The great thing about the ubiquitous cheap Baofengs is that they operate on frequencies that regular legit radios generally won't let you receive and transmit on due to local laws.
For an unknown emergency situation at that price point they seem ideal. You never know what band you might need to communicate on and CB has its own limitations.
> For an unknown emergency situation at that price point they seem ideal.
No, they are the worst thing you can buy "for an emergency."
Sometimes people buy them with no intention of transmitting, they see the Baofengs as cheap VHF/UHF scanners. But they make terrible scanners. Their frequency range is very limited, their scanning is very slow, their selectivity is poor, and they are missing almost all of the bells and whistles that come with modern hand-held scanners.
If you think you might want to transmit during an emergency, then just grabbing a Baofeng or three off the jungle site and hoping for the best is a TERRIBLE plan.
A popular line of thinking is, "but during an emergency, you can use any radio and frequency necessary." Yes, that is logically true but those who say it are conveniently ignoring several aspects of reality: Unless you have a business license or an amateur radio license, you are not allowed push the Transmit button on a Baofeng. If you cannot transmit with the radio, then you cannot practice using it. If you cannot practice using it, you are NOT PREPARED to use it in an emergency and your own incompetence with it could lead to loss of life.
You also have to consider what kind of emergency you are likely to face. If you're out in the back country where there is no cell service, then a VHF/UHF radio is very unlikely to do you any good either. You need something with satellite capability in this case.
If you want to be prepared for an urban emergency (tornado, flooding, terrorist attack, war) then you want TWO radios: a scanner for receiving weather, listening in on emergency services (if not encrypted), and listening to others on various services. To communicate: a CB, FRS, or MURS radio. A $25 Baofeng CANNOT be used as any of these.
Potentially the best option is to learn about radio, get an amateur radio license, AND THEN purchase a Baofeng or higher-quality amateur radio. Then you will have the skills and license to actually operate the thing correctly when needed and legally when not.
Thats a very good point. It reminds of me the first time I pulled out bear spray, thumb off the clip, and prepared to use it. I didn't have to because yelling, making yourself big, and stomping can go a long way. When it was over I noticed I was actually holding it backwards. Embarassing but this was because of exactly this: I've never practiced using it and the situation require reflexived actions.
The technical (rather than legal) problem with the baofeng is the lack of input filtering. This means if you are near a strong transmitter on any nearby band you won't hear anything!
Since in the UK it is common to put radio masts on a hill top this can make them useless on adjacent hill tops. Adding a decent antenna makes it worse. In fact the only way to get clear receive is to use an input notch filter or a narrow band and highly directional aerial like a yagi
Edit: if you really want to use it on 2m or 70cm amatuer spend another £40 and get a yaesu
Even if used on the unlicensed bands it’s still illegal to transmit in those frequencies without a license as the UV5R doesn’t comply with the restrictions of license free radios. I.e it exceeds the max allowed power and has a detachable antenna.
However, there’s nothing illegal about using the uv5r to receive. And in reality if you only use it on the pmr446 frequencies you’re very unlikely to get busted.
No you can’t. You can only frequencies within the allocated spectrum for amateur radio. And it must be for the specific purpose of emergency comms. And that’s not universally true everywhere.
Can you elaborate? I'm interested in having an emergency radio which can listen to (and send on) frequencies I'm not allowed on, I have no intention of transmitting on the prohibited channels, and I have a Baofeng. Is there some obviously better radio I should have instead, and why?
Honestly the Baofeng is mostly fine. Just use it. 90% of it is elitism. The harmonic suppression of the transmitter is crap which is the issue but the radiated power is constrained by the antenna so not usually a problem unless you’re testing it in a lab. Most of the problem is just sinophobia.
If you want something actually with decent capability then the Yaesu FT818 is a good bet. It does all amateur bands, UHF, VHF, airband, FM broadcast all modes. But it costs money.
I’m not an active ham anymore but I keep an 818 around.
As for why I’m not a ham anymore, spend some time with some hams and you will get the idea.
I'm also an ex-ham, I sometimes wish I had renewed my license because it would be nice to have access to a good radio sometimes, but not so nice that I'm willing to go through the exam process again. So I have 4 GMRS radios that I just have to have one license for the whole family to use.
That translates to "fear of china" which is almost always incorrectly applied. Were there a single word for "boycotting china" that would be more appropriate.
I wrote a longer comment about this elsewhere in these comments but the short version is: a Baofeng is a terrible scanner and can't be used to transmit on ANYTHING without a license of some kind. If you can't transmit, then you can't practice, and if you can't practice, you aren't prepared for an emergency.
If you just want to listen, a handheld scanner would be a far better option than a Baofeng (but of course cost a bit more).
Anyone who makes a habit of transmitting on a frequency they are not authorized on WILL be caught eventually, especially if they are interfering with police, emergency services, business users, and broadcasters. And all of these are very easy to do if you own a Boafeng and don't know how to use it.
For an unknown emergency situation at that price point they seem ideal. You never know what band you might need to communicate on and CB has its own limitations.