Has anyone found a good ear piece for these?  The OEM was bad.

Buy a handmic and use your own earbud.  :)  The handmics have an earbud jack in the bottom.

Thanks for all this info in one thread!  I ordered an F8+ along with a programming cable and handmic for $40 shipped on amazon.  Using your guide I installed chirp and my cable's drivers and got my radio filled.

My only question is about the "band" button.  Some of the UV-5Rs have a band button, but my F8+ doesn't have it.  What does this button do exactly?  It looks like on the F8+ software I can change bands by just typing in a new frequency.

Older radios you had to press the band button to enter VHF or UHF, and enter the frequency manually (VFO).  If you had it in VHF and tried to enter 445.000, as you
pressed the last digit it would beep and not take the frequency.  Ditto trying to enter 146.52 while in UHF band.  Later radios did not do this, you entered whatever
frequency and it went to the correct band.

That's it.  If you don't have a band button then {Forrest Gump} Well, that's just one less thing to worry about. {/Forrest Gump}

Had the chance to pick up the BF-F8HP for cheap cheap cheap.  Seems nice so far.  I'm planning on taking it out and seeing if there is any noticeable difference from the standard UV-5R.  All else fails it preforms the same as the basic radio and I'm only out a few extra dollars for the "upgraded" model.  I also picked up 3 different antennas to test while I'm at it.  I'll report back.

I have several of the UV5Rs, great little units.

Have a question regarding the headset connector...  I'm not familiar enough with the terminology to even know what to search - but I'm looking for an extender for the headset cable.  Basically, I want to semi-permanently wire an extender from the saddlebag on my motorcycle to just forward of the seat (male end to connect to radio in the bag and female end at the seat).  The idea is that I can keep one of my radios in the bag plugged to the extender, and simply plug the headset into the female end at the seat.  That way I have ONLY the headset on my body when riding with the ability to unplug quickly and easily, and no trailing wires between me and the radio.  2-3 feet would be ideal.

Any ideas?  If not, I suppose I can rig something up, just hoping there's a factory built piece out there.

This

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Cable-Store-Stereo-Remote/dp/B000Z13844

plus this

http://www.amazon.com/Headphone-Extension-Cable-Stereo-3-5mm/dp/B001FYGNGK

Lol, and that's why I asked...  The simplest answer didn't even occur to me.

Thanks a BUNCH!

Very few headset options are going to do what you want to do reliably on a motorcycle.  It'll work well sitting at a stop light/sign but as soon as you start moving wind noise will overpower everything you are trying to say.  

Rugged Radios has the best wired solution out there but the harness costs 200 dollars alone.  

http://www.ruggedradios.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=763_764&products_id=1378

I run Amatuer radio on the bike and didn't wan to be wired on the bike so went the SENA SMH-10 and SENA SR-10 combo.  Pics below to show you.    I've talked on my UV-5R at speeds.........lets just say above the limit.  The folks on the repeater couldn't tell I was on a bike.  

I prefer the SENA option so I'm not wired to the bike but the costs come out to be about the same if not a bit more than just the wiring harness.  But I also use my headset and bluetooth hub to listen to music, gps directions, ect.  

This may sound like more than you want to spend and as much as I hate using the cliche "buy once cry once", it really does apply in this case.  Any kind of system you try to rig up with components that weren't designed for this purpose will leave you disappointed and who ever is on the receiving end of your radio cringing from the wind noise being blasted though their receivers.    

Below is a general picture overlook of the setup I'm currently running on the bike.  

UV-5R wired to the SR-10 (black rectangular unit below it) and you can see the coax coming from the top there and running down into the bike and back to the antenna mount




This was the antenna I was running at first.  1/4 wave Larsen on a MFJ 2-axis mount which was the only mount I could find that worked on my application (2004 V-Strom).  I tested this mount on about 20 miles of forest service dirt/gravel and sand roads and it held up that whole time with no indication of loosening.  


I then picked up a Comet SSB-5 which is about 38 inches long and since it is 1/2 wave isn't as ground plane dependant as the 1/4 wave antenna.  


The Baofeng has made a great motorcycle radio so far and if for some reason I destroy it I won't be crying over a more expensive hand held.  

But for the headset and mic you're going to want to spend some money for this application.  Those two options I posted above have been the only ones that myself and the group of dual sport/adv/dirt bike riders I ride with, that we have been able to make work reliably and with clear audio coming in and going out.

On a side note I rode to a hilltop north of Ramona, California to camp and mess with the radio and with a rollup J-Pole hung in a tree I was able to hit a repeater 93 miles away on "high power".  

Thanks for the detailed reply, and I appreciate all the info.  However, I'm not looking to necessarily communicate 2-way with this setup - it's just a way for me to monitor the channels when I'm in my response area but on the bike instead of in the Jeep.

