BF-F8HP (8W), High Power + (3rd Gen)

Suer cool device for a great value. Has good range and many frequencies to use. Comes in clear and is easy to program if need be.

It was easy to load all of my local ham repeater channels using Chirp and RepeaterBook.com. The radio is of fine quality and is a great value.

This is an initial report. I've only been running it for one evening. 1. New antenna is a vast improvement. Clean and clear from a local repeater that I usually have to hold my tongue just right to here. My reflexive purchase of an NA-701 antenna made need rethinking. 2. This radio does have a newer firmware than the BF-F9+ radio you see being sold. 3. Bigger battery makes this radio a little thicker than previous versions. 4. 8 watts will keep your hand warm on a cold winter's night. 5. Case seems more durable, less creaky. One of the two radios I ordered had a dead audio out section. Never heard a single beep from it. Tried all the usual reset methods. No audio from the face speaker or three different hand mikes. No joy in whosville. That dead radio is the first real problem I've had with any of the UV-5 series radios. Amazon makes returning it so easy that I ordered up a replacement last night. More to follow later. *Update 4/17/2015* New radio showed up in record time. I've been using both radios daily now for several weeks. Receive is still a problem with these radios, like the original UV-5R. Noisy RF environments will cause the receiver to go deaf long before it should. The antenna is pretty good but not as good as a NA-771. A better antenna will only make the receive problem worse but it makes your transmit much better. Battery life is very good, I can leave the radio on for a couple of days with occasional transmit. Heavy use on high power will drain the battery in 8-12 hours. I really like these radios to give to the kids when we are hiking in the mountains. The receive problems disappear when you get away from strong RF sources. No problems hitting repeaters as long as they are line of sight. 80 miles using an external antenna is perfectly reasonable.

Being part of the HAM community is fun. It is a practical skill as well. These things will work when other forms of communication won't work. It is nice to have and the science behind it is very intriguing to me. I'm 26 and I just got my license last month. Had I known ham radios were so affordable I would have started much sooner. Had I known you can even become a licensed ham technician as a kid I would have done it years ago. I was often too intimidated to try, but it isn't too hard of a process if you do a little studying and have a little money. I bought this radio and I am amazed at the quality for the price. Crappy walkie talkies from Costco cost about the same, but with ham radios you can do so many things walkies can't. You can tune into thousands of frequencies. Receive local FM radio, and transmit much further than any walkie. Especially if you use a repeater. I want my family to all get licensed for HAM radio so that in case of an earthquake or other natural disaster we can check in with each other since phone lines and cell phones will likely be down. I was in the 2010 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Concepcion, Chile. Cell phones were down for a couple days, power was out even longer, and there was no running water for a couple weeks. Thankfully there is a big Coca Cola factory there you could buy soda most anywhere there, so we lived off of soda during that time. We just couldn't shower for a couple weeks :( Anyways back to the communication aspect of the earthquake. Right after the earthquake the first thing you think about is if everyone you know is okay. All my family was in the US at the time, so they obviously weren't affected, but I had many friends there and we had no way to find out if they were okay. The only way we could find out is by walking miles to where they lived. What could make things worse is if they are doing the same thing trying to find you and you can't find them. Not having communication after a disaster like that makes things very stressful. My family now lives within a 10 mile radius of each other, so under most conditions we are within range of each other via ham radio. If a disaster happens where I live I want to be able to check in with all my family to make sure they are all right. That way I can have peace of mind and don't have to walk or drive to them assuming roads are usable. After knowing my family is safe I will be able to help my neighbors if needed. This is just one idea of why you should have one of these. I could name many more from hiking to zombies, but you get the idea. I'm not sure if every state does this, but Utah has a designated repeater frequency to forward you directly to 911. So you can make 911 calls from wherever you are with a HAM if cellphone service is not available. At least that is what I read online. I haven't tested it so I don't know for sure, but you can't really do a test 911 call. :( The Utah frequency is 448.350 for the 911 forwarding repeater. I think it is linked to multiple receivers throughout the state as well, so you don't have to be in the Salt Lake City to do it. I recommend a couple accessories for this radio. Get the 15.6" whip antenna for $17. It will improve your receiving and transmitting ability. It fits this radio perfectly. Also get the BaoFeng USB adapter cable for $5. Then download the "CHIRP" software online for free. This allows you to use a computer to program all the channels and repeaters you want without doing the long manual process on the radio itself. It saves a lot of time, plus you can save all the settings you make onto a file, so if you break your radio you can restore the same settings onto a new one with one click. Or you can also clone settings from one radio to another. The one downside to this radio is that it isn't waterproof. You can't expect it to be for the price, but when I think of HAM radio I think of being in the backcountry where other forms of communication aren't available. This is good for practice and it is nice to have for emergencies. In fact at this price I am considering keeping a spare in both of my cars. If I were a hunter or frequent hiker or camper I would probably get the Yaesu Quad Band handheld radio since it is fully waterproof submersible and can communicate on many more frequencies that this one can't do. It's probably a lot more rugged too. Of course you would need a General License to legally utilize the other bands. That one goes for about $350 on Amazon, but i'll probably buy that one in the future as my all-purpose ham.

There is virtually nothing that this radio cannot do, in terms of useful communication. It is well made and the handbook needs to be studied well before use. Accessories are easily available online and the range of the radios is very good. The frequency range is extensive and will hold the required frequency accurately. Given that the price makes the radio excellent value for money, I can recommend this unit. Note, however that it is not waterproof.

Producto de acuerdo a lo publicado.

Brilliant customer service, and a fantastic radio, can't wait to use the radio and see whats possible with it. :)

Practico, anteriormente tenía un UV-5R, por lo que no me fue difícil programarlo. Lo utilizare cuando salga de senderismo, en moto o en bici a lugares donde no hay celular. No pesa ni es estorboso.

Al principio dudaba por la marca pero son realmente increíbles, nos dió un alcance en montaña superior a los 7km. Realmente buenos