David Casler reviews the “new” Baofeng GT-5R — better than the UV-5R, still just $25

Dave Casler checked out the GT-5R. It is restricted to the (American) 2m/70cm band frequencies, and he found that it had significantly reduced spurious emissions. In this video, he mentioned some things I was unaware of, such as Baofeng trying to get away with using one FCC ID on multiple radios and similar things as well. Informative video in general.

Most importantly, if someone only has $25, or if they are looking for a really cheap radio that they can not worry about it being damaged/lost, and they are considering a UV-5R, consider directing them to the GT-5R instead.

It is still a Baofeng, and as Casler mentions multiple times, you get what you pay for, so feel free to remind them of the limitations. The main advantages to this new model are more about creating fewer problems for others (staying off the non-amateur bands, less/no spurious emissions, etc), rather than an increase in quality. These are good things though. If all the UV-5Rs were magically replaced with these GT-5Rs, it would certainly address some of the biggest issues Amateur Radio has with these radios. (It would still be necessary to make sure people who have them understand that their radios can be like scooters on the highway when they complain that they cannot do as much as the brand-name radios, and help them find their way to better quality radios.)

Published on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/maowej/david_casler_reviews_the_new_baofeng_gt5r_better/