ANTOP 400BV HDTV Flat Panel Amplified Outdoor Antenna and Indoor,70 Miles Long Range with Built-in 4G LTE Filter for UHF VHF Enhanced, Multi-Directional Reception,50ft Detachable Coaxial Cable

Great radios! I use them as walkie talkies. I bought two at first, tested them on Mammoth mountain, and was impressed enough to buy another two for bigger groups. The voice quality and reception was impeccable. A far cry from the garbage Uniden toys my friend used on the last trip that were unintelligible and had no reception in most places. Battery life on these is a couple of days. So these are good.However, if you didn't already know, they're not legal to use as set up out of the box. They can be made barely legal though if you set them on public bands. Im sure the FCC has better things to do than hunt down hikers with "illegal" Chinese walkie talkies, but at least you should be aware of the regulations.I will show you the quick setup I did on all of my radios. Programming by hand is really easy once you get used to the menus. I wouldn't bother with the CHIRP software.1) Set the squelch to 7. This will mean you hear less random static, only solid signals. - Menu, 0 (SQL), Menu, 7, Menu.2) Enable dual standby, so you can monitor two frequencies at once - on A and B at once. This will give you a better chance of reaching your buddy on one of the two channels if the signal is too weak on one. It also allows you to talk on a less busy channel if you don't want to talk over someone else. - Menu, 7 (TDR), Menu, ON, Menu.3) Delete the first 10 channels from memory. They're not legal to use in the US, and you want to make room for your own channels. - Menu, 28 (DEL-CH), Menu, 001, Menu (you just deleted channel 1). Menu, up arrow, Menu (you just deleted channel 2). Menu, up arrow, Menu, etc. until you delete everything up to channel 10.4) Set the two wide band MURS channels as channels 1 and 2. [The following is handwavy and not rigorous fact, but should do for casual purposes.] MURS are public access bands that require no license to operate on, and they allow higher transmission power than FRS (regular walkie talkie bands), and will probably carry further in the wilderness than GMRS due to the longer wavelegth. MURS allows up to 2 watts of transmission power and doesn't require any licensing, unlike HAM and GMRS. This radio does 1W on low power and 4W on high power. I'm assuming no one will come arrest you if you transmit at 4W in the woods (I don't think there's a way for anyone to tell from a distance what power you're transmitting at; antenna gain is a potentially bigger variable in signal strength). The only caveat is that this radio is not certified for FCC part 95, which means you technically can't use it on MURS, GMRS or FRS. Again, I doubt anyone will knock down your door for using these as walkie-talkies as long as you're considerate. You're using the band legally, but with an uncertified device. This is not the case for FRS (too high power) and GMRS (needs license). So, IMO, MURS is safest from a legal standpoint if you don't have a license.a) Set transmission power high (or low if you want to stay strictly legal on MURS - at 1/4 the power your range would be about cut in half). - Menu, 2 (TXP), Menu, HIGH, Menu.b) Make sure you're in wide band mode. - Menu, 5 (WN), Menu, WIDE, Menu, Exit.c) Make sure you're in Frequency Mode by pressing the red VFO/MR button.d) Type 154600 (on the home screen, not in the menu) - this is one of the wide band MURS bands.e) Store it in memory for channel 1. - Menu, 27 (MEM-CH), Menu, 001, Menu, Exit.f) Type 154570 - this is the other wide band MURS band.g) Store it in memory for channel 2. - Menu, 27, Menu, 002, Menu, Exit.5) Now switch to narrow band mode, since the next 3 MURS channels are narrow band only! - Menu, 5 (WN), Menu, NARR, Menu, Exit.6) Now store the three narrow band MURS bands in channels 3, 4, 5, as above: 151820, 151880 and 151940.7) Switch back to wide band mode for any other bands you might want to store. - Menu, 5, Menu, WIDE, Menu, Exit.8) If you have a GMRS license, or want to be a bit of an outlaw, you can store some GMRS bands, as well. GMRS requires a license and an FCC part 95 radio, which this is not. But the transmission power allowed is up to 20W, so you're well within the power limits with this radio. The procedure to store channels is the same as for the MURS bands. You can find the available frequencies with a google search. A couple of frequencies are: 462.600, 462.725.9) If you want to be a bit of an antisocial scofflaw, you may add some FRS (regular walkie-talkie) bands as well. The issue here is that the power limit on FRS is 0.5 watts, and this radio only goes down to 1 watt on low power. Also, it requires a part 95 radio, which this is not. Again, these two issues shouldn't be a big deal. FRS does not require a license. A couple of frequencies are: 467.687, 467.662.You're all set up! Now set both radios to channels 1 and 3 let's say. Press A/B to talk on channel 1. Press the PTT button and talk away. Press A/B again to talk on channel 3, and again PTT to talk away. If you can't reach your buddy on A, try on B. I like to have a MURS band on A (lower fewquency), and an FRS or GMRS on B (higher frequency). That way I'm more likely to get a signal in any given conditions.Hope my instructions are not too confusing. Simply pressing the buttons I wrote down in sequence should get you set up. Good luck!

