Reddit reviews BTECH PC03 FTDI Genuine USB Programming Cable for BTECH, BaoFeng, Kenwood, and AnyTone Radio

Programming cable and CHIRP will save you tons of time and headache. You can program UV5's manually, but it is so much easier to do with software.

Sounds like an HT would be a good first addition.

• Baofeng UB-82 - Dual band HT, great for local communication, repeater access, etc etc. You can also monitor other public service frequencies/weather band. $37.50
  
• Handheld mic for the Baofeng - Nice if you keep it on your desk in a charger, or if the radio is clipped to a bag or something, you can still access the mic (it's also a speaker). $6.37
  
• USB Programming Cable - Easily program memory channels with your computer. $20.46
  
• Upgraded antenna for the HT - This one is pretty big, plenty on Amazon of various size which will vary in performance, but anything should be better than the stock antenna. $16.99
  
  Well that's $81.32. Remaining could be spent on an extra battery, a power cable for the car etc etc.

This is what I just got for my first HT:

• UV-5RV2+
  
• Nagoya NA-701 8-Inch Whip
  
• FTDI Authentic Genuine USB Programming Cable
  
  I bought the cheap $5 cable first but it didn't work on my Mac so I returned it. This one works no problem. I had no reason to get the 5RV2+ over the plain 5R; the 5R is slightly cheaper though.

If you're doing this by hand, I would highly recommend getting a programming cable and the CHIRP software. it'll make things go much easier and faster.

As for organizing, it's a bit of a moot point, since you can't do memory banks or scan groups on the Baofengs like you can on a higher end radio. I tend to group them by frequency of use and band, with utility frequencies above those. Yes, just use the callsigns. You'll quickly learn what the active repeaters are and remember them.

Some ideas here:

A better whip antenna (others had some suggestions).

Magnetic mount antenna for the vehicle. MFJ-1721 or 1729 are cheap options. Diamond or Comet for higher quality. The Baofeng uses a SMA-male antenna connector so you'll need a SMA-female to BNC-female or SMA-female to SO-239 "pigtail" adapter cable. I don't recommend using a rigid adapter because the antenna cable can put mechanical stress on the radio's connector.

DBJ-2 antenna, a nice portable option for stationary use. Throw that in a tree and you'll get much improved range.

A speaker mic, then he can mount the radio at a fixed position in the vehicle. Makes it easier to use while driving.

Programming cable — makes it much easier to manage the list of stored frequencies and repeaters.

Extended battery — in addition to the increased runtime, this makes the radio fit my large hands better

Battery eliminator — powers the radio from a vehicle.

AA battery holder — replaces the rechargeable battery pack.

Some kind of bag or case to hold everything.

My first radio was a Baofeng Uv-82. Their quality is variable, and I was lucky to get a good one. They're cheap, but may not be the best choice for a new ham just due to the potential frustrations.

The repeaters in many areas are pretty quiet, though I understand southern CA to be more active.

The Yaesu FT70DR is a good choice, quality for price. Any of the major radio makers (Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu) make decent HTs.

The Baofeng (and other value-price Chinese radios, like Tytera), offer a lot of value for the dollar. Their sketchy quality can be frustrating for a new user (you may have a bad radio but just think you're not doing it right). Having said that, my first radio was a Baofeng UV-82 and it works fine.

I program it with Chirp (free programming software used by many), via a programming cable. If you go that way, buy the real programming cable from Btech, not one of the cheaper (<$10) clones. It's not just a simple cable, it has a chipset in it, and Windows drivers are an issue with the clones.

Oh, and if you're already studying for the Technician, go ahead and review the General material too. It's not a big stretch from Technician to General, and if you pass the Technician ask them to take the General right after. No extra cost to you, and you may pass it! The HF digital modes are quite popular and not real hard to get into. My next radio was an Icom IC-7100 since it could do so much at a reasonable price. It's still my primary base station.

>I live in Washington so bringing a nice radio for calling when out hiking on the various ridge's and mountains

You want a VHF or UHF Radio, this type of communication is line of sight, which complement those activities. I would get a Btech UV-5X3, would get you on 3 bands, 2m-1.25m-70cm, a better antenna, and programming cable.

https://www.amazon.com/d/Two-Way-Radios/BTECH-UV-5X3-Tri-Band-Amateur-Earpiece/B01J2W4JUI

https://www.amazon.com/Nagoya-NA-320A-2M-1-25M-70CM-144-220-440Mhz-BTECH/dp/B01K10B9XK/

https://www.amazon.com/PC03-Genuine-Programming-Cable-BaoFeng/dp/B00HUB0ONK/

It's really cool that you are so excited about ham radio that you want to buy some nice gear right away!

But my advice is don't. Don't buy any of this stuff. Not yet.

You won't be able to put it to much use unless you get your General, and even then, as others pointed out, you have some learnin' to do before you pick out HF (high frequency) equipment. (For example, you don't want a CB antenna!)

You mentioned in a comment that you don't want to buy a cheap radio that you would have to upgrade in the future. So do this instead: buy a cheap radio that you will want to keep even if you also get an HF rig later. That will be a handy-talkie (HT). This is the radio to start with; you will always want to have one in addition to any other radios you eventually get.

For less than $100 you can get a Baofeng radio and programming cable. If you go Baofeng I recommend buying from BTECH, the most reputable seller of these radios. Get either the UV-RX3 or the BF-F8HP, along with their programming cable.

To go with this you will want the free CHIRP programming software. Do you have a Windows computer? You will need one to use CHIRP or most other ham radio software. If you have a Mac you can use Boot Camp or a virtual machine to run Windows.

In the $200 range you can get an AnyTone AT-D868UV or AT-D878UV (newer version with more features). These are excellent HTs that give you DMR as well as 2m/70cm analog. They come with a programming cable and you can download the Windows software to program them (not CHIRP, but software specific to these radios). Let me know if interested and I can suggest some sellers for these.

The Baofeng and AnyTone radios can also be programmed directly from the radio keypad, but the programming software makes it a lot easier.

I have each of the radios I mentioned and use them often. Any of them would be a great place to start, and a radio you will want to keep even if you also set up a fancy HF rig after you get your General or Extra.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HUB0ONK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 that's the one I bought. No driver needed. However, make sure that you really have the portion in the HT seated very well and snug. On my first few tries mine wasn't really plugged in well, though I thought it was impossible to be more so. Really make sure it's snapped in there. Though that Amazon page says no drivers needed, and it was true for my El Capitan Mac, you would need one for linux.

I've got 2 UV5R v2+ and one BFF8HP. Dad just bought two UV5Rs, neighbor is probably going to buy some soon.

They are fantastic systems. Always get the 15" antenna. I have a NMO truck center mount also. I've used the radio while on my boat for marine VHF, I've used it in low power on the forbidden channels for my kids out hiking. I've used it for FM broadcast reception to listen to something interesting. I've even used the flashlight feature way more than I thought I would. They are fantastic systems.

get the more expensive FTDI programming cable and use Chirp. It worked the first try (once you figure out which COM port the thing wants to work on).

Throwing all the repeaters on there was a piece of cake. I'll admit to wanting a better UI and easier programming away from the computer, but for only $70 (UV5R + 15" whip + cable + shipping) it is really hard to beat. $70 gets you on the air, completely clear signal line of sight to repeaters and it provides a little insurance if you are backwoods hunting / boating on a small craft without a "real" marine VHF on a mast ($200+). If you get a few BNC adapters, then you can quickly change between a homemade Yagi and your 15" whip, or a vehicle NMO / similar antenna. The flexibility is pretty amazing.

once you care about longer bands, higher power, then you can start throwing money around on car or base station setups, putting up your own antenna, etc etc. Why not put <$100 into the hobby once you get your license and sit on that "investment" for a few months and see if you are in it for real.

For me, I'm probably going to stay a HAM for a while and with under $250 into the hobby for the next years. I do enough boating & back country hunting that HAM is very handy. I eventually will have dad and may be a brother that get licensed too (as well as many friends). Going on outings with other HAMs makes things much more fun obviously, rather than just sitting on the local repeater NET and checking in with nothing else to do.

Super-Elastic Signal Stick
& a HandMic
A programming cable would be a great add as well.

I'm not positive but I think the one you have selected will work.

Here's the one I bought about a year ago:

BTECH PC03 FTDI Genuine USB Programming Cable for BTECH, BaoFeng, Kenwood, and AnyTone Radio https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUB0ONK/ref=cm_sw_r_other_taa_fcvRBbBR12SG1

Let's see if I can help...

Two cables exist for USB to serial control to the radio. One has the FTDI Chipset and one has the Prolific Chipset. The difference between the two is that the FTDI is bullet-proof reliable and will be one less headache for you as a ham. The Prolific is hit or miss. Some people have luck with it, and some people don't. As a new ham, I wouldn't want someone to get too frustrated which is why I recommend the better cable. The bonus is it works with Kenwood and Wouxun radios as well.

Good luck!

I went with the cheaper cable at first, and it worked with the Chinese software. After contacting the manufacturer, they recommended a different cable which worked like a champ.

if you look in this sub you will find most of what you need. i dont know how much of this will translate to the b5 but might help - http://radiodoc.github.io/index.html

and get this + data cable to program via pc - http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

there are a lot of "fake" data cables that can cause issues, cant go wrong with this one - http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-BaoFeng-Programming-Cable-BF-F8HP/dp/B00HUB0ONK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411083423&sr=8-3&keywords=baofeng+cable

Make sure that you get THIS cable , don’t go with a cheaper one , you will have issues ......

BTECH PC03 FTDI Genuine USB Programming Cable for BTECH, BaoFeng, Kenwood, and AnyTone Radio https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUB0ONK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_sPRlDbZGRK8C4

> PS the programming cable in that list takes A LOT of fiddling to get it to work properly, just warning you.

