Review on Airiton Portable Tactical Foldable 42 5Inch by John Bailey

As my first ham I don't have a good measuring stick to make a correct judgement, but overall it seems to work well. The optionally included tactical 1/4 wave Airiton antenna and the extra large battery make the kit very practical. At first I had no idea how tiny the UV-5R is, so the large battery makes it easy to handle. The battery seems to be OEM Baofeng and fits perfectly. Talking for a few minutes a day and leaving the radio in scan mode will only drop the battery by 1 bar in 24 hours! Second, the original rubber ducky antenna barely picks up anything through my local repeater at 2 miles. A tactical antenna really helps receive signals over long distances. Finally, I would like to add that depending on the terrain, by connecting the Baofeng to my Nagoya magnetic mount in the car, I was able to reliably work with a 2m net at 32 miles. and with a low altitude and precise alignment with the network in 52 miles from 5 watts! All in all it's a good starter pack, but eventually you'll want a radio with a better "front end". Finding out your limits and strengths is part of the hobby. 73!