BaoFeng UV-82HP (CAMO) High Power Dual Band Radio: 136-174mhz (VHF) 400-520mhz (UHF) Amateur (Ham) Portable Two-Way

I bought two BaoFeng UV-82HP radios for some outdoor adventures over the holidays. The radios came with two chargers, two headsets, and two sets of very detailed instructions written in actual English by a native speaker! Everything worked as advertised. I also ordered an adapter cable so I could hook my radios up to my laptop and program then with CHIRP software. The first time I hooked them up, I had to do some online searching for troubleshooting as the radio woudn't connect to chirp. I installed a couple drivers online, but I don't think this step was necessary, because it didn't resolve the issue. I turned off the radio, unpluged the radio from the cable, plugged it back in, powered it back on, restarted the CHIRP software, and IT SUDDENLY CONNECTED! My friend bought a TYT radio and he couldn't use chirp. His radio is great functionally, but he was pretty envious at how I could instantly reprogram both my radios via CHIRP in seconds, and to do the same would take him literally like an hour. After initial setup, we took the radios out for a field test. My friend was on his TYT handset, and had my second UV-82HP as well to compare as I drove away from the house with my UV-82HP. He read me loud and clear in the city out to about 2.5 miles on my UV-82HP, but lost me after that. I was in a vehicle in the city and he was inside my house. With his TYT and a 15" whip antenna, he was able to communicate with my BF UV82-HP out to 3.5 miles in the city. We were reading loud and clear both ways until 3 miles, and could still communicate at 3.5, though the signal was broken. On the highway, my friend and I used the UV82-HP for about 2 days of intermittent transmitting before I exhausted the battery. I don't know the exact runtime in hours, but suffice it to say these batteries will last through a full day of constant use easily. All our transmissions were loud and clear from vehicle to vehicle, and I never want to do another roadtrip without my BaoFeng!. In the outdoors, we never reached a distance at which our signal became broken. On your average hiking trip, where you become separated at most by about a mile, you can easily communicate with these radios on medium, and usually low power! We rarely even used high power. I estimate the distance of the radio on high power outside of a vehicle in the forest if not separated by mountains is at least 3 miles, which is a LONG ways in the woods. For the price, the radios are an outstanding value. They are super easy to program and use, and function very well in the hands of a beginner like myself. These were my first ever radio, and it took no time at all to get them up and running, and even communicating with other radios using unique privacy tones at specific frequencies. I recommend these for you first radio. The price is equal to the super cheap box-store radios with 2W max power, but these easily outperform them. You can't go wrong with these radios.

This review is from the perspective of a totally blind person who is also a longtime ham. I sold all of my ham gear about 15 years ago, when I lost my eyesight. We recently moved to a new State and I thought that getting on the local repeaters might be a good way to meet some local hams and build some new friendships. I wanted a 2m portable radio that was at least partially accessible for me. Naturally, I sought out the offerings from the big three plus Alinco. I had previously owned portables from Yaesu, Kenwood and Alinco and they were all wonderful radios. The only currently available radio that I found with any accessibility built-in is the Kenwood THD-74 at over $600. That was well out of my $300 budget. I then began reading about the radios from China and learned that some have partial accessibility built-in. I did a lot of research and Baofeng was a very popular brand. After many hours of research, (too many hours for a $63 purchase) I settled on the UV-82HP. I have only had the unit for a week, so I cannot comment on how well the radio will hold up in the long run, but so far I am very impressed. This radio feels solid in the hand, not like a cheap toy from China. The volume control is solid and the buttons on the front and side, feel and work very well. While I have not yet transmitted with the unit (other than to key up the local repeater) the reception and audio quality are excellent. I have been listening in on the regional fire dispatch and it is loud and clear. I charged the unit on the day that I received it and have not charged it since, which is 6 days so far. Of course, if I was doing more transmitting, it would certainly require more charging. Speaking of charging, I did experience one problem and that was with the charging base that shipped with the radio. It was nearly impossible to insert the battery into the charger. It required excessive force to both insert and remove the battery. I contacted the seller, Baofeng Tech, and they sent me a new charging base and wall wart. The new base is much better and the radio easily slides in and out of the base. I was impressed with the level of service from BT and that is why I did not hesitate to give this product a five star review. There are resources on the Internet that provide info on using the UV5R as a blind person. I was able to apply much of that information, along with some excellent YouTube reviews, to get up to speed with the UV82HP very quickly. I did send a note to BT, asking them to consider two additional accessibility enhancements. The first would be to have the voice announce either A or B when switching between the two VFO displays. The second would be to program one of the buttons to speak the frequency or the individual letters of an assigned channel name. I do not believe that this would be very difficult to accomplish and would make a huge difference for a visually impaired user. As a screen reader user, I decided to purchase the RT Systems programming software and cable. I was able to quickly learn the software and program in my desired frequencies. It is necessary to use the software with the NVDA screen reader, as it does not work with Jaws—I tried it. Be aware that there are sections of the software that are not accessible using NVDA, but the sections most important to getting the radio programmed are accessible. I always treat my electronic items with care. I feel that this radio will last me a long time, if I treat it well. After my brief experience with this Baofeng product, I would not hesitate to purchase another of their higher-end radios.

