-- by Ben Sangster VK3TBS

I recently got my hands on a new Baofeng UV-17R Plus Series radio. It didn’t take long at all to arrive and was not expensive at all. People these days pay more for a UHF CB radio than a radio that does all this can do.

You can purchase it, CLICK HERE to get.

My last Baofeng radio is a GT-3TP which you can still purchase new. It also works well and have always received good reports from it.

The UV-17R Plus is an upgraded version of the UV-17R handheld with the following extras:

-an expanded receiving frequency band (encompassing aviation and police bands in the US),

-an extended battery boost from 1800mAh to 2500mAh (that works out to about 40% more charge),

-a quick USB-C charging plug and cord,

-it also has a new voice scrambler function.

Some of the things I liked with the new UV-17R Plus Series includes:

-The look and feel of the radio. This includes the bright display, feel and position of the buttons, large LED lights, and easy antenna swapping as the area is wide. I also like the speaker behind the keypad, this saves room and is an area you never cover with your hand either. The text on the display is far easier to read than older models inside and in the sunshine.

-The new USB-C charging is so much better. You don’t have to bring a charging cradle anymore when you leave the house, and can even charge it in the car easily.

-Customising DTMF is easy via the # key. It will also search for a used frequency then will display what CTCSS or DTMF is used. This can quickly be saved as a channel also.

-Secure conversations – I couldn’t test this as I only have one radio, but agree this is a good feature. However, I did talk on it myself and my digital scanner couldn’t decode it.

-The weather feature would be good if you are in a country that uses it. Australia does not. I could see this being a great radio in an emergency with the LED lights.

-The user manual is well put together and entirely in English. A PDF version is available online also.

-The radio can be programmed directly, or your PC via several different software options. I have done a video on this below if you want to see this.

-It comes with an 18-month warranty.

Here is a video where I unbox the radio and show what is included in the package. If it is helpful to you, please press the like button.

The video below is an overview summary of this radio. I’d recommend watching it as it has more details than posted here.

Below is another video showing some of the features that the radio has. While I don’t show you them all in action, it will at least give you an idea of how the radio works.

This is a great radio for the price. It does far more than I thought it would and I am sure will get a lot of use out of it. I was initially concerned it may be hard to use because of the price, however, was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to program.

Below is a video I did showing you how to program the radio via a PC using Chirp-Next.

Hope you have got something from this to help you in the hobby. If this has been helpful, please let me know. Perhaps you have one of these radios and have thoughts of your own, I would value your commitments below.