Effective communications are critical to the success of any mission. Living in the mountain West, useful cell reception is often more of a luxury than something worth relying on. In the absence of effective commercial networks, two-way radios are a very useful communications tool.
The various Chinese UHF/VHF portable (handheld) radios (Baofeng/Retevis/BTech/Anytone/etc.) come highly recommended by some individuals. I believe these well-meaning recommendations are based on a lack of understanding of useful properties for a practical-use radio. Throughout my career, I have used a variety of portables on Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems for industrial purposes. This has ingrained me with a bias towards high-quality commercial equipment, and a disdain for the "cheap stuff".
I'll assume that readers have reprogrammed their Chinese radios for frequencies appropriate for their area, as they often come out of the box programmed with emergency services frequencies. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to ensure that your radio is only programmed to transmit on frequencies on which you have the right to transmit.
Spectral Purity And You
What is spectral purity? Put simply, it refers to how much RF energy a radio outputs on frequencies other than the one to which it is tuned. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) maintains standards on spectral purity which all radios must meet. This may not sound like a big deal, but in practice it can lead to interference with other users. "Dirty" radios, or those with spectral purity problems, radiate on a number of frequencies they are not tuned to. They have been known to interfere with fire department systems, military airband transmissions, and more. The FCC takes a complaint-driven approach to enforcement. Someone transmitting on a given frequency without a license is extraordinarily unlikely to attract a complaint. The same cannot be said for interference, even accidental interference, with a public safety system.
Now, you're probably guessing that the FCC enforces its standards on radio manufacturers and importers. If only your tax dollars were used for something so productive! Enforcement on imported radios is essentially non-existent, and numerous examples, especially the Baofeng UV-5R and its derivatives, are notorious for failing to meet spectral purity standards.
I'll point readers towards this Hackaday post that links through to an excellent analysis of Baofeng spectral purity:
In summary: it's not good. Not all Baofengs are "dirty", but you have no way of knowing whether a given transceiver actually meets standards without hooking it up to thousands of dollars worth of testing equipment.
 |
| Baofeng BF-F8HP and Kenwood TK-3180 |
What Else Don't You Like About Baofengs?
I could spend an hour answering that question, but there are a few salient points: build quality, overcomplicated interface, and lack of features. In my experience, Baofeng radios do not hold up well to hard use. The organization I mentioned in my previous post had issues with Baofeng UV-5Rs and BF-F8HPs failing at random after several months of use. The Kenwood and Vertex Standard radios I have used occupationally last far longer with higher duty cycles and significantly worse conditions. Anecdotally, my Kenwood TK-3400 fell off my belt on a plant catwalk 50' in the air, landed on crushed rock, and required nothing more than a wipedown with no ill effects.
 |
| The Big Orange Button Of Poor Industrial Design |
I'll never forget my buddy's UV-5R playing country music in the field for no apparent reason, while secure in a pouch with its keylock enabled! After later analysis, I determined the cause: the keylock function does not lock out the "CALL" button on the UV-5R or BF-F8HP. When pressed momentarily, this button activates the transceiver's FM tuner. When pressed and held, the radio begins emitting a loud siren noise and its lights begin flashing. This is a poor attempt at a "man-down" function as can be programmed into many industrial radios.
When I examine the specification sheet for most commercial portables, I find a list of features including caller ID, status messaging, optional man-down function, operator selectable CTCSS tones, and more. The various Baofeng models lack nearly all of those features, and the few they do have are either implemented in such a way as to do more harm than good, or buried in menus that require an operator's manual handy to effectively use.
What Do You Recommend Instead?
Buying a quality commercial or amateur radio from a manufacturer such as Kenwood, Motorola, ICOM, Yaesu, Vertex Standard, or EF Johnson virtually assures you of a "clean" radio, with numerous other advantages. These radios are available used from numerous reputable resellers, many of whom will even program the radio for you, at very reasonable rates. A high-quality radio, manufactured in Japan, Singapore, or Malaysia and suitable for emergency, tactical, and industrial use, can be purchased for under $150.
Personally, I am highly partial to Kenwood radios. They are tested to MIL-STD 710 for a variety of environmental factors, hold up admirably to use and abuse, have outstanding audio quality, are easy to program, and are priced affordably. All of the other makes I listed will also serve you well; this is just my preference based on features, cost, and ease of programming.
 |
| Kenwood TK-360G, TK-380, TK-390, and TK-3180 |
For the user who wants voice-only communications with only a handful of frequencies, the TK-360G is a rock-solid option. I purchased a lot of a half-dozen on eBay for less than $10 each; deals like this are out there if you look!
For those who would like more features, the TK-380 introduces FleetSync, Kenwood's caller ID and status messaging system. These are workmanlike radios with a solid feature set. For a user who'd like a large number of frequencies as well as a (top-mounted) display but does not require status messaging, the TK-390 is hard to beat. I'm a die-hard TK-x90 fan, they're tough as nails, sound great, and just plain work. Finally, the TK-3180 resembles a product-improved TK-3180. It accepts high-capacity lithium batteries that will last 24 hours of light duty, has VOX functionality, and incorporates a voice inversion scrambler for low-level speech security. These radios all require Kenwood programming software and
an appropriate PC interface cable. The appropriate software for each model can be found here:
The models I've listed above are all UHF (Ultra High Frequency) radios; replace the 3 in the model number for a 2 for the equivalent VHF (Very High Frequency) model. UHF performs slightly better in urban areas; VHF performs slightly better in hilly areas. Both are best with line of sight to any location with which you wish to communicate.
You don't carry a Hi-Point if you can afford better, so why would you carry the Hi-Point of radios? Buy quality!
No comments:
Post a Comment