Great radio, had it for around 20 minutes and put it right into use for a 4th of July Fireworks Standby using the IAP (Incident Action Plan) provided by the Mutual Aide Department. I've had the UV-82 for quite a while and I loved that radio as well, picking up the UV-82HP's body alone is like picking up the UV-82 with the battery and the antenna installed. It's much heavier, and feels like a premium radio. The UV-82 survived a motorcycle accident without issue, and I expect the UV-82HP to last longer and be able to take more of a punch based on it's weight. The radio includes an ear piece that works surprisingly well. During the fireworks show, I had no issues communicating with "Field Com" who was acting as dispatch. As far as the power goes, the reviews I've seen says 7.2 Watts on High Power, not the 8 Watts that printed on the box. Not much of a big deal as the radio is more powerful even at 7.2 watts then most portable radios out there. When it comes to software upgrades to CHIRP for this radio (you have to download the daily build to be able to program this radio - but that's considered ok as the daily build is very stable.) Skipping channels is a nice feature from the scan list, as I have NOAA's station on there and it's skippable on the scan list now. They also added a nuisance channel delete function, so if there is heavy traffic on a channel you can skip it as well. If you've never used BaoFeng radios before, you'll be pleasantly surprised on what the radio can do. So much so, that I'm seeing many, many first responders buy this radio over using their department radios because it's so accessible as far as programming it for each department they work with, or the departments in their area should they get mutual aided to it. Whereas Motorola requires CPS (Consumer Programming Software) license, this you can program thought some Free and Open Source Software and that's frankly a huge advantage to this radio. The programming cable it's self is also pretty inexpensive as well being not more then 15 dollars. There is one issue that I have with this otherwise great radio, and it's not just this radio but BaoFeng radios in general. They use some very cheap screws on the back of the radio to retain the clip. The screws are pre-installed in the radio and you have to remove them too add the clip. The issue is that these are very cheap screws and fall apart with a single use and some times less. One screws fell apart on me while I was installing the clip and is now completely stripped. Quite frustrating for what is otherwise a great radio. I'm going to have to remove the screw before I can install the clip.

The plethora of HT radios available can make choosing a first radio a daunting task. Having just entered the amateur radio world I didn't want to make a huge investment on my first purchase. I was originally looking at the UV-82 while I studied for my exam when suddenly this newly updated UV-82HP version showed up. The price was more but I figured I might as well go for the newest in the line. Some of the elites and purists will mock Baofeng radios as low-grade, cheap Chinese junk. Which is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, after looking at the reviews it seemed that many people were happy with their purchases. I don't know if it was that I wasn't expecting much but this little radio has really impressed me. The more I learn about amateur radio and the competition, I am finding that this radio is hard to beat, and for the price - can't be beat. Unboxing the radio I first noticed that the radio looks substantial and has quality feel in the hand. It certainly looks nicer in reality than it looks in the picture. I have a base model Baofeng 888s and this UV-82HP is finished much nicer and looks sharp. There is no shoddy workmanship visible. The menu can be a bit daunting until you learn what the menu titles represent, after that, things become somewhat self explanatory. I have read many complaints about the difficulty of programming the Baofengs. However, following the instructions on miklor-dot-com I was able to program a repeater into the radio manually. It won't be hard to commit these steps to memory. I also have used CHIRP software, which is fairly easy. The easiest however is RT Systems, which I would highly recommend. The three power settings are great. They can easily be toggled with one button operation on the keypad. I was hitting repeaters (high elevation) miles away while inside a building. My contacts were impressed that I was on handheld and reaching them. I did immediately replace the stock antenna with a thin whip Comet. This is the antenna that got me out so far to the repeater. I have two of the units and doing simplex in a densely populated area we were able to stay connected at least 1.5 miles. That may not seem impressive but in densely populated area with neighborhoods and buildings (Los Angeles area) I was impressed. After buying a roof-mount I was hitting far away repeaters with ease and my feedback was that I was coming in loud and clear. The dual channel display is easy to read and can be customized to light up in different colors from within the menu or through software. A real nice feature for this “cheaper” HT is that it listens to two different channels and/or bands at the same time. The PTT button is dual also. Pressing the top button will have you transmitting on the A display channel and pressing the bottom of the button will have you transmitting on the B display channel. That is not something you’ll find in some of the more expensive HT radios. Battery life has been great lasting me for days. Mostly listening with a few transmissions. It does a great job scanning which can be activating by pressing and holding a button on the keypad. The belt clip that comes with the radio is strong and substantial. The spring tension is impressive. I purchased a speaker mic for it. This was not dual-PTT that Baofeng sells but a single button. When using a single button speaker mic - if you have channel A selected you will be able to listen but not Tx. The trick to using a single button speaker mic when the dual PTT option is active is that you must have channel B (the bottom display) selected, doing so will allow you to both transmit and receive. This challenge is altogether avoided by purchasing Baofeng's dual PTT speak mic. I chose another single button brand though on a recommendation and it works fine for me. VFO mode is very easy to access. Just hold down the menu key and turn the radio on. I recently acquired a Yaesu FT-60. Yes, the superior Yaesu quality is immediately evident from the moment you pick it up and it is loads easier to manually program. However, the FT-60 costs over twice as much and still lacks some of the very nice features that the UV-82HP has. I have not used the Yaesu very much yet so I cannot give a full comparison. I may update this review at some point down the road to give some extra highlights and comparisons. One thing to consider is that the Baofeng UV-82 allows you to transmit on FRS/MURS/GMRS frequencies. You should know that it is not legal to transmit on these frequencies due to the fact that this radio has a removable antenna and that it transmits at a higher wattage than what is allowed. However in case of a serious emergency you are allowed to use whatever means available to you to get assistance. The UV-82 gives you that just-in-case option. The Yaesu FT-60 will allow you to listen on the FRS/MURS/GMRS bands but not transmit. I am very happy with this Baofeng. I will not hesitate to buy their products again in the future. For this price I don’t see how you can go wrong. Recommended.

