Thank You Mike ! It seems that Baofengs are good radios but I just don’t like the idea of buying Chinese if I can help it . Having said that if I don’t buy Chinese it will probably cost a lot more for a radio .
Arctic Lake
The first handheld I purchased which is the one I hold a license for is a Kenwood TK-2202. Better quality/finish than Baofeng but guess where it's made? Singapore, ok not China but still part of Asia. Like it or not, most of the electronic products we use come from half way around the world. I don't recall exactly what it cost but I got it at a local radio supplier VMR Communications in Vernon & IIRC it was over $300 at the time. The gentleman there was very helpful in informing me about licensing etc & programmed the local FSR frequencies on it for me. It only has 8 channels, not user programmable so every time I need a different frequency in my travels of FSR's I need to take it back to VMR & that costs $30 after 2 or 3 initial freebies.
A Baofeng UV-5R by comparison costs way less, has 2 bands of 100 channels each (200 channels total) including the capability of the Family Radio channels, FM radio & a number of other features. It has an LCD screen, button keypad, is user programmable on the fly (not technically legal in Canada). It will more than cover all the frequencies of every FSR + Load Channels..... take it from there mon ami.
As far as Vendors in your area, for goodness sake just do a Google search.... surely there are way more options for you than for me in little old Vernon...
FWIW the Baofeng does not like RR-28 the frequency of the FSR en-route to our Vernon Fish & Game range. It goes nuts & is unusable... but they come in rainbow colours including camo.....accessories & farkles are also cheap & abundant...
Thank You for the details Mike ! Good of you to do !
Arctic Lake
Originally Posted by mike31154
The first handheld I purchased which is the one I hold a license for is a Kenwood TK-2202. Better quality/finish than Baofeng but guess where it's made? Singapore, ok not China but still part of Asia. Like it or not, most of the electronic products we use come from half way around the world. I don't recall exactly what it cost but I got it at a local radio supplier VMR Communications in Vernon & IIRC it was over $300 at the time. The gentleman there was very helpful in informing me about licensing etc & programmed the local FSR frequencies on it for me. It only has 8 channels, not user programmable so every time I need a different frequency in my travels of FSR's I need to take it back to VMR & that costs $30 after 2 or 3 initial freebies.
A Baofeng UV-5R by comparison costs way less, has 2 bands of 100 channels each (200 channels total) including the capability of the Family Radio channels, FM radio & a number of other features. It has an LCD screen, button keypad, is user programmable on the fly (not technically legal in Canada). It will more than cover all the frequencies of every FSR + Load Channels..... take it from there mon ami.
As far as Vendors in your area, for goodness sake just do a Google search.... surely there are way more options for you than for me in little old Vernon...
FWIW the Baofeng does not like RR-28 the frequency of the FSR en-route to our Vernon Fish & Game range. It goes nuts & is unusable... but they come in rainbow colours including camo.....accessories & farkles are also cheap & abundant...
Member of CCFR Would encourage you all to join today !
Read Teddy Roosevelt “ The Man In The Arena “ !
I picked up 5 of them last month. So far quite impressed. I programmed 30+ channels on all of the handhelds without a program/software. We now have all RR channels and can communicate with industry folks while on the resource roads.
Can't comment on length of battery as I haven't used them much afield, however I recommend picking up a truck mount magnetic antenna as it over doubles your distance from the handheld rubber ducky.