I have read speculations that the UV-5R (and similar handhelds) will not be available after this year.  Apparently the FCC has mandated the discontinuation of sales of these types of transceivers to the general public since they include transmitters that operate on the amateur frequencies.  Has anyone else seen info on this??

Ham radios are sold to the general public with no need for a license. So that point is moot.

Commercial radios are sold to the general public and can transmit all over the place including ham bands so don't see that being a problem for Chinese radios.

The issue was that they could, without modification transmit outside the US band plan for 2mtr and 440mhz a couple years ago.
That has been corrected for sales in the US.

https://survivalblog.com/baofeng-sales-ban-countdown-continues/

The Baofeng Sales Ban Countdown Continues
JAMES WESLEY RAWLES   JUNE 20, 2019

Here is a reminder on an upcoming rule change by the FCC:  On September 30, 2019, it will become illegal to sell or “offer for sale” (advertise) radios like the popular Baofeng UV-5R that can operate in the FRS radio band (462.5625 – 462.7250 MHz) and any other licensed band in a single device. Manufacturers will have to either quit selling them or block out the FRS bands–like they already do for the current cellular bands. This is the relevant verbiage:

§?95.591 Sales of FRS combination radios prohibited.
Effective September 30, 2019, no person shall sell or offer for sale hand-held portable radio equipment capable of operating under this subpart (FRS) and under any other licensed or licensed-by-rule radio services in this chapter (devices may be authorized under this subpart with part 15 unlicensed equipment authorizations).

[continues....]

Sweet, does that then make the Pre Ban radios worth more lol

I only got one, I need to stock up

Can't wait for the ham patrol to go around ham shows busting people selling them.

I wonder if this will affect the business, professional, and public safety segments of the market?

Will Motorola have to do a firmware change on, for example, the APX line so as to block out the FRS frequencies if you don't have a suitable entitlement key?

Don't be silly. This is just about poor people.

Wouxun KGUV-1P and 2D radios were limited to ham bands, a simple software solution to open them up.  So, technically, out of the box, it fits the new rule.

This only applies to Part 95 serices (FRS, GMRS, MURS and CB). The verbage would have to be in Part 2 (the type certification sections) to apply to all services in the US. Does not apply to devices sold for use under Part 97 (amateur radio) or Part 90 (Land Mobile Radio).

Won't affect Part 90 radios at all and it basically means FRS radios can only be FRS radios. It also means that FRS/GMRS combos will no longer be allowed. The radios will either have to be FRS or GMRS (with the interstitial channels).

Since you are obviously far more versed in radio regulations and operation than I and probably the OP, what are we missing?

The UV-5, UV-82, BF-F8, etc are the most popular Baofeng radios sold (and the one that OP asked about), and all can operate in the FRS frequencies as well as other frequencies.

The reg says that if it can operate in FRS and anything else it is banned from sale. The UV-5 series operates in FRS and other frequencies, thus offering them for sale will be banned. It seems clear. Are you saying that is incorrect?

He’s saying that this won’t affect Professional/Land Mobile radios that can operate (potentially) in the FRS portion of the spectrum.

Which was not what OP asked about.  Or is it? The answer is unclear to me. Because he (zapzap) could have just said ‘Yes, it applies to the UV-5 series, and they won’t be for sale afterwards’, or ‘that article is full of shit; don’t worry’. From the OPs question I am going to guess OP is not familiar with Part 90 XYZ Article 4.65q Subsection pdq.

Q: Are bananas yellow?

A: Tires are round.

See how that works?

I'm the OP and you are correct.  Unfortunately I am not well versed in the nomenclature on FCC rules regarding these frequencies in question.  I can understand my original question concerning these radios covering ham bands was a poor question, and had no bearing on their not being available in the future.

I've also done some additional research since the OP and it's more confusing than ever.  I keep getting statements about
FCC rulings but cannot get a "yes" or "no" answer about the UV-5R and similar transceivers.   I'm not interested in certifications, intent of use, purpose of purchase...............just want the simple answer.  thanks.

This is, at least according to the IntardWebz, the second run at getting rid of the UV-5 series in about a year. My uneducated guess is that this time they rewrote the regs to sink the UV-5 series radios, and will actually do so.

The real problem for Baofeng and their US distributors and sellers is that it seems written to include their newer and nominally better radios like the BF-F8 and UV-82 radios. The UV-5 is just the best known (abused?) but if the new reg stops the sale of essentially all the inexpensive Baofeng handhelds, that puts a crimp in doomsday/zombie/Antifa/anti-Antifa/SG-1 comms prep. All of us mouth breathers might have to learn how to mis-use real radios instead of our $25 Baofengs.

And on that note, off to Amazon.

I've probably got enough Baofeng radios of various models to last me till I die at this point.  I'm curious as to what BTECH is going to do with all this going on.  I'm pretty sure all of the radios they've released since that ruling came out comply with a software lockout.  I mean really pretty much any radio from the big three can be "Opened" up by clipping a resistor out of the circuit board.  I've got a FT90R that has had that mod done to it.

The primary issue with Baofeng was that they were being marketed for services which they were not approved for. That's what started all the reform around the Chinese Import radios. For example, within the last two days, I've spotted many families walking around communicating with one another using UV-5Rs (I'm on a Caribbean Cruise right now). I asked one of the families where they got their radios from..."Oh, we just searched Walkie Talkie on Amazon and these were considered higher power than anything else."