Baofeng UV-3R and Baofeng BF-U3 Transceivers
UV-3R and the BF-U3
Time for another radio review and this time a pair of miniature Baofengs.
Originally released in back in 2011 the UV-3R and BF-U3 are essentially cut down versions of the ever popular Baofeng UV-5R and 888 handy talkies.
These radios can still be found on internet auction sites relatively easily but are in no way as popular as the larger Baofeng radios.
I bought both of these radios for just under £20 from ebay UK sellers.
In this post I decided to look at these radios together rather than separately as they are very similar in looks, dimensions and technicalities.
Virtually the same stuff in both radio kits
The UV-3R and BF-U3 both ship with the usual Baofeng bits and pieces. Lanyards, chargers, crappy ear pieces etc so nothing new really.
One minor difference between these two and the normal Baofeng radios is the ear piece connection. Rather than the standard Kenwood style two pin affair here we have a 3mm Jack instead. The other port is for the charging cable meaning you don't have to use a desk top charger when the battery runs down, just plug the cable directly into the radio. I consider this an advantage.
Another advantage to these radios is the ability to charge them up via USB making them truly universal and portable. This ability negates the need to take the docking station around with you for longer usage or weekend trips etc.
Baofeng UV-3R MK2 UHF/VHF Transceiver
Throughout it's seven year history, The UV-3R has seen three separate revision changes.
The MK1 model featured a single line display, the MK2 introduced a dual line display and dual band antenna and the MK3 had a new case, charging port, battery, antenna connection and comms port roughly speaking. Despite these changes the internals pretty much stayed the same throughout. This radio is the MK2.
Specifications:
To save time and effort the pic below outlines the UV-3Rs specs.
Its basically a 2W UHF/VHF dual band transceiver capable of storing up to 99 memory channels. It operates on VHF between 136MHz - 174MHz and on UHF between 400MHz - 470MHz the usual Baofeng dual band offering.
It also has the usual flashlight, FM radio and annoying personal attack alarm that Baofeng insists on sticking on their radios. Nothing new here.
In terms of size the UV-3R is tiny and is possibly the smallest dual bander I have ever come across. It's very light weight but also feels cheap and plasticy too. Not as well constructed as the UV-5R series of radios that's for sure.
Operating the radio is easy enough if you are familiar with the other Baofeng radios out there although there are a few annoying differences. Despite there being no keypad to speak of you can program the radio from the handset however once a channel has been stored it cannot be deleted it would seem. The only way to really add and remove channels is via a programming cable and software. Chirp is a good program to do this with.
Another annoyance is the fact that it wont allow stored channels to be available on both A + B VFOs. Other dual banders let you put your favourite channels on both so you can switch between the two but not so on the UV-3R. Instead the lower B VFO is strictly for frequency only VHF. The upshot being you have to manually find the frequency and can't use any of the stored 'favourites' on the lower VFO. Its a little strange if you are used to normal Baofeng dual banders.
In practice the UV-3R works quite well despite the crappy antenna (more on that later) and the majority of my local repeaters etc are reachable. The audio quality of the internal speaker is very clear and very loud but being a digital volume control doesn't go low enough when operating discreetly. There seems to be a bug in the software stopping it from going low?. The all knowing internet suggests opening the radio and adding a resistor to the main board to counter this problem but to be honest I don't think it's worth faffing about with.
Other issues include channel scanning which is tediously slow and a poor front end allowing break through from nearby strong signals. Those who already own a Baofeng will know all about the crappy front end on these cheap chinese radios but the little UV-3R is possibly the worst of them all. Expect some RF splatter if you venture near any kind of transmitter.
The UV-3R does have a few good points surprisingly. Firstly the ability to store FM radio stations in memory, the ability to use the flashlight without switching the radio on (big deal!) and the transmit and recieve audio is very good (even if you can't turn it down properly!)
Baofeng BF-U3 UHF Transciever
The BF-U3 is a single band, 2W pocket radio operating on the 440Mhz 70cm band.
The lack of a display and buttons is all that really that separates this from the 3R in terms of looks
Specifications:
Once again I have included a photo of the specs sheet as I can't be bothered listing everything
The BF-U3 has a 16 channel storage capacity, channel scan, flashlight and annoying attack alarm.
Programming channels is strictly by PC and cable only due to the lack of a keypad but this is to be expected. Adding channels in software such as chirp is easy enough if you use the right programming cable for it. Unfortunately The UV-3R cable does not work with this radio which is odd considering they are virtually the same radio. A specific BF-U3 cable is required - good luck finding one!.
It suffers from the same crappy front end and subsequent phase noise/ break through problems from strong signals as the 3R does but that's to be expected also.
What's good about the radio is the sound quality and tiny size.
Transmitting and recieving is pretty awful mainly because of its sawn off antenna. Voice audio is clear if nothing else.
The Similarities
Looking at the photo below it's hard to tell these radios apart. Both radios have a power output is 2W, the batteries are both 1500mAh and the cases and buttons are pretty much the same. Battery life on both radios is surprisingly good considering the physical size of them. Both use a small Nokia style li-po cell which can last a couple of days depending on usage. Unlike some other Baofeng batteries these ones can be bought quite easily and cheaply if a spare is required.
Which is which? The cases and belt clips are identical
The Antennas
The antenna is where these radios go in different directions.
The BF-U3 uses a specific UHF cut antenna which is very small and probably not the best but gets away with it to a certain extent. It's probably best suited to close distance work rather than long distance.
The UV-3R MK2 uses a very short dual band cut antenna which is about 7ins long. Again it's pretty useless (especially on 2m band) but somehow gets away with it. It is certainly better than the one supplied with the single band BF-U3.
Unlike the normal Baofeng radios which use an SMA-F (female) connection these two use the opposite SMA-M (male) connection.
So forget screwing on your spare UV-5R nagoya. Further purchases are required.
UV-3R on the left and a sawn off BF-U3 antenna on the right
Overall, these radios are OK for what they are. If nothing else they are novelty pocket radios, something to show your mates but really not suitable for serious radio use.
As a spare radio to use in an emergency then I suppose they would do but for the money it's better to buy a normal UV-5R which is about the same price and offers so much more.
Comparing both of these radios I would choose the UV-3R over the BF-U3 because of the extra memory slots and the capability of transmitting on two bands.
What let's both of these radios down is their crappy antennas. Switching to a better quality rubber duck or even a proper roof antenna would improve their performance ten fold.