74
How to best use a box of Baofengs? (slrpnk.net)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/amateur_radio@lemmy.radio
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I believe they are all BaoFeng UV-5R+/UV5R.

They were recommended for us when off roading to communicate between vehicles, but never seemed to work great at that.

Somewhere I think I still have the usb programming cable for them.

Edit: apparently the intent of my post was lost in my poor wording of the title. It has been updated to better reflect that I would like to use them, but for what? And how?

all 9 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 30 points 7 months ago

They will work well for communication between vehicles, but you need to connect them to mag mount antennas. A car is basically a faraday cage. Radios don't work well inside unless you're running 900 MHz or higher.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 24 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    Save them for the collapse of society 😅

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Well yes, but can they be used as police scanners? Weather update radios? Or are they strictly to communicate with another hand held?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    They have a recieve range of 134-176 I think and 420-480, as long as it's standard analog you should be able program in some fun things to listen to.

    I have one setup for railroad frequencies and I hear some unique conversations.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    My radio dummy tip (I’d definitely not an expert) is definitely go outside when scanning for interesting stuff to listen to. It took me a few afternoons of scanning to find anything, let alone anything interesting. Hopefully you’ll have better luck :-)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Apart from use as walkie talkies we can sometimes tune in and listen to the ISS as it passes over our location

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •