole that that I with my VHF/UHF rig. 

 

VHF power: 2W/5.4W,  SWR (with J pole): 1.1 to 1.5 across the band

UHF power 1.75W/5W, SWR (with J pole)  1.1 to 1.7 across the band

 

Using the stock antenna, low power performance in an treed, hilly urban environment is, as expected, less than a mile. High power performance was between one and two miles. I need to do more testing, with a j pole and a whip antenna to get better numbers. I don't have a local repeater to test against. YMMV.

 

The audio is clear and undistorted. Features like dual-watch, two line display, transmit timer and scanning are handy to have, especially if you are used to using them on a ham HT.  If you have UV82 equipment, the ability to swap batteries, antennas and the like is terrific.  Scanning, like on all Baofengs, is usable but not fast and when scanning, the two line display does not stay synchronized.

 

What I really like about these radios, other than 5W, interoperability with the UV82 and FCC compliance, is they can be set up, the keypad locked so the unit can't be accidentally reprogrammed, and handed to someone without a lot of experience.  I am looking at them for NET/CERT team use and they will certainly become part of my family go bag.  And for less than sixty bucks, including charger, microphone and battery, they are a real deal.

 

 

[jwilkers]

Thank you very much for your detailed review-

[Hans]

Thanks for the review, WQYA707!

 

I am confused about one thing... For certification, the radio is supposed to be locked to GMRS frequencies. How did you test VHF output or am I misunderstanding the review?

[n4gix]

Thanks for the review, WQYA707!

 

I am confused about one thing... For certification, the radio is supposed to be locked to GMRS frequencies. How did you test VHF output or am I misunderstanding the review?

Any frequency other than GMRS is receive only. You can't transmit at all!

[Hans]

"VHF power: 2W/5.4W, SWR (with J pole): 1.1 to 1.5 across the band"

 

Yeah, that's why I asked the question in my post.

[deanq]

I have two of these radios and have done some preliminary testing. I am a ham operator, and a member of our local ARES/RACES and NET/CERT organizations.

 

In my test rig, I used an inline power and SWR meter and tested the units with both the stock antenna and a J Pole that that I with my VHF/UHF rig. 

 

VHF power: 2W/5.4W,  SWR (with J pole): 1.1 to 1.5 across the band

UHF power 1.75W/5W, SWR (with J pole)  1.1 to 1.7 across the band

 

RIF - Reading is fundamental.

[SteveC7010]

FWIW guys, the OP joined here on November 19th, made two posts, logged in again on the 20th, and has not returned since.

 

Since we know for sure that the GMRS-V1 is a single band (UHF) transceiver with VHF Rx capability, it's pretty clear to me he's not going to have a useful response unless he suddenly decides to correct himself which, at this point, seems remote.

[n4gix]

RIF - Reading is fundamental.

Yes, reading is fundamental...

 

...which is why I'm wondering how you missed this sentence.

 

Before testing the radios, I cloned one using CHIRP, and made some modifications, including adding the VHF/UHF emergency communications channels for my area. Note that the pre-programmed GMRS frequencies/offsets can not be changed and the radio cannot be programmed to transmit on any other channels.

 

 

[Hans]

Deanq, reading is indeed fundamental but I am still failing to understand how the OP measured VHF output from a radio which is supposed to be transmit locked to UHF and channel-ized for GMRS. I honestly cannot see that in the original post. If you can, please enlighten me. This is a sincere appeal.

 

I was really hoping to hear from the OP that he had found a way to unlock the radio.

[SteveC7010]

Deanq, reading is indeed fundamental but I am still failing to understand how the OP measured VHF output from a radio which is supposed to be transmit locked to UHF and channel-ized for GMRS. I honestly cannot see that in the original post. If you can, please enlighten me. This is a sincere appeal.

 

I was really hoping to hear from the OP that he had found a way to unlock the radio.

 

It wasn't the OP that made the claim. He was just looking for comments on the radio. However, in Post #5, WQYA707 stated the following:

 

Before testing the radios, I cloned one using CHIRP, and made some modifications, including adding the VHF/UHF emergency communications channels for my area. Note that the pre-programmed GMRS frequencies/offsets can not be changed and the radio cannot be programmed to transmit on any other channels.  The GRMS PL tones, channel names, power level, and scanner inclusion can be programmed. Programming is straightforward, as is cloning a CHIRP image from radio to radio.

 

In my test rig, I used an inline power and SWR meter and tested the units with both the stock antenna and a J Pole that that I with my VHF/UHF rig. 

