Help & Advice

Go for the higher power one. It's hardly any extra money and you can turn the power down. The decent antenna bit is the most important. See if you can get results with a home made slim jim. Don't forget the choke. Just a note the UV-5RTP comes up as something else in CHIRP (3 or 8?) in case you have problems programming. Good luck on 16th!

Just ordered my uv-5rtp it now on sale at £25 with hand mic, usb cable and software etc, slim jim sounds good I will have a go at building one.

Ta for ur help

Paul

Just one other thing you might need is an SMA to PL259 converter. There are plenty on ebay.

Yes I thought of that ta,

I have a 2mtr mag mount that someone gave me so I going to have a go with that also including the slim jim.

Paul

Ok got my uv5rtp. It trasmitting ok but I getting reports back that audio is very low like I'm far away from Mike. I have tried a external mic still the same, also i am using the rubber duck that came with it was told it could be the anttenna,Any advice much welcome

Ta paul mi6phq

If your antenna were giving you problems with signal strength on transmit, that would show up to listeners as hissy audio on FM. Similar to if you take a FM portable radio and put the aerial down. It gets hissy and horrible to listen to but not quieter. Some modern car radios quieten on loss of FM signal but that is the software of the radio trying not to deafen the driver with FM interstation hiss. FM itself preserves the loudness until it drops out. Your problem of quiet audio is not the antenna. Try and get a signal report from more than one listener using different equipment, to eliminate issues on receive.

A lack of volume means either talk closer to the mic (about an inch is good) or there is an issue with the rig itself, if it occurs on both mics.

Ok ta richard heres a update.

Discovered the external mic was the problem I switch over to internal one, and reports I got was good and acceptable.

So I will be getting a different external mic to try soon.

Ta for the advice it help.

Paul mi6phq

Glad you got it sorted and it wasn't the rig! People seem to find the fit of the external mic connector ratty, and I read some people shave the plastic down on the external mic's two pin connector to get it to work. So if you know someone who's bought a mic that works ok with your model it might be worth getting the same sort. I bought http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171654504846 one of these and it worked (with a Baofeng UV B6) and I bought http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371359425069 one of these to butcher for the 2-pin connector to get it on APRS. That worked too, though the headset audio quality is foul on receive - muffled and resonant. It was the cheapest way of buying the connector.