![What Communication Device Should I Get?? [1000x1000 - 346KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/nDJ6lM.png){kind=link}
The Baofeng units are great "cheap" devices, but they're hard to program and can only run on their own batteries. These should be programmed as you get them instead of waiting until the last minute. If SHTF, no one is going to give a fuck about your license status.
Baofengs are cheap enough you can buy 5.
If you want a good radio at a good price, look at the Yaesu FT-60R. These run about $150, but they're a time-tested, field-duty ready radio that has accessories like a AA battery holder for emergencies. These are radios you can drop and not worry about.
I have both. The FT-60R's battery pack just died on me recently after 15 years. No idea how long the Baofeng's packs will last, but they're super cheap and you can get spares readily.
TL;DR: Get the Baofengs to give to everyone, get a good radio for your "base."
edit: A nice thing about the yaesu packs is they still use NIMH, which you can trickle charge poorly from any source that provides the right voltage. Baofeng are all LiIon, and require a charging base with the intelligence in it.
The comment about the battery is partially correct. The solution is to get the Baofeng extended battery pack which adds a USB charging input. These are ubiquitous these days so charging is no longer a problem. As for programming via the radio, yes, it's a PITA. Buy the programming cable and use the Open Source program "CHIRP" and it's painless. But the "do it ahead of time" advice is worth underlining.
The bigger issue is more complicated since you ask about "prepping". The Baofeng will operate on a wide range of frequencies spanning marine, ham, old law-enforcement & fire, GMRS, etc... Legalities aside, that may be useful to you. But it's also VERY short range point-to-point (I've hit 30 miles with an 18" whip antenna and that was a freak happening). Beyond that implies access and use of a repeater, which is a dependency and point of failure in a SHTF scenario. The Baofeng has it's uses but also it's limits. It can still be a useful component of your comms solution, though. If you use it (or another HT) you'll probably want to buy a portable (roll-up) J-Pole antenna to have handy for extra range. If this sort of thing is all you need, though, you're probably best off just getting some good GMRS equipment. It's easier to show family how it all works - turn on and talk, etc...
For something genuinely useful get yourself a ham license (technician and general not hard) and get on 80m or 40/20m. 80m is "regional" generally and will get you an easy 400 mile radius voice with just a wire in a tree (further common). 40m and 20m will get you the whole US and a good chunk of the world at 100W. A Yaesu FT-891 is a good example of this and it'll fit in a small pack. With a cheap laptop and some of the digital modes out there like JS8Call you can communicate very long distances with very low power in high noise levels.
Read up on AMRON and the Channel 3 project if you are interested in some of the organized prepper efforts out there. Even without, though, just knowing what's going on in your region (like food, gas, conflict, weather, etc...) is invaluable insurance.
Last thing - if you go the ham route (which i highly recommend) the process begins by creating an account with the FCC online and you will be assigned an 'FRN', which is a file number your licenses will be associated with. You must provide an address as you set this up. A PO BOX IS ACCEPTABLE and should be used IMO. If you get your license your address becomes a matter of public record and is trivial to look up (hams do it with nearly each logged call). So having it resolve to a PO Box is a little more desirable these days than your doorstep.
The USB thing must be new, none of the extended packs I have offer a USB port.
I see, you mean the coaxial port on the side of the battery. This still requires the charging cable because there's no intelligence in the battery itself, it's all in the USB-A end of the device. Applying 5V directly to it probably would destroy it.
The Yaesu device I have literally charges from an old 7V transformer DC supply. You can run it on anything as long as you give it around that voltage.
Yeah, the Baofeng isn't quite as cheap as it first looks once you add up all the pieces you need. Even once you buy them all it's still not an ideal solution.
When I bought mine one of the guys in the local club said " You have to be careful leaving that in your car. I left mine in the car seat and someone broke my window and put two more with it."
It is an interesting little radio for what it is. But if you begin to put money into all the little pieces you need to flesh it out, you can easily approach the cost of just having bought a better unit in the first place.
I've used CHIRP and it does a fine job with the Baofeng. The main problem with that radio is they are 5 Watt, you can receive well, but are very limited in terms of transmitting. I've heard people have ran homemade antennas up trees with success, but I've never tried it.
*Looks like Baofeng makes a 8 Watt version now.
I should have clarified in my "30-mile" comment that I was using the 8W unit. It's a BF8-HP I think it's what they call it. Still, 15-18 miles is probably more typical. That was with a Nagoya 18" whip. I built a J-Pole but have not benchmarked it yet.
Is there a particular baofeng I should look for??
The UV-5R is generally the one you'll find at shows and stuff. They used to be about $25-30 each, but they've probably risen in price.
K thanks
I bought the Baofeng Radio Handheld Ham Radio UV-S9 Plus 8W High Power Portable Two Way Radiowith 2200 mAh Battery and USB Charger Cable Walkie Talkie.
I have 5 of them for wheeling with friends but with so many channels, how does anyone know what to use?
Thanks
If you're going to spend that much may as well get a (but then you need to worry about a power supply). Sure it's only 2-meter, but that is more popular and there are repeaters. Idk that you would miss the 70cm band. You could always monitor that on your cheap Baofeng!
Good advice, but what about HF?
If your goal is to have something quick n dirty ready to go, then 2M and 70cm are good choices and cheap enough to toss in your bag. I think HF, beyond maybe CB, is outside the scope of having cheap n ready.
Agreed if OP wants to transmit. But small HF receivers can use a simple 100 foot antenna wire and listen in on 80M and 40M where all sorts of juicy chatter is to be surely had in SHTF scenario. Not to mention the joys of scanning in AM for Radio Havana in Cuba or The Mighty KBC in Holland :) However I agree with all your comments and suggestions also, 2M and 70cm are indeed good choices.
If you've got some assembly skills and a cheap laptop take a look at https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html
It's only 5w but for JS8Call and some of the other digital modes that will go a long way. It's not voice but fldigi will drive the snot out of it and a $69 EVO Maestro runs anything you need on Linux,
I have the baofeng and I got them with extended antannae, and I had line of sight with my friends who had the same radios but it was only about a mile probably a less, and we couldn't hear each other. They are pretty shitty.
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