Baofeng legal use

[M3ZZN]

well my uv5r audio is loud and clear on all modes and with external is slightly better but standard is louder nothing wrong with the radios

[GeeFull]

It only has one TX "mode" surely, FM wide or narrow, do you mean all bands, well both of them?
This does not surprise me, its down to bulk quality control, I happen to have two quiet ones, a UV-5R and a UV-5RC, you happen to have one good one, 2 to 1, thats pretty poor quality control, and obviously a problem that wasn't derivitive specific!
And I am not alone, there is at least two others I hear regularly, that use the local 2 meter repeater with them, who are forever being told to "speak louder", despite being RF fully quieting into the box!
You know its a fairly widespread issue with many, when various worldwide sources of online "mods" appear, (one very good one from a K4 American Ham), to increase the TX deviation/audio, which as it happens, isn't as simple as a pot twiddle in these!
If it wasn't for the fact the external Kenwood mic's make them acceptable, I would have taken the effort to mod my two, and possibly source some decent bleeding sockets while I was at it!
But they are cheap, cheerful, and for the use they get better than taking some more expensive models out on site!

[kr0ne]

I have a quiet one too - that alpha tagging does not work on! Go figure...

It lives in the car with an external speaker mic and if it ever got nicked, I would be far more annoyed about the broken window.

[GeeFull]

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For real amateur use, I still use these! (I have a couple of them now)
True dual band, dual watch, cross band repeat if needed, DTMF keyboard, CTCSS, PAGE CODE, SELLCALL, power save, all other normal repeater offsets/steps etc., and a real indicating bargraph "S" meter on each band!
Has a proper RF connector, IE BNC, (hidden behind the first set of dual concentric knobs), doesn't overload with a decent external antenna plugged in, so great for mobile or in the shack, is very sensitive on RX, choice of external mic on VHF, or UHF, or both!
Will "clone" "ON AIR" from one radio to the other, or via solid linked cable!
Seperate volume and proper squelch, (not some preset stepped levels) on each band.
Doesn't do Alpha tags however, so todays modern repeater people might hate it! (We always remembered frequencies, and listened for callsign CW idents!)
For a radio made in the early eighties very much ahead of its time!
Other bonuses, the battery pack is exactly the same type/fit as Midland CB/Tandy CB handhelds, so aquired a couple of 12 volt rechargeable jobbies, and spare empty cases, its excellent on TX audio, and RX audio, direct keyboard access to absolutely EVERYTHING, no need for a PC and software, full 5 Watts or 1 Watt on both bands, and cost me £5 sold as faulty/dead at a rally!
Widebandable, if you desire, and receives up to 950 Mhz, have listened to the old analogue phones on my original one, more than once in the distant past! (Although buying that new it did cost me a tad more than £5!)
(They do turn up now really cheap, and often its just the caps problem with them, if you are up to dabbling.
They were £385 new, back in the 80's, but boy do you see the quality in them compared to many of todays offerings!)
This latest cheap pickup had the usual multiple failed electrolytics that these later became synonamous with, (I had already done my own original one for the same reasons), another £5 worth of new electrolytic bits, and it will see me out!
Oh and a change of memory battery.
Built like a tank, doesn't even get warm!
And such a pleasure to use, not a CHIRP in sight!

[Road_Hog]

[attachment=0]Other bonuses, the battery pack is exactly the same type/fit as Midland CB/Tandy CB handhelds, so aquired a couple of 12 volt rechargeable jobbies, and spare empty cases,

I did think as soon as I saw it, aye, aye, that looks a handheld CB, is it 40ch or 80ch.

When's Gareth Anus Evans around when you need him. He'd be saying, it's not a proper radio, only one that a brain dead CBer would use, masquerading as an M3 amateur. If you can't do 12wpm on it, then it's not a proper radio.

[GeeFull]

I think you will find the "styling" was original when it was manufactured, then quite some time later styling was copied by the CB handheld companies, like Tandy/Midland.
I have often wondered if the CB radio builders obtained old injection moulding dies, as the battery packs on those later 27 Mhz stuff is absolutely identical to the Standard much earlier original styling, or maybe whoever moulded them for standard, knocked out cases for "others" later?
I don't think the Tandy/Midland similar looking items were even a "wish list" back then!
People were still using HyGain and other 40/80 channel AM/FM "bricks" with giant telescopic whips as I remember!
If you look at its quality "guts" you soon see the physical similarities end exactly there!
I could manage 12 WPM on it as an audio tone on FM, if you don't mind either a 1750 Hz tone, or any choice of DTMF key!

