I have one of the Baofeng UV-5R radios. My amateur radio club gave them away to new members as a welcome gift. I hate to say it, but my personal experience with the Baofeng was dismal. I consider it a totally useless radio. Sorry. Don't mean to knock something that you have, but they're just not very good radios. You can improve them by installed a better antenna though. Unfortunately, the improvement only upgrades them from "is this thing a joke?" to "throw it in the trash".
I did a mini comparison of the Baofeng to a well known Yaesu radio on a different forum (link below). The Baofeng was totally outclassed. This comparison was not about features, it was only about performance.
On that other forum, I also did a post about an antenna stand I made for a J-Pole antenna. J-Poles perform well. You can mount one on your house or take it portable (mine is a two piece takedown model). You can't mount a J-Pole on your car however.
Link to my Baofeng vs. Yaesu comparison:
https://www.homesteadingforum.org/thread...479/post-242325Link to my antenna stand for the J-Pole:
https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/whats-everybody-doing-today.474/post-269020Where I got my test antennas from:
https://www.jpole-antenna.com/https://signalstuff.com/product-category/antennas/(Note that the Baofeng required an SMA-F antenna whereas the Yaesu requires an SMA-M, besure and get the correct connector type, or buy an adapter.)
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