Bought this to use as a backup semi-secure communication method in the event of disaster or other unfortunate events, as well as a programmable radio for work and outdoor activity. The FCC may frown upon it, but the ability to program both HAM and FRS frequencies is quite useful. Why the FCC doesn't like that, I will never know. At any rate, I'm getting roughly all day battery life and 1.5 mile range in an urban environment. Flatness and structures are the death of radio waves, so this is about what I expected. This was with a Nagoya 771 antenna, so YMMV with the stock antenna. I suspect it would improve substantially from a rooftop. The keypad programming is obnoxious as hell, but with CHIRP and the programming cable (buy this, do not order without if you're planning on utilizing a varied set of fixed frequencies, repeaters, government channels, or weather channels). With CHIRP, you will have no problem getting 128 channels up in action. The included PTT headset works, but I'd get a better one for serious use. It would be excellent for driving or other low risk, static jobs that require hands free to accomplish safely. While the radio appears to be of durable construction, the headset is not. All said, you aren't going to get a better deal for the price. It's actually a pretty awesome piece of gear, and if you need to outfit the masses with radios cheap and plentifully, if you're on a tight budget, or just want some radios to play around with and not get too serious with. It's got good (probably excessive given the antenna limitations) power and is easy to use once it's programmed. Press the arrows, rock and roll. Now, while functional out of the box, you will want to buy the following in order of importance: Programming cable, longer antennas (I use the Nagoya 771 15in whip, just get something longer), more batteries, and maybe a PTT if you think you'll need it. You don't need to whip out the Peltor Comtacs, but the one that comes with it is pretty cheap.

This is a HAM radio, and can legally be used for nothing else; not for MURS, GMRS, Business Band or any other frequencies other than ham radio bands by a licensed ham. It MUST be programmed before using because the frequencies that are in the radio when it is received are out-of-band for ham radio operation and cannot legally be used. Do not even think of transmitting when first taking it out of the box and turning it on. I used a BTECH PC03 FTDI Genuine USB Programming Cable to program the radio. Programming it manually will be very time-consuming, but it can be done with a lot of patience. I recommend using CHIRP programming software. Using CHIRP with the programming cable made programming the radio very easy. I especially like the dual-watch and two PPT buttons. This way I can monitor two repeaters at the same time, even VHF and UHF, and talk on either one by pressing the corresponding PTT button. One thing I found is that the squelch settings from 1 to 9 does not change the squelch level much. 0 turns off the squelch. The squelch setting can be changed using CHIRP programming software for each selection from 0 to 9. I was having trouble with noise breaking through the squelch no matter wherever I set it, even at 9. I changed the settings with CHIRP to ones that give me the best results. They are the same for VHF and UHF. Selection 0 should be left at 0 because 0 turns the squelch off. This is a common problem, as I found many such complaints on the Internet, as well as the solution. The original settings in my radio were: VHF and UHF Squelch 0: 0 VHF and UHF Squelch 1: 16 VHF and UHF Squelch 2: 17 VHF and UHF Squelch 3: 18 VHF and UHF Squelch 4: 19 VHF and UHF Squelch 5: 20 VHF and UHF Squelch 6: 21 VHF and UHF Squelch 7: 22 VHF and UHF Squelch 8: 23 VHF and UHF Squelch 9: 24 A number from 0 to 127 can be entered, but if the number is set too high, even a large signal will not open the squelch. 0 to 24 is not much of a range, so I changed them to: VHF and UHF Squelch 0: 0 VHF and UHF Squelch 1: 10 VHF and UHF Squelch 2: 20 VHF and UHF Squelch 3: 30 VHF and UHF Squelch 4: 35 VHF and UHF Squelch 5: 37 VHF and UHF Squelch 6: 39 VHF and UHF Squelch 7: 41 VHF and UHF Squelch 8: 43 VHF and UHF Squelch 9: 47 These numbers give me the best results. Your results may vary. I found that the settings of between 33 and 37 is the sweet spot where the squelch has the greatest effect between the background noise breaking though and not breaking through. I experimented with different number settings before I settled upon these numbers. For me, the radio's squelch setting of 5 is now the best, where before setting it to 9 did not work well at all. I found out that my Wi-Fi network is causing the radio to break squelch intermittently. Actually, my Yaesu HT does the same thing, but it has a knob to adjust the squelch throughout its entire range. I actually like the digital squelch in the BaoFeng better because there is no knob to accidentally bump. I had a few questions about this radio and Customer Support was superb! They answered my e-mail and answered my questions immediately.

