It’s fair to say that I am a radio aficionado. I currently own 14 handheld dual band radios and one that is UHF only. The majority of my radios are Baofengs though my first purchase was the venerable Yaesu / Verdex Standard VX6R over 10 years ago and a recent purchase of a Quansheng UVK5(8).
That said, I was very excited to receive my UV5118 Plus
radio. Unlike the Baofengs, this radio has a quality feel to it. It is about
the size of my palm and every feature is well thought out. Below is the UV 13
Pro V1 versus the UV5118 Plus.
The radio has a color screen, and the layout is more logical
than most handhelds. It displays the channel name, frequency, and channel at
the same time. I hate having to switch modes or press the monitor button to get
the frequency. I want to know that I am hitting the W1BOS repeater on 145.23
without searching through the menus for the change display mode button.
The color display is particularly nice, letting you know
when the radio is transmitting, or when the battery is getting low. It also
displays the CTCSS DCS code for the channel selected along with the channel
bandwidth.
Like many new radios, the UV5118 Plus receives the “Air band” and NOAA Weather channels. What surprised me is that the radio will monitor NOAA for whether alerts and receive the NOAA alert automatically. The UV5118 Plus also receives FM Broadcast frequencies.
The radio does not include a flashlight. There just isn’t
room in the package given the features. On the other hand, the radio belt clip
attaches and detaches without the need for a screwdriver, so there’s that
improvement.
After observing the feel of the radio and the features, I decided
to give it a go. The radio is sensitive and includes an antenna tuned to the
ham bands. Usually I toss the manufacturers antenna, but the radio immediately
worked well on the hard to hit repeaters. The other thing I noticed is the loud
and clear sound. Something I forget when using cheaper radios.
Other nice features include an s-meter, a dual display that
can be monitor battery voltage, and a digital message that sends a
personal ID at the start or end of transmission. This seems to be a feature of
IRadios, as all of them display the ID whether its enabled. This includes my
DMR and mobile radios. Another nice feature is that many functions available as
menu options in other radios are preprogrammed into the keypad buttons. This
saves a lot of “menu browsing”. For example, press and hold the * key to enter the
transmit frequency. The frequency changes to red to let you know what you are
editing.
The radio puts out a clean signal and seems to have good
channel separation. It’s not a radio developed for the lowest price on
AliExpress, so it costs a little more. But so far, I think it was worth the
price.
The radio does have some downsides. It battery is only 1100
mAH which is small for a handheld, but it seems to manage the battery life
well.
The radio is sturdy, and I noticed while assembling it for
the first time, that the battery is secured tightly to the radio, even though the
battery is easy to remove. I’ve dropped this radio a few times and it stays together
as compared to my UV5R where the battery tends to scatter.
All in all, the UV5118 Plus got me into the radio business. I
kept hearing complaints about cheap radios and decided that a moderately priced
higher quality radio would have a good market. Only time will tell.
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