Well said! This is one of the main reasons I like making these videos. I just want to put the information out there. It is up to each individual to make their own decisions. I would love it if all radios with spurious emissions could be junked, but the more people that know what is bad before buying the better! Thank you!

Thanks, my editor was having some fun. ;-)

Unfortunately you are pretty much right on with that comment! :( This is one of the reasons I try to put the information out there to let people know before they buy. There are plenty of radios in this price range that are also clean on transmit!

@@KC4NWKso how does it work? Is it illegal to use such radio since it’s certified by FCC? That’s $26 radio and has AirBand RX perfect for the airshows. Can you make the test how you can be heard with high power transmission 1-2-3 miles distance? Maybe it is still good to communicate?

That is a good question. I answered with a rather long reply to another comment on this video (you can read that below if you like,) but the FCC certification that this radio has is nothing to do with its transmit capabilities. If you look up the FCC certification it is for 15B. You can look it up here: fccid.io/2AJGM-5RM I won't summarize the certification here again, but basically the same certification can be applied to a calculator. I think I will end up making a separate video explaining these FCC certifications. Technically, yes, this radio would be illegal to transmit on here in the US on the 2M amateur band. But is fine for listening to air-band etc. Hope that helps a little. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Flame throwing radio is good for toasting marshmallows

Honestly, I have no idea what this means... Is it that the transmit power isn't as strong as it needs to be (10w?) or that there is also other noise being transmitted? I mean, if you and the other hear you... Isn't that mostly is what is of concern? Would this reduce battery life over time with it being "dirty"? I just got mine in today and these are my first radios, so yeah, a ham...let here (ha! Get the dad joke? ham...let, Hamlet... Like someone new to hamming or ham radios... Oh, com'on :D).

Thanks, my editor had a little fun with this one since it was so short. Glad you liked it.

Ok, good to know. I might look into getting one to have a look! 73

I LIKE IT! Thank you for watching and commenting! 73s

Thanks! Appreciate the view and comment! 73

Yes I agree completely. My first license was around 90-91. There are a lot of choices on some of these "introductory" radios, I just want to allow people to make informed choices. I too am almost exclusively a Yaesu guy, although I did just pick up a new Kenwood HT. :) 73s!

Thank you for viewing and dropping the question! :) Yes, dBc is dB from the Carrier (or fundamental) frequency. The FCC requires these radios to have their harmonics more than -40 dBc and also each individually below 25 uWatts. Some people don't seem to care too much about this, but I like to present everyone with the data so they can make an informed decision on what radio to spend their money on. Why buy a dirty ILLEGAL radio, when for a very similar price their are choices that are legal and clean. Keep in mind that when you measure your radio output power with a watt meter, you are measuring the total amount of power out of the radio, not necessarily all that power is on your fundamental frequency. Hope that helps!! Happy to have you here, and I hope you are really enjoying the hobby! 73s

​@@KC4NWK ​It does not help that half of their customer base truly does not care, and actually pokes fun at people who do want to minimize interference. I don't want to output half a watt into 300MHz. I'm not licensed on those frequencies and I do not want to say my callsign over those frequencies. The common idea, I think, is that they don't travel more than "a few feet" but half a watt is half a watt. And you were testing on low power too, high power is what 5x this? So you'd be putting out 2.5 watts into that first fundamental on high, if I'm reading this right? Into frequencies you don't even know who uses them. I know I don't know who uses 300MHz. A very brief google search suggests "aeronautics, satellites, and radio navigation" none of whom I want to be saying my callsign to. They can. Millions of others can but my radio is going back to the big A and I hope they ask why.

Just for clarification purposes, here the 2nd harmonic is ~12dBc from the carrier. If you round your output power to 2W then your 2nd harmonic power would be around ~ 0.125 watts. You can look up the equation for power ratio. It’s a little hard to try to write the equation in a comment. Power Ratio = 10 to the power of (dBc/10). In this case 10 to the (-1.2) power. This equals 0.063. Multiply the power ratio times the original wattage: 2 * 0.063 = 0.126 watts. You can also approximate by the every -3bB is half the power… since -12dBc then half the power 4 times: 2W -> 1W -> 0.5W -> 0.25W -> 0.125W

@@KC4NWK ah yes, there is a lot I still get incorrect. Thank you for clarifying. That makes sense.

YES, yes it is! Thanks for watching!!

Hey Bob! Awesome to see you here! Been watching your videos for quite a while! Yeah, I would probably skip this one. I hope this "silly" video isn't the first one you've watched. LOL 73s!

@@KC4NWK Wasn't silly, and not the first. I like your grip on the technical side of things.

Thanks for watching and commenting. 73s

Thanks for commenting! I'm glad to see this comment, because this is what I was thinking as well. It seems that the cheaper radios that are adding 1.25M are the ones with the issues. I say this loosely because I haven't done enough testing to say with certainty. 73s

Much appreciated! Thank you for watching and commeting!

