Baofeng Woes...

[K9CCH]

I am nearly ready to place this radio between a stump and a sledge hammer. I'm so effin frustrated.

I pretty much can't reach anything unless I'm sitting on top of the repeater. I go from the back yard, to the front yard, under trees, away from trees, in the open, face the south, north, east, west, do a couple of kart wheels, head stands, and all but climb the roof - and nothing. And the club repeater is only 6 miles from me.

And this happens a lot. About the only time I can get through to anything, is very late at night or very early in the morning. After that I'd have a better chance of my voice carrying further if I simply yelled. And if I do make a contact at those times, they say I'm way down in the noise.

i hate this fucking radio.

[K7SGJ]

I am nearly ready to place this radio between a stump and a sledge hammer. I'm so effin frustrated.

I pretty much can't reach anything unless I'm sitting on top of the repeater. I go from the back yard, to the front yard, under trees, away from trees, in the open, face the south, north, east, west, do a couple of kart wheels, head stands, and all but climb the roof - and nothing. And the club repeater is only 6 miles from me.

And this happens a lot. About the only time I can get through to anything, is very late at night or very early in the morning. After that I'd have a better chance of my voice carrying further if I simply yelled. And if I do make a contact at those times, they say I'm way down in the noise.

i hate this fucking radio.

Are you sure everything is set up correctly? Right offset, right pl, and all that? I would think that in a city the size of the one you are in, you should be able to bring up several repeaters, unless of course, you're in the bat cave. Is the repeater that's 6 miles from you at someone's house, or at an elevated location; like a building or something like that. I suppose there is every possibility the radio may be off frequency or the pl tones either not on the right frequency or not at the correct level.

[K9CCH]

Yes, I can trigger the repeater, and they were able to pull out "K9CC" but that was it. And I tried in multiple locations in my yard. I probably looked like an idiot walking in circles.

Now that you say bat cave, our cell phones often do not work in our home/yard. They cut out periodically and drop calls more when we are home than anywhere else.

[K7SGJ]

Yes, I can trigger the repeater, and they were able to pull out "K9CC" but that was it. And I tried in multiple locations in my yard. I probably looked like an idiot walking in circles.

Now that you say bat cave, our cell phones often do not work in our home/yard. They cut out periodically and drop calls more when we are home than anywhere else.

Well, you can always give it a go when you finish putting the J-pole put together.

[WØTKX]

Yea, or go up on the roof and check it out.

[K7SGJ]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried using in town, or anywhere else? Or have you tried it in your vehicle with a mag mount?

[K9CCH]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried using in town, or anywhere else? Or have you tried it in your vehicle with a mag mount?


No, I have a Diamond K400S trunk mount for the hood of the Jeep, but I haven't bought an antenna yet.

i can't transmit from inside the Jeep. I can trigger repeaters, but no one can understand me due to the amount of noise.

I've tried it in other areas, but signal reports are always the same. Noise noise noise.

and I have two baofeng UV-5RA's, and both are consistently "noisy". Which is why I say that unless the repeater is shoved up my ass, this radio can't hit them.

[WX7P]

Which Baofeng is it? UV-5? UV-5R UV5RE-plus?

I think Senor Rata is correct about the settings. I sometimes change the PL tone and forget to push the menu bar again to "confirm". If you don't do that, the radio won't remember the change.

Do as Dave says and try it on the roof, if you can, especially if you're in an RF hole.

I haven't had problem one with either of mine, but then again, it's pretty flat here in the corn desert.

[K7SGJ]

No, I have a Diamond K400S trunk mount for the hood of the Jeep, but I haven't bought an antenna yet.

i can't transmit from inside the Jeep. I can trigger repeaters, but no one can understand me due to the amount of noise.

I've tried it in other areas, but signal reports are always the same. Noise noise noise.

and I have two baofeng UV-5RA's, and both are consistently "noisy". Which is why I say that unless the repeater is shoved up my ass, this radio can't hit them.

That's interesting. What happens when you set them for the same simplex frequency, low power, and push the talk bar? Do you hear noise in the other? Or leave one near a tape recorder, go a block away and just try keying up, no audio, then count to ten, go back and see what it sounds like. I really don't know what your term "noise" means as it could be one of many different noises. Noise like the squelch is off and no signal, or distorted audio, or what?

[WX7P]

Which Baofeng is it? UV-5? UV-5R UV5RE-plus?

