BTECH UV-50X2 (Second Gen.) Mobile 50 Watt Dual Band Base, Mobile Radio: VHF, UHF Amateur (Ham)

I've always been a Yaesu guy for both my mobile and handheld transceivers, but I bought a couple of "disposable" Baofeng UV-5Rs to hand out as loaners and have been nothing but impressed with how well they've held up to real-world use. Now that almost everyone is using a Baofeng UV-5R, there's a large track record of reliability.When my mobile Yaesu FT-8800 broke, I considered replacing it with another Yaesu, but after some consideration and comparison of the specifications, I decided to go with this Baofeng instead. So far, I'm VERY impressed with it. I thought I would be somewhat disappointed by "downgrading" from a premium brand to an entry-level brand, but I honestly like this Baofeng/BTECH better. Its build quality is easily on par with the Yaesu. The learning curve has been straightforward, and programming it with CHIRP is as easy as can be. It mounted in my Jeep directly into the Yaesu's mounting bracket, and all the power, antenna, and external speaker hookups plugged right in. I really like the display and its ease of use. I'm still adjusting the microphone gain to optimize it for the noisy environment in my Jeep, but everyone I've spoken to has reported great QRK.

This radio is very easy to program. Ges great reports. Has all the power you need. Works well as a base or mobile. I replaced my old Icom dual band. I was reluctant to do it with this radio. The price was great. I am now a convert to BTECH. Also own a BTECH 6X2 hand held. Buy without worries. Shipped well before they promised. Well packed. Flawless radio in every respect. My old Icom would not be able to beat it when it was new. And that is from a long time ICOM user. Still have an ICOM 706 for HF. Its days are numbered. Looking for a replacement for it as well.

Update Nov 2 the third radio is underpowered worse than the first. VHF is pushing 32w, UHF only 21watts. Now I have two to send back Documenting all of this here for readers. Also it was off frequency. I would expect a 50w unit to output no less than 45watts VHF and no less than 40 watts UHF keeping in mind that Btech advertises this as "50w(50w)" which to me means 50w on both UHF and VHFUpdate Oct 30thOk on my second one of these now and it was a flop out of the box. It started outputting about 18w then started jumping around and bottoming out at zero watts. At this time the unit started clicking and the screen started flashing... Another unit going back to Amazon. Would like to use the radio... If I can get one to work... I have B-Techs UHF amp and that is working great outputting 37+ watts on a 3.7watt input, rated for 40. Both units were set up with a Btech Nagoya NMO-200C antenna.Original ReviewI haven't had any luck with Btech equipment this year. Two 8HP radios only putting out 6 watts(says uv-6r in the box) one amp only putting out 20watts... New replacement map is good though, cranking out 37 watts when hooked to a UV-5R.Bought this 50 watt mobile and.... Yea. I got 22 watts on VHF and 32 watts on UHF. If your a math person that's 56% and 36% under advertised power. There is another brand putting out a similar looking radio, probably the same factory going to give that a try. I probably could get another one of these and get better power but done wasting my time. SWR was excellent though.

First impression: Fits the BTech radio mold - first class rig! Many color options for display are nice and can customize for your eyes. I like the dark screen with lighter text. Just easier to see. Just got it programmed with CHIRP and discovered a few things you will need to know. First, the power supply connection is not labeled. The red wire goes to the positive terminal while the black wire goes to the ground terminal. Next no where in manual does it indicate when or how to utilize the PC-04 programming cable. I have several BTech UV-82HP HTs. On these you turn radio off, connect via program cable, then turn radio on. I contacted BTech and they advise can plug in program cable to UV-50X2 at any time, radio on or off. I tried and works. In CHIRP on 'Settings Tab' there are many options. It took me quite a while to figure out which options correspond to the menu items on the radio. But once found and options selected, radio is programmed and works great. Menu system very similar to that of UV-82HP so if familiar with most Baofeng HTs will have no problem with this Baofeng mobile. Internal speaker sounds nice and Tx/Rx reports indicate full quieting. I will update this review after a few weeks use.Update 24 April: Still impressed with this rig. Read reviews on BTech UV-25X2 for some tips on CHIRP and Menu programming that work on the UV-50X2 as well. I continue to tweak settings like squelch to fit my taste. No problems found with radio. Fan kicks in when long Tx but reasonable decibel level and goes off quick. If you are in Channel mode and wish to change to a different channel you can of course turn the lower left dial. However, a much quicker way if you know the channel number is to enter the number on the mic keypad. The rig will move to that channel. Remember all channels are two digits so channel 6 would be keyed in as '06.' I keep a list of programmed channels near my rig so finding the channel number is easy.

I have not had a chance to do a rain test on the radio yet brightness is great just hand programmed it. The only suggestion I have is to buy a really good antenna for vehicle because this radio pushes a lot of watts.