Buy the authentic cable, and all your problems go away.

I am on windows 10 and have this added to my cart on amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HUB0ONK/ref=crt_ewc_title_gw_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AA3MGRC7F9EI2

Would it work?

When I bought my cable, I was cautioned to only buy the cable from Baofeng themselves, and that knock-off cables wouldn't work. I don't know if that's a legit issue, but I didn't risk it and bought mine straight from Baofeng on Amazon. Maybe that's not your problem, but it could be.

I use this one with with my BF-F8HP. I've never had problems with it using CHIRP

I had good luck with this one. I plugged it into my windows 10 machine and Chirp worked without any driver download or install, just using the generic FTDI driver that bundles with windows.

ETA: This is with a BaoFeng BF-F8HP as the target.

> I'm 99% sure the 888s requires one of the side buttons pressed while turning on to program.

Nope. I've configured ~ 10 of them. If you use a legitimate FTDI cable, you don't need any special tricks. Just plug it in, turn it on, and sync.

This is definitely what ham radio is made for.

You didn't talk about the terrain or the area you need to cover, but for local stuff a simple VHF or UHF setups cover that.

If simplex can't cover it often repeaters go unused like in my area, and can be happily used like I do from my basement 10 miles away with a handheld radio. I've heard of people using it over 30 miles eaily with a mobile setup.

If that doesn't cover it I do know a few people that do HF mobile, but I don't have much experience with that. It has some challenges, but is similar to a mobile VHF/UHF setup.

Look for local clubs, and see where repeaters are. Get everyone licensed; general if you want to do HF stuff for fun later, but IMO just go as far as you can as the license is for life as long as you remember to renew it. HT Boafangs are pretty cheap to get started with, plus at least one programing cable to use with Chirp software, then some better antenna can help too.

A mobile setup is similar I'd say to a CB one. You have a unit that you put in your car and then have fun trying to mount the antenna (drilling vs magmount). Universal radio, DX Engineering, and Ham Radio Outlet are common places to buy equipment.

Anything else?

If you are going to transmit on simplex frequencies then you don't need the CHIRP software.

If you only plan to use a couple of repeater frequencies then you can learn how to program it manually. It is a very frustrating process compared to other handhelds like Yaesu and Kenwood.

I have a couple of Baofeng radios which I want to use on a number of repeaters and found it so frustrating to do the programming manually that I use CHIRP. I'm also a member of a RACES team so I have a number of repeaters programmed into my Baofeng radios and the best way to get it done correctly and in a timely manner was to use CHIRP.

One word of caution DON'T GET KNOCK OFF CABLE. Most of the time they don't work. Only get the GENUINE programming cable made by BTech. Here is the link to it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Programming-BaoFeng-Kenwood-AnyTone/dp/B00HUB0ONK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1527191826&sr=8-4&keywords=baofeng+programming+cable

Good Luck,

Scott - K7JSG

I have a Macbook Pro and bought this cable recently. It was plug and play, as the Mac really likes the FTDI chipset in it. I've messed around with other cables with the Prolific chipset in the past and got them working, but this one worked out of the box with both my Mac and Windows devices.

Thanks a ton for the advise, I didn't even think about possible counterfeits on Amazon. Are the NA-771s from NAGOYA on Amazon also possible counterfeits or should they be fine? If there's a risk I can go with the BaoFeng but is almost twice as much (which also makes me wonder about a fake...).

I looked into the programming cables some more as well and will likely go with the more expensive one to avoid any hassle.

Thanks again!

^^What he said. I don't have a Baofeng, but I've read up on them.

You need the programming cable if you want to name your saved channels.

Also, get the $20 programming cable, not the $9 one, unless you're really good at device driver debugging. The cheapo cables have knockoff chips in them that are not supported by the official drivers. It's a headache.

THIS should be the legit cable. SHOULD be.

Happy hamming!

EDIT: Second also on using CHIRP. The Baofengs are well supported by that software, and it's cross-platform, unlike the manufacturer's software.

I only wish the CHIRP guys would choose to support the TYT U/V HTs sometime this decade. :'(

Yea the problem is probably your cable; it was sold by Tenway, not by Baofeng. This is what you should get.

It could be true that the Baofeng brand ones use Prolific, but the cable you want is this one which uses FTDI.

I recently got a Baofeng BF-F8HP. Its my first ham radio and it is serving me very well.

I also got the Nagoya NA-771 Antenna, and this programming cable.

The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual is the book I bought to study.

I am using CHIRP to program my BF-F8HP.

I am new to ham radio and I would like to get my license too.

If you use low power you are obeying all the rules for MURS

Buy a programming cable and get chirp, you'll be able to use your computer to program the frequencies in.

The radio isn't approved for MURS but realistically no one is gonna hunt you down unless you go grossly over the power limit.

Of course a getting a technician license is the best choice, however, it would be kind of hard to get everyone in your group licensed.