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After having acquired a Baofeng, 5 days later, I found out that it is illegal. For the people who say my question is a duplicate and downvoted my question: I know about this question being the same as mine, but the answers were mixed. There was one saying it is legal and another one saying 99% are illegal. Also, the question was asked 4 years ago, so its outdated. I read that people were using them to spy on us. So, should I get a refund before its too late? My radio is the UV5R.

John Doe
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While some amateur radio equipment is certified by the FCC, much of it is not, as it is the licensed amateur radio operator's responsibility to insure that it follows the rules when transmitting.

Many of these devices, if certified at all, are only certified under part 15, meaning they do not emit illegal signals (when in receive mode), and can accept signals without malfunctioning.

So it is legal to use these radios in the US presuming they don't emit out of band signals when transmitting, don't exceed power exposure limits, and the operator is licensed. And it is the licensed operator's responsibility to insure all of these conditions.

Additionally, some baofeng radios are type accepted as business band radios and can be used under those conditions, once programmed by someone licensed to program commercial radios for a frequency purchased (licensed) from FCC by a business.

However, it is illegal to sell baofeng radios for use outside of these purposes. FCC has threatened enforcement actions against businesses who misrepresent these radios as legally usable without a license.

user10489
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Gets a bit sticky, Amateur Radio stations can build their own equipment without having to have the FCC approve their equipment. But commercial (store bought) rf equipment are supposed to be authorized https://www.fcc.gov/engineering-technology/laboratory-division/general/equipment-authorization. I do not believe many of the transceivers made like the Baofeng are authorized by the FCC. This means Baofeng are not legal, but as long as you use a Baofeng within the technical standard of the Amateur Radio service, it's not a big deal.

NH7S
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