Being severe weather season, and being a previous spotter for the Natl Weather Svc, I got the itch to listen in on local spotters. Picked up a Baofeng UV-5RM Plus based on decent reviews and an even decent-er price ($29). Knew full well there would be compromises and general lack of quality based on the price, but didn't care since I'm just using it as a glorified scanner.
Couple of things...
First, it's actually a little better feeling than I expected quality-wise. Bare bones, but not bad. Especially for thirty bucks.
Second, it's a programming nightmare. I'm reasonably well versed in programming amateur radios, both handheld and mobile mount. This thing is just nuts. The fixed programming steps have zero similarity to anything I've worked with. Instructions are okay, but frustratingly incomplete when it comes to how functions interact with each other. It took three hours messing with settings, clearing and reentering data, watching YouTube tutorials, and searching the web to get a couple of stations programmed.
Third, lack of buttons, and lack of labeling on what few buttons it does have. The interface is bare-bones. I'm used to radios with a gaggle of LABELED buttons which are reasonably intuitive for someone with even basic amateur tranceiver experience. This thing? Without the instruction book, you're sunk.
I won't even bother bringing it to work any more. Tried it today and confirmed our building is effectively a giant faraday cage. I can barely receive FM signals from the 35,000w University radio station who's tower is less than a quarter mile away and direct line of sight out my window. No way in hell it's going to pick up a 200w repeater from across town. If I step outside I can key up the repeater. Inside? Nothing. RX won't even break the squelch.
I may take a look at Chirp for programming. I has its idiosyncrasies, but can't be anywhere near bad as trying to program from the radio keypad.
Brad
