How exactly are you guys using these Baofeng radios?

[Darel]

OK, so I hardmounted a CB in my Gladiator because that was what everyone had 20 years ago, when I was last into wheeling. Come to find out, no one uses CB anymore, they all use GMRS. Fast forward 20 years, get my Gladiator, getting back into fourwheeling, but no one uses CB anymore. OK, so I poke around in this subforum and it seems like most guys are using these Baofeng radios, so I got two, a UV-5R and a BF-F8HP. Well, one group I wheel with uses FRS radios. I tune the Baofengs to their freqs and I can listen but I can't TX.

So to make a long story short, the Baofengs won't talk to FRS. I thought they were GMRS, they're not. I guess they're actually HAM, which in reality requires ANOTHER license, a different one, that requires a test.

How in the hell are you guys using these Baofengs? And since I have now bought THREE radios (including the CB) that are WRONG, how do I know the next radio I get will actually allow me to talk to someone when I go out fourwheeling?

Here's the noext one I'm looking at, will this work?:
https://www.amazon.com/Firmware-Rad...511465&sprefix=gmrs+base+radio,aps,91&sr=8-34

Frustrated,
Darel

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[KQL]

What each brand calls a “channel” and squelch “code” can vary. I bike with a MTB group that uses “channel 13” on their generic Chinese radios with no screen. My midland can hear them on my channel 10, but it wasn’t until I got my squelch set to 67 that I was able to get them to hear me. It took a bit of reading some websites about the group’s radios “channel 13” to give me some ideas as to what codes they might be set to. Your radio can hear them when you guys are on the same frequency (no matter what their brand call it “channel-wise”). But they cannot hear you on the same frequency because they have one of those poorly named “privacy” codes enabled in addition to the channel they’re on. You’d have to get them to turn off their privacy code, or get your radio to add the privacy code they’re on to your transmissions. Which can be a bit of a pain between brands. I borrowed my MTB team’s radio for a night, and tried some of the squelch codes they could be on. Every time I set a new code on my radio, I’d try to transmit and see if the team’s radio would let my transmission through. Until I found it.

Here’s a little info about how the privacy codes on your group’s radios are screening what they let them hear.
https://www.k0tfu.org/reference/frs-gmrs-privacy-codes-demystified.html

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

OK, so I hardmounted a CB in my Gladiator because that was what everyone had 20 years ago, when I was last into wheeling. Come to find out, no one uses CB anymore, they all use GMRS. Fast forward 20 years, get my Gladiator, getting back into fourwheeling, but no one uses CB anymore. OK, so I poke around in this subforum and it seems like most guys are using these Baofeng radios, so I got two, a UV-5R and a BF-F8HP. Well, one group I wheel with uses FRS radios. I tune the Baofengs to their freqs and I can listen but I can't TX.

So to make a long story short, the Baofengs won't talk to FRS. I thought they were GMRS, they're not. I guess they're actually HAM, which in reality requires ANOTHER license, a different one, that requires a test.

How in the hell are you guys using these Baofengs? And since I have now bought THREE radios (including the CB) that are WRONG, how do I know the next radio I get will actually allow me to talk to someone when I go out fourwheeling?

Here's the noext one I'm looking at, will this work?:
https://www.amazon.com/Firmware-Rad...511465&sprefix=gmrs+base+radio,aps,91&sr=8-34

Frustrated,
Darel

I don't have your radio so I can't give specific details, but a dude Notarubicon on the tube has made many videos on the UV-5R and how to set them up. This was a problem I guess like yours with the "new" UV-5R but he has the scoop on what to do. Probably gonna take some searching but he gives pretty detailed instructions. I watched his stuff while I was choosing mine. Good luck!

 

[Darel]

Found his videos already. Spent an hour trying to "unlock" both. Didn't work.

