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+---- Thread: BF-888s family net (/showthread.php?tid=7756)
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BF-888s family net - WHB - 30 July 2015
OK, I'm the only amateur that holds a licence in my immediate family and group of prepper friends.
I have a couple of UV-5R radios and a couple of amateur radios that I use for home base rigs.
My friend today reminded me of the Baofeng BF-888s and that answered a problem I have in my prepper/survivalist circle.
It just happens that all those I give a damn about live about a 2 mile radius from my home location and this radio will cater for that range with a 'slight' bending of the PMR power limitations.
If I program the radio to run 1 Watt then I can cover the distance needed.
Here's the sweetener, for £8. 10 a radio that can run up to 5 Watts in SHTF times it seems like the perfect option for a close non-licenced group. 1 Watt will hardly register as being over the permitted half Watt and such a difference could be written off as an efficient gain on the antenna.
The only down-side is that you will need a programming cable, circa £5, to change the pre-programmed frequencies on this radio to the PMR frequencies.
When speaking to my fellow amateur friend he suggested that, pre-SHTF I program the radio with PMR 1 to 8 channels with 1 Watt and for SHTF and after have radio channels 9 to 16 as the same RMR frequencies but with the full 5 Watts.
Well I just ordered one for my 7 year old grandson as he loves my amateur radios, the ulterior motive is to get radio preps in my daughters house and then the other members of my local family.
It really tickles me how some people are petrified of a 'radio' but will happily talk all day on one that is called a mobile phone
Anyway, if you are thinking of group coms for local nets or gatherings then the BF-888s might not be a bad choice.
73s WHB
RE: BF-888s family net - Skean Dhude - 30 July 2015
Thanks for the info.
Some of us have the UV3R or UV5R recommended by other hams on here. Not heard of that particular model though but from what you say it must be worth a look. I'll add it to my list of things to try out, plus a cable of course.
RE: BF-888s family net - Mortblanc - 30 July 2015
Why are you concerned with what is legal and illegal radio transmission in a SHTF world?
Buy what you need, sit on them, and hand them out when the time is proper. If order is restored and your radio net becomes a liability take them back.
My little CB sets will extend for 5 miles, 25 on a good day, and I can pick them up at flea markets for pennies.
RE: BF-888s family net - WHB - 30 July 2015
Mortblanc,
Personally in the SHTF scenario I don't care what comms my family use, hell I'll even hand out some of my 2 meter rigs if need be.
Re-read the OP and you will see that I want comms as near to the legal half Watt for my family pre-SHTF and as a thing for my grandson, basically to get him into the science of radio and maths therein.
With this radio on 1 Watt and changing the antenna to the stock antenna from one of my UV-5Rs he/they will be able to hit my antenna easily from their locations.
Now if I want to get the lad feeling like he, at 7 years old, has a massively important job in the family prepping circle I could also be slightly naughty and make him a 70cms dipole and tell him he is in charge of his house's emergency comms., again a tad naughty.
CB where I am is dead and to be honest the users, where they do pop up, are a filthy mouthed bunch of morons that I would not want my grandkids to be hearing.
I am fortunate that I am 67 meters ASL so my location will easily act as the hub/relay for our family group in any situation where the phone is down.
I don't get CB really, I think 2 meter is better than CB range-wise, I've hit a repeater 100 miles away with 5 Watts but there again I have a very efficient home-brew dipole for 2 meter.
HF is deffo a better creature for world-wide usage and as I am the comms hub for my family then I guess a radio like in the OP is good enough for them.
Hope that cleared up my thinking,
WHB
RE: BF-888s family net - Straight Shooter - 30 July 2015
This is one thing i lack and not much knowledge of.....however , i do have a CB.....and your right ! WHD all i got when i turned on was a load of idiots swearing (i am no stranger to bad language ) but i have grandchildren and i wanted to show them how it worked, i also have some W T s ....when i start the new build i will be building in stuff into the roof space with the help of a trusted friend who knows what,s what where coms are concerned.