I think Senor Rata is correct about the settings. I sometimes change the PL tone and forget to push the menu bar again to "confirm". If you don't do that, the radio won't remember the change.

Do as Dave says and try it on the roof, if you can, especially if you're in an RF hole.

I haven't had problem one with either of mine, but then again, it's pretty flat here in the corn desert.

Looks like I was typing when you were.

I don't know anything about the UV-5RA's. If X-Rated (N9XR) shows up ask him. I know his son has one.

[KJ3N]

Most antennas that come with HTs are crap. You might want to investigate one of these: http://www.diamondantenna.net/srj77ca.html

[K9CCH]

I really don't know what your term "noise" means as it could be one of many different noises. Noise like the squelch is off and no signal, or distorted audio, or what?


White noise. Static.


i just hit a repeater about 14 miles away but it's at 1100'. I contacted my neighbor and asked him to move to simplex. We did and he answered some of my questions. His explanation was that even though the repeater I was trying to hit was 6 miles, it was UHF and those are heavily affected by all the trees around me. That and that the VHF/UHF bands open/close so fast that propagation can change within the hour.

[K9CCH]

Most antennas that come with HTs are crap. You might want to investigate one of these: http://www.diamondantenna.net/srj77ca.html


I have a Nagoya 771 on it. I have never used the stock rubber duck.

[WX7P]

Most antennas that come with HTs are crap. You might want to investigate one of these: http://www.diamondantenna.net/srj77ca.html

True enough.

I'm wondering if anyone has really sifted through all the dreck on the intertubes about the Chinese radios being garbage.

This is not scientific at all, but my buddy in CA has a Baofeng and he loves it. It slams all the repeatos in the lower south Bay Area. I believe his is also a UV-5RA.

It's entirely possible that the QA has missed some of the bad radios on the manufacturing end.

[K9CCH]

I'm a 911 operator and police dispatcher 40 hours a week. When radios don't work, I get frustrated and go ape shit.

i would probably not do good in one of those low power, experimental groups.

[KJ3N]

I contacted my neighbor and asked him to move to simplex. We did and he answered some of my questions. His explanation was that even though the repeater I was trying to hit was 6 miles, it was UHF and those are heavily affected by all the trees around me.

That much I'll agree with, but this next bit doesn't make much sense to me.


That and that the VHF/UHF bands open/close so fast that propagation can change within the hour.

The only times I've seen anything like that is during temperature inversions and tropo ducting. Those tend to happen during the early morning and early evening hours. The rest of the time, VHF/UHF propagation is pretty stable. There are enhancements that occur at certain times, but those bands don't "close". Certainly not over a 6-11 mile path.

[K9CCH]

The only times I've seen anything like that is during temperature inversions and tropo ducting. Those tend to happen during the early morning and early evening hours. The rest of the time, VHF/UHF propagation is pretty stable. There are enhancements that occur at certain times, but those bands don't "close". Certainly not over a 6-11 mile path.



He didn't necessarily say that they open/close, just that they change from hour to hour.

[K7SGJ]

I pretty much agree with Jim. It's true that a lot of vegetation can attenuate UHF signals, not so much VHF. As far as frequencies at 144 and above, I've never experienced any big changes for local operation. As others have noted, Tropo or ducting over long distances does occur. Also, neat things like meteor scatter and other stuff like that can occur which will influence the higher frequencies, too. To be honest, VHF and above is a very interesting and intriguing part of the hobby. A super place for experimentation.

[KJ3N]

He didn't necessarily say that they open/close, just that they change from hour to hour.

No, they don't. Daytime propagation is pretty much the same from around 10AM to around 5PM during the summer. During the winter, it doesn't change at all.

[KJ3N]

To be honest, VHF and above is a very interesting and intriguing part of the hobby.

This was demonstrated to me quite vividly when I worked W0AV in Kansas City, MO back around 1999-2000, on 2m SSB. A distance of 1,100 miles. This was using an 8-element beam at 25 feet and an IC-746 with 100 watts output.

My personal best has been WB0ULX in Huron, SD back in 2009. That was using an IC-7000 with 50 watts SSB output into a 13-element beam at 20 feet. A distance of 1,200 miles.

[WX7P]

This was demonstrated to me quite vividly when I worked W0AV in Kansas City, MO back around 1999-2000, on 2m SSB. A distance of 1,100 miles. This was using an 8-element beam at 25 feet and an IC-746 with 100 watts output.

