VK member Brandon (lnx64), KM4GGU, near Orlando, recently ordered a Baofeng HT, and probably has it by now. I'm looking forward to reading his review of this transceiver, as I know nothing about it except what I read here about it.
I did not realize that many of these HTs are being used illegally, or that they are in fact used by the Chinese police. For that matter, I did not realize until I read one of the responses to a previous post that these radios can operate across 136-170 MHz or even higher, and must be programmed for the U. S. amateur frequencies.
The procedure used to unlock the tuning ranges (to allow unlimited TX and RX across the entire 136-170 MHz and UHF ranges) should not, IMO, be made public; the radios sold in this country should be set up for TX/RX in the U.S. amateur bands only.
I personally have stayed with the established brands of amateur radio gear (Yaesu, Heathkit, Icom, et al.) all my years in the hobby (been licensed since 1972). I have both a Yaesu FT-207R 3-watt HT and an Icom IC-T22A, which can put out as much as five watts when powered by a 13-volt battery pack; however, my own IC-T22a came with a battery case that holds only four AA-size rechargeable batteries, so I'm not putting much more than a watt and a half into the 3/8-wave telescoping 2m antenna I'm using with the radio. (I have several rubber-duckie 2m antennas, but they are stored somewhere where I can't find them; just as well, I guess). The antenna works well with the local 2m repeater, which is about five miles or so from here. Unfortunately, that repeater is tone-activated (due to a repeater near here on the same frequencies, and one in Detroit on those frequencies as well), so the only way I can get into it is with the Icom HT; the Yaesu doesn't have the subaudible tone generator, so I can only use it with "open" repeaters, that is, systems that do not use tones. When I lived in the Cleveland suburbs, there were any number of repeaters I could get into with a 3-watt handheld and an indoor antenna; where I live now, 35 miles east of downtown, the local 147.81-21 repeater is the only one I can count on getting into reliably with my Icom 1.5-watt rig. I live in an apartment building, so outdoor amateur antennas of any sort are out of the question.
BTW, I wonder why the software CD that ships with these Baofeng HTs should not be used for initial programming. Is there some danger of corrupting the memories or the HT's own microprocessor if that CD is used for initial setup?
The HT itself ships with a USB cable for programming with a Windows computer, so it should not be necessary to use any aftermarket cables for this purpose. The manual programming procedure, as I found out while watching a video of same on YouTube shortly before starting to write this, doesn't seem any more complicated than that for most other HTs. If anything, the programming should be easier with the Baofeng HTs, since they are set up to confirm every step of the procedure. For those steps which are not confirmed by audible means, a message will appear on the LCD frequency display if, for example, you try to program a favorite repeater frequency pair into a memory channel that is already populated (the letters CH, followed by a dash and the memory channel number; for vacant memory channels, the memory channel number itself will appear).
I also wonder, due to the very low selling price of the Baofeng HTs, what the procedure is if the rig breaks down and must be sent back to the factory. Does Baofeng have service centers here in the United States, or is it necessary to send the radio back to the company's headquarters in China to get warranty service? I looked at Baofeng's web site and saw, if I remember correctly, an address in Washington state, near Seattle, to which the radio may be sent if warranty repairs are required.