A lot of the old ICOM and Yaesu radios were easy to open up for full range function. My multiband ICOM HT only required desoldering one resistor. After that could broadcast on 2M and 440, GRMS, police/fire/emergency bands, and even the comm system radios my employer used. Haven’t kept up, but today’s radios are probably just as easy to unlock.
RTL-SDR is a whole rabbit hole of its own. I love having a thumb sized scanner that has the capabilities of scanners that cost hundreds more. Wild stuff
It should be ok - it’s just that the UV-5R has sort of become the defacto budget amateur radio standard at this point so there’s more documentation and software made for it.
My dad got 2 of those and i tried to do cool things with it but in the end, all i was able to do was load in a list of specific frequencies around us and scan around until it connects to something. It wasn’t particularly interesting stuff either XD
Oh for sure - the knowledge comes in handy in times of emergency like natural disasters or infrastructure accidents though. Make sure to save your local emergency services frequency bands and see if any local hams have something allocated for those times as well.
Sometimes it just comes in handy for fun purposes as well - managed to snoop into the construction workers’ radio frequency at my uni and had a conversation with one of them XD
Buy a Baofeng UV-5R, unlock the frequency band, and start scanning.
A lot of the old ICOM and Yaesu radios were easy to open up for full range function. My multiband ICOM HT only required desoldering one resistor. After that could broadcast on 2M and 440, GRMS, police/fire/emergency bands, and even the comm system radios my employer used. Haven’t kept up, but today’s radios are probably just as easy to unlock.
Great. I think I could raid the local equivalent of the Japanese Hard-Off thrift stores for those radios.
Assuming you’re just receiving, why not get an RTL-SDR? :-D
RTL-SDR is a whole rabbit hole of its own. I love having a thumb sized scanner that has the capabilities of scanners that cost hundreds more. Wild stuff
Is the UV-5G mini ok? Or should I cancel my order and get the UV-5R?
It should be ok - it’s just that the UV-5R has sort of become the defacto budget amateur radio standard at this point so there’s more documentation and software made for it.
I’m sure the UV-5G mini will work for your needs.
My dad got 2 of those and i tried to do cool things with it but in the end, all i was able to do was load in a list of specific frequencies around us and scan around until it connects to something. It wasn’t particularly interesting stuff either XD
I’d recommend repeaterbook.com to find the local repeaters near you and potentially info on when the local radio clubs have their “nets.”
You could also look at the arrl band plan to see what frequencies people would even ever talk on:
https://www.arrl.org/band-plan
You’d likely be interested in the 2 meter, 1.25 meter and 70 cm bands, and the gmrs frequencies.
Oh for sure - the knowledge comes in handy in times of emergency like natural disasters or infrastructure accidents though. Make sure to save your local emergency services frequency bands and see if any local hams have something allocated for those times as well.
Sometimes it just comes in handy for fun purposes as well - managed to snoop into the construction workers’ radio frequency at my uni and had a conversation with one of them XD