BAOFENGUV-82HP High Power Dual Band Radio: 136-174mhz (VHF) 400-520mhz (UHF) Amateur (Ham) Portable Two-Way

I have been a ham for 50 years but this is the first handy-talkie I purchased for amateur bands. I am generally not a fan of HTs. I have operated and serviced many VHF and UHF HTs back in the day. So, this review is probably biased a little bit towards what I've seen in commercial and industrial applications. Without considering the extra features for ham use, the Baofeng UV-82HT checks most of the boxes. Overall, it seems like a good radio. But, as some say, the devil is in the details. There are some great features and in my opinion some warts. That said, let's get to it.I think the great features (not necessarily unique) are:User Manual is well written and illustrated in English, and is actually helpful!Dual Push to Talk (PTT) / Dual WatchThis is fantastic. One can monitor two frequencies at once: UHF/VHF; VHF/VHF; or UHF/UHF. To transmit to one or the other just presseither the A or B PTT as applicable. A question is what happens if both have a signal at the same time?If you don't want this feature it can be turned off.Three programmable transmit power levels: High-Medium-LowFor VHF: H=8 Watts, M=4 Watts, L=1 WattFor UHF: H=7 Watts, M=4 Watts, L=1 WattBattery Voltage DisplayPress the “0” key for about 2 seconds and battery voltage is displayed; for example, DC8.2VIt also displays the legacy battery ICON with bars to represent battery reserve.Ability to listen to broadcast FM, NOAA Weather, etcPress the F key below the PTT and listen to some tunes on FM Radio while your favorite repeater is idle. Reception of a signal on your active channel will interrupt broadcast FM radio and put you on the active channel. You won't miss a call. FM reception will resume after a little delay when the VHF/UHF signal ends. There is a scan feature for FM that will stop when it gets a signal, regardless of which scan mode is programmed. NOAA weather can be programmed from the keyboard in VFO mode or with software. With software you can skip the scanning of this channel.There is a built-in LED flashlight on top of the radio that can shine steadily or strobe.Comes in various colorsHow cool is that? I bought a blue one.Some of the wartsSquelch threshold adjustment, or the lack thereof?The adjustment is made by programming a digit (0-9) into menu 0. The default setting is 5. Programming a 0 will open squelch continuously. I have tried different digits and there is little change in squelch threshold. Recently a weak, fading signal on 2 meters kept opening the squelch when nothing but noise could be heard. It could not be squelched – no matter what I programmed. Annoying! Like audio volume, squelch adjustment works better when analog.A dual concentric audio/squelch pot would be great.Scanning / Memory – Channel ModeThere are 128 channels that can be programmed with either a VHF or UHF frequency, CTCSS, etc. However, the scanning rate is 3 channels per second. Obviously, scanning a large number of channels is impractical. You will probably want to scan only a dozen or so. A given frequency must be stored in a memory to scan it and each channel in memory will be scanned unless programmed to skip. With CHIRP this is easily done by placing an S into the skip column of the channel table. It doesn't appear to be possible to skip scanning a channel by a keyboard entry.VFO ModeAwkward and cumbersome. It enables manual programming via the radio keypad. The user manual suggests VFO mode is useful for experimenting in the field and programming is somewhat difficult at first. I would say its painful. You must first specify a vacant memory channel. This is problematic. You can scroll through the memory channels: 1,2,3... or enter a channel number from the keypad, but I have found no way to determine which, if any, channels are empty. Once programmed, a channel cannot be edited using the key pad. The channel must first be deleted. This insures that an existing cannot be overwritten. Scanning is possible in VFO mode. It can scan by incrementing the frequency in fixed steps as programmed in menu 1, STEP – Frequency Step. This scanning mode is very slow and probably not practical for many.Radio Case and Battery CaseThe radio case is pretty solid and feels good in the hand, but the bottom is not flat. There are two plastic nubs on the bottom of the case and two more on the bottom of the battery. There is also two rectangular depressions, one in the battery, another in the radio. If you set the radio upright on a hard surface it is unstable and can easily fall over. Not cool!ChargerWhen placed on a hard surface, the charger can slide easily. There are four circular ridges on the bottom presumably for feet pads, but no pads were provided for my charger. Not a huge deal, but I fume when the charger, along with my radio, slides around with the slightest touch. Finally, the LED on the charger is red while charging, green when finished charging, and flashes multi-colors when you remove the radio. OK, maybe this is not a wart, but it annoys the heck out of me and it attracts small children. Why not just turn the LED off?SummationAny design involves compromises between performance, features, aesthetics, price, etc, leaving room for improvement. I think the UV-82HT is designed with a good mix of compromises. The radio has more features than I will likely use. It is very flexible. I have not tested any performance specifications. Perhaps I will in the future. Meanwhile, I can enjoy operating it. I like it a lot. It is an outstanding value. I give it 5 stars and my recommendation without hesitation. 73

