The first thing I noticed after receiving the radio was the size of the radio. It is small yet not to small that it is hard to use. It fits comfortably in your hand.
Not only is it physically small, the price is amazingly small also. How I would have loved to have this radio when I started in the hobby 35 years ago!
Saying that, I see this as a great entry level budget radio. Or a small radio for camping or in the car rather than putting an expensive radio in.
The GT-5R PRO is an enhanced version of the classic GT-5R, capable of receiving a wider range of frequency bands including UHF, VHF, FM, NOAA, Airband, 1.25M, and 1M.
I was easily able to program the radio via the keypad putting in my local repeaters with the required offset and tone squelch.
But it was even easier to program it via Chirp Next and I have a video on how to do that.
It is a 5 watt radio complete with VOX if you want to go hands free.
The GT-5R PRO is fully compatible with the UV-5R’s accessories. Such as the car charger, speaker mic, ear piece, antennas plus more.
The GT-5R Pro comes in a standard single-unit version as well as a kit version that includes a long antenna and programming cable. I got the kit version, so be shore when purchasing you know if you want the kit or the single unit version.
Contents
• Radio
• Fast desktop charger
• Antenna
• Long antenna
• Li-lon battery pack
• Wall adapter
• Belt clip
It supports UHF VHF dual band transmission and a wide range of reception frequency bands, including 136-174MHz, 400-520MHz, 76-108MHz, 108-136MHz, 200-260MHz, 350-390MHz, and NOAA weather channels.
Receiver Frequency:
FM 76-108 MHz;
AM 108-136 MHz;
VHF 136-174 MHz, 220-260 MHz;
UHF 350-390 MHz, 400-520 MHz
Transmission Frequency (US version): 144-148 & 420-450 MHz
Transmission Frequency (EU version): 144-146 & 430-440 MHz
It has 128 memory channels and I love how when you program them from the radio, you can see what has already been used.
- 50 CTCSS tones and 210 DCS codes
- SOS Emergency function
- FM radio receiver (87.5-108MHz)
- Channel or frequency mode selection
- TOT (Time out timer)
- Reverse function
- CTCSS and DCS codes research
- Busy Channel Lockout function (BCL)
- Frequency step: 2.5/5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHZ
- Repeater shift
- VOICE: vocal indication of the function selected
- Li-lon battery pack
- VHF and UHF bands and channel name displayed
- Squelch adjustable in 9 levels
- 1750Hz tone for repeaters
- LCD display with backlight adjustable in 3 colours
- VOX, Scan, Dual Watch functions
- Power Save
- DTMF function
- Alarm function
- Setting and storing of channel names
- High/low power selection
- Frequency offset (adjustable): 0-69.990MHz
- 2pin Kenwood accessory jack
- Keypad lock
- Battery allows direct charging from the DC port
Testing
I quickly made some contacts on both 2m and 70cm and both said my audio was great. I swapped antennas halfway though a conversation and found the small antenna better but that was just for one repeater. I plan on doing more tests in the coming weeks.
Programming Tip
Did you know you can program these radios via Chirp? Here is a great tip you may like with chirp.
Summary
When I received the radio, I was stunned at the price and thought I can’t really go wrong here. I didn’t check the hypnotics but everything else I checked worked well.
If you go via this link, you will get a discount:
https://radioddity.refr.cc/bensangster otherwise you can see it here: https://www.radioddity.com/products/baofeng-gt-5r-pro
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