Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by blhack on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @01:39PM (#25836907)

I don't know why people complain about Baofengs so much. I have a bunch of baofengs that I bought to pass out as emergency radios at burning man. They have saved at least one person's life, because it meant we were able to call the emergency services when somebody had a heart attack and collapsed. I'm sure that guy is glad that that crappy $20 radio was there and a ham operator had configured it for the 911 service it was used for.

That alone cemented baofengs into my "good to have" category for life. They're cheap, and that's why I have been able to use them in the places I have.

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by i_am_proteus on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @02:18PM (#25837521)

People mostly complain about Baofengs because they leak a bunch of RF interference everywhere. Not obvious to the Baofeng user, but obvious to radio operators on other frequencies.

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by morganvachon on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @08:38PM (#25841546)

It's hit or miss in my experience. My first Baofeng was well behaved as far as RF interference, but it was so shoddily built that it literally fell apart on me a couple of years into ownership (the battery latch, belt clip, and TX button all broke within a week of each other).

My second Baofeng was more physically sound but had issues with RF harmonics on UHF so it was useless on the band I wanted it for.

I've since gotten a Radioddity DMR handheld and it's both physically and functionally sound. It cost the same as four Baofengs but it's worth it, not to mention the ability to talk on DMR groups.

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by sitzkrieg on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @07:18PM (#25840906)

i have measured several models and not witnessed this

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by SaberTail on Wednesday January 20, 2021 @02:38AM (#25843606)

Most Baofengs emit an illegal amount of spurious emissions[1]. Maybe you got lucky.

[1] https://observer.wunderwood.org/2020/02/07/baofeng-hts-and-s...

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by sitzkrieg on Wednesday January 20, 2021 @01:52PM (#25850328)

huh, I checked and they are all manufactured after this was published, maybe they got better. but probably not

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by Johnythree on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @08:13PM (#25841350)

Depends which band they are being used on. Their filtering is barely adequate on ham bands, but very poor when programmed on other frequencies.

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by chrisseaton on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @09:52PM (#25842054)

> I'm sure that guy is glad that that crappy $20 radio was there and a ham operator had configured it for the 911 service it was used for.

You can call 911 on a radio frequency in the US?

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Re:Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes by tedd4u on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @10:12PM (#25842185)

At Burning Man, you can!

"To call ESD, switch your MURS radio to channel 5 (154.600 MHz, CTCSS/PL 97.4) and report your emergency." [1]

[1] https://survival.burningman.org/survival-health-and-safety/g...

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