GC-5

I'll be honest, I have many inexpensive handhelds and although they tend to be very similar, I think I just found my new EDC! This radio is very solid in construction AND feel. It fits nicely in the hand and is well balanced when operating it. The battery pack installs very easily, and since it secures in place with a screw, it is not going to accidently get ejected or slip off while in use. The desk charger has a small rail that clicks into place that indexes the radio in the charger and it provides an extremely secure hold while charging (I even held it upside down, and the radio still wouldn't slide out! None of my other radios/chargers can say that). The color display is a huge improvement over the backlit lcd of the other radios and the large screen makes it very easy (especially as I use glasses more and more) to see what's going on. You can even select the brightness level for whatever environment you are in. It charged quickly and even without too much time looking at a manual it was easy to program a few frequencies into it from the front panel. After checking into my local repeater (using the stock antenna) with what another operator said was excellent audio, and getting back a great quality sound in return, I decided to use it to work a satellite that was going to have a very nice overhead pass. I used two radios to work it, with the GC-5 as the transmitter and had no issue hearing my own very clean and clear signal on the other radio that I was using to receive (a UV5). The extra items (belt clip, manual, earpiece/mic) were all of the same solid quality as the radio and charger. Because this radio just feels good to use and has a great sound, this will likely be my new VHF/UHF everyday radio. I like it a lot and at this price, I don't know how you can pass it up whether you have a new license and are looking for a entry level radio with some great features, or you just want another HT that's a notch above the others just to play with! I have ordered several radios and items from Radioddity and each time I have been more than satisfied with their fast shipping, excellent prices and unmatched customer service. I don't know how you can go wrong with this one. The only thing I hoping for is that CHIRP begins supporting it soon for programming, but the CPS you can download from Radioddity for programming the GC-5 works great as well. You can even upload a customer picture for the startup screen! Thank You Radioddity for a very nice radio! Keep up the good work!

The repeater's satellite receiver is close enough to hear me when I'm sitting in my laz-y-boy with nothing but the included rubber duckie. I checked into the Sunday night net, and got a good audio report. For such an incredibly inexpensive dual-bander, it was a relief to hear that it sounds OK. It took a few minutes to get used to the menu system. There are 45 menu items, such as separate settings for receive CTCSS and transmit CTCSS. It wasn't accepting my commands, it seems you can't overwrite something in memory; first you have to delete what's in memory, only then you can enter the info from the VFO into the empty memory location (roll eyes). I will have to open the manual to find out what the other 40 cryptic menu items are. Setting the squelch to Zero still silences the noise. But the button below the PTT button opens the squelch, just in case you want to make sure the hiss is still there. I'm getting into the repeater that I wanted. To be safe, I got an NMO mag-mount and a whip, and hung it from a curtain rod, which is conveniently located in front of a window. The laz-y-boy is on the other side of the coax. If you're lounging, having the antenna perched upwardly in front of a window is better than the rubber duckie on the HT. Amazon has SO-239 to SMA-female adapter cables so you can attach an external, real antenna with an PL-259 plug to the SMA jack on the HT handie talkie. The HT came with a frequency programmed into memory 999. The memories scroll from 998, 999, 1, 2, etc. So on unboxing, it immediately becomes clear that there are 999 memories available. That should be sufficient if I travel around this planet, the moon, and a few others. I got a male 2.5 mm to a female 3.5 mm adapter cable, so I was able to attach an external communications speaker. The HT came with an earphone / microphone. I'd have preferred a regular speaker-mic. The combination 2.5 mm / 3.5 mm speaker-mic jack(s) is a fairly universal arrangement, so the speaker-mics on Amazon work. I got one, and its audio was very low, so I took a drill bit and removed all the plastic covering the microphone element, and the reports improved to Five-Nine. When its first turned on, the HT displays the battery voltage for a few seconds. But if you want to be most gentle to your Li-Ion battery, you'll want to know what percent charge remains in the battery. According to the Artificial Intelligence, it interpolates that 8.0 volts = about an 80% charge, and 7.0 volts= about a 25% charge. Treating your Li-Ion battery to achieve longest life suggests that if you're in a situation where you don't need to exercise the battery for every bit of its capacity, you might not want to charge it above 8.0 V or discharge it lower than 7.0V. Easy numbers to remember. Those would be the same voltages for the regular battery and the Xtra-large battery. For your edification, 50% charge is about 7.4 volts, but not as necessary to commit to memory. At the moment, the K-Index has been super high for a couple of weeks, ruining the conditions on Shortwave, so I'm going to have to go pop a few extra Prozac. My preference is CW4ever, but a dual band HT for $16 is hard to resist. It was my first 2-meter transmission in a few decades. It's always important to mention that ALL morse code requirements were dropped from ALL Ham radio tests in February 2007, so you can go all the way from entry-level Technician Class to the highest -- Amateur Extra Class -- without doing a stitch of code, unless you love it, which sometimes happens.

The display is color and readable. The audio is loud enough to hear without hearing aids. The 10 key pad is pushable with old stubby fingers. You can program repeaters from the keypad. Battery life is long enough to work a mini marathon last week end and still have 50 % remaining. I used the included ear piece during the mini with good results. I tested on buddies nano sna and got less than 20 db harmonics. I hope I got that right. No lines up the screen. Dual channel watch can be turned on. Oh yeah, its got a flashlight, see pic. FM radio. Weather channels. Charging cradle that plugs in not walwart. You can download free programming software from Radioditty.com. The Boafeng programming cable works. This software does not support CVS files so a lot of typing to get the 999 memory channels into the radio. The radio is not yet supported by Chirp.(update: use the Baofeng UV-17 Pro to program with latest version of Chirp ) The manual is also on the web site . I printed that out so that the 8 x10 is easier to read than the smaller manual in the box. The only negative so far is one of the screws for belt clip was stripped. I replaced both screws with silver screws from metric spares ( pic). The cost was; $27 delivered with Prime. I believe this will be my carry hand held replacing my Boafeng Triband and Yaesu FT5. Excuse my rambling but a purchase I am happy with it. The price dropped to $23 so I bought another one. Also programmed this one with all VHF and UHF repeaters in Indiana. KD9ILY More info: Chirp programming software will support the GC 5 using the Baofeng UV-17PRO.