UV-82HP (7W), High-Power +(3rd Gen)

This review is from the perspective of a totally blind person who is also a longtime ham. I sold all of my ham gear about 15 years ago, when I lost my eyesight. We recently moved to a new State and I thought that getting on the local repeaters might be a good way to meet some local hams and build some new friendships. I wanted a 2m portable radio that was at least partially accessible for me. Naturally, I sought out the offerings from the big three plus Alinco. I had previously owned portables from Yaesu, Kenwood and Alinco and they were all wonderful radios. The only currently available radio that I found with any accessibility built-in is the Kenwood THD-74 at over $600. That was well out of my $300 budget. I then began reading about the radios from China and learned that some have partial accessibility built-in. I did a lot of research and Baofeng was a very popular brand. After many hours of research, (too many hours for a $63 purchase) I settled on the UV-82HP. I have only had the unit for a week, so I cannot comment on how well the radio will hold up in the long run, but so far I am very impressed. This radio feels solid in the hand, not like a cheap toy from China. The volume control is solid and the buttons on the front and side, feel and work very well. While I have not yet transmitted with the unit (other than to key up the local repeater) the reception and audio quality are excellent. I have been listening in on the regional fire dispatch and it is loud and clear. I charged the unit on the day that I received it and have not charged it since, which is 6 days so far. Of course, if I was doing more transmitting, it would certainly require more charging. Speaking of charging, I did experience one problem and that was with the charging base that shipped with the radio. It was nearly impossible to insert the battery into the charger. It required excessive force to both insert and remove the battery. I contacted the seller, Baofeng Tech, and they sent me a new charging base and wall wart. The new base is much better and the radio easily slides in and out of the base. I was impressed with the level of service from BT and that is why I did not hesitate to give this product a five star review. There are resources on the Internet that provide info on using the UV5R as a blind person. I was able to apply much of that information, along with some excellent YouTube reviews, to get up to speed with the UV82HP very quickly. I did send a note to BT, asking them to consider two additional accessibility enhancements. The first would be to have the voice announce either A or B when switching between the two VFO displays. The second would be to program one of the buttons to speak the frequency or the individual letters of an assigned channel name. I do not believe that this would be very difficult to accomplish and would make a huge difference for a visually impaired user. As a screen reader user, I decided to purchase the RT Systems programming software and cable. I was able to quickly learn the software and program in my desired frequencies. It is necessary to use the software with the NVDA screen reader, as it does not work with Jaws—I tried it. Be aware that there are sections of the software that are not accessible using NVDA, but the sections most important to getting the radio programmed are accessible. I always treat my electronic items with care. I feel that this radio will last me a long time, if I treat it well. After my brief experience with this Baofeng product, I would not hesitate to purchase another of their higher-end radios.

The plethora of HT radios available can make choosing a first radio a daunting task. Having just entered the amateur radio world I didn't want to make a huge investment on my first purchase. I was originally looking at the UV-82 while I studied for my exam when suddenly this newly updated UV-82HP version showed up. The price was more but I figured I might as well go for the newest in the line. Some of the elites and purists will mock Baofeng radios as low-grade, cheap Chinese junk. Which is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, after looking at the reviews it seemed that many people were happy with their purchases. I don't know if it was that I wasn't expecting much but this little radio has really impressed me. The more I learn about amateur radio and the competition, I am finding that this radio is hard to beat, and for the price - can't be beat. Unboxing the radio I first noticed that the radio looks substantial and has quality feel in the hand. It certainly looks nicer in reality than it looks in the picture. I have a base model Baofeng 888s and this UV-82HP is finished much nicer and looks sharp. There is no shoddy workmanship visible. The menu can be a bit daunting until you learn what the menu titles represent, after that, things become somewhat self explanatory. I have read many complaints about the difficulty of programming the Baofengs. However, following the instructions on miklor-dot-com I was able to program a repeater into the radio manually. It won't be hard to commit these steps to memory. I also have used CHIRP software, which is fairly easy. The easiest however is RT Systems, which I would highly recommend. The three power settings are great. They can easily be toggled with one button operation on the keypad. I was hitting repeaters (high elevation) miles away while inside a building. My contacts were impressed that I was on handheld and reaching them. I did immediately replace the stock antenna with a thin whip Comet. This is the antenna that got me out so far to the repeater. I have two of the units and doing simplex in a densely populated area we were able to stay connected at least 1.5 miles. That may not seem impressive but in densely populated area with neighborhoods and buildings (Los Angeles area) I was impressed. After buying a roof-mount I was hitting far away repeaters with ease and my feedback was that I was coming in loud and clear. The dual channel display is easy to read and can be customized to light up in different colors from within the menu or through software. A real nice feature for this “cheaper” HT is that it listens to two different channels and/or bands at the same time. The PTT button is dual also. Pressing the top button will have you transmitting on the A display channel and pressing the bottom of the button will have you transmitting on the B display channel. That is not something you’ll find in some of the more expensive HT radios. Battery life has been great lasting me for days. Mostly listening with a few transmissions. It does a great job scanning which can be activating by pressing and holding a button on the keypad. The belt clip that comes with the radio is strong and substantial. The spring tension is impressive. I purchased a speaker mic for it. This was not dual-PTT that Baofeng sells but a single button. When using a single button speaker mic - if you have channel A selected you will be able to listen but not Tx. The trick to using a single button speaker mic when the dual PTT option is active is that you must have channel B (the bottom display) selected, doing so will allow you to both transmit and receive. This challenge is altogether avoided by purchasing Baofeng's dual PTT speak mic. I chose another single button brand though on a recommendation and it works fine for me. VFO mode is very easy to access. Just hold down the menu key and turn the radio on. I recently acquired a Yaesu FT-60. Yes, the superior Yaesu quality is immediately evident from the moment you pick it up and it is loads easier to manually program. However, the FT-60 costs over twice as much and still lacks some of the very nice features that the UV-82HP has. I have not used the Yaesu very much yet so I cannot give a full comparison. I may update this review at some point down the road to give some extra highlights and comparisons. One thing to consider is that the Baofeng UV-82 allows you to transmit on FRS/MURS/GMRS frequencies. You should know that it is not legal to transmit on these frequencies due to the fact that this radio has a removable antenna and that it transmits at a higher wattage than what is allowed. However in case of a serious emergency you are allowed to use whatever means available to you to get assistance. The UV-82 gives you that just-in-case option. The Yaesu FT-60 will allow you to listen on the FRS/MURS/GMRS bands but not transmit. I am very happy with this Baofeng. I will not hesitate to buy their products again in the future. For this price I don’t see how you can go wrong. Recommended.