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BAOFENG UV-5R. An excellent toy, with good reception and transmission parameters. Can operate in two bands: VHF and UHF.

It is also possible to quickly switch between two channels and alternately monitor two frequencies.

There is a channel scanning function. Allows manual input of the operating frequency from the keyboard (VFO) and selection from a list of pre-entered channels (MR). Able to receive and transmit at different frequencies (mainly required for working with a repeater). In general, everything that a walkie-talkie should be able to do, it can do. As a bonus, there is an FM radio and an LED flashlight.

The control buttons are intuitive, but if the owners of these walkie-talkies come here, I will analyze the functions of the buttons and give a description of the menu in Russian. What if I forget and come here myself for a hint? An extra cheat sheet won't hurt. My radio has firmware (BFB297).

Settings

On the top side of the walkie-talkie there is an LED flashlight, and on the front side there is an LED indicator indicating that the walkie-talkie is in receiving (green), transmitting (red) or standby (off) mode. On the second side there is a cover for connecting a headset. The indication on the LCD screen of the walkie-talkie is also clear, but let’s look at everything in order.

That seems to be all, you are unlikely to come across other meanings.

So, now all that remains is to figure out the menu and then you can think about a cheat sheet with repeater settings.

To enter the menu, press the MENU button. And then you can scroll through the parameters using the arrows, or enter their number from the keyboard. This model has only forty-one settings, some of the settings are service ones.

By the way, the standard antenna is enough to operate FM radio with very high quality. In places where there is a lot of interference, this walkie-talkie cuts out hiss and extraneous noise well.

If you need to quickly switch between low and high signal transmission power, then press the button with the reshti symbol (key) once.

The Baofeng UV-5R walkie-talkie is quite popular due to its good functionality and low cost. But the complex menu and confusing instructions make it difficult to use. We read and learn to program the walkie-talkie.

Setting up UV-5R

1. Charge the battery. According to the instructions, charging takes up to 5 hours; some batteries charge faster, in just a few hours, since they are partially charged.

2. Keep in mind that Li-Ion batteries will reach their full capacity only after three charge/discharge cycles. After these three cycles, you can charge the battery at any time convenient, they have no memory effect.

3. Reset UV-5R. If you want to manually program the UV-5R this will help you return the settings to default. Turn on the radio, press the button menu, dial ‘40’ and press ‘ again menu’ . ‘Reset All’ will appear on the screen, press again menu, the message ‘ Source?’ Press again menu to confirm your choice. Do everything quickly, you only have one second or so. That's all, the default settings are set.

4. In later firmware, Chinese voice prompts were added and after resetting the settings it is set by default. You can change it back to English using menu item 14.

Getting to know the menu

Button press menu displays a list of 40 elements. Arrows Up or Down move up or down points. If you know the number of the desired item, immediately enter it on the keyboard.

Pressing the button again menu allows you to enter a submenu. By pressing buttons Up or Down progress through the list of available options. After selecting the option, press again menu to confirm and save your selection. Using a button Exit you can exit the menu at any time.

Setting the frequency grid step

Select menu 1
Options: 2.5kHz, 5kHz, 6.25kHz, 10kHz, 12.5kHz, 25kHz
Default: 2.5kHz
Which step to use depends on the country you are in. In Europe, for example, they use 12.5 kHz on VHF and 6.25 kHz on UHF, this allows the use of UV-5R on PMR channels. (in Europe this is the equivalent of FRS)
Comment: You need to enter the frequency grid step twice, once on VHF, once on UHF. To switch from VHF to UHF and back press the button Band.

Programming simplex channels:

1. Switch to VFO A
2. Select VHF or UHF by pressing the Band button
3. Select the desired frequency
4. Click menu, dial ‘27’ and press menu
5. Select an empty memory location (000-127) by pressing the buttons Up or Down
6. Press again menu to record the frequency
7. To exit press the button Exit

Programming channels with repeater shift

1. Switch to VFO A mode
2. At the touch of a button Band select VHF or UHF
3. Select reception frequency
4. Click menu menu.
5. Buttons Up or Down select empty memory location (000-127)
6. Click menu to record the reception frequency
7. Click the button Exit
8. Select transmission frequency
9. Click menu, dial ‘27’ and press again menu.
10. Click again menu.

Click the button VFO/M and check the settings.

The site already has, and even more than one, a review of this radio station.
But I still decided to write my version. After all, as they say, repetition is the mother of learning.
Why do I need this walkie-talkie? Well, of course, for communication. Namely, in my case, for communication while cycling. Because I travel with friends, and there are often situations when distances arise between us through which it’s not so easy to shout. Yes, and shouting is not appropriate everywhere. This is where walkie-talkies come to the rescue.

I didn’t have my own walkie-talkie all summer, each time I borrowed a walkie-talkie from a friend. He has two sets of these radios:

Conventional radios operating in the PMR range. Popularly called VokiToki (literally translated: Walk and Talk) And it seems like I even wanted to buy similar ones for myself. The price for them on Ali is on average 15-18 dollars. Which is quite budget-friendly. But somehow I kept postponing the purchase until later, since there were more important expenses. In the end, I remembered that I wanted a personal walkie-talkie only at the end of the cycling season. Just then I received an offer from banggood to write a review of their product. The choice was clear - walkie-talkie.
It makes more sense, of course, to buy walkie-talkies in pairs in order to maintain communication between them. But specifically in my case, a second walkie-talkie would simply not be necessary, since I would be connecting to the walkie-talkies my friends already have. Therefore, one radio is more than enough.
The places where we ride are mainly steppes and forest-steppes, with few natural barriers. Therefore, on PMR radios, the communication radius is quite confident at distances of up to one and a half kilometers. This is more than enough for communication. In a city where there is a lot of interference and buildings, the radius of walkie-talkies does not exceed 500 meters. Not enough, but not bad either.
The walkie-talkie under review has twice the power of conventional walkie-talkies. Therefore, I expected that the radius and communication range would be higher. But first things first.
Equipment:
The radio arrived quite quickly. Only 13 days. It was packed in a small layer of bubble wrap. As a result, the edges and corners of the box were wrinkled. But fortunately nothing inside was damaged.


Inside the box were the walkie-talkie itself, instructions in English, a standard antenna, a lanyard, a glass for charging the battery, and a charger, which turned out to have a plug for American sockets. They didn’t provide adapters, but I have some in stock, fortunately they cost pennies.


Charger has the following characteristics:

In the glass you can charge both the battery and the walkie-talkie separately. Which I think is very thoughtful.




Antenna included in the kit is standard. It has the following characteristics written on the antenna itself:


Namely, the ability to work in the FM frequency range (listening to regular FM radio stations), in the ranges 136-174 MHz and 400-520 MHz.


This is more than enough for my needs. In fact, I only use 2 frequencies related to the PMR range. Namely:


But if desired, this radio can be used for communication in other frequencies. The truth is I have no one to check with. Antenna length 16cm. It is flexible and made of a material more like rubber.
Herself radio station is a block measuring 5.5x11x3cm. This is without an antenna.
On the front there is a block of numeric keys and additional keys, as well as a two-line display that has 3 backlight colors (each color is responsible for an action and is customizable)





On the left side there is a PTT (Push to talk) button, as well as FM and flashlight buttons.

On the right side there is an eyelet for inserting a lanyard, it is metal. There is also a connector covered with a plug for connecting an external headset. Also, the radio station is flashed through this connector, if the necessary wire is available.

There is nothing on the bottom side of the radio.
On the back there is a removable battery, as well as a metal clip. It's removable. It is held on by two bolts.
On the back of the battery itself there are three contact pads for charging. They are large, and on the Internet they write that when the radio is in a pocket with metal objects, short circuits have occurred.

To remove the battery, there is a locking tab on the top of the radio that you need to press. Otherwise the battery will not be removed. This prevents spontaneous battery shutdowns during active movement and loads.

On the top side of the radio there is a volume knob, which also turns the radio on and off. A flashlight that many do not praise, but for me it is quite bright. In addition, he knows how to not only shine, but also blink to attract attention. There is also a removable antenna on top. I already wrote about it above.




Flashlight




The radio arrived charged, so I was able to use it right away.
Before this, I had never set up a radio on my own, and first I had to read the instructions on the Internet.
But as it turned out, everything is quite simple.
In order to connect my radio with the radios of my comrades, I used a hint found on the Internet:


My comrades mostly communicate on the fourth channel of the PMR band. In order to connect to them, I just had to enter the frequency 446.043 according to the table. This is done by simply entering numbers from the keyboard.
Since the walkie-talkie can receive signals from two frequencies simultaneously, I added a fifth channel of the PMR 446.056 range just in case
And after that, with a long press of the # button, I blocked all the buttons except the functional ones.
Now, in order to get in touch, I just need to press the RTT button and start talking.
The quality of speech reception and transmission in this walkie-talkie is noticeably higher than in simple inexpensive walkie-talkies.
Now I'll tell you how I tested radio data.
First, we contacted a friend by radio while still at home. There are about 300 meters between the houses. There is an obstacle in the form of a 5-story building. The reception is confident. Speech is intelligible. There is no extra noise.
After that, I took the walkie-talkie and went to get the bike. At the farthest point, the distance in a straight line turned out to be 800 meters. Buildings in the form of 1-storey private houses. The connection remains. But words began to disappear, and some phrases had to be said several times. Which suggests that the radio was already operating at the limit of its possible distance.
After that, we went on bicycles to ride through the forest belt. The distance between group members did not exceed 100-200 meters. The connection was clear, without any interruptions. The walkie-talkie was on my backpack strap, and to talk without being distracted or stopping, I only had to press the talk button with my left hand. It turned out to be quite convenient. The ergonomics of the walkie-talkie are beyond praise.
Halfway through the trip, we decided to experiment. The group remained at the edge of the forest plantation, and I went with a walkie-talkie to a distance of 3 km. The radio worked fine for reception and transmission. The conversation could be heard. At a distance of 5 km. I could no longer hear my friends on the radio, but when I contacted them by phone, I found out that they could still hear me. It turned out that the radios in the group did not have enough transmission power. I did not increase the distance even further. Therefore, the conclusion in this case is that the radio works reliably within the city at a distance of 500-800 meters. And within open areas 3-5 km.
In my opinion this is a very decent distance.
Duration of work Walkie-talkie averages 2 days of use with average activity. (from my experience)
For riding within 20-30 km from home, and for one day, you don’t have to worry about the battery running out. But if you are planning a long bike trip, then you need to look for ways to extend the life of the battery. One of these ways is to reduce the transmitter power. In my case, this is a completely relevant measure. If you press the # key, the L icon will appear on the screen, which notifies you that the transmitter power has been reduced from full power to 1 watt. Which will be enough for communication in a group within 300-500 meters, and will consume significantly less battery.


Conclusions:
I liked this radio. She's clearly worth the money.
True, specifically in my use case, I could have gotten by with a cheaper walkie-talkie, but it’s always nice to have a device with a potential margin in functionality.
I described only my experience of use, which I managed to do in two weeks. The walkie-talkie itself can do much more, and it takes much more time to study its capabilities. Of course, if necessary, use these capabilities.
As a device for a cyclist, this radio may not be suitable for several reasons, which I will attribute to cons:
There is no possibility of mobile charging for long bike trips.
No protection from water. Which makes it impossible to use it when exposed to rain. (although the radios in the group also do not have protection from moisture and dust)
Attractive appearance. When my comrades saw this walkie-talkie, they began to scare me that the police might stop me because of it. Suddenly I'm listening to forbidden waves, etc. (I decided to put the walkie-talkie in a thin fabric bag with a carabiner to attach it to the backpack strap. Doesn’t affect the functionality. Doesn’t attract attention. Doesn’t interfere with talking)
Pros The same thing about this radio is, first of all, the reception and transmission range on the standard antenna.
Long working time.
Possibility of purchasing various basic and additional accessories. (for example, I wanted to purchase a Nagouya-771 antenna to replace the standard one. To increase the transmission and reception radius)
The ability to work in different ranges, which can potentially help a lot sometimes. Let's connect to the desired wave and call for help.
The case materials can also be considered a plus. The metal will last a long time.
Having an FM radio and listening to music while traveling is also sometimes quite appropriate. In addition, while listening to the radio, the walkie-talkie does not cease to be a walkie-talkie, and receives speech.
Availability of a flashlight. Its brightness is sufficient to not get lost in the forest, or to illuminate the same bicycle in the dark for repairs. Besides, I always think that the best flashlight is the one that was at hand at the right time.
As you can see, there are more pros than cons.
At the moment, some of my comrades, having looked at this walkie-talkie in action, also decided to buy this same uv-5r for themselves. Which suggests that this walkie-talkie is very popular for good reason.
This concludes my review. I know that I have not covered all the possibilities of the walkie-talkie; I myself have not yet figured out all the possibilities. But I can definitely say that this walkie-talkie will be useful not only for fishermen, hunters, tourists and other people engaged in active and not so active recreation, but also, in my case, for cyclists.
Criticism, suggestions and additions are welcome in the comments.

The BAOFENG UV-5R walkie-talkie fell into my hands. A good toy, with good reception and transmission parameters. Can operate in two bands: VHF and UHF. It is also possible to quickly switch between two channels and alternately monitor two frequencies. There is a channel scanning function. Allows manual input of the operating frequency from the keyboard (VFO) and selection from a list of pre-entered channels (MR). Able to receive and transmit at different frequencies (mainly required for working with a repeater). In general, everything that a walkie-talkie should be able to do - it can do it. As a bonus, there is an FM radio and an LED flashlight.

The control buttons are intuitive, but if the owners of these walkie-talkies come here, I will analyze the functions of the buttons and give a description of the menu in Russian. What if I forget and come here myself for a hint? An extra cheat sheet won't hurt. My radio has firmware (BFB297).

If you hold the button for a long time, the radio will go into monitoring mode of the selected frequency, in this case the noise suppressor will be removed and the radio will receive all interference on the selected frequency (helps to hear speech that is covered by interference). The squelch will remain off as long as the MON button is pressed.

Settings

DCS

So, now all that remains is to figure out the menu and then you can think about a cheat sheet with repeater settings.

To enter the menu, press the MENU button. And then you can scroll through the parameters using the arrows, or enter their number from the keyboard.

By the way, the standard antenna is enough to operate FM radio with very high quality. In places where there is a lot of interference, this walkie-talkie cuts out hiss and extraneous noise well.