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Link to purchase this radio is located at the bottom of the post.
My first VHF/UHF handheld was the old 5-watt UV5R. It was the entry radio for technician-class operators at the time. Either you blew hundreds or possibly thousands on a name-brand radio, or you spent $35 on a tiny, 5-watt HT. Documentation was incredibly light at the time, programming one required a little internet time, and they didn't go out very far. To hit your local repeater, you'd need a 15" whip antenna from another supplier and have to hunt around for that perfect "spot" to transmit from. Fortunately, this is not the case anymore.
Technology has gotten better and prices have come down dramatically in the handheld transceiver market. As well, transmit power has gone up. Where 5 watts of output used to be the norm, 10 watts is the new minimum and surprisingly these units cost less today than their 5-watt counterparts did just half a decade ago.
The Baofeng 5RM is a serious improvement to the old UV5R. It is tri-band (VHF / UHF / 1.25 meters) and has a color screen which is a great improvement over the old LCD screens the UV5Rs came with. Add the 10 watts of power and a price even more affordable than its predecessor, it's easy to see why the 5RM is the new entry radio of choice for many hams. When these first hit the market a couple years ago I immediately replaced my UV5R and have been using this radio ever since.
With the old UV5R there were only a couple places in the backyard where I could hit the repeater, and my signal was weak to medium at best. Checking into a net without getting stepped on by a higher-power station was difficult to say the least. But with the 5RM unit, it's the complete opposite. I no longer have to hunt for places to broadcast, and there's only a couple of places in the backyard where I cannot transmit from. As well my signal reports come in loud and clear with full quieting. And my repeater is 45 miles away!
These newer units come with programming cables and antennas you used to have to purchase separately. As well they're now shipped with extra antennas besides the improved rubber ducky, which used to be the antenna you threw away. The whip antennas Baofeng ships with their radios are comparable to name-brand whip antennas you would normally pay extra for. The stock rubber ducky has been improved, and is actually quite usable. And I was seriously impressed with the "nub" mini-antennas. They perform almost as well as the improved rubber duckies buy they're only about 1.5" long. The bar on entry level HT's (and the equipment they ship with) has definitely been raised.
Add in the preset NOAA weather stations and the ability to recieve AM aircraft bands... It really is a steal of a deal in my honest opinion. And the ability to charge in a cradle OR charge the battery via USB-C cable is a serious improvement!
After two years I can say the 5RM is rugged enough to handle regular field use. Mine is still going after two years and the only thing I haven't done to it is drop it in a lake. I'm seriously impressed with its ability to handle abuse. Almost as impressed as I am with its transmit and receive capabilities.
The only drawback I can say about this radio is the menu screen colors, which are red on blue. It is difficult to see the menu options in sunlight. If you program via CHIRP it's not an issue, but if you're programming through the faceplate you'll want to do it indoors as you won't be able to see the menu items in sunlight. Regular frequency and channel navigation is white on blue, so there's no issue there.
QUICK SETUP:
The software on these has changed a little from the UV5R predecessor, but the functionality is still basically the same. Without using CHIRP, you still need to delete a channel to save a channel (more on that later). But for the new person, programming through the faceplate is pretty straightforward. When turning the unit on (top knob for power & volume control), you'll notice a top and bottom frequency. Pushing the blue "A/B" button (pictured above) will change the active frequency from top to bottom and back again. If you're unsure of which frequency is the active one, just look for the red "MAIN" icon on the top right of the frequency. It this image, the top frequency is active.
Next step is switching modes. The orange "VFO/MR" button shown will switch the active frequency from Variable Frequency Mode (type in any frequency you like) to Channel Mode (channels you have pre-programmed) and back again. In this image, the active (Main) frequency is in Channel Mode, and it is set to Channel 001 (just to the right of the frequency, which in this image is 145.310).
If you're ever unsure of what mode you might be in, just look to the right of the active frequency. It'll either display a channel (ie: 001) or will say "VFO".
To program through the faceplate, I'm going to delete my Channel 001 (145.310 and the associated repeater information) and re-program it.
Hitting the "Menu" button (green button shown, above the "1" key) will take you to the main menu.
First up is menu 00 SQL (squelch), and I've found it's best with Baofengs to go ahead and set it to 1. Just push "Menu" again to edit, use the arrow keys above "2" and "3" and navigate to 1, push "Menu" again to confirm, and viola! Squelch has been set to 1.
Now to delete Channel 001, we'll need to navigate to menu item 31. You can do this by using the arrow keys, or simply typing in "31" in the menu to display "DELCH" as shown below.
Once on DELCH, push the green Menu button and navigate to CH-001. Press the green Menu button again to delete. Upon success, your DELCH menu item should look like this:
If you see "001" instead of "CH-001", congratulations! You just deleted channel 001 and can now save a repeater and its associated information to that channel slot!
Now hit the red "Exit" button to return to exit the menu and return the radio to normal use.
From here, and especially now that we've covered the menu buttons, saving a repeater and its associated information is pretty straighforward:
1. Place the MAIN frequency into VFO mode (use the VFO/MR button)
2. Type in your desired repeater frequency.
3. In the menu, set your repeater's P/L Tone (menu #12, T-CTCSS)
4. Set your repeater offset direction (positive or negative, menu #28)
5. Set your offset frequency amount (Menu #29 - usually 0.6 MHz for VHF or 5 MHz for UHF)
6. Save it! Menu #30, select 001 and push the "Menu" key again to save!
After the radio announces "Received In Memory", you can make either top or bottom frequency active, switch to channel mode, navigate to Channel 001 and there it is -- all of your repeater information saved into Channel 001.
And that is about all there is for programming through the faceplate. If you'd like to use alphanumerics to "name" your channels to display text instead of frequency, you'll need to use CHIRP.
As for the new bonus features, here they are:
1. To listen to regular FM radio, just press the orange button above the PTT key on the left side of the radio.
2. For NOAA weather stations, hold down the zero (0) key on the faceplate. Used the arrow keys to navigate to one of the 10 channels that comes in clearly.
3. To listen to AM aircraft bands, search the internet or use https://www.airnav.com/airports/ and simply type in the desired frequency.
LINKS:
I am enrolled as an Amazon Associate so I will make a small commission on qualified purchases via these links (at no extra charge to the purchaser). That being said, you are not obligated to purchase from my links to use the information I've given in this blog. 73 de KI5ONA and enjoy the hobby!
Baofeng 5RM four-pack:
Baofeng 5RM two-pack:
Baofeng 5RM single-pack:
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