Preparedness Notes for Monday — September 30, 2019

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B-Day!

Today, September 30th, 2019, is “B Day”: Baofeng Day. The U.S. sales ban on multi-band Baofeng UV-5R handie-talkies takes effect at midnight tonight. As of October 1st, 2019, it will be illegal to advertise or sell them. But they will still be legal to operate. Only licensed amateurs can operate on their ham bands. However, unlicensed folks can operate with them on their FRS, and MURS bands, if set to low power. Stock up! I recommend getting at least a six pack, ASAP! If those cases of six radios are sold out, then look for other UV-5R variants from the many sellers on Amazon.com, or on eBay.

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On this day in 1938, the Treaty of Munich was signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier, and Chamberlain. This treaty forced Czechoslovakia to cede territory to Germany.

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Today, we’re posting another product review by Pat Cascio, our Field Gear Editior.


11 Comments

  1. The UV-5R is not actually legal to use in FRS and MURS as it is not Part 95 type-accepted. It IS legal for GMRS, which shares all the FRS frequencies and adds a few repeater inputs, but you need a GMRS license for that. Unless you’re operating on a GMRS frequency at a high power level without a proper callsign the feds are unlikely to bust you, but you need to be aware that what you’re using is not just like the blister-pack radios from Walmart. You cannot use a UV-5R to lawfully transmit on any frequency it can reach without a license of some kind.

    I snagged 8 of them.

  2. Good reviews from eHam.net, the Nagoya 702v is primarly a 220mhz, that also does 2m. Best upgrade for 220Mhz radios for the money. Watch out for counterfeit Nagoya antennas. I ‘ve tested and found around 15 Nagoya 771’s, totally bad SWR on VHF. It will radiate well enough, but it is damaging the finals. If it too cheap to be true, it’s probably a counterfeit. There are other clues. Go to the official Nagoya site to verify the correct packaging and labels. Counterfeiting the 702 is also possible, as many sites claim it is a 2m/70cm. That might be marketing strategy for the counterfeiter to target the much bigger 2m/70cm market. IMHO, If it is correctly stated that the 702 is a 220/2m antenna, it is more likely not to be a counterfeit. The 220 mhz market is small, and not as profitable.

    Shop around:
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nagoya-NA-702-144-220Mhz-SMA-Female-Dual-Band-29cm-2-15dB-10W-Antenna-HT-Scanner/251850687414?hash=item3aa37883b6:g:MCIAAOSwJ4hY~b3w

  3. As of this morning 10/01, these radios are still being advertised on both eBay and Amazon.

    I would certainly not purchase them from either source as it is now illegal.

    1. I also saw that they are still for sale. I was able to pick up 3 packs of them over the past few days. I do have a question, however. All the articles on survival blog say that it will be illegal to advertise and sell these radios but make no mention of it being illegal to buy them. Are both buying and selling now illegal or just the selling?

  4. Only advertising or selling them is illegal. I can’t imagine that the BUYER would be charged, since the new ban is not a ban on possession. Also, please note that the average price has jumped from under $20 to around $30. The law of supply and demand is inescapable.

    It is also noteworthy that most of the Baofeng H/Ts now advertised on Amazon are NOT the multi-band UV-5R. Instead, it is the “888S” single band model–capable of operating on just 16 channels. (Versus many hundreds of frequencies in MURS, FRS, GMRS, and various ham bands, for the UV-5R.)

    1. There is a feature-length article scheduled on both Baofeng programming and practical/tactical operation already edited that will be posted in SurvivalBlog, later this week.

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