The Baofeng DM-32UV is a great, well built digital DMR + analogue dual band transceiver radio. It has lots of great features, like GPS, good airband reception, USB-c charging, clean harmonics when transmitting, and good receive capabilities on both analogue and DMR. It’s a big chunky radio, made of tough plastic, so is well suited for outdoor pursuits. And even great as a radio for preppers if the radio size isn’t too much of an issue. It shouldn’t be, as its not a massive radio by any means.

Overall its an excellent radio. However, It’s not perfect, no radio is. In bright daylight conditions the colour screen is very hard to see. In lower light conditions the screen is excellent. The 8 Watt transmit power specification is debatable. As it is on so many radios. Tests have shown it does fall below the stated power output. But at over 6 Watts on full power, its still not bad at all. 50K contacts can be stored in the DM32UV. There is a firmware software update [V1.48] that can expand the amount of digital contacts to 150K [recording function was removed for memory space]. If you buy this radio at the link in this post, it should already have the firmware upgrade to hold 150K contacts installed.

But do bear in mind that there are well over a quarter of a million contacts out there worldwide, so this radio is able to hold a lot less than what exists out there in the database. As far as I am aware, the firmware in this radio is not upgradable with third party software [like Egzumer / OpenGD77 etc]. So other than firmware upgrades offered from Baofeng to fix bugs, add small improvements etc, what you get in terms of the software interface is what you have to use. The installed software is good, though, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

The internal speaker on the Baofeng DM32UV is located on the back of the radio. This does seem a bit of a weird place to put the speaker. But it does still work well.

There is digital APRS, but no analogue APRS beacon. Some people are touting this radio as the best cheap DMR radio for beginners. For some it may be. But for me that title is still held by the Baofeng DM1701 [here]. Fair enough, it isn’t as advanced as the DM32UV, and the colour screen on the DM32UV is much better. But for the price it works great, and I still think the DM1701, with its ability to be modified with software such as OpenGD77, is still the best DMR radio for beginners.

You can buy the Baofeng DM32UV in several different bundle package deals. Some come with the standard accessories, like charger, battery, etc. And some come with better antennas, stubby antenna and a USB MMDVM [BlueDV – compatible with DMR, DSTAR, FUSION and NXDN] hotspot [Internet connection required]. Mains plug types available with this model are USA, Europe and UK.

Do not confuse this radio with another Baofeng radio which is practically identical, called the BF-UV32. That radio is analogue only and does cost less than the DM-32UV. The model names are similar, so don’t make the mistake of buying the wrong one if you want DMR functions. Also, the DM-32UV is the better radio overall, so it would make sense to spend the few extra pounds / dollars to avoid disappointment with the analogue only BF-UV32 [bad TX emissions @ 145mhz, poor airband etc].