Budget Ham Radio - Part 2: The Prequel

You’ve seen my previous post about My Foray into Budget Ham Radio, in which I extoll the virtues of the awesome BaoFeng UV-5R Plus. I must be honest with our readers, there was a dual band, hand held, budget ham radio before the BaoFeng. It was the TYT TH-UVF1 and it’s a story worth telling.

Budget Ham Radio – TYT TH-UVF1

Before I owned a BaoFeng UV-5R Plus, I bought the TYT TH-UVF1. The TYT TH-UVF1 is a Handheld Deluxe VHF/UHF Dualband Amateur Radio (2M/70cm) Transceiver with a Twin Display. It also can put out a full 5W of power.

I still own this radio and I still use it daily. I am a little more careful with this one, because unlike the BaoFeng UV-5R Plus ($40ish), the TYT TH-UVF1 tips the dollar scale at a whopping $115 USD. This still falls into the range of the budget HAM radio, but as a prepper I like a bit of redundancy. For the price of 1 TYT TH-UFV1 I can have 2 BaoFeng radios.

Not to lessen this radio, it’s awesome, just like the BaoFeng and has a myriad of really cool accessories. It also comes standard with the 12v cable and the standard AC power cable, a nice perk.

One difference to note is that the SMA antenna connector is female on the TYT TH-UFV1, so if you want to connect to an external antenna (mobile or base station) you’d need a cable like this one: “SMA” to “PL-259″ Adapter Cable.

The female SMA antenna connector also comes into play if you opt to purchase an aftermarket handheld antenna for this radio. The TYT TH-UVF1 has a female antenna port, which means your antenna connection accessories must be SMA-Male!

• ExpertPower 14.4″ Dual Band Two-way Radio Antenna SMA-Male for a great increase in distance for transmit and receive.
• ExpertPower 7.56″ Dual Band Two-way Radio Antenna SMA-Male
• “SMA” to “PL-259″ Adapter Cable – For connecting to base station antennas or mobile antennas.

This radio suffers from horrible documentation. The translation from Chinese to English is terrible. Luckily there is a TYT TH-UVF1 Manual Wiki page, written by some enterprising owners of these handy radios, that can help you with the basics of programming.

There is also a handy and Foldable pocket reference pdf you can download and print out. I have mine folded, and taped into a nice little package that I can stick in my wallet or backpack for quick reference.

I’ve used this radio for a couple years now and really liked it. I’ve used it many times to check in on “nets” and talk to other HAMS via repeaters. The only issue for me is that the economy price of the BaeFeng makes me worry less about breaking it, so it get’s tossed in my backpack and the car much more often.

If you want something a tad larger than the BaoFeng and don’t mind spending a few more bucks jump on one of these TYT TH-UVF1‘s. 

See the Original Post at: Budget Ham Radio – Part 2: The Prequel

Links to help you get up to speed on Budget Ham Radio Gear: Satellite Communications with Budget Ham Radios, Budget Ham Radio – Reliable and cheap, HAM Radio Communications Gear, Radio Communication After a Disaster