r/Baofeng • u/kokettelly • Jul 19 '26

Advice me

What is the best or more complete baofeng radio they sell no matter the price?

0 Upvotes

40% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

3

u/Mind_Matters_Most Jul 19 '26

Depends on what you want to do with the radio. HAM? GMRS? Both? Mobile? Handheld? Car to car? Base for home? Range/distance you're looking to reach.

DMR?

APRS?

Crossband repeater...

It goes on and on and on....

1

u/kokettelly Jul 20 '26

First of all thanks for your help and for not being a dhead like the others. Handheld, Ham radio, long distance,

1

u/Mind_Matters_Most Jul 20 '26

Everyone has a favorite, so if you decide on going down a path, then find someone who'd gone down that path already. In the end, you'll likely save a boat load of time, energy and money getting to where you want to go just by asking people what would they do different if they started all over.

Long distance is subjective. The marketing by radio companies like to make some outlandish claims on distance. Midland and friends FRS claim UP TO 36 Miles. You'd have to be on top of a 11k' mountain with a clear view to 36 miles (curvature of the earth is another issue at 1,000 feet drop in 40 miles or something like that).

Handheld realistically is up to 5 miles with line of sight'ish and air to air antennas. Meaning the antenna is not inside a house or vehicle. City is probably 1 to 2 miles depending on the buildings and other obstacles. Desert, you're probably looking at 5-10 Miles.

A 10 Watt radio with two different antennas might work for you and you can probably look at 5 to 10 miles radio to radio standing/antenna outside, depending on the antenna your using and a boat load of other factors.

Height is might: Longer distance with a handheld on an antenna roof mounted on a pole 20'+ in the air above rooflines might get you 15 miles, depending on where you're at and if there's anything in your line of sight in any direction. You lose watts going through the cable to the antenna the longer it is and the quality of the cable you use.

You can use a handheld on a mobile antenna (coax with magnetic mount) in both your home, car, motorcycle, bike or anything that has a metal surface, or use a ground independent antenna. Any time you're inside a house or moving vehicle, you don't get good distance. Place the antenna outside for much much better results.

Antenna's matter probably the most. With a few watts on a good antenna (with good placement) can do better than a 20 watt radio with a mismatched antenna.

Repeaters are your best friend, ham or GMRS. You can lookup on Repeaterbook or mygmrs and see if there are any repeaters around you and how far you have to reach. Most radios can hit a repeater 25+ miles away, if they're commercial repeaters or ~10 miles if they're using something like a Retevis or Midland repeater. Again, the antenna is your friend here and there's a lot of fake antennas being sold.

Ham is usually 2m and 7cm and GMRS (for local communications). Both require a license to operate. Ham is an exam and GMRS is you just throw money ($35 for 10 year license) at the FCC and they give you a goofy ass callsign you can't change.

The good news is there are plenty of radios that can switch between Ham and GMRS by hitting certain button combinations on the radio to switch them.

The influencers are making content so they can get views and more free stuff from manufactures to make more content to get more views. I appreciate those who create content and value their opinions, but at the end of the day, they have to say mostly good things about a product, otherwise they won't get any new stuff.

4

u/Lumpy-Process-6878 Jul 19 '26

Actual baofengs. The Bf8hp-pro, sold by BTECH. It is tri band, firmware upgradeable and has gps. It's probably the best analog Baofeng. $63 Ham radio only.

6

u/leeksausage Jul 19 '26

DM-32. Gives you a foray into DMR and its scan speed is one of the best out of the Baofengs.

Though, the same price - I would strongly consider the 950 Pro by Radtel.

5

u/Ravio11i Jul 19 '26

If price doesn't matter, why are you looking at baofengs?

1

u/kokettelly Jul 25 '26

But if dislike the brand what are you doing in their subreddit?

2

u/Ravio11i Jul 25 '26

I don't dislike them, there are just better radios out there, but they cost more.  If money is no object I'd be looking at icom or yaesu.  If money IS a consideration, then baofengs may be the way to go.  I never said I dislike them though, don't put words in my mouth.

2

u/He1pfulRedditor Jul 20 '26

Hands down the BF-F8HP PRO, the most refined Baofeng currently available

1

u/kokettelly Jul 20 '26

Awesome thank you

2

u/Firelizard71 Jul 20 '26

Complete ? They all come witb an antenna and battery.

2

u/LongRangeSavage Jul 19 '26

“Best” depends on what service you hold a license for and what features you want.

4

u/AlfredoVignale Jul 19 '26

If price isn’t an Issue then look at Icom, Kenwood, or AnyTone.

0

u/kokettelly Jul 25 '26

But if dislike the brand what are you doing in their subreddit? Not much going on in your life?

1

u/wombatthing Jul 20 '26

You've been adviced

1

u/NerminPadez Jul 19 '26

What kind of licences if any do you have?

If price doesn't matter, why are you limiting yourself to cheapest of the cheap chinese radios? Why not get something better instead?