My personal best has been WB0ULX in Huron, SD back in 2009. That was using an IC-7000 with 50 watts SSB output into a 13-element beam at 20 feet. A distance of 1,200 miles.

There must be lots of wisdom on those Delaware cave walls, Jim. That's some good juju.

The duo-bander radio I got from you still screams, BTW.

[KJ3N]

There must be lots of wisdom on those Delaware cave walls, Jim. That's some good juju.

Juju by butt. Pure dumb luck. I just happened to be in front of the radio when the band opened. I could have just as easily missed both openings.


The duo-bander radio I got from you still screams, BTW.

I'm just glad somebody's getting some use out of stuff I had no use for. I had way more VHF/UHF stuff gathering dust around here than I should have.

[WX7P]

Juju by butt. Pure dumb luck. I just happened to be in front of the radio when the band opened. I could have just as easily missed both openings.

That's the point. Good juju by being there at the right time.


I'm just glad somebody's getting some use out of stuff I had no use for. I had way more VHF/UHF stuff gathering dust around here than I should have.

Heh, that's the funny full circle part about all of this. I drop kicked a whole bunch of VHF/UHF equipment, especially 220 stuff, before I left California. I sold everything, which left me with no vhf/uhf, which led me to your old radio and the Baofengs. At least this time it was WAY cheaper. No way on 220 until I get out of the weeds here.

[KC2UGV]

I have a Nagoya 771 on it. I have never used the stock rubber duck.

How does it perform with the stock antenna? And, did it ever perform well?

[W3WN]

Yes, I can trigger the repeater, and they were able to pull out "K9CC" but that was it. And I tried in multiple locations in my yard. I probably looked like an idiot walking in circles.

Now that you say bat cave, our cell phones often do not work in our home/yard. They cut out periodically and drop calls more when we are home than anywhere else.Make sure that your PL tone is set correctly & is turned on.

I've seen this happen before when people try to check into the club's weekly net. If they don't have PL set, they may get the start of their call in before the squelch drops... but without PL, the squelch drops before they're done.

I'd also suggest hooking up with someone on simplex. If the radio itself is malfucntioning, they should see the same thing happening. If not, then it's just some getting the settings right.

Is this on 2 meters or 70 cm? Is this on one repeater? More than one? One band? Both bands? High power or low power output?

Also, see if the rig works OK from a mobile antenna (not the rubber duck that came with it), or from someone else's QTH.

But... I'd start with the PL settings.

[wa6mhz]

Another thing U can do is get one of those little 3 to 35W bricks to put in the line. They also have a preamp in them, and U can find them used fairly cheap. That will turn your HT into a full fledged mobile radio WITH the power to get out. I used one for APRS for years and it worked great. When U want to use the HT for simplex, just disconnect the cable and your HT becomes a handheld once again.

http://www.mirageamp.com/Product.php?productid=B-34-G

They are only $130 brand new, so a used one should go for around $50 or so.

[WØTKX]

HT antennas are always a compromise.

This works well, I have used it pulled up into a tree...
http://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/jpole.htm

And, you can quickly build a Rat-Tail. Make sure you call it that. :snicker:
http://forums.qrz.com/archive/index.php/t-208107.html

[K9CCH]

How does it perform with the stock antenna? And, did it ever perform well?


Never tried it. I bought the Nagoya at the same time and installed it immediately after unboxing.

[KC2UGV]

Never tried it. I bought the Nagoya at the same time and installed it immediately after unboxing.

Try the stock antenna. You may have a defective Nagoya. The stock will work well enough to hit a local repeater, generally speaking (It does with mine).

[K9CCH]

HT antennas are always a compromise.

This works well, I have used it pulled up into a tree...
http://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/jpole.htm

And, you can quickly build a Rat-Tail. Make sure you call it that. :snicker:
http://forums.qrz.com/archive/index.php/t-208107.html




I built a rat tail last week... It was not successful. The amount of improvement was so minimal that it wasn't worth it. And that's if there was in fact improvement, ins unverifiable.

[kb2vxa]

Bowfang or other, the difference is in the waves, not the radio. My Azden 2M HT is great in and of itself but repeaters seldom cooperate, at about 6mi each the one to the south is spotty while the one to the north is solid, trouble is nobody's on it. The difference is HAAT, the south one is on a water tower, typical, the north one is on a TV station tower, considerably higher. Frequency makes all the difference, simplex base to mobile with approximately the same ERP is the northern half of the county on 2M while I only got city wide coverage (about a mile) on 70cM. You definitely need a good antenna and some decent power around here, one dead repeater with an HT sucks.

