My real life Bug Out Radio

[Hrusai]

well after looking through all that i think that uv 5r still sounds like the best option for me, maybe if i can get to my BOL before TSHTF then ill set up a ham rig...ill keep doing my homework on all this, but i must admit its all alot less daunting after chatting to you!

[Lightspeed]

Wow, nearly eight years since this thread started.

My original UV5r radios are still going strong on their original battery packs. Amazing.

Something I would not have expected is that eight years on, our go-to radios for day to day use are bargain basement BF888s and even less complex BF2rs. Again still running on original battery packs. These things get a lot of abuse, but just carry on regardless. 1w on UHF is reliable over 2 or 3 miles even over hills.

So why are the cheap radios used in preference? Because they're reliable, small in the hand, so cheap as to be considered disposable, and are totally simple to use. Sadly the BF2s are no longer made, but I suspect similar spec basic radios in the current Baofeng line-up are likely to be just as good.

Using the UV5rs hand-held from my garden, they still get into a repeater 15 miles away without resorting to climbing hills or connecting fancy antennas. The repeater has reach enough for contacts up to 50 miles radius and being Echolinked, connects worldwide via the wonders of the www.