My understanding is if interferes with other frequencies. I'm new to this though.

Without a long explanation, it basically means the radio is transmitting on frequencies that are not intended. Manufacturers are supposed to account for this by adding filtering to the signal before exiting the radio. A simple example would be you are transmitting on 146.5 MHz, and you are unaware that you are also transmitting a signal on 293 MHz and 439.5 MHz (the 2nd and 3rd harmonics.) The FCC here in the US puts restrictions on this in order to try to keep people from causing unintentional interference on other frequencies, services (sometimes commercial or emergency,) or devices. You cannot tell just by operating the radio, and that is why some of us do these videos to show what a radio is really doing. Some people don't care, but it is something you agree to when you get your amateur license here in the U.S. (and most everywhere else.) Hope that helps explain it a little more. :) Thanks for commenting!

@@KC4NWK Oh yes. I can wrap my head around that explanation. Thank you very much.

Thanks for the question! There are many options available that are clean radios. The new UV-5R radios are generally clean, and if you want to be sure, you can order the GT-5R (its Radioddity's version of a clean UV-5R.) Some of my other videos go over this radio. You can also look into a TD-H3. You can use my affiliate links for either Radioddity or TIDRadio for a discount. There are other radios as well too many to list in a reply. You can look at other videos here on my channel or on some of the other Ham Radio KZfaqrs. There are several of us that like to test these radios for the community. Best of luck and 73!!

Hey I am also a top tier component replacer :)

Hahaha Yes! Thanks for watching Don! 73s

Thanks for the comment. This gives me an opportunity to address the FCC-ID misconception. Did you look at the FCC ID on the radio? Here it is: 2AJGM-5RM You can look it up here: fccid.io/2AJGM-5RM or directly on the FCC site at this address: www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid What you will see is that this FCC-ID is for FCC Part 15 Subpart B compliance. Here is the report: fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AJGM-5RM/7132026.pdf On page 1 of the report it says "Standards: 47 CFR Part 15 Subpart B" On page 10 of the report you can see that it was specifically certified for 15.107, 15.109, 15.111 and 15.121(b) (of Part 15 Subpart B) 15.107 deals with radio frequency voltage that is conducted back onto the AC power line. On page 12 of this report, you can read the test procedure. Section 3.1.3 of the report "Test Procedure", this test was to measure interference over the AC power line between two "AC floor outlets" These tests were done during "Charging & Scanning" and "Charging & Receiving." 15.109 deals with radiated emissions from unintentional radiators at a distance of 3 meters. This is radiated RF energy from the device when NOT transmitting. Page 14 discusses Test Procedure. Here is a link to a WaterPik that passed the same test criteria: fcc.report/FCC-ID/2ANTU-20023329/4530520.pdf 15.111 is the same as 15.109 but with the antenna terminals shielded and terminated with a resistive termination equal to the impedance specified for the antenna. The signals are then measured at the antenna terminals and cannot exceed 2.0 nanowatts. Page 15 discusses test procedure. 15.121(b) states that the RECEIVER shall reject any signal from the Cellular bands based on 12 dB SINAD measurement. Page 16 discusses test procedure. So as you can see, this FCC certification has nothing to do with how good or clean of a transmitter this radio is either in or outside the amateur bands. This certification is what leads to the incorrect statement of: "It's FCC certified it has be good." As far as the harmonic testing in my videos. I use 50dB of attenuation between the radio and the input to the spectrum analyzer. This exact attenuation number is obtained by measuring the attenuation of all cables and connectors used in the connection of the radio. This is done with the tracking generator on the spectrum analyzer, and applying this number to the offset. This "stair step" graph seen in the results is rather easy to interpret, and is why I use it. The display shows the fundamental frequency as the first bar, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th harmonic frequencies (I generally only look at the first 5 harmonics) in the sections to the right of the fundamental. This allows for an easy quick view of each harmonic frequency in comparison to the fundamental. I also place the 25uW (-16.02 dBm) line on the display for the secondary requirement that all harmonics are required to be below 25uW for FCC Part 97.307(e) compliance. In addition, each harmonic is listed below the graphical display with its relative dBc from the fundamental. This is generally much easier and quicker to view for everyone, and is the default display for the "Harmonics" measurement on current Siglent spectrum analyzers. We all want new hams to join the hobby. It would be nice to have them make educated decisions on the equipment that they buy and use on our allotted frequencies. From several of my previous videos and many videos from other KZfaqrs, it has been shown that there are other choices for introductory radios that are clean in this price range. Baofeng's own UV-5R seems to now be clean per my previous video here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gcCmaLueqrureKM.html Hope this helps clear some things up.

Yaesu!!! 😤🤟

I too like my Yaesu radios! Although I did just pick up a new Kenwood HT that is pretty sweet. :)