[W7XF]

You might try listening on 146.52 simplex and see who you hear, or just ID on 6.52
Here on the cannabis pile, I only need 0.5 watt into a wet piece of macaroni to hit a repeater (helps when the repeater is 7000' AAT).

[K9CCH]

You might try listening on 146.52 simplex and see who you hear, or just ID on 6.52
Here on the cannabis pile, I only need 0.5 watt into a wet piece of macaroni to hit a repeater (helps when the repeater is 7000' AAT).


I don't have a problem hitting the repeater at 1100' that's 14mi from me in downtown Houston. Signal reports are that there is still a lot of white noise, and some days are better than others.

As for simplex, about 5mi from my QTH is the limit. There's a good group of simplex users around here and I've gotten in on the convo a few times. At about 5mi they have to start relaying because it gets too noisy. I tried simplex with a guy who's 9mi north of me the other day and there was nothing. Not even a click.

[WX7P]

I don't have a problem hitting the repeater at 1100' that's 14mi from me in downtown Houston. Signal reports are that there is still a lot of white noise, and some days are better than others.

As for simplex, about 5mi from my QTH is the limit. There's a good group of simplex users around here and I've gotten in on the convo a few times. At about 5mi they have to start relaying because it gets too noisy. I tried simplex with a guy who's 9mi north of me the other day and there was nothing. Not even a click.

I dunno, but 5 miles on an ht with no other antenna is not bad. Especially if you're on the 1 watt UHF setting.

[K9CCH]

I dunno, but 5 miles on an ht with no other antenna is not bad. Especially if you're on the 1 watt UHF setting.


I always run this thing at max power, so I would assume I was at 4w on VHF simplex.

[wa6mhz]

In the 9 area of the country, you don't have 5000 ft mountains to put repeaters on, which is why we have such great coverage here in SoCal. We DO have 50-100 mile repeater-HT coverage here. But in 9 land, the best they probably have is a TV tower up a couple hundred feet. Remember that the curvature of the Earth messes with the height of the tower, so it soon is below the horizon as you move away from it. So 5 miles isn't bad for a HT into a repeater back there. That is why you need more power and a better antenna. If I was there, I'd use an AMP and a 2 meter BEAM aimed at the repeater

[K9CCH]

In the 9 area of the country,



I'm in the 5 area of the country.

But that's probably why I can get into that repeater at 14 miles... its at 1100' on top of the tallest building in downtown Houston. All the other repeaters around are like 100'-200' if that high...

[KB3LAZ]

In the 9 area of the country, you don't have 5000 ft mountains to put repeaters on, which is why we have such great coverage here in SoCal. We DO have 50-100 mile repeater-HT coverage here. But in 9 land, the best they probably have is a TV tower up a couple hundred feet. Remember that the curvature of the Earth messes with the height of the tower, so it soon is below the horizon as you move away from it. So 5 miles isn't bad for a HT into a repeater back there. That is why you need more power and a better antenna. If I was there, I'd use an AMP and a 2 meter BEAM aimed at the repeater

I really don't know much about nation wide repeater setups but of the repeaters I know of back in my hometown most of them are as you describe. 150-300 feet give or take. Though there are a few systems with multiple receive sites and are linked systems. Pretty good coverage. Now only if that went hand and hand with activity. Interestingly many of the lower profile repeaters in my area seemed to have more activity than the linked systems with better coverage. Though I suppose that is or was (I have not played on repeaters since a few years before I left for Spain) due to differences of opinion. I know that at least three of the groups used to be one. From what I understand, this is not unusual concerning repeaters.

When it came to local chit chat I always preferred SSB. 2m, 6m, and 10m SSB always seemed to get a decent amount of traffic from locals. Very friendly and relaxed conversations too. HF filled the void when there was no activity. I have never really been in an area with an over active repeater. Then again, while living back home I rarely ventured more than a few miles from home for anything other than work and even then we are only talking 45 miles give or take.

Not to get further off topic but I am excited to get back on the air when I get home and branch out a bit more. I suppose a year away from the hobby has given me time to do a lot of reading and think about other radio related activities. More than just casual chit chat and early morning coffee nets.

