Does this radio require a license? I’ve seen some things like this being used on ski hills and the like, and I’m guessing they weren’t all licensed or tested or whatever it is you kids do these days.
tl;dr These are only legal for use on the ham bands, with a valid ham radio license, and subject to the requirements of the ham radio service. If you don’t have a ham license, the only legal way to use this is for reception only.
The regulations are written around the band/service that you would like to use, which may include restrictions on the equipment allowed. The license-free bands these radios can operate on (in Canada, I think it is just FRS and GMRS) do not permit devices with programmable frequency or removable antennas, and have lower maximum power than these can do. Not advocating it, but you can certainly use these radios on the FRS/GMRS bands, turn down the transmit power and don’t be obnoxious about it and I doubt anyone will care. I imagine that the people you see on the ski hills are probably just choosing a frequency at random, though, which is pretty bad.
@hectorh Nice find. I think I have too many handheld radios already and this one is nothing special, but the price is compelling…
These outperform my 30 year old ICOM Handheld and have very useful computer
programming capabilities.
Personally I feel that as long as they are not purposely used to cause
interference they most likely do perform a useful safety function and will
be essential in times of severe disasters.
Hopefully the day will come when wireless communication will be allowed
under totally relaxed government control.
Thanks @hectorh and ordered. I already have a UV-5R but the UV-82 is ~ 25% larger with better RX and TX audio, larger keypad, larger battery and cheaper (until midnight!)
73 Ian
My old Kenwood TH26AT gave up the ghost a while back…
Not really active so didn’t want to spend big $$ on a ICOM or other brand name…
This will let me get back on the air…
BTW, I ordered a Baofeng programming cable if anybody wants to borrow it.
I’ve used PMR in Europe for this purpose in the past.
So as @ktims said, FRS/GMRS is the thing that they’re probably using.
EDIT: FRS / GMRS links:
I just ordered one as well. Now I just have to remember all that ham radio stuff I learned! 
Mine just got delivered…
I also have one of these.
As a guide to programming note that if you try to program memory locations
by hand from the menu without the USB cable then make sure the radio is NOT
receiving an incoming signal at the time.
Best way is to remove the antenna when manual programming.
F
Mine was delivered yesterday. I’ll charge it up tonight.
And read all the instructions before using it!
Programming cable? You can program these radios?
I definitely need to read the instructions!
For all the new UV-82 owners, a great resource is UV82 - Miklor
73 Ian CG7FTO
PS To celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary, all hams can use a special prefix (e.g. CG instead of VE and CF instead of VA). See http://wp.rac.ca/special-event-canada150/
For new UV-82 owners, a significantly better manual (81 pages and English vs 29 pages and Chinglish) is available at http://baofengtech.com/usermanual/UV82HP_Manual_ReducedSize.pdf.
73 Ian CG7FTO
Forgot to mention the previously mentioned manual is for the high power version, but all menu options are the same except for Menu 2 - TXP where we have HIGH and LOW, no MID option.
Ian
I also have a programming cable anyone can borrow. Just email me.
While browsing about this morning, I see there is a vendor selling there programming cable for $5.
Harondel J. Sibble
Sibble Computer Consulting
Harondel@pdscc.com
604-739-3709
For anyone interested in getting a programming cable (and my thanks to the multiple offers to borrow one, but I wanted one of my own)
I ordered this on AliExpress 2 weeks ago and it just showed up:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB-Programming-Cable-CD-for-Baofeng-Radio-Dual-Band-UV-5R-A-Plus-UV-82-GT/32563172618.html
If only the AliExpress orders I made in November would start showing up…