RadioddityGC-5 Dual Band Two Way Radio, Ham Radio Handheld Long Range with 1800mAh Battery, High Gain Antenna, Color LCD, DTMF, Support Chirp

I'll be honest, I have many inexpensive handhelds and although they tend to be very similar, I think I just found my new EDC! This radio is very solid in construction AND feel. It fits nicely in the hand and is well balanced when operating it.The battery pack installs very easily, and since it secures in place with a screw, it is not going to accidently get ejected or slip off while in use. The desk charger has a small rail that clicks into place that indexes the radio in the charger and it provides an extremely secure hold while charging (I even held it upside down, and the radio still wouldn't slide out! None of my other radios/chargers can say that).The color display is a huge improvement over the backlit lcd of the other radios and the large screen makes it very easy (especially as I use glasses more and more) to see what's going on. You can even select the brightness level for whatever environment you are in.It charged quickly and even without too much time looking at a manual it was easy to program a few frequencies into it from the front panel.After checking into my local repeater (using the stock antenna) with what another operator said was excellent audio, and getting back a great quality sound in return, I decided to use it to work a satellite that was going to have a very nice overhead pass.I used two radios to work it, with the GC-5 as the transmitter and had no issue hearing my own very clean and clear signal on the other radio that I was using to receive (a UV5).The extra items (belt clip, manual, earpiece/mic) were all of the same solid quality as the radio and charger.Because this radio just feels good to use and has a great sound, this will likely be my new VHF/UHF everyday radio. I like it a lot and at this price, I don't know how you can pass it up whether you have a new license and are looking for a entry level radio with some great features, or you just want another HT that's a notch above the others just to play with!I have ordered several radios and items from Radioddity and each time I have been more than satisfied with their fast shipping, excellent prices and unmatched customer service.I don't know how you can go wrong with this one. The only thing I hoping for is that CHIRP begins supporting it soon for programming, but the CPS you can download from Radioddity for programming the GC-5 works great as well. You can even upload a customer picture for the startup screen!Thank You Radioddity for a very nice radio! Keep up the good work!

I Stumbled Across This one Evening & saw The 15$ Price Tag & Thought Why Not ! its a 15$ ht It Seams To Work Good I Have Several Radios Icom Yaesu Kenwood Retivis & Baofeng & Quansheng Some Mobile And Several HT'S & They All Are Unlocked For MURS GMRS As Well As 2M/70CM It is a Very Cool Radio & The Software Is tad Clunky & a Bit of a Pain N The Rear To Program But That may Just be The Learning Curve to ! But Again i Say It Was Only 15$ & It Is a Great HT Espicially for the15$ its Really a Quad band Or Really its a Quintupl Band HT..If You So Choose & Really Why Wouldnt You Its Yours & You Bought It ..This is Now my New Favorite HT & It Works Wit a Better ANT as Well In My Testing ! Side Note..I See Some Hamy Talking About its Not Fcc This or That But Really Who Cares..I Promises No One Does ! Just Buy It Unlock it & Enjoy it & Relax a Little Ya Old Coots This is not the 1940's Any More..lol.UPDATE as of 4-9-25 It Has ben a fuw more weeks & i Just Got Another New GC-5 & Got it UnLocked & Programed All With Out Any Issue & I Just Wanted To Say Thank You to (You Know Who You Are) That Turned me on to How to UNLOCK The GC-5 Thank You Again ! I Was Going To Wright a Second Review of This GC-5 But It Would Not Let Me So I Just Added it Here & I Now Have 3-4 Buddy's That Have Ordered These as Well now and another one who is going to!

Functionally and in its appearance, the GC-5 is very similar to the Baofeng UV-17 Pro, with two exceptions. First, the battery provided with the GC-5 does not support charging with a USB C cable. Secondly, between the Menu key and the Exit key, it has a round button with both an UP and a DOWN arrow on it; whereas, the UV-17 Pro has separate UP and DOWN buttons.I suspect that the Baofeng battery for the UV-17 Pro, which has USB charging built in, will likely fit and work with this radio, although I have not tried it.Electronically, the two radios seem similar, as I was able to read and write from the GC-5 with the latest NEXT release of CHIRP (20231209), which has a BETA driver for the UV-17 Pro. The driver is buggy when it comes to creating and modifying channel definitions; so, I'd stick with Radioddity's provided CPS until the bugs in the CHIRP driver are resolved.I really like the looks and the feel of this radio in my hand. The color display is nice, but can be a bit difficult to read in sunlight. I also like the green color, as opposed to the typical black and orange colors found on so many HTs in its price range. The radio is IP54 rated, which means that it's protected against dust ingress causing it to malfunction, and is protected against water splashing on it from any angle. The battery screws down, to provide a water-resistant seal between the battery and radio, although I'm not sure that was necessary to meet IP54 requirements. Maybe a future version will be immersible in water? For now, this makes battery changes a bit more involved than with many other HTs.The "GC-5" label on the bottom of my radio kept falling off and I eventually lost it during testing; of course, the model of the radio can also be found on the inside of the radio, with the battery removed. There, one will also find an FCC ID (2AN62-GC5), which is associated with a test report that was filed on November 13, 2023. I do not know what level of testing that report covers, as it wasn't publicly available when I checked. I'm confident that the report did not cover Part 97 compliance, which is required for the amateur radio service for any equipment capable of transmitting below 230 MHz, as my radio did not comply.When I tested for spurious emissions on VHF as well as UHF (see included spectrum analyzer sweeps), it was obvious that the radio did not meet Part 97 requirements, alhough it was cleaner than many other Chinese HTs I've tested. On VHF, the 2nd and 4th harmonics were clearly evident. The 2nd was not down from the fundamental by at least 40 dB, as required by Part 97. The green line (DL = Display Line) is set at -16 dBm, the maximum power level which Part 97 permits for spurious emissions. The 4th harmonic did meet requirements, but the radio fails anyway.If the manufacturer were to filter out that 2nd harmonic on VHF and UHF, this radio would be legal to use on the ham bands without risk of interference with other radio services. I had really hoped this radio would meet Part 97 requirements, because there's so much to like about it, especially for the price. Hopefully this radio is SDR-based and they can deal with this one problem in firmware. For now, I'm forced to give the GC-5 only one star.