Cheap Chinese Brands

[Shaker4x4]

I need a scanner eventually, a friend has one of these. It's actually not too bad. Very clear, appears to have good reception, FM radio and CB to complete the package. Any thoughts on if they are a viable purchase? Would you buy one or save up for something more realistic quality and performance wise if you wanted to get started?

While you're looking, check out the cheapie CB radios that would be good for loan radios whilst traveling in a convoy etc. 'Pro' Scanner/CB in this brand sells on Ebay for $88 delivered.

Baofeng. Takers?

[Comint]

Baofeng. Takers?

As far as I am aware, most of the " Cheap Chinese Brands ", including Baofeng, are NOT type approved for use in Australia. This applies to both Commercial and UHF CB use.

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Comint

[rochedalescan]

Shaker you are opening a can of worms, there have been many heated discussions on these radios.

These radios as Comint said are not approved for use in Australia. However, they are readily available on eBay and other such places. I have used these radios the Baofeng UV-5R is a great radio for its price although I only ever used it as a receiver. You can PM me if you would like any more information.

[Vkfour]

I too, like Shane, have used these as receivers, and as receivers go, they are excellent, but they do make lousy scanners.

[Newy1234]

I too, like Shane, have used these as receivers, and as receivers go, they are excellent, but they do make lousy scanners.

Agreed, the scan speed especially is very slow.

[Shaker4x4]

Shaker you are opening a can of worms, there have been many heated discussions on these radios.

These radios as Comint said are not approved for use in Australia.

Yes admin sorry, didn't mean to expose anyone to worms unintentionally

I didn't even know what type approved radios were until two days ago

Anyone that has a problem can rid of worm infestation with Combantrin, then blame the Chinese

Shakes.

[bagman002]

I have one myself. I bought the radio before becoming a member of AussieScanners and before I knew that they were not approved radios.

I have since bought a dedicated Uniden 396XT scanner I now rarley I use the Baofeng radio it just sits in a draw until there is a big incident somewhere that I want to listen to two frequencies at once. For example Firecom and Fireground (Scanner Fireground and Baofeng Firecom)

It is ok if you are just wanting to listen to listen to one or two channels at once using the dual watch but the scan speed is slow if you want to listen to more than that. At the end of the day since being informed its not an approved radio I don't want to get into any trouble and don't use it

[railsquad77]

I have 3 sitting on different channels no issues tx blocked out work great paid 50 each I still use scanners when need close search or scan

Sent from my GT-I8730 using Tapatalk 4

[Spectre]

The receive as already stated is quite good and I've seen one easily outclass/outperform a Uniden EZ130, that said however they do appear to suffer from front end overload being such a wide band device, the dual watch feature makes it useful for monitoring 2 different frequencies (though definitely not a scanner by any stretch of the imagination).