 

VHF power: 2W/5.4W,  SWR (with J pole): 1.1 to 1.5 across the band

UHF power 1.75W/5W, SWR (with J pole)  1.1 to 1.7 across the band

 

That pretty clearly says to me that he is claiming to have been able to program VHF Tx frequencies into the radio and then measured power out and SWR. In the first paragraph that I quoted, the first and second sentences would seem to be contradictory. Either the radio is hard coded for just GMRS frequencies or he was able to make some modifications using CHIRP and program in his local emergency frequencies. If he hacked it to actually transmit on other frequencies in either band, like you, I really want to know more. And, same as you, I fail to see how he would have been able to make a radio that is built for UHF Tx only transmit on VHF frequencies without some serious hardware changes.

 

However, as I pointed out previously, WQYA707 hasn't been back on since the 20th of November, the day after he joined and made this post and one other. That kinda nibbles at his credibility, doesn't it?

[jwilkers]

Either that or he was checking for any spurious emissions on vhf. If that radio can be unlocked, then it further violates it's FCC certification. You may as well use a Baofeng uv82

 

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

[Hans]

Yeah, I meant WQYA707. Thanks.

 

"Before testing the radios, I cloned one using CHIRP, and made some modifications, including adding the VHF/UHF emergency communications channels for my area."

 

The radio, as far as I know, can be programmed for RX only frequencies. That didn't indicate to me anything other than RX only.

 

"Note that the pre-programmed GMRS frequencies/offsets can not be changed and the radio cannot be programmed to transmit on any other channels."

 

Here the tester specifically reinforced that "the radio cannot be programmed to transmit on any other channels." That again read to me as if the frequencies added were RX only.

 

The only part of the post that clearly indicated or even inferred TX on a frequency outside of GMRS was: "VHF power: 2W/5.4W, SWR (with J pole): 1.1 to 1.5 across the band." One sentence in the whole post.

 

I didn't find the language of the first part contradictory as the radio can be programmed to RX on other frequencies and the tester also stated that TX capability was limited to GMRS.

 

It would be nice if the person came back and clarified but I'm not holding my breath. Perhaps it could be as simple as copying a UV-82 code plug onto a GMRS-V1? Likewise, it could be as simple as the person was mistaken in copying and pasting results and the radio indeed only does GMRS transmitting.

 

We probably won't know until other people start playing around with that model posting about it. I know that I'm keeping my eyes open for data.

[Hans]

WQYA707 is also an Amateur Extra and likely not without some experience. Maybe, as is the case with my notifications from here, he doesn't receive emails from the board. I don't know if I've ever regularly received updates on threads I watch or any board notifications. If I forget to come back and look, I would never know someone posted a reply.

[DownYonder]

Looked it up on the internet:

 

BTECH GMRS-V1

GMRS MULTI-PURPOSE RADIO WITH SCANNING RECEIVER

 

GMRS-V1 HIGHLIGHTS

15 Modifiable GMRS Two-Way Channels (Channels 0-14) - Receive and Transmit

8 Modifiable GMRS Repeater Channels (Channels 15-22) - Receive and Transmit

105 Programmable Scanner Channels (Channels 23-127) - Receive Only

FM Radio

Flashlight

50 CTCSS Privacy Tones

346 DCS Digital Privacy Tones

NOAA Weather Radio Compatible

Tri-Color Adjustable Backlight

 

Seams like it is a little restricted as to programming chanels,  I wonder if you can change the  pl tones from the keyboard?

 

Don

[Hans]

From what I've read, the tones can be changed from the keyboard. It would be somewhat near useless if one couldn't.

[Dahwg]

It's cheap enough I have one coming. There seems to be some conflicting info about this radio all over the interwebz. I'll try it out and see what I can do to add to that noise.

 

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

[jwilkers]

Well, just buy them and use them. The FCC ID is on them.

 

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

[docjkl]

I have one of these radios. It's pretty awesome. 

[Dahwg]

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.  

[a0008550]

I got mine in late November and have used it occasionally.  No problems so far.  One thing I noticed is how quick the stock battery charges - 2.5 hrs. 8.2 volts.  I left it on (scanning) for several days before it needed recharging.  I put up a quick and very 'amateur' Youtube video up on Nov. 25.  I'll probably do another video later when I get a better cam.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y6Fa1Tu97I

[Dahwg]

I got mine in late November and have used it occasionally. No problems so far. One thing I noticed is how quick the stock battery charges - 2.5 hrs. 8.2 volts. I left it on (scanning) for several days before it needed recharging. I put up a quick and very 'amateur' Youtube video up on Nov. 25. I'll probably do another video later when I get a better cam.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y6Fa1Tu97I

That video actually helped me make the decision to purchase mine! Thanks for posting it. For the money, it's a hard little radio to beat.

 

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