Are the cheaper HAM radios worth it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_In_29 When I was volunteering at King of the Hammers the guy in charge related that they bought the cheap Baofang radios in bulk and had about a 50% failure rate with them.

That's not been my experience, but even if it was, I could buy 8 new Baofengs for the price of a single Yaesu. Which would give me 4 working radios compared to one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Outpost75 Ask yourself if you would trust your life to an RG revolver or a HighPoint?

Hyperbole much?

Not everything that people buy (including guns and ham radios) needs to answer the "But would you trust your life to it!? " trope, which is way too overplayed on this board.

IF the OP wants a ham radio that he can trust his life to for SHTF, there is still no reason he can't start out with a cheap Baofeng in the beginning. Then when he does upgrade, he'll have a backup.

Personally, I don't use ham but I do use both Baofengs and reprogrammed commercial radios like the Motorola HT1000 and some mobile units that are tuned to VHF or UHF. All my comms are short range LOS. Those older radios can also be programmed for ham frequencies. But programming them at all is not for the faint of heart.

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Are the cheaper HAM radios worth it?