The plethora of HT radios available can make choosing a first radio a daunting task. Having just entered the amateur radio world I didn't want to make a huge investment on my first purchase. I was originally looking at the UV-82 while I studied for my exam when suddenly this newly updated UV-82HP version showed up. The price was more but I figured I might as well go for the newest in the line.Some of the elites and purists will mock Baofeng radios as low-grade, cheap Chinese junk. Which is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, after looking at the reviews it seemed that many people were happy with their purchases. I don't know if it was that I wasn't expecting much but this little radio has really impressed me. The more I learn about amateur radio and the competition, I am finding that this radio is hard to beat, and for the price - can't be beat.Unboxing the radio I first noticed that the radio looks substantial and has quality feel in the hand. It certainly looks nicer in reality than it looks in the picture. I have a base model Baofeng 888s and this UV-82HP is finished much nicer and looks sharp. There is no shoddy workmanship visible.The menu can be a bit daunting until you learn what the menu titles represent, after that, things become somewhat self explanatory. I have read many complaints about the difficulty of programming the Baofengs. However, following the instructions on miklor-dot-com I was able to program a repeater into the radio manually. It won't be hard to commit these steps to memory. I also have used CHIRP software, which is fairly easy. The easiest however is RT Systems, which I would highly recommend.The three power settings are great. They can easily be toggled with one button operation on the keypad. I was hitting repeaters (high elevation) miles away while inside a building. My contacts were impressed that I was on handheld and reaching them.I did immediately replace the stock antenna with a thin whip Comet. This is the antenna that got me out so far to the repeater. I have two of the units and doing simplex in a densely populated area we were able to stay connected at least 1.5 miles. That may not seem impressive but in densely populated area with neighborhoods and buildings (Los Angeles area) I was impressed.After buying a roof-mount I was hitting far away repeaters with ease and my feedback was that I was coming in loud and clear.The dual channel display is easy to read and can be customized to light up in different colors from within the menu or through software.A real nice feature for this “cheaper” HT is that it listens to two different channels and/or bands at the same time. The PTT button is dual also. Pressing the top button will have you transmitting on the A display channel and pressing the bottom of the button will have you transmitting on the B display channel. That is not something you’ll find in some of the more expensive HT radios.Battery life has been great lasting me for days. Mostly listening with a few transmissions.It does a great job scanning which can be activating by pressing and holding a button on the keypad.The belt clip that comes with the radio is strong and substantial. The spring tension is impressive.I purchased a speaker mic for it. This was not dual-PTT that Baofeng sells but a single button. When using a single button speaker mic - if you have channel A selected you will be able to listen but not Tx. The trick to using a single button speaker mic when the dual PTT option is active is that you must have channel B (the bottom display) selected, doing so will allow you to both transmit and receive. This challenge is altogether avoided by purchasing Baofeng's dual PTT speak mic. I chose another single button brand though on a recommendation and it works fine for me.VFO mode is very easy to access. Just hold down the menu key and turn the radio on.I recently acquired a Yaesu FT-60. Yes, the superior Yaesu quality is immediately evident from the moment you pick it up and it is loads easier to manually program. However, the FT-60 costs over twice as much and still lacks some of the very nice features that the UV-82HP has. I have not used the Yaesu very much yet so I cannot give a full comparison. I may update this review at some point down the road to give some extra highlights and comparisons.One thing to consider is that the Baofeng UV-82 allows you to transmit on FRS/MURS/GMRS frequencies. You should know that it is not legal to transmit on these frequencies due to the fact that this radio has a removable antenna and that it transmits at a higher wattage than what is allowed. However in case of a serious emergency you are allowed to use whatever means available to you to get assistance. The UV-82 gives you that just-in-case option. The Yaesu FT-60 will allow you to listen on the FRS/MURS/GMRS bands but not transmit.I am very happy with this Baofeng. I will not hesitate to buy their products again in the future.For this price I don’t see how you can go wrong.Recommended.