[108EH002]

No matter what the equipment costs, chumps will always get their hand on them and cause issues. Ideally there should be a law restricting the sale of transceivers to anyone not licenced but then with Amazon and eBay, this would be hard to police.

Add into the equation Gumtree,radio forum for sale section's,U.K. channel 19,and local friend's who have amateur radio equipment for sale and it is pretty much unstoppable in my opinion,and you would have to have photographic I.D,as I have never been asked if I have a licence to use the equipment I have purchased in an amateur radio supplier

[kr0ne]

For me at least, concerns about the unprecedented availability of effectively free radio gear isn't so much about the ham bands but more about business users...

I don't think I have actually heard anyone local to me causing a nuisance on 2m / 70cm but the PMR bands are another story, especially when there are big events on. The sad fact is that the more numpties there are with radios that can interfere with these users, the quicker they switch to digital.

[108EH002]

For me at least, concerns about the unprecedented availability of effectively free radio gear isn't so much about the ham bands but more about business users...

I don't think I have actually heard anyone local to me causing a nuisance on 2m / 70cm but the PMR bands are another story, especially when there are big events on. The sad fact is that the more numpties there are with radios that can interfere with these users, the quicker they switch to digital.

I have never heard any one local cause any hassle on 2M either,apart from a wee net on each night it is very underused as far as I have heard anyway.As for all the other stuff you have mentioned kr0ne,I don't listen in to anything else so wouldn't know any different tbh.

[Farty]

The CE on a Baofeng means nothing without the manufacturer backing it up with documentation which in this case they don't.

Baofengs are not CE approved, despite a bit of screenprinting on the back.

We, my UV-5R came with a certificate in the box. Some might call that a document.

And CE isn't a measure of approval. It's a standard of conformance.

[M6UCW]

As at late August, the UV-3R and UV-5R has various certification including CE approval from a German standards company.
I looked up the German company (EMCCert DR. RAŠEK GmbH) and e-mail them and asked them to confirm that the certificates were genuine.
They did respond back and confirmed the certificate numbers and that these items conformed to the required standards.
This is mentioned on another thread.

[Mattylad]

The manufacturer does not need to provide certification with the product when they sell CE conforming equipment, it just needs to be marked as conforming to the approval.
The documentation gets to stay at the head office until the authorities want a copy.

As we all realise that these radios only have the fake "China Export" marking rather than "Conformité Européenne" one that they should have to be sold here.
But do we really care what it pretends to conform to?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking ... CE_marking

[M6UCW]

The certificates on the Baofeng website can be found here - http://www.baofengradio.com/en/about.as ... Enterprise Honor
I have looked up the certification body (http://www.emcc.de/), emailed them and had confirmation that the UV-3R and UV-5R certificates are correct according to their records.
The CE marking on the Baofeng has a number 0678 next to it which is on the certificates refers back to the certification body.
I notice that the BF888 has a FC and CE marking but no RoHS marking so there must be some models with different levels of certification.

[GeeFull]

The certificates on the Baofeng website can be found here - http://www.baofengradio.com/en/about.as ... Enterprise Honor
I have looked up the certification body (http://www.emcc.de/), emailed them and had confirmation that the UV-3R and UV-5R certificates are correct according to their records.
The CE marking on the Baofeng has a number 0678 next to it which is on the certificates refers back to the certification body.
I notice that the BF888 has a FC and CE marking but no RoHS marking so there must be some models with different levels of certification.

I wouldn't hold your breath on the legality of any CE conformity from China!
Irrespective of quoted German sources!
I do a lot of work for a company making hair products, namely Babyliss, the market is flooded with chinese copy products, all coming with quoted CE conformity, naming "numbers" and certification based on German official certificating sites!
They are ALL hooky, and there have been some nasty "hair disasters" as a consequence!
On paper they look all legit, they have ALL the stickers, quote all the right sources for validation, and none of them are worth the ink thats been wasted on them!
And when there are companies these days prepared to "copy" a £30 transceiver, yes there are even "Baofeng copies", what chance do you have of any of the "paper work" bullshit being valid?

[Farty]

Better grass up the authorised UK seller for their fraudulent claims then.