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Another rig for (almost) £30 – the Baofeng UV-3R plus
22 March 2012 | by A few days ago, I was chatting to a friend on the repeater about the Baofeng UV-3R and what a useful radio it was. He was interested in getting one, but explained he didn’t use eBay. Rather than have him pay £50 in the UK, I said I would order him one.
It arrived today. I had ordered a UV-3R Plus, rather than my Mark 1 model. What are the differences?
The Plus has dual band display. In practice, I don’t think this is a big deal.
The Plus came with a dual band antenna rather than two mono band antennas
The Plus comes with a drop in charger. The charger tray can be powered from the USB style charger that comes with the rig, although I plugged the lead to an iPhone charger.
Although it is entirely adequate, I feel the build quality on the Plus is not quite as good as the Mark 1. What do I expect for £32.90?
Although I have not had any QSOs – it is my friend’s rig, after all, performance of the rig seems as good as the Mark 1. I was able to blip up GB3TD and GB3UK from inside the house.
The Plus came with two earpiece/ microphones – the standard one and an added bonus.
I hope my friend will be pleased with it!
2 Responses to “Another rig for (almost) £30 – the Baofeng UV-3R plus”
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With the MK1 there were three different problems. High Volume at min settings, external microphone PTT stays keyed, and the well known 2nd harmonic problem. (Mods are available for all faults)
Baofeng Plus Model, the above problems seem now resolved, and it now accepts standard Kenwood SPK/MIC (2 pin plug) which gives a more sturdy connection, and comes in a more rugged case.
The only Negatives I see with the Plus, it doesn’t accept cheap camera Battery replacement, which the previous 2 models did. But spares for the Plus will still not break the bank.
Of course if you don’t like the UV-3R you could always buy the new Higher powered UV-5R for another Fiver more! Yes around 37 Quid buys you a full size handheld to its smaller brother. I have never known Amateur Radio so cheap to get into with such a small cost for new kit.
You pay your money and take your choice.
73
Steve
Very interesting. What bands does it cover? Whats the rf output in watts?
Can I purchase it online? Thanks for your time and interest.
John, KB3KEM, Pennsylvania, USA
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