I need to bring this up again. I'm upgrading my baofeng with a 5/8 wave antenna on mine and my dads trucks this year. In prep for OCBR, i'm looking at actually programming my radios rather than just punching in the frequencies. Turns out there are two cables for programming these things: One that works, and one that might work. It is recommended by some guys on youtube to get the cable that costs about 20 bux because it is an authentic cable with the right chip to read/write to the radios, ESPECIALLY for those using mac computers. I learned this this morning, but ordered the cheap cable yesterday. Good luck with it.
I'd also suggest that anyone using these radios look into get the HAM technician license. It appears to me that it's not that hard or expensive. We're talking $15 bux for the test and you might buy a $30 book that tells you what you need to know. And there are practice tests you can do online to get a feel for how well you know your stuff. I'll be getting set up soon to take the test and hopefully be able to get my Grandad's call sign that hasn't been used on air since about 1999.
