![What Communication Device Should I Get?? [1000x1000 - 346KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/nDJ6lM.png){kind=link}
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.
That is true about the cost.
The only thing I really bought beyond the radio was the programming cable. the radios were usually hamfest specials with an extra battery and an extra antenna which I promptly threw away because Diamond antennas don't look like that (and it tested bad on a NetAn.)
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.
I can't reliably hit the repeater which is about 15 miles away with mine, but I'm in an inner ring suburb, a lot of buildings and interference. I'd imagine if I went on top of an apartment building I'd have no issues.
I built a J-Pole but have not benchmarked it yet.
That's pretty cool. I really haven't done anything with radio in awhile, kind of lost interest tbh, but it is nice having the gear just in case. I do turn the handheld on to listen to the 'storm watch' guys during heavy weather. That is somewhat entertaining, but that is about it recently.
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