TYT TH-UV8000D Dual Band Ham Radio 10W, Cross-Band Repeater VHF 144-148/UHF 420-450mhz, Amateur Two-Way Radio W/Battery Eliminator

Purchase because of good YouTube reviews and it has lived up to them. Good range and sound quality. MUCH better than the Baeofeng handhelds. Spend the extra money, you'll be pleased!

After playing with this HT for a week I am pretty pleased with my investment, but with 2 caveats. First, like most Chinese equipment, (nearly all,) the person doing the English translation for the manual doesn't really understand English. The "Remote kill/stun function" listed on the box is a hint of that, and sadly it doesn't appear able to kill or stun anyone. Then in the manual, function 24 gets swapped with the explanation for function 25 right before the numbered feature descriptions get completely scrambled, then peter out entirely at feature 29 even though there are button pushing sequences listed for 37 features. Simply put, when the manual confuses you just go to the web and enter UV-8000 and watch videos and read reviews and 'how to' discussions about it. As far as programming it, forget the included mini-disc. Use the CHIRP freeware program found on the web. Everybody does. For starters, it allows you to enter the NOAA weather frequencies, essential frequencies for any HT. Be SURE to disable transmit on those frequencies so there can be no possible accidental out of band transmissions.If you're smart you will set the transmit power on Low (5W) and leave it there. The radio will perform about the same but it will run cooler and the battery will last much longer. Set FM Mode to Wide for most applications. (They don't really tell you what's going on with the FM deviation setting, so I had to do a bit of research to be certain what the nominal setting was.)With the battery-saving mode on I had it scanning nonstop for 3 days before deciding to put it on the charger. It probably could have gone longer.Second caveat, I do wish the radio had a 1 Watt or 2 Watt low power setting to save the battery, and especially for keeping things from overheating when used as a cross-band repeater. I'm considering doing a mod to the radio for that purpose since it's important if it has to be used during an emergency. An HT running 10 watts, or even 5 watts WILL overheat when used as a cross-band repeater. P.S. Receive mode is referred to as 'standby' mode in the manual. That left me scratching my head for a while, but they got close.I like the HT a lot, especially considering its reasonable price. It seems to work just fine, has a lot of features, and doesn't feel like it will fall apart if I drop it. I doubt very much if the receiver specs compare with an Icom or Kenwood, (though I haven't tested them,) but this dual-band (tri-band?) radio does send and receive, (as high as 9 or 10 watts if needed,) receives the FM Broadcast Band, and works as a cross-band repeater, all for for $75, so there's no complaint from me. I got my money's worth.

Great radio for the price! Can be a little frustrating to program, either by PC or by the keyboard on the radio. Would definitely recommend for beginners though!