Cached Baofeng: One Year Later
When I was burying my Canmunition Ammo Cans (see the latest update here) I also buried a second PVC cache with a standard Baofeng radio. Both caches were buried on May 22nd, 2019 and were dug up a few days ago, making it just over a year since they were buried. Unlike the Canmunition cache – which was dug up at six months to retrieve one of two cans and then reburied – this cache was not removed at any point until the end of the experiment.
It was original disassembled with the batter removed, antenna disconnected, and even the clip and string removed. This was placed into a vacuum sealer bag and was promptly vacuum sealed and placed into the PVC cache alongside 5 desiccant packets. The cache was sealed and buried approximately a foot deep in the ground. This was the bag upon removal.
I removed the radio from the bad and reassembled it. then, I went out on the porch to test it. Not only did the NOAA weather station come in loud and clear, the batter still had three out of three bars on the battery. I will be the first to admit that we had quite a mild winter, so perhaps the results would have been different if we had colder temperatures. But I am very pleased to know this Chinesium radio can handle being buried for a year under the ground and still come out working like a champ.
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The Baofeng UV-5R is an adequate beginning radio, especially for people that aren’t looking for a new hobby, as NC Scout says. But I would recommend programming it before caching it. The radio comes with 21 test channels pre-programmed (if you want to call it that), and if one or two worked in your area, it would be pure luck. The frequencies shown in your picture above are two of those 21 and indicate it wasn’t programmed before it went into the cache. It will be easier programming it now as opposed to after the stuff-hits-the-fan.
Correct. I literally took it out of the package and put it in the cache. I have about a dozen, and some are programmed. Just remember though – if the radio gets lost in the field during ops and the OPFOR discovers it, you just gave them valuable information for monitoring frequencies. Better to create a PACE plan for each op and only program those channels in.
Patriot,thanks for burying all these goods for tests,glad so far all seems well and not a costly experiment!
My pleasure! Yeah, the ammo was certainly not a waste and the radio works fine. I would rather do the test and discover what works instead of all of us doing it and discovering at the same time.
That’s a nice followup. Where I live we’d probably want to go below the frost-line up here. But, fact is, decently charged batteries left alone for awhile and – as you importantly did – DISconnected from the end-item can stay charged for quite awhile. Kinda neat, thanks.
Had you done any programming to it and, if so, was it intact?
No programming on it in case the cache was compromised. Would rather have it on paper and bring it with me to site. I would imagine that the programming would stay if it is coded in there, but that is a good question.
Moisture is the enemy of modern electronics. You did an excellent job of preventing moisture intrusion! I don’t remember if the Baofeng batteries are lithium, but lithium batteries will hold their charges for many years. In a true long term storage situation I would expect some of the components, i.e. capacitors, to fail just from age. The deeper you bury the items, the more constant the ground temperature, so the equipment wouldn’t be exposed to temperature extremes.
As Saratoga mentioned, the Baofengs are adequate entry radios. I consider them to be disposable radios, so if something happens to them, it’s not a big loss financially. I’ve worked with literally 100’s of them, and we typically had 4-5% that were bad out of box. Another 5-10% would fail during the first year of usage. From a purely financial standpoint they make sense. However, there’s no way I’d trust one if my life depended upon it.
Anyways, thanks for doing the experiment, and I’m glad everything worked out!