Should You Buy the Baofeng 5RM as Seen in the Latest Ghostbusters Movie Frozen Empire? Jim W6LG 

Great radio to bring when you don't want to worry if you lose or break it

You’re looking well Jim. Great to see you again, so much knowledge to share.

Jim, great to see you still producing informative, and easily understood videos! Thank you!

Great video Jim, as always! Thanks!

Thank you for taking the time make this video. I appreciate your testing.

Thank you for the Baofeng review! I'm looking forward to your antenna tests.

Thank you for this review. Was very interested to see your tests on spurious emissions vs other RU-vidrs.

Thank You for an honest appraisal.

Keep up the good video production.

Hi Jim, great to see another video from you, I must admit I was surprised to see so much power output from the radio. In the past I have scoped out the FCC IDs of a number of broadly similar radios and to see what they actually gained approval as. A few I looked up seemed to be approved as scanning receivers, completely ignoring the transmitter section. A radio I have played with recently is the Quansheng UV-K5, there is a community developing firmware for it and you can actually update the firmware with just the programming cable and a web browser. It definitely has some unique capabilities with the alternative firmware. 73

great video Jim thanks so much God Bless you 73 from kb2uew

This is a wonderful value for the money and performs really good. I keep it in my backpack while trekking/hiking. The two issues I've had with mine was a muffled sound when transmitting through it and hearing what it sounds like on the other end and the antenna doesn't have great range. I pulled out the fabric piece and opened up the mic hole a little bit which has shown a little better audio, and tried using a coil center-loaded antenna but what worked best was just a simple stainless telescoping antenna. (I used whatever the Diamond brand antenna they offer) 👍

Thank you Jim

Thanks! I'm getting one.

Thanks

Never thought I'd do it. As always, I trust your judgement! I bought one.

Thanks Jim

MR JIM GREETINGS THANK YOU FOR SHARING 👏👏👍👍

I like the ribbon antenna. It is a clever idea.

Great testing. I know you want to rush to the internet and order another radio to test, so I’m putting in my request first. I hope that you will consider testing the Baofeng UV-17 Pro GPS, or the Baofeng UV-18 Max GPS. I’m a camper and a hiker, I’d really like an experts opinion one a radio that can send location information in a data burst to another radio. Thank you for all that you do for the betterment of our beloved hobby.

Thank You for the Baofeng 5RM review. New Subscriber, Great channel. KG5LBY 73

Great demo. Lots of HAM’s put those Chinese radios down, but I’ve long suspected they are completely acceptable. The UV5R has been ubiquitous in 2m work. Love to see a comparison. Thank you, and great to see you! K2CMA

Send it back Jim. -40dBc isn’t the only requirement a

Nice.

another great video…but have you ever found a 10W radio ever put out 10W??? I haven’t. Jerry

I like mine. With a Tri-band antenna, it works fine for what it is and what it costs. I put a Nagoya 302 (think that's it) on it.

Any idea on how to program it with Chirp? I can't get it to work.

Great entry point for 1.25m, a way to protect the band.

What is the firmware version on the 5RM you received?

Highly respect your content, testing, and opinion, thank you! One question, with the UV5R I've observed cases where one of these radios transmitting in near proximity with another of them (10ft) would de-sense the rx portion to such an extent it could no longer receive anything (until it was power cycled). Did you, or can you, test and comment on the rx behavior of this newer model? Thank you!

such a cool guy!

Thanks for the review. It would be useful if you.could also measure receiver performance -selectivity and sensitivity. These cheap radios are usually overloaded by nearby RF.

Jim How did you do during the storm? I am down here in Wilton and had my antenna mast bend 45 degrees. Thanks for your videos

what about front end overloading..the uv5r overloads and no receive ?

Jim, I don't think that's the right certificate for your radio. Yours is the 5RM and the cert is for the Baofeng DM-5R which is a DMR radio which I have. The dates on the cert are from 2018 which coincides with the older DMR radio but I would think newer dates should be apply on something as new as the 5RM. I could be wrong (it happened once before).

Good for the price. I bought one a few years ago, it worked for a year, then quit. Got a new battery, same thing. Never powered on again.

