Subj : Chinese radios
To   : All
From : Zero Reader
Date : Thu Mar 03 2016 09:42:00

So who has a Chinese handheld? C'mon, admit it... it's the radio choice of
militia groups and public servants alike. $35 or so on Amazon. It's a decent
rig for the money.

Me? I sold my Baofeng for $20 to some dude at a ham radio swap meet because
it would suddenly stop receiving. You can't have stuff breaking down like
that in a crisis. Seems like a common problem with these radios, but then
again, for $35, you can just toss it and buy a new one, or buy about 3-4 and
keep a few for backups.

When it comes to programming these things, you CAN do it through the built-in
menus, but why would you want to? Use Chirp and a USB cable.

If you want a radio for a crisis, get something like the Yaesu FT-817 or 897
field radio, so you can get on the HF bands. With low power and a wire
antenna you can talk all over the US. A handheld, like the Baofengs, are only
useful for repeater contacts (lets assume the repeaters are down), and
simplex communication, and that's only good for a few miles at best, unless
you are atop a mountain or other high point.

tl;dr - Chinese handhelds are fine in some situations, but HF radios will
actually get something done in a crisis.

;-)

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