The Good Try Award Goes to...

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     And the winner is.........Pofung, or as just about everyone else knows them - Baofeng!  They're known for their cheap HT radios, and I'll quickly admit that I own two.  They're awesome for throwing in my carry-on when I'm flying, without beings stressed about what happens if they get smashed while being jammed in an overhead, or under the seat.  Apparently the Chinese company that makes these decided that Baofeng was too hard to pronounce for its growing base of American customers, so they are supposedly attempting to rebrand their radios bound for the U.S. to Pofung.  I guess that's easier to say?  I also happen to own the Pofung 9500 mobile radio - UHF only.  I grabbed it because at my old job, I was looking for a small, cheap, radio that I could mount at my cubicle, which could hit the local UHF machine.  
    

     Apparently the Chinese company that makes these decided that Baofeng was too hard to pronounce for its growing base of American customers, so they are supposedly attempting to rebrand their radios bound for the U.S. to Pofung.  I guess that's easier to say?  I also happen to own the Pofung 9500 mobile radio - UHF only.  I grabbed it because at my old job, I was looking for a small, cheap, radio that I could mount at my cubicle, which could hit the local UHF machine.  ​

      It was perfect for that.  Since I've changed jobs however, it has been sitting in a box in my garage, so I pulled it out and set it up on my desk home, because there are actually a couple of UHF machines that see some use, that I can reach from here.  As I pulled out the manual to refresh myself on how to program it, I remembered how amusing a read the manual was.  If Baofeng was really worried about accommodating their American customers, they would have probably been better off forgetting about rebranding, and using that money to hire a native English speaker to translate their manual.  The directions are definitely all English words, but I'm not sure they quite hit the mark....without further ado, here are some quotes straight from the manaul that warrant Baofeng (Pofung?) getting the "Good Try!" award......

• "Thank you for purchasing Amateur Portable Radio, which is a dual band/dual display radio” (I like this one, because, aside from the bad grammar {my grammar stinks too, but at least I get close}, the radio is neither dual band, nor dual display.)
• "Don't launch with high output power..."  (Huston, we have contact!)
• There is a 1/8" jack on the back of the radio - the manual calls it the "Adjustable measuring port" and its function is "Production of set parameters when special port” (??!!!?)
• "If use outside launch coverage area, walkie-talkie fault of a loud sound."  (I think they're trying to say that if you attempt to transmit outside of a certain frequency range, you'll hear a warning sound....)
• This next one is a personal favorite - I think they're trying to explain the CTCSS and DCS tone scanning function...."When CTCSS or DCS functions activation, walkie-talkie to stop on the busy frequency, and decoding the CTCSS or DCS signaling.  If CTCSS or match the DCS signaling, cancel the mute interphone."
• And lastly, is the entire section that I am completely baffled by.  I don't quite know what the directions are describing, and to make it worse, the whole section is titled "2. Trumpet playing the opening ceremony."  (Maybe there is supposed to be a fanfare when you turn on the radio???!)

     Oh well....for what the radio cost (practically nothing as far as radio's go) I guess I should go easy on their translation attempts......

See you goodbye till next typing!