Baofeng UV-28 Reveiw

Even the clip seems to be more rounded on the edges of the Baofeng UV-28 than ones like my UV-5G plus, even though the clips look virtually identical. I don’t honestly know if I just received a “different” clip, some kind of manufacturing snafu, or if they really made it that way intentionally. Either way, I’ll take it.

Buttons on the front of the Baofeng UV-28 are larger than average, with a nice sharp tactile feel and sound. Maybe not quite as sharp as my UV-5R, but close. They are also much more rounded, which I will guess will help prevent accicental presses. They have used the space wisely, as the spacing and button size make it easy to hit the keys I want without messing up any more than normal 😉

The knob on top is of the larger style that seems popular on newer radios. I don’t mind the larger ones, I just wish this one had a real shield on the side of the radio to keep the knob from brushing up against things and changing the volume unexpectedly. Many of the newer radios like the K68 and NA-K6 have this, while the Baofeng UV-28 just has a little bump on the side which might protect you from a wall brush or something.

One of my pet peeves is a PTT button that doesn’t work unless you are dead center, and this is one of the worst offenders I have seen lately. I can really press hard on the top and bottom of the button and nothing happens. Pressing right in the center works great and feels pretty solid, if a little cheap. The good news here is that the curves on the radio tend to place my index finger right in the center of the button, so that’s nice.

It appears to have a larger screen than many of its cousins, but this is an optical illusion created by the flat faceplate in lieu of the typical sunk-in screen. You may not believe this until you break out the ruler, I know I had to.

Speaking of the screen on the Baofeng UV-28, it is the newer full color 1.77″ screen which is a really nice looking screen, when it is on. I say that because when it turns off, after just five seconds, you can’t see anything at all. I hate that I can’t glance over and see the screen, especially if I am listening to two different frequencies and have no idea who just transmitted on what frequency. Furthermore, I also hate the fact you can’t change that five second timeout without hooking the radio to a computer.

Since we are talking about programming, the screen is great, right up until you go into the menu and then the text is a dull red on black and very small on the bottom half of the screen. In other words, you better have pretty good vision if you want to use the menu on the radio.

This Baofeng UV-28 uses a 2500mAh battery, which is typical of most of the newer radios. What is a little different about it is that most Baofengs seem to press some kind of release and slide down, while this one you press the release at the top of the battery and then pull the top out, then slide the bottom of the battery up out of the slots it sits in at the bottom. Neither good nor bad, but something to note.

–Find out what battery fits the Baofeng UV-28 with our battery finder tool–

Of course the Baofeng UV-28 is CHIRP programmable, I just used a standard Baofeng programming cable I have been using since the UV-5R days and picked the UV-25 radio preset in CHIRP. Once connected to CHIRP, there it was, that stupid 5 second screen timeout, changed that immediately.

Programming from the front is just like programming any Baofeng radio, except not being able to change the backlight timeout, grrrrrr.

Performance:

The big question, of course, is how does it perform? We can start with the antenna test, which it did rather well in. 2m is more than acceptable for a factory antenna, and 70cm didn’t stink too bad. Yes, if I was going to carry this anywhere I might need some range I would buy a better antenna, but for factory, not bad.

Looking at the spectrum analysis the power output is pretty well concentrated, and except for a little hiccup right at the beginning of settling down, looks remarkably good. That good-looking signal is also putting out pretty good power at 7w on 2m and 3w on 70cm.

Audio transmitted from the Baofeng UV-28 is a little hot, probably a mic turned up a tad too much, but is otherwise clear and fairly free from sibilance. I have no complaints here.

Spurious emissions are a different story, with five harmonics over -60 at 146.520, and one way over -60 at 446.000. The first harmonic for 146.520 is only -12 from the transmit frequency! Ouch! Talk about robbing you of power, sheesh. 

Images:

Radio Specifics:

Test Images:

• Dual-band TX/RX
• Multi-band RX (FM radio, NOAA, 1.25m, etc)
• Wireless programming app
• Plus version adds GPS
• 10w power output
• USB-C charging
• 1.77: color screen
• Wireless channel clone
• Includes drop-in charger

When I bought this radio, the plus version was not available. Granted, the only additions were GPS and a second battery, but the cost increase was about $5, so I absolutely would have splurged on that. The plus seems to be in stock everywhere now, it seems harder to find the non-plus version. Figures 😉

Conclusions

I really like the idea of this radio, I mean who wouldn’t like a radio that fits in your hand really well, has good power output, really nice feeling buttons, and a large battery? Unfortunately, with some of the worst spurious emissions I have seen in tests yet, I think I might look elsewhere.

A bunch of spurious emissions in a $15 UV-5R is one thing (and my UV-5R has much less than this UV-28), in a $45 Baofeng UV-28 which is supposed to be a new and improved model is an entirely different story. I think there is better out there for your money.

Here are some reviews of the radio!