Great post, Jim. If it breaks or goes astray, it gets recycled. Easy. (Who 'ya gonna call?)👍

A little more umph than the usual 3,5 watts. Where would we order that interesting antenna?

These baofengs are unbeatable for the the price points !!!!

Hello, I’m a relatively new ham and I’m just learning about harmonics. I recently bought a different Chinese brand HT because I’d seen several RU-vid videos where people had tested this particular radio and found that it not only output full advertised power but also met FCC requirements on spurious emissions. Then immediately after purchasing it (of course) I found other videos where the radio did not meet specifications. My question is, if one radio passes, is it safe to assume most will also pass and that “out of spec” radios are an exception rather than a norm, or is it a total crap shoot with these types of radios? What experiences have you had?

I bought the (almost) same model from a company named Aliexpress(I believe). Mine shows it as Baofeng model AR-5RM. Identical in looks. Mine has a slightly different looking label but the same FCC ID, it is a Baofeng with a different company name. I haven't checked the FCC database yet but I would assume that different marketing companies are selling these, hence the different company name. By the way, it's not unusual to see an item with an FCC certification ID being sold by different companies. It's the electronics device that is FCC certified not the marketing company. I've seen that in past with Baofeng models when reviewing their FCC certification records. Anyway, it's good to know that your 5RM passes. I still need to test mine. Good Luck, N7YMZ

The Radio in the latest Ghostbusters movie Is the UV-5R. The model you discuss in this video is similar but not the same radio used in the new Ghostbusters movie.

That tape antenna looks like a great option when backpacking. I've been using a homebrewed 2m sleeve dipole with my HT when setting up at camp, but this looks like a much cleaner solution. About how much does it weigh? 73 N6ACA

High end boat anchor #43. I've had a few Bird meters. Can't seem to hang on to one.. I did purchase the UK5, 6 (8). Only due to the burnable firmware and broadband reception. no plans on deploying a $26 radio for anything other than an emergency. And lets hope we need not depend on the radio during said such an emergency. It's fun but flaky buyer beware. It's a toy not a radio. 73 Jim

Hi, How did you find the certification on the FCC. I found over 200 radio but not a single 5RM. I used 2AJGM-5RM to search, finally just the grantee. No 5RM. Thanks

Can someone send a link for Amazon tnx

It would have been helpful to also test power and transmission sweep on 1.25 meters. It seems to be the forgotten band.😢

Jim, You stated many times the radios are not FCC approved. Show me these radios please?

when you looked up the FCC type acceptance it looked like a Chinese source. I looked it up on the FCC web page and nothing was found. I also have a Tiny SA and I can tell with out looking at the numbers the second harmonic is almost at the same level as the fundamental. Definitely looks bad. I think you should ship it back. Second harmonic on 146.520 will be going into the military aviation band on 293.040.

73 from Brazil

Well the Baofeng may not be the best of them, I know when I started, that was all I get afford, and it worked well for my uses

A DM5R 2018 is a DMR handy, the 5RM is analogue from 2023

How can I get Elmer help?

Mineputsout 12 watts on 420 mhz into a dummy load and at 173 mhz puts out 10 watts into a dummy load.

I'm confused....from an Amazon purchaser.. " I bought a second radio, and tested the frequency copy feature, which is part of the text and graphics declaration of features, and not only does the manual indicate that it only searches for DCS or CTSS, but both radios did not search and find the tones or the frequency transmitted inches away from the second radio! I consider this dishonest at best and fraud at worst! The radio also has a 2nd harmonic that is not compliant with part 95 FCC, so many hams with 5 star reviews shows they haven't tested it or they don't care that it violates part 95 FCC requirements. My recommendation is to not purchase the radio for it's extended feature as they don't exist. Nore is the radio legal to operate. Bob Runge W1LSZ

Why does it sound like I am listening to this on a land line telephone?

Your audio is missing something today.

ive yet to see one content creator who s specific clique is ham held radios, not a single one will do a how to video, sure youll get the average "read the manual" potato head but they never once explains any lingo , nor any of the functions, not one will help you learn what or how to do the scans,not one , all reviews, well the reviews dont even make any sense, yet every one will say they are a expert, when they are not.wolld love to see a 100 percent how to video on even the basics, though i doubt this will ever happen.