BAOFENGRadio 5RM Ham Radio10W Long Range Handheld AR-5RM Two Way Radio NOAA Weather Receiver Rechargeable Walkie Talkies Longe Range DTMF Copy Frequency 999CH with Type C Charging 2500mAh Battery

I've had this radio for some time and the longer I have it, the more I appreciate it. Like just about everyone new to this, I started with a UV-5R and it's variants including the UV-5R GMRS, UV-5G Pro, and M-5R. If you're looking for a HAM radio, don't waste your time with those. I've seen people write that this is just a UV-5R or M-5R in a larger case with a better display. No it isn't. It is a totally unlocked HAM radio and better in every way. I don't have a HAM license (I'm GMRS licensed) so I'm using it for listening and I can pick up Airband, 2 Meter, 1.25 Meter, 70 Centimeter but also frequencies in between and up to around 519Mhz. So, you want to listen railroad frequencies between 160-161Mhz or Marine frequencies between 156 and 174Mhz? You can. Military aircraft on 225-399.95Mhz? You can. It's incredibly versatile and it achieves the promised 10 watts on some bands. It's more durable, the speaker is more intelligible, it receives better, transmits clearly, it's USB-C rechargeable out of the box, Chirp compatible. Just be aware you need a HAM license to transmit with this, especially because of the higher power. Some GMRS/FRS shared channels are limited to .5 watt. MURS is limited to 2 watts. I've read the lowest power this radio is capable of is around 2.5 watts. At 10 this would seriously overpower them. I know people are dropping GMRS channels into this with Chirp but in doing so, the 5Mhz repeater offsets don't save correctly and you have to manually set them every in VFO mode every time. Also, because it is so unlocked, it would be very easy to step on EMS or other critical or licensed business services so you need to know what you're doing. I've had my eye on the new BTech UV-Pro HAM HTT for some time (about $165 on Amazon). I have two BTech GMRS Pro's and they're awesome. But I'm starting to think I'll buy a second AR-5RM at $28, because I can't imagine a totally unlocked radio like this will be permitted forever. It does have an FCC ID on the back, surprisingly. Then to advance my knowledge of HAM, I'll get a RTL-SDR USB software defined radio for my laptop... for listening and learning. That'll give me more functionality than any HTT. Note: An inexpensive radio at around $30, there are a couple cons. Like most HTT's with color screens, this is incredibly difficult to read in bright sunlight so be ready for that. And, like most inexpensive SOC homodyne receivers (especially the UV-5R's, it is very susceptible to front end overload. Using the stock antenna and/or if you live away from AM/FM broadcast sources, this isn't a problem. But I live two miles from two FM radio towers and 4 miles from Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix. When I add an upgraded Radtel Airband or any other upgraded antenna, all my Boafeng's go totally deaf. All that adjacent FM RF energy is too much. So for $20 I bought an Airband band pass filter and it works great. You can also buy an FM band rejection filter - for listening. But seriously, the UV-5R radios are popular but their audio quality is awful. Every time I go back to using any of mine, they comparatively feel like toys. So all but my UV-5G Pro, I'm giving them away. This AR-5RM feels more rugged, looks better. It's just a really cool little radio for anyone looking to learn.

Some people are getting UV-5RM, I received an “AR-5RM.” This CAN be programmed in CHIRP. For picking up airband, you’ll need at a minimum an NA-771 antenna, the default whip antenna given is nice but you’ll struggle to pick up any airband traffic. It’s basically a tri-band UV-5R with a nice screen.Build quality is surprisingly good for a $30 HT. My only real complaint is it’s not compatible with UV-5R batteries which I have a bunch of. However, it makes up for this by offering USB-C charging in addition to the supplied cradle.Hoping to see more battery options, but to be honest it’s pretty good on battery.Save yourself the frustration and program through CHIRP. Programming through the unit itself is needlessly difficult.

I'm a Line Director at a small airport and I issued these to the crew because of the range and it's smaller size. I have yet to dive into the full extent of the settings, however for our purposes it works well. The range seems to be good (communicating across airport roughly 1.5 miles) and the battery has a decent duration with sporadic use over the course of 10 hours.For pilots and ground crew out there, It has decent communication with aircraft with OK clarity. Not sure on range to communicate with aircraft.For the public: DO NOT COMMUNICATE WITH AIRCRAFT UNLESS YOU ARE TRAINED AND/OR LICENSED TO DO SO!!!

I know Baofeng gets a bad rap, but this radio has met all of my expectations and then some. Compared to my old BF-F9V2+ (a smaller 5 watt radio), this one seems to be an upgrade in every way. 10 watts (not tested) is performing unquestionably better than my old radio, the included antenna is better than the old "rubber duck," the screen is color with a sharp resolution, and even the built-in flashlight is better. I'm surprised that they could sell the battery and included accessories at this price, nevermind the radio with them.Audio is clear and crisp in both directions. Transmit is punchy out of the box, but improved if you swap out the already decent antenna. The included antenna is biased a bit toward UHF, and is fairly compact. The other hams on my net couldn't believe I was on a Baofeng HT; they thought I was on a full mobile or base station radio.The only thing that I miss, is that the B/W LCD display on my old radio was always visible, since there is no power drain once the display is set. The new one turns the screen off after a user-specified timeout, since it will slowly drain power. This isn't terrible, and pressing any button or receiving a signal will illuminate the screen again. There's not much to see there when you're not changing settings, transmitting, or receiving, anyway. Still, I'd probably give up a color screen for an always-on B/W display. I do appreciate the increased size of the display, which is twice as tall as my older one. Plus, signal meters on the A and B receivers!Baofeng used to be a bad word in the ham world, but I'm not so sure anymore. I haven't used all of Baofeng's extensive (and confusing) line by far, but this might be the best value in an entry-level VHF/UHF HT.

Great little entry-level radios for general emergency prepping. I use it at the gun range that I use a lot since their is no cell phone service. Its light and easily portable. It is easy to operate. Just make sure to download CHIRP and get the usb cable for easy channel programming. Overall, Baofeng makes extremely affordable radios that are of decent quality. I recommend trying them out.