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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>All,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I'm passing on some information about my "cheap Chinese radio" that a couple of people asked about at the meeting last night.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The model I got was a Baofeng UV-5RA, which is currently selling for $32.96 on Amazon. See <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Baofeng-UV5RA-136-174-Dual-Band-Transceiver/dp/B009MAKWC0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top">http://www.amazon.com/Baofeng-UV5RA-136-174-Dual-Band-Transceiver/dp/B009MAKWC0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top</a>. The package consists of radio, battery charger and AC adapter, and carry strap. They are FCC Certified (sticker is under the battery compartment). The radio has between 4-5 watts maximum power, a 128-channel memory, as well as a scan function (which is kind of slow). I have found it to be a decent radio for someone just starting out but does not want to sink a lot of money in. You can consider it a disposable radio for the price. It has received pretty good reviews on eham.net (see <a href="http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/10349">http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/10349</a>)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Of course, being cheap there are some downsides. The case is not weatherproof or even weather resistant. The UV-5RA is somewhat of a bear to program manually through its keypad. Fortunately there is a web site that has lots of information about how to manually program (<a href="http://www.miklor.com/uv5r">www.miklor.com/uv5r</a>). It also has links to a freeware program (CHIRP) that will enable you to program in the local repeater frequencies and offsets from your computer. This is a lot easier to do than programming manually, plus you can save your settings out to a file on your computer. However, to program with a computer, you will need a USB interface cable, but this costs less than $10. See <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Cable-Baofeng-UV-5R-Driver/dp/B008RZJHJU/ref=pd_sim_e_1">http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Cable-Baofeng-UV-5R-Driver/dp/B008RZJHJU/ref=pd_sim_e_1</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Another useful add-on is a whip antenna to replace the "rubber duck" antenna that comes with the unit. I got this one: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ExpertPower%C2%AE-Two-way-Radio-Antenna-SMA-Female/dp/B008Y2SPE4/ref=pd_sim_e_3">http://www.amazon.com/ExpertPower%C2%AE-Two-way-Radio-Antenna-SMA-Female/dp/B008Y2SPE4/ref=pd_sim_e_3</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>At some point I intend to get a better UHF/VHF unit or even a mobile model, but for starting out on the cheap this unit does pretty good for the price.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Regards,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Roger<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>