Reddit now tells me these Baofengs are HAM radios, not FRS or GMRS, and cant talk to anything other than HAM. I don't know crap about radios, just wanted to talk to other people on the trails, and I saw everyone on this forum recommend these Baofengs. I just don't understand how you all are using them - unless everyone you wheel with only has the same radios? Thing that really bugs me is that they are advertised as being GMRS but they ARE NOT.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

After reading @KQL post I think it was a privacy setting Notarubicon fixed. I believe he had to undo each channel individually, I could be wrong it's been a long time since I watched that stuff.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

 

[NeatFreq]

I'm an amateur ham operator for the last 10 years, so it just made sense for me to use a HAM radio in the Jeep. The test is easy and it's a fun hobby although I didn't go way down the rabbit hole as it's pretty deep.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

 

[doc-ketamine]

Go to YouTube. Check out “Not a Rubicon” productions. Pack a meal. You can spend hours learning about GMRS on his channel.

 

[Darel]

OK, so now I am looking at replacing my CB with this unit:

https://www.radioddity.com/collections/consumer-radios-frs-gmrs-radios/products/radioddity-db20g

Will I be able to take this unit, install it, and talk to other GMRS and FRS radios?

I don't want to deal with programming BS, I don't want any complications. I just want to dial in a frequency and talk to anyone who is on a trail ride with me.

And please stop posting the links to the unlocking videos, as previously stated I tried it a dozen times and it's not working. I just bought the wrong damn radios, although I STILL haven't figured out why everyone here recommends them.

Thanks,
Darel

 

[Darel]

Go to YouTube. Check out “Not a Rubicon” productions. Pack a meal. You can spend hours learning about GMRS on his channel.

If I had to spend hours learning about this just to tell someone to "turn left after the dead tree" I'd shoot myself, over and over.

 

[Rockabillyroy]

Found his videos already. Spent an hour trying to "unlock" both. Didn't work.

Reddit now tells me these Baofengs are HAM radios, not FRS or GMRS, and cant talk to anything other than HAM. I don't know crap about radios, just wanted to talk to other people on the trails, and I saw everyone on this forum recommend these Baofengs. I just don't understand how you all are using them - unless everyone you wheel with only has the same radios? Thing that really bugs me is that they are advertised as being GMRS but they ARE NOT.

You set the tx and rx on the uv-5r to the gmrs channel freq? And stepped down?

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

The bubble wrap FRS from Walmart are probably fine for what you want. You asked for help and don't want help, that is absolutely fine. When you have a radio with a bunch of buttons and several menus and different options you need to geek out a little bit, or at least nerd a little. Go bubble wrap Walmart, you will like it and won't have any problem.

 

[Darel]

You set the tx and rx on the uv-5r to the gmrs channel freq? And stepped down?

Yes and yes. I've come to learn these radios aren't allowed to talk to GMRS and FRS, which is why I posted this - because everyone here recommends these radios but there's no way they actually work. At least not talking to anything other than a HAM.

 

[Radio Guy]

OK, so now I am looking at replacing my CB with this unit:

https://www.radioddity.com/collections/consumer-radios-frs-gmrs-radios/products/radioddity-db20g

Will I be able to take this unit, install it, and talk to other GMRS and FRS radios?

I don't want to deal with programming BS, I don't want any complications. I just want to dial in a frequency and talk to anyone who is on a trail ride with me.

And please stop posting the links to the unlocking videos, as previously stated I tried it a dozen times and it's not working. I just bought the wrong damn radios, although I STILL haven't figured out why everyone here recommends them.

Thanks,
Darel

That is not a plug and play radio and at the very least you may have to match CTCSS tones or DCS cods buried in a menu for the people or group you want to talk with. If for some reason they don't use tones or codes then its closer to plug and play.

I have some similar radios and don't like them, actually I never use them due to the cumbersome way they operate. Instead of having a simple volume control and a separate channel selector they like to have a main do everything knob and you have to go into menus to tell the knob its a volume control now or its a squelch adjustment knob or whatever. I have several radios in a pile in my garage like that I'll never use again.

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