I have a high end Motorola P25 digital handheld with the wireless comms modules, BUT that thing is a brick and I rarely carry it around unless I'm actually on duty.  The Baofeng is intended to be a less expensive "disposable" unit that will allow me to still monitor my units while riding and leave it in the saddlebags with some of my spare batteries - I can pull over and go 2-way if necessary.

THAT is a seriously impressive setup that you're running!

Gotcha that makes sense.  I was thinking you were trying to do 2-way coms on the move.  I just picked up a used Yaesu FT-90R  from an estate sale that should be here in the next week that I'm going to try to turn into a motorcycle mobile rig :)  Little more oomph.  10x the power of the HT on high.  

What hand-mic are most people using for this?  

I've seen on Amazon a Baofeng brand mic for 6-7 bucks.  Is there something more better than that?

SOMETHING TO ADD ABOUT HEADPHONE / MIC JACK

The jacks are rather delicate and many have had problems with them opening and not
having speaker sound or mic not working after unplugging.  

It is not practical nor cost effective to change the jacks.  A kit of 1 large, 1 small jack
may be purchased but they are designated for one of the Puxing radios.  Don't waste
the time as it is almost impossible to remove the bad jacks without damaging surface
mount components around those jacks.  In that case, just toss the radio and buy
another.  Your time is more valuable than fooling with this.  Just like discarding a
Bic pen when it runs out of ink.

Knowing what I know now, I avoid external speaker-mics.  It's just a cheap radio that  
actually works quite well as a handi-talkie.  If you need a tactical radio for your SWAT
team buy something else.

I've had good luck with them.  Before the volume control failed on my radio (it's either off or full volume) and got relegated to motorcycle use it lived on the side of my backpack with the handmic attached to a shoulder strap.  

But what was said above when something fails on the radio just toss it.  I bought two when I ordered my first one and left the second one in the box (minus the battery which got carried as a spare) on the shelf then broke it out when my first UV-5R (which was well used and abused) volume control failed.

I like the ones with a 3.5mm Listen Only port for an earpiece or electronic hearing protection. For sub $10 I'm thrilled. I've had no issues even with the "Bad Ones" below, but if I buy more it'll be the ones PD0AC prefers.

Well-Informed Comparison of Several Designs

A buddy and I use our Baofengs in our vehicles when convoying up to his property in upstate PA. We both have the external speaker-mics and a Tram mag mount antenna. The speaker-mic is ideal for this use.





 

Bought a couple of the UV-5R radios and was having issues with chirp, not related to the cable.  I was getting an error like this on both radios on windows and osx.  

Another question . . .

This time about charging the battery.

I've got a Brunton 26 watt solar panel.  

I noticed last night the Brunton has a charging plug that matches the stock Baofeng charging cradle.  

Can I plug the panel directly into the charging cradle to charge the battery?  Would the charging cradle prevent overcharging the battery by itself?

You need to know what the output is on that port first.  I'd have to look at my baofeng's charging base but ifyou look on the bottom it tells you what the input voltage should be and then tells you what the base converts it to for the battery.  The output on the port of your solar panel would need to match up with that info.

Some of the bases are 12 v, some 10 v.  Either way, they put out 8.4 v to the radio's battery.  Match up as closely as possible.  If your panel puts out, say,
16 v, you might want to use a 7812 or 7810 regulator on a small heat sink to bring that down to match the charging base.

Thanks to those that put the effort into showing the screen shots on programming with CHIRP and reloading the faulty driver.  
 

SO50 has a pass prediction for about 1830 +/-MST tonight am gonna give it a shot.

Just got my pair in today. Damn - these things are tiny!

Programming cable shipping separate, so I can't get to work yet on loading it.

Both chargers rapidly blink red/green red/green. Radios came with a charge, but when put on the charger, same rapid blinking. If it needs a charge, shouldn't stay red and vice versa if its fully charged?

ETA: Well - it seems to work correctly if I charge the battery separately, so it must be an alignment issue.

Yes, should be red until charged, then turn green.

I think you are near the top of the charge.  Let it just sit in the charging  base.

I don't check this thread every day, and some may post questions I can answer (or maybe not).  I keep my IM available so
if you don't get an answer to your UV-5R questions shoot me an IM and I'll check the thread.  No need to restate the
question in an IM.  I'd rather do it here so that all of us can learn, too.  Or someone else may have an answer for you.

Also, I know the guys that helped develop the software, and other info on the UV-5R, so can ask them if I don't know.

Interesting

I'm having issues with setting up a repeater.  I set the frequency with a repeater in VFO mode with an offset.  When I save it to a channel (making sure to do it twice) then switch to channel mode the offset is back to 0.  Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

Bumpity

Follow the directions exactly from my post on Page 1 of this thread dated 3/16/2013 9:34:09 PM CDT.

Look at the frequency, press the PTT, does it shift?  Or is it the same as the receive freq.

Also look at my post page 1, 3/14/2013 10:13:31 PM CDT, for description of all menu items.

