Considering a Baofeng GT3-TP Mark III - Opinions?
 

Hello all,

Well, it's 4 weeks untill the local exam session! I'm not worried about passing tech at all; but I'm still doing a little studying as I haven't looked through the entire question pool yet; I also may go for a general while I'm there.

However, it's almost time for me to look in to getting a radio. I'm going to start out small and get a handheld; mostly because I would like to operate mobile at times (when I go on vacation and whatnot). Plus, it was the price of the older Baofengs at around $30 that was what pushed me in to getting serious about this hobby.

I asked around for some advice from other hams and several of them recommended the GT3 Mark II radio; saying the antenna included was much better than stock and that for the price it's a solid performing radio. However, I got to looking and found the newer GT3-TP Mark III for what I felt was a reasonable price; more than a $30 unit, but still within my budget.

The guys that recommended the GT3 Mark II told me that while 8 watts may be a "joke" on a handheld; that for the price I was looking at it wouldn't be a horrible buy. I'm really liking the specs I see, and it seems just as capable as any of the other handhelds I looked at.

So, what is this groups opinion on the this unit? The place I'm looking sells it with the standard accessories; plus a USB cable and the external mic/speaker. I know I'll need a USB cable for programming.

I've been hearing nothing but good reviews out of these cheap Baofengs for the last year. They're apparently even better with almost any external antenna.
You really can't laugh at them given the price.

Yeah...a lot of people have bashed them for being cheap; but I've also read some of the things people have said about the people bashing them...apparently there's an elistist attitude among a few hams the say way there is in audio; so some of the guys will poo-poo anything they don't own or is inherently cheap.

However, they've gotten great reviews and I've liked what I've read from people who own one. One guy claimed he got 40 miles on 8 watts with the included antenna; I'm not sure how much I want to believe that; but think it's entirely possible.

For $70, it's looking like a really good capable starter radio. I was shocked to find the antenna was flexible...dude bent it in a video and I actually cringed and was surpirsed to watch it flex back in to place.

I figured if I get one, I'll just construct a simple quarter-wave ground plane on a SO-239 like I did for my ADS-B antenna; get it as high as I can. Apparently the antenna uses SMA; and I've got some SMA adapters around from my SDR hardware.

That's the reason why I've never applied for a license: way too many senile farts trying to tell me how to do things and trying to sell me stuff they found in the trash for way too much.

Well...coming from the audio side of things; I'm already used to that. There's always someone telling you how you're doing it wrong, how they're doing it better, and "hey, i'll sell you this and it'll be the first thing you do right"

But, by far, that's not the mentality of a lot of ham's. So it's just a matter of shrugging it off; doing your research to find out what's a good deal...and don't try to let the crazies draw you in to their world.

Just ordered it this evening; just in time for it to sit around for close to 3 weeks till I'm legal. Oh well, at least I'll have it.

I'll sell ya my S-38 Hallicrafters for a MEASLY $500 smackers... Guaranteed to pick up Finland on a Clear Day..(grin)

Someone on ebay wants $750 for an old Icom u2AT 2M handie talkie. I have one, it's nice (the user interface is very easy), but it's worth more like $37.50 (1/20th as much, used).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Icom-Micro-2...95762506&rt=nc

Like I said. A mixed bag of nuts. :screwy:

Yeah, but I'm PROUD of it...

Like ANY hobby it has it's share of nuts....Infact any decent size cross-section of humanity, and we all have to deal with at least one such cross-section, is bound have some nuts mixed in...It is an occupational hazard of not being an extra terrestrial being on a different planet....

Aww, bein' the Class Clown, Nut, Foole, whatever, sure has made my life INTERESTING all these years... Got me OUT of almost as much TROUBLE as its got me INTO...

I have no interest in any of those cheap Chinese ham radios because their makers do not support the ham radio community (DXpeditions, convention booths/exhibits, etc.) the way other companies do.

I personally don't care for some of the companies that tend to use proprietary techonology. Look at D-Star, Icom owns that; the only radios that can contain D-Star technology are Icom radios. I fail to see how that's really supportive of ham radio; something I feel should be more open. Icom feels like the Apple of Ham radio....sure..they support the hobby...but they're acting like they're only doing so to get people to buy their radios and push their technology. I'd love to do D-Star stuff; but I'm not going to pay a ton of money for a radio because only one brand of radio does it.

There are other systems just as good as D-Star; but no ham wants to really support it. Sometimes I feel like they're basically all catering to the way ICom is pushing the hobby.

So, you've got your reasons for hating Baofeng; I've got my reasons for not considering purchasing from the other companies. I mean, if anything...Baofeng is at least putting radios on the market that are cheap enough to make people get in to the hobby...if I hadn't found cheap Baofeng radios...I wouldn't have considered even trying to get my license.

The other companies do it; only because people are paying the sometimes inflated prices for a radio. Maybe Baofeng just doesn't have the profit margin to do so because they're more worried about getting radios in to the hands of people.

I have a Bao Feng UV-82L and I like it. Not a bad little radio for $50. I'd love to have the standard HT's but they cost too much for a person of limited means such as myself. They are a pain in the butt to program manually though so I suggest triple checking your programming, I did because I almost fired up on a military frequency. That in mind, they are good radios it seems. They also double as a scanner too, although they are slow but if you just have that to lug around, it does the job.