We have been using regular walkie-talkies on the farm to keep in touch (woods to home) and have never been satisfied but we didn't want to use our regular ham radio handi-talkies (Yaesu and iCom) due to the abuse and potential of losing them. We came across the Baofeng radio option on a prep'ing site and decided to give them a try - we couldn't be more pleased. Don't let the low price fool you - these are great little radios and are a perfect addition for any amateur operator. Granted that they aren't built like the Yaesu, Kenwood, or iCom but you've got to be realistic - these little guys only cost $30. In my estimation they are easier to program than either of our more expensive radios - I've program several simplex (2 mtr and 70 cm) and 2 local repeaters (2 mtr & 70 cm) without a problem. Once you get a handle on the idea that each memory channel has a receive and transmit frequency and you have to program both the rest is easy. I was going to use the CHIRP software to program the radios but found that it wasn't worth taking the time to set it up - manually programming the radios was that easy. The range of the radios is more than acceptable for what we are using them for but the range can be extended by changing the antenna. Granted that they don't have all of the bells and whistles but they do what they are supposed to do - provide good low cost communications.

If you are reading this, then you should probably have at least one. Bug-out, secondary hand-held, job-site,event, the list of uses is considerable. Check out YouTube for some in-depth info, because these have been dissected thoroughly. LOTS of accessories/upgrades are available. Excellent programming and customization support is available via CHIRP. They have a solid, "heavy for size" build quality. Substantial lithium battery life. While not the fastest scanners, these are one easy way to monitor some of the HAM world (and other users) on two popular bands. These are a reasonable option for the broad frequency coverage possible. Important Advice: Get an entry-level HAM tech licence for an even better bang for the buck and transmit within the law :) FYI: Every possible Tech Exam question (and answer) is available FOR FREE on line. Blindly blundering around on these, transmitting without a license could get expensive. Some people take their communications rights quite seriously. So avoid blundering. As at least one other reviewer said: "Just do it". I would add "Do It with a Reputable Seller". There have been grumblings about old stock/refurbs lurking about. That said, I am constantly amazed with my Foscam BaoFeng UV-5R V2+ radios. So cool.

Radios came as advertised, very nice, and programmed from the factory. These radios are very capable of transmitting on all GMRS, FRS, and HAM frequencies, so you should probably get licensed.The documentation that comes with them is pretty awful when it comes to explaining what everything does/means. For a beginner this would be difficult.If you know what you're doing, even somewhat, these little radios are great. You'll need to buy the programming wire so that you can unlock their full potential as right out of the box they're prevented from going onto the most useful frequencies to listen or to xmit. (Like weather/ATIS, not that you should xmit on those frequencies anyway, but you can't listen either) Once you've properly unlocked them, they work like a dream. You can listen to everything from air traffic to some smaller police department radio frequencies.I am able to bounce off of local repeaters and be received like I am next door from an astonishingly great distance.Buy with confidence if you know what you're doing.