Do not listen to this person. The baofengs are perfectly fine radios which have gotten thousands of people re interested in ham radio. I have probably a dozen various models of them and use them for all sorts of things and love every part of it.
What are your needs? eBay/hamswap/craigslist. You shouldn't; handing out a radio designed for licensed radio spectrum to random people would be irresponsible.
Hmmmm, a fair point, though at the same time most countries allow you to use any radio without a license for emergency purposes -- I don't have an amateur radio license yet, but keep a cheapo Baofeng on me when we go offroading or hiking outside of cell-reception. Could honestly save a life. If it's all you have, hang on to it!
Emergency use is explicitly allowed by the FCC. And thank god. We’ve had to call 911 over the baofengs for life threatening emergencies in the past and have very probably saved at least one persons life.
I know that in the US "amateur stations" may use "any means at its disposal to attract attention..." as allowed under part 97. I'm a ham, so I'm qualified under those rules.
I've never heard of permission for unlicensed operators. Do you have a source you could point me towards? Preferably something from the FCC, or a law that pertains to them.
> § 97.403 Safety of life and protection of property.
No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.
It defines as amateur station as:
> (5) Amateur station. A station in an amateur radio service consisting of the apparatus necessary for carrying on radiocommunications.
Which I read is being related to the physical equipment.
I’m also almost positive that this was a question my license test.
At the risk of becoming a totally-internet-lawyer, `amateur radio service` is defined in `(2) amateur radio service` which refers to `(4) amateur service` which has the wording `duly authorized persons`.
I don't think it breaks down the way you read it. /But/ in an emergency, it probably won't matter to you if it helps you live through the emergency.
