---by Aubrey Mason
Box, accessories,charger
Packaging is nondescript, unlike other HT’s you sell – no graphics telling you what’s inside. I would prefer graphics like your other boxes.
It was nice to include the earpiece/mic in packaging – but I strongly suggest including the programming cable – as that is the first thing Hams start looking for when they buy a new HT.
No one wants to manually program the memory…
Or – you could ship it with the Programming cable instead of the earpiece/mic .
Given a choice, I think most Hams would prefer the programming cable over the earpiece/mic.
The new base unit charger is nicer because it no longer has a detachable power supply that can get lost in a Ham shack with other chargers.
But the base unit charger is very noisy – lots of switching noise at radio frequencies. All very low power, but the noise is there in the charging base.
No noise whatsoever back up the AC line… very clean considering the switching circuit noise in the base.
I’d suggest adding a few small ferrite beads to the switching circuit to damp the reflections and kill the switching noise.
The Radio itself
The Antenna it ships with matches the radio and tests 1.7 SWR – unlike past Baofeng standard antenna’s that did not and shipped with high antenna SWR’s…
Very good job!
Very nice color screen, twice the size of previous HT’s made by Baofeng.
It was well received by all the club members who held it.
The new flashlight is outstanding! Much better light. This feature is now usable as a flashlight - Also very well received.
I am not sure what the user manual means on page 5 when it says there are 2 pins for Kenwood accessory port.
There is no description what these 2 pins are nor is there a description of what Kenwood accessories can be used with the radio or what kind of cable to use.
In the Baofeng literature I was able to find and read online before you sent the radio to me; included a USB type “C” connector on the battery so it could be charged if the charging dock was not available.
This battery does not have a USB type “C” port.
The menu and exit buttons should be marked as menu and exit and not simply green and blue – no one memorizes the user manual to remember the green is menu and the blue exit....
And…. all previous Baofeng’s had the buttons labeled.
Inside the menu of the radio;
There does not appear to be a way to turn off the stopwatch function – and no one I am aware of uses a stopwatch in an HT… I do not know why this feature was included in the menu.
Everything else inside the menu is standard and understood by anyone who has used a Baofeng radio.
RF output
The output of this radio is fairly clean compared to tests of other Baofeng Radio’s, not much baseband noise. Upper and lower sideband’s are clean.
RF penetration of Oak trees in our area is good and the radio talks to the local repeater easily from within the house – instead of having to walk outside the house to use the repeater (like my UV-5R with stock antenna).
Programming
I just checked the CHIRP website and the UV-17 radio’s have still not been added to their database of radio’s CHIRP works with – and the software shipped with Baofeng radio’s does not function or install on non-windows machines.
Ham’s are switching to Linux as their operating system of choice because it’s very difficult to hack (unlike all windows versions).
If I may make two suggestions;
1. I suggest Baofeng contact the Chirp programmers and donates radio’s and programming information so they can modify their software to program this radio.
Most Ham’s use CHIRP because it talks to all of their HT’s regardless of manufacturer, and do not use the Baofeng supplied software.
2. Baofeng should consider supplying software that installs and functions in the Linux operating system, not just windows.
Which is one of the reasons why Hams use Chirp – Hams are transitioning to Linux. (Chirp works in windows and Linux)
I discovered the other day there exists a hack whereby a user loads the Baofeng programming software under windows and can change the operating, transmitting frequencies of a Baofeng radio – potentially creating a situation where a user can transmit on frequencies they are unauthorized to transmit on in the USA.
CHIRP software does not allow this.
