When using communication equipment, tasks may arise that are not provided for by the standard equipment of the walkie-talkie, so additional accessories are popular among everyone who needs a little more from communication.
At the dawn of the fame of the Baofeng UV-5R radio, there were not so many accessories: a standard battery, a standard antenna, a clip and a charger from an outlet. It is difficult to come up with something innovative for a conventional radio station, but adding variations to familiar options is useful: everyone can adapt the radio to suit their tasks.
Optional accessories have become not only a means of replacing failed ones, but also a full-fledged help to them, because most users purchase them immediately, supplementing the standard kit with them.
Why are they purchased and what is special about them?
Antennas
The eternal question of the range of radios, which we wrote about in our article, or rather its increase, arises first. One way to increase the range of the Baofeng UV-5R is to use optional high gain antennas.
Antennas of increased length are being produced everywhere, but there have been no innovations in this matter. However, ABREE brand antennas appeared on the market and quickly gained popularity. They are positioned as folding tactical antennas for portable radios and we have not seen antennas of this type before. The antenna is an elastic fabric about one and a half centimeters wide and about half a meter long. Yes, that's right, the antenna for a walkie-talkie is half a meter long. From the point of view of convenience, the use of such a design may not be to everyone's liking, in terms of increasing the range of the Baofeng UV-5R, there will be an effect, especially if all members of the group have such antennas.
To make it possible to use the walkie-talkie with a little more convenience, a strap with Velcro is included with the antenna: it allows you to fix the elastic antenna by folding it in half or three. By folding it, we will make the design more compact, however, this will affect the SWR and, as a result, the efficiency of the antenna. If in the case of a fully extended antenna, the SWR in the wide VHF and UHF bands does not exceed 1.5, then in the case of its folding in half, the SWR immediately rises to 3-3.5. It is possible that even when folded in half, this antenna will work more efficiently than the standard one, but it reaches the best performance when unfolded.
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| UV-5R with ABREE antenna unfolded compared to stock | UV-5R with ABREE antenna folded versus stock |
The next option for increasing the radio range is a car bracket on the side glass for mounting a standard antenna. The car body strongly shields the signal, the range of the radio station is reduced. It is worth getting out of the car, as the range can increase. For this reason, external antennas are installed on cars. But what to do if it is not there, but you need to communicate on the move? You can fix such a bracket on the glass and bring the antenna out of the passenger compartment. Installation takes less than a minute, and the effect can be noticeable.
Batteries
Let's also pay attention to the autonomy of the radio station. As we said in the first part of the review of the Baofeng UV-5R walkie-talkie, all walkie-talkies are equipped with 1800 mAh batteries. In some situations, this may not be enough, and there is nothing to quickly recharge the radio.
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To do this, there are high-capacity 3800 mAh batteries, which also differ in size. Joining the place of the standard battery, they increase the height of the case by 3 cm and increase the autonomy time by 2-3 times. If the compactness of the means of communication can be neglected, then this is the way out.
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UV-5R with an increased antenna and battery compared to the standard configuration.
Also, autonomy is associated with the process of charging the battery. As a rule, charging takes place from a regular 220V socket, which is not always available. A USB charger power adapter is available to solve this problem. Thus, the walkie-talkie can be charged from anything: from a phone charger, from a laptop, from a powerbank and other devices with a USB connector and outputting 5V voltage. However, using this adapter, the charging time can be significantly increased, because the power source must support a high load current. For example, the USB connector of a computer will definitely not provide such a current, the radio will take a long time to charge. And a good powerbank can support a load of 1A and above, so the charging process will go faster.
Cases
They allow not only to protect the body from damage, but also to conveniently carry the communication device. For example, the case on the belt can be put on over the shoulder and neither pockets nor a belt are required to accommodate the walkie-talkie.
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Nylon case for Baofeng UV-5R
If you need to protect the radio from scratches and accidental small drops, you can use a molded silicone case for the Baofeng UV-5R radio, which exactly follows the shape of its body. Such a cover will not protect against serious loads, but it will take on light blows, falls from a small height and scratches.
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- Black silicone case for Baofeng UV-5R radio ➡
- Blue Silicone Case for Baofeng UV-5R Walkie Talkie ➡
- Camouflage (khaki) silicone case for radio Baofeng UV-5R ➡
- Red silicone case for Baofeng UV-5R radio ➡
- Yellow silicone case for Baofeng UV-5R radio ➡
We looked at the unusual options for the Baofeng UV-5R and how to use them. They help to take on some of the tasks and provide the user with a comfortable use of communication tools.
Author: Krikam
Source: https://krikam.net/content/review/radiostantsii/nestandartnye-aksessuary-baofeng-uv-5r/
