>>1088234Do you ever plan on, or would you consider a ham/amateur license?
If that answer's no, then I honestly wouldn't bother with a baomeme.
Yes, they're $30. Yes, they'll do FRS/GMRS. And FM, and WX.
They're also a lot harder to operate/program, especially if you're working with others on FRS/GMRS radios. "Channel 6" doesn't map to "channel 6" on the baofeng, and the codes/"subchannels" are the PL Hz tone frequency or DPL code. No "code 11".
You'll also need to know what channel width for what channel (FRS and GMRS don't use the same bandwidths). Getting it wrong means your audio sounds like ass.
You can program the channels in which takes care of channel and width, but you're still carrying along a "cheat sheet" of codes to PL/DPL.
The receivers are shit. They're not very selective, and even with a better antenna they don't have the RX range a decent radio that's tuned for a specific frequency does.
On TX power - not a single one i've run across a power meter even comes close to what it's rated for. My "5 watt" baomeme meters a little over 3.6W at the antenna jack.
A good FRS/GMRS radio is designed around FRS/GMRS frequencies, and they'll perform a lot better than a baofeng will. They're a hell of a lot easier to program than a baofeng.
A lot of them have WX radio, since they're designed for outdoor use.
You get a tougher radio - something that can be dunked/dropped/abused.
Headset port? Yep. I've seen some with bluetooth for a wireless headset (MU354R).
For $30, you get a lot of radio... but it's still a pile of chinese shit for $30.
t. Test/RF engineer, commercial/gmrs/microwave/amateur licensee.