Just picked one of these up as i am studying for the tech exam thanks for a excellent thread with good info
-sigadvantage-

Good info

Bump to keep out of archive.

I guess my biggest complaint is that the numbers and letters on the buttons is just too small for us older farts!
Other than that I have had a good time using mine.

I've had no complaints about mine and I'll have had it three years on 3/16. I knew it was hard to program without a cable and computer before I bought it so I don't count that, I bought a few dollar cable at the same time I bought the radio and DLed Chirp which was free. After I had it for a little while I bought a supposedly better antenna but I don't know if made any difference. The antenna was < $10 so I figured why not. The extra battery I got at the same time I got the radio was also dirt cheap but the battery lasts so long I've never needed to swap batteries.

I wouldn't have did any better for my use if I had bought a radio costing several times as much.

I have the same feelings on the UV-5R I've had for a month, the $7 antenna upgrade has made a noticeable difference.

So I'm coming across a lot of battery cases for my radio with mixed reviews.  Any specific AA or AAA case you'd recommend?  Also is it worth it to go up to the 15.6" antenna from the 11"?

I'm hoping to get studying for my tech test here soon

the 15in Nagoya I have has improved my range, with the rubber duck I could pick up a repeater 30mi away but it couldn't pick me up. New antenna fixed that.

I cheap rolled up J-pole helps too.

I'll add the antenna to my buy list.  Just need to figure out a battery case for going camping, etc.  Easier to stock AA batteries anyhow.

Recently bought 4 UV-82's, have had no problems with any of them . work just as good as my name brand HT's.

Late reply. You may need to delete that channel first if it was programmed previously.

I bought a 1.25m UV-82 and my only complaint is the battery does not last as long as the UV-5R.
Tried the AAA battery case and it does not last very long either.

Extra Batteries are Cheap! ;)  Even for the 82.  I have basically one extra battery for each radio I have on hand.  

+1 on the roll up antenna comment.  A roll up J-pole is a great addition.  I've made 98 mile simplex contacts on one.  Then again I've made 98 mile simplex contacts using the 16 inch whip.  It's all about the line of sight.  And the Roll up antennas allow you to get 10 or more feet verticale which is a huge help.

I've used mine with an Ed Fong on a pole outside my shop and my 8' base station antenna on a 20' pole. Both make a BIG difference.

I'll second that.

I was hitting repeaters 50mi away on a Diamond CP22e on a 15ft pole.

I just went and re-read the whole thread and didn't see digital modes on the Baofengs discussed. I'm aware that it's preferred to use an all-mode rig for VHF/UHF digital, but sometimes an FM rig is all you have.

I've used a UV-5R with FLDIGI.


You can get it up and running with a 2.5mm to 3.5mm aux cable and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm  to the computer. It's less than ideal, and an external sound card didn't eliminate the ground hum, so you will want to forego using VOX and just hold the PTT down when you're ready to transmit.

A USB Signalink would be superior, but you CAN use the UV-5R for NBEMS and CW with FLDIGI for about $6.00.

Thanks, this is for a friend. I have an FT-817 that I can use for 2M or 70cm digital modes. He's going to get a KF5INZ Easy Digi interface to use with FLDIGI since by all accounts the programming cable won't work.

I just ordered a Baofeng GT-3TP Mark III.

This is essentially a "fancier" UV5R that has the same buttons and controls, but comes with a nicer antenna, a more aesthetically pleasing case, a car charger cable in addition to the 110V charging cable, and "tri power" settings for 1, 4, and 8 Watts. I figured the 8 Watts would be useful for working APRS satellites, though I did work the ISS with a 4 watt Baofeng UV5R V2+.


Other than that, it is supposed to have all the firmware bugs from earlier Baofengs worked out. So you can turn off the key beep without muting the receiver, and the DTMF side tones and broadcast tones all match up and are assigned to the correct keys.


Also, they have added a function to display the battery voltage by pressing the 0 key.


Also, some newer Baofeng models have a functioning S meter that actually fluctuates with received signal strength. I am not sure if this model has that feature, but it should have one of the most recent firmware versions, so I am optimistic.


The only downsides to this particular model are a slightly higher price versus the UV5R variants, and the fact that it requires a different battery form factor. AA battery cases are not yet available, nor is a cigarette lighter battery eliminator. (But the included car charger cable makes that less of an issue.)


The actual "guts" of the radio appear to be the same as the Baofeng BF-F9 tri power (1,4,8 watt) radios that share the same form factor as the UV5R. Some of these are priced lower than the GT-3TP I ordered, and work with UV5R battery accessories, so they might be a better choice if aesthetics aren't important to you.


CHIRP will work with this radio as a BF-F8HP.


I am surprised this line of radios isn't as popular as the UV5R because the antenna is nicer, and it looks a lot less "clunky".


Anyone else have a GT-3 variant? How do you like it?