Would this be a good first radio?
Is There a way to confirm that this particular radio has the latest firmware installed?
From reading a review on Amazon I’m learning this can be a real concern and hinderance to the best performance if it does not come equipped with the latest update as there is no way to update it as the end user.
Hams love to talk bad about these cheap baofeng radios, but the fact is most of them own a couple. They are cheap and fairly easy to program using Chirp. So yes, a great starter radio. Just understand that you’ll probably end up buying much more expensive HTs down the raod if you get into the hobby.
Can you listen to police and fire dept on it?
It includes frequencies between 400-519.975MHz. Just have to find out which frequency they’re using
Maybe, if your local agencies still use analog radios. Most have changed to digital, and if so you only hear stuff that is similar to old 56k modem sounds.
Sorry for the late response. From the vendor:
The radio is with the latest firmware. We provide a one-year Baofeng manufacturer warranty, and if they are not getting the newest version they can contact us.
The police in most places that aren’t really small tend to have their own, rather pricy digital trunking systems, so quite possibly not.
That said, county EMS/emergency dispatch generally has radio you can listen to, and some police use this, particularly to coordinate with other first responders.
Is it possible to find out how much these went for? I loaded up the baofeng page and must have nodded off shortly thereafter because it the price was solid I likely would have picked up one of these to be a slight step up from my UV-5R (which I think i got for 40 bucks with a second battery, quick charge cradle, data cable, headset/mic, clipped hand mic (like a CB and many first responders have used for decades), car charger, second (whip) antenna and a couple of other things. One of the best tech deals I’ve seen. It still sells for pretty close to that.
My just purchased UV-5RX3 has no menu 33 scan 0n/0ff per channel. Menu 33 is Band U/V. Per chirp firmware is HN5RV01 or button 3 plus on shows 3B5RV01. Why no menu 33 as listed in unit manual.
Thanks
Hi there. Thank you for the post. Per the vendor:
About the Menu 33——yes, it should be “BAND U/V”. There was a mistake in the manual. We fixed it and now are replacing it with the new manual.
Here’s the link to newest manual: