Baofeng UV-25 Review: The Ultimate Prepper Radio with Scramble Mode!

all ham operators, don't be a sad ham

I have a question unrelated to this video I have a UV-5G PLUS I not sure on how to program this radio for repeaters any advice on this,I can hear a repeater every so often do you think if I can hear this repeater that I could hit it.

Man I enjoy your videos !

How can you come up with an "Ultimate prepper radio" without having a given set of parameters from which to gauge a radio's usefulness? I am in a heavily pine forested, remote, and hilly location and a UV-5r won't even get across my property. The "Ultimate" radio is very situational. My guess is you are in an urban/semi-urban area, sure, a cheapo feng is fine there. Even there, I would consider a dm-1701 a better radio for it's relatively low cost, DMR functions, and digital encryption (although use of that feature may make some people mad). But that CPS software, wow-that is a test of the patience to learn.

If you were advising someone on what pistol to buy for SHTF, would you suggest a High Point or a Glock ? I can't understand why you tubers push these cheap Chi-Com radios. In SHTF, you can't replace a radio when it breaks. Also, in SHTF, monitoring the bands is so very important. A quality radio such as a Yaesu has a wide frequency range, it has 1000 memories in 10 bands that can be linked. The scanning speed is lightning fast. The Baofeng's scanning is like watching grass grow. You obviously have not considered what SHTF will be like. The demands on the equipment. How you operate your radio so as to not get killed by someone DF'ing you. Power is no where near as important as the antenna. Those extra few watts will get you little improved range. A good antenna will. No matter if you buy this POS or a quality radio, learn how to program it, how to operate all of it's features and when to shut up and when to listen. You should be listening much more than talking. Learn the transmitting range and how to limit you're RF footprint.

I got one of these and it's pretty terrible (or at least mine is).

Even with that monster of an antenna, still can't hear NOAA Weather stations at all. (I have about 3 other radios that CAN access NOAA with much worse antennas).

How to become the nail that sticks out the most.

Over 3 minutes in and so far everything was junk and thrown away....

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You might want to check out the Retevis RA89. It's a similarly capable and priced radio, IP67 rated, has a more daylight readable screen, and isn't the biggest handheld in the county. Alternatively, the Yaesu VX-6R is a time-tested, extremely rugged (and much more expensive) radio that'll last a lifetime, and has a receiver that's orders of magnitude better than any of the direct conversion radios Baofeng or Retevis makes.

A Tid h3 may be more secure for radio to radio. You can scramble and split broadcast and receive on uhf and vhf so they are only getting 1/2 of the conversation.

I do like the size and battery life on these

Yours must be a different version? Mine is also a UV25 but menu45 is just saying firmware version and no scrambler mode. Mine is marketed as the 10w version but my output reading on the meter is similar to yours. Nice video and I have been watching a few of your radio vids too. Keep it up! VA3TYD from Toronto saying hi! 73!

Well...right of the bat, I can tell you don't know a whole lot about HT radio's. Now I'm not a radio dork as some might say, but even I know you usually don't want to turn on an HT radio unless you have an antenna, even a bad one, "plugged" or screwed in this case onto the radio. You may want to double check the antenna on another radio and double check the radio you did that to to ascertain if any damage occurred to either the radio or the antenna. Now again I'm not an RD "radio dork". But I'm not sure if you need to hit the transmit trigger/button to possibly cause damage or not. Maybe one of the RD's out there can chime in here. But just BE CAREFUL, unless you are rich and can throw money after bad. Then have at it. LOL Later.

The Baofeng AR-5RM has a scramble feature also.

The harmonics on that thing are horrendous. I feel sorry for anyone who overpaid for it. I almost got the cool looking beige camo one, but not paying for a filthy transmitter.

Are you able to transmit on gmrs frequencies with this?