RE: BF-888s family net - Midnitemo - 31 July 2015
I have been waiting for some really simple comm's to come along , think this maybe it.......new out of the box it produces 5w tx power? if I didn't want to mess with it I have 16 channel's to use which other units can get me on?(near neighbours up to 5 kilometres using uv3/uv5) so I can just put them into storage until wrol
RE: BF-888s family net - WHB - 31 July 2015
Midnitemo,
Yep, 5 Watts right out of the box.
One thing to think about is the group security aspect, you do say that you/your group will sit on them until it goes belly up.
I would buy the computer programming cable and configure them to PMR 446 channels, the ones that come preset are not in use in the UK. That might be a plus for group OPSEC you may think but then also think of other groups.
There are a lot of kids out there that have had PMR 446 walkie-talkies for Christmas/birthdays and who have got bored shite-less with them. Come the fall there will be quite a few that remember they bought them for the children and they now have a more survival usage.
Note, 70cms is not the greatest range band so if you can hear a PMR radio not of your own group then there is a good chance that you have them within an relatively close location to you.
Also remember that Ham radio frightens loads of people, CB is almost as daunting what with talk of SWR meters and such. PMR comes with it ready to go so I would think many, many people will go that route if they think comms-wise.
If your group is going to stay close in a bug-in or bug-out situation I would say PMR would work quite well, Hell, have fun with yours and try to pick up some of the PMR nets that are out there already. You never know you may even find out useful things about PMR that many amateurs don't factor into their understanding of the PMR part of the 70cm band.
If you have questions I'll try and answer them, I have a fellow Ham friend that is quite well versed in 70cms and actually owns one of the BF-888s himself.
WHB
RE: BF-888s family net - Lightspeed - 7 January 2016
We've been testing a BF888 since last summer.
And a fab little radio it is too. Pretty much idiot proof. An on/off knob with volume control, and a simple rotary knob for the 16 channels. Knowing which channel you are on is audio announced as there is no screen to tell you. Usefully the audio announcing system (that uses a harsh and dictatorial female voice) can be turned off. When OFF simply count the clicks on the channel knob to know where you are.
From the house, it has line of sight range of around 5 miles
Battery has an extremely long operating life sue to no screen to run, and it stays charged a very long time when the radio is turned off ( many radios discharge their batteries in a few weeks even when turned off...beware!)
As OP advised, this radio is only viable if you have access to the appropriate programming cable and software as it cannot be programmed from the unit itself.
Our one has a neat and non described feature: the built in LED torch switch scrolls from OFF => ON =>SOS flashing =>OFF.
Using software the output can be selected as Low or high. On our example this has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the transmitted power which is around 2.5w which is completely fine.
The only down side that we've found is that the volume knob is prone to getting turned inadvertently, resulting volume higher or less than expected.
For £10 or less delivered, what's not to like?
RE: BF-888s family net - Lightspeed - 7 January 2016
(7 January 2016, 07:24)Lightspeed Wrote: We've been testing a BF888 since last summer.
And a fab little radio it is too. Pretty much idiot proof. An on/off knob with volume control, and a simple rotary knob for the 16 channels. Knowing which channel you are on is audio announced as there is no screen to tell you. Usefully the audio announcing system (that uses a harsh and dictatorial female voice) can be turned off. When OFF simply count the clicks on the channel knob to know where you are.
From the house, it has line of sight range of around 5 miles
Battery has an extremely long operating life sue to no screen to run, and it stays charged a very long time when the radio is turned off ( many radios discharge their batteries in a few weeks even when turned off...beware!)
As OP advised, this radio is only viable if you have access to the appropriate programming cable and software as it cannot be programmed from the unit itself.
Our one has a neat and non described feature: the built in LED torch switch scrolls from OFF => ON =>SOS flashing =>OFF.
Using software the output can be selected as Low or high. On our example this has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the transmitted power of around 2.5w which is completely fine.
The only down side that we've found is that the volume knob is prone to getting turned inadvertently, resulting volume higher or less than expected.
For £10 or less delivered, what's not to like?
RE: BF-888s family net - River Song - 7 January 2016
Nice one. Ordered a pair from Azon