[K7SGJ]

I really don't know much about nation wide repeater setups but of the repeaters I know of back in my hometown most of them are as you describe. 150-300 feet give or take. Though there are a few systems with multiple receive sites and are linked systems. Pretty good coverage. Now only if that went hand and hand with activity. Interestingly many of the lower profile repeaters in my area seemed to have more activity than the linked systems with better coverage. Though I suppose that is or was (I have not played on repeaters since a few years before I left for Spain) due to differences of opinion. I know that at least three of the groups used to be one. From what I understand, this is not unusual concerning repeaters.

When it came to local chit chat I always preferred SSB. 2m, 6m, and 10m SSB always seemed to get a decent amount of traffic from locals. Very friendly and relaxed conversations too. HF filled the void when there was no activity. I have never really been in an area with an over active repeater. Then again, while living back home I rarely ventured more than a few miles from home for anything other than work and even then we are only talking 45 miles give or take.

Not to get further off topic but I am excited to get back on the air when I get home and branch out a bit more. I suppose a year away from the hobby has given me time to do a lot of reading and think about other radio related activities. More than just casual chit chat and early morning coffee nets.

Yeah, orange vests, Twinkie lights, lots of car antennas, yippee.............

[W2NAP]

In the 9 area of the country, you don't have 5000 ft mountains to put repeaters on, which is why we have such great coverage here in SoCal. We DO have 50-100 mile repeater-HT coverage here. But in 9 land, the best they probably have is a TV tower up a couple hundred feet. Remember that the curvature of the Earth messes with the height of the tower, so it soon is below the horizon as you move away from it. So 5 miles isn't bad for a HT into a repeater back there. That is why you need more power and a better antenna. If I was there, I'd use an AMP and a 2 meter BEAM aimed at the repeater

i am in 9 land. and unlike many people think its not flat here. Indy is between 175 to 250ft lower in elevation from me. and were 100ft lower in elevation then the city to our east.
My repeater has better coverage to the north west then any other direction since its mostly the same elevation NW.
Going SW you are lucky to get into the machine from the 210 on I69 (about 20miles away) but Kokomo (35miles away) is totally doable.

[KB3LAZ]

Yeah, orange vests, Twinkie lights, lots of car antennas, yippee.............

Yeah, no.

[NQ6U]

i am in 9 land. and unlike many people think its not flat here. Indy is between 175 to 250ft lower in elevation from me. and were 100ft lower in elevation then the city to our east.

You must understand that to us Six-Landers, that counts as flat. The two repeaters I use most often are on peaks that are about 3500 and 3700 feet above sea level—both more than 3000 feet above the elevation of my QTH, which is about 450 feet. And I'm less than ten miles from the ocean.

[W2NAP]

You must understand that to us Six-Landers, that counts as flat. The two repeaters I use most often are on peaks that are about 3500 and 3700 feet above sea level—both more than 3000 feet above the elevation of my QTH, which is about 450 feet. And I'm less than ten miles from the ocean.

Kansas is flat. a repeater in Indy at 400ft wont do shit up here. unlike you out there that can slap a db-224 on a mountain at 4k ft with downtilt and cover wide area we cant. even repeaters around here pushing the 700ft mark dont do well in places. you have it easy over thar.

[KC2UGV]

I really don't know much about nation wide repeater setups but of the repeaters I know of back in my hometown most of them are as you describe. 150-300 feet give or take. Though there are a few systems with multiple receive sites and are linked systems. Pretty good coverage. Now only if that went hand and hand with activity. Interestingly many of the lower profile repeaters in my area seemed to have more activity than the linked systems with better coverage. Though I suppose that is or was (I have not played on repeaters since a few years before I left for Spain) due to differences of opinion. I know that at least three of the groups used to be one. From what I understand, this is not unusual concerning repeaters...

A lot of that has to do with over-policing of the large linked systems by owners/users of the system, to the point where they have so many rules, nobody wants to bother with them.

[KB3LAZ]

A lot of that has to do with over-policing of the large linked systems by owners/users of the system, to the point where they have so many rules, nobody wants to bother with them.

I see that is not unique to the local repeater I had used for awhile. Good to know. Then again, that really isn't different than round-tables or racghew "nets". The larger they are the more restrictions they have. The less likely they seem to welcome newcomers too.

I suppose if I lived in an area with a lot of active repeaters I could see different situations.

[kb2vxa]

That's why the best clubs are those that DON'T have repeaters.