Railfan Technology > Cheapie RR radio scanner. $20.

R & L electronics is offering an inexpensive nominal ham radio handheld at an absurd
price point...$19.95  model UV6R.

http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=72917

My experience  is that this brand of  radios are awkward to program as the maker seems
to change internal programming parameters as often as they change their socks...every
6 months.

Those with patience willing to perform the same keystrokes over and over and over
and accepting that one missed or incorrect keystroke means you get to do the whole thing
again may find the price enticing.

Youse gets what youse pays for.

Be well,

Tim Colbert  K3HX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/16 21:14 by K3HX.

I bought an earlier version.  It has a great receiver and excellent battery life.  The transmitter is trash but you're not going to be using that, or at least you shouldn't.  I wouldn't call it a scanner either.  It has a scan function but it takes mine about 25 seconds to go through the 105 channels I have programmed into it.  If you know what channel/frequency you want to listen to, then set it to that frequency and listen.  The programming is tedious and the manual covered all of the functions but didn't tell me how to use them together to complete a function.  The manual I received was 16 pages if you count the covers.  For caparison, the manual for my Yaesu VX-170 was about 150 pages.  

Even if you don't like the radio, $20 is nothing more than a few large Cokes or maybe some Starbucks coffee.  

John

 

I have a UV5B.  It receives distant signals very well and I only use it to scan 20 channels so the slow scan rate is less of a problem.  What is a problem is the volume control potentiometer which is giving trouble.  It produces no volume at most settings.  I have to turn it back and forth a few times and then find a setting at which it works.

KG

wa4umr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  It has a scan
> function but it takes mine about 25 seconds to go
> through the 105 channels

Yeah this a pet peave of mine. It seems very few scanning radios documentation define the scan speed . . .

RailNet802, owevaaaah
 

Most low end commercial radios and many amateur radios have poor scan functions.  Scanning is not their primary design purpose, so not much effort is spent on designing the scan function.  Conversely, the very nature of scanners, with their receiver "opened up" to allow a wide range of receive frequencies, means that their selectivity and sensitivity can be pretty awful.  They scan fast, but may stop constantly on unwanted channels due to RF interference easily entering the radio.  Turning up the squelch to stop the RF interference from interrupting the scan with unwanted signals also desensitizes the radio enough that it will often miss weak, but desired radio signals.  If I have to choose between scan speed and good radio selectivity and sensitivity specs, I will pick the good selectivity and sensitivity specs every time.  To get both scan speed and good to excellent selectivity and sensitivity specs, one generally has to go to  a higher quality commercial radio--$400-$1,000 retail instead of $20.

I own several of the little Bao Feng radios of several models.  They have quirky design features, but can actually have fairly decent selectivity and sensitivity specs.  I say "can have" because my observation is that the quality of the radio varies considerably from radio to radio, even in the same model.  Some perform great, some not very well.  So, it's a gamble as to what you get.  One thing that has amazed me about them is that, for a very cheap radio, they actually will take quite a bit of physical abuse.  I've had a couple in pretty severe duty service that continue to hold up pretty well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/16 07:05 by WW.