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[half k cruiser]

My wife and I tested out the Baofeng last year on the way back from CO. In western KS with the long rolling hills out on the highway we could transmit and receive to about 5 miles. After that the 5 watts just wasn't getting out. On trail in CO and UT transmit and receive are cut to less than half of that if not more. So I feel comfortable that I'm not walking on anyone. However, that said, if I were going when I knew there was a big event or there would be a lot of other rigs on the trail in different groups, I would be concerned with bleeding over onto other bands. My preference is definitely my mobile unit.

 

[Joel Kasper]

If by minimum standard, you mean power on, they do that. I want to say 2012 Hamfest did a random sampling of radios and the Bofang was roughly 50% compliant.

By transmitting full power on several frequencies at once, I would have minimal sympathy for the guy who got a beat down over it. Almost as bad as the assed with linear amps on CBs.

I did a little checking and this is all I found with a UV5R.

"The test setup has 40dB of external attenuation, so the maximum allowable spurious emission (25 microWatts) is a -56dB reading. When driven at 5W output, both of the radios transmit over 200 micro watts (-47dBm +40dB) on one of its harmonics."

While 200 micro watts is clearly out of compliance for a trail radio I think you are not likely to cause an issue. The radio quality is not great so you may want to bring a spare just in case though.

 

[KLF]

Yaesu FT-1802M. It's the Land Cruiser of radios. I have one, the thing feels like a solid block of steel. You can still find them used occasionally. I'd trust this over any of that Baofang junk.

 

[Joel Kasper]

FT1802 is a nice radio. The new FT2980R is also a great radio and has 80 watts ($170). I have a Kenwood V71A. It is dual band has cross band repeat and I use it with APRSdroid & Backcountry Navigator so it serves many functions on the trail. Use the cheap Baofang as a hand held and cross repeat in the vehicle and use APRS to keep track of others on the trail ($330)

If you are a serious HAM These are great choices but if you just want it for communication in your group the $40 Baofang is a cheap alternative.