As a Baofeng radio fan, I was very interested in trying out the 8 watt new UV-82HP. I currently have 2 UV-5R HT's and a BTECH UV-5001 (50 watts of VHF fun) and love them all. The new 82HP was very nice looking as I took it out of the box. It was just as small as the UV-5R radios but has the bigger Volume button on top. The volume knob is a bit difficult (tight) to rotate to increase the volume and I'm not sure if it's just a slight part defect or like that on all of them now. I manually worked a lot of the tightness out by repeated motion. Using my old data cable from my UV-5R radios, I interfaced with my laptop running Debian Linux, and started up CHIRP. I downloaded the baseline image from the new radio to keep and then imported my old image (from my working UV-5R) with dozens of preset channels into the 82HP image. I was shocked but this actually worked and then I uploaded the image to the new radio. After restarting the radio, it showed all my old channels...excellent. The only thing I don't like is the new 'rocking PTT' button, which by default, is set to use VFO A if you press the top part of the mic button or VFO B if you press the lower part of the PTT button. If you want to set it to just do one PTT function as a whole, you HAVE to have the programming cable to set the flag. You cannot use the MENU button to do it which would have ticked me off if I hadn't already had one. You can then use the EXIT/AB button to switch the dual channel to the one you are TX on. Overall, for the price, you can't beat their products. I will say that I like the UV-5R much better when it comes to functionality and knobs so Baofeng needs to simply upgrade that model to 8-10 watts to have a huge winner. Almost forgot, as you learn in all of your FCC classes, the antenna is the most important item in your inventory...and that applies here as well. Ditch the rubber duck default antenna and get a good replacement immediately. I always use the Nagoya NA-771 15" female SMA replacement on my Baofeng radios and it's the bomb for RX and TX. SPPQ Original Nagoya NA-771 SMA Female Dual Band Whip Antenna VHF/UHF (144/430Mhz) For BaoFeng UV-5R UV-82 GT-3 And Kenwood Wouxun Radio [15.6In ]

I recently got a ham license, and needed an inexpensive way to get a hand transmitter to use for our club's net meetings. I bought BaoFeng UV-82HP, and have never been disappointed! Sitting in my living room, with a metal roof, I have no problem hitting the repeater with transmitting or receiving it either. Everyone says that my transmissions are clear and easy to hear, and I have never had a problem understanding this little speaker. I have a small magnetic roof mount antenna on my truck that I connect to when I travel, and can usually easily hit repeaters within about 25 miles. The 1800 battery that came with it will last about 3 or 4 days under normal use. I purchased two of the larger 3200 battery packs for it, which makes it easy to use for about a week or more without having to recharge, and am completely pleased with my purchases. If you need a little handheld, that is easy to carry around on your belt, that is simple to program (with Chirp), and that is simple to learn and to use, this is the one to get. Just make sure that Baofeng is the shipper, so you'll have no problems. They have good consumer service, so far. There are numerous add-ons that you can get, like a connecting microphone/speaker, with the kenwood plug, so you don't have to reach for your belt every time you need to transmit. And it also is easy to program this radio using Chirp, you just need to have the kenwood plug on the programming cord, so it'll work with your radio. There are any number of aftermarket antennas that have the SMA Female connector, to use in place of the little rubber-duck antenna that comes with it, if you think you need one. I've never had a problem with the rubber duck. I recommend this hand transceiver!