On another thread I had said I would post something on programming the Baofeng UV-5R.  I'm figuring out to do "hot links" here, so here goes.

The Baofeng UV-5R, and related models, -5RA, -5R+, etc, are all the same under the skin.  There is no difference, they all have the same chassis and circuitry.

There are "firmware versions".  They all work just as well, but you run into some programming and cloning problem across some firmware versions.  No one is better than another, and the "latest firmware" is not a better performing radio than the older ones.  To find out your firmware version, turn the radio off.  Press 3, and while holding it, turn the radio on.  For just a second or two you will see the firmware number such as BFB281.  They all have BFB, so all you have to look for are the last three digits.  Make note of that somewhere.  It will come in handy later.

About version 251, the English voice was changed from a Chinese accent, known as "China Girl" to an American accent.  The earlier China Girl versions work as well as the later ones.

There are two sites you need to bookmark, where you can find all that I am going to outline, the Miklor site, and the UV-5R yahoo group.  I suggest you join.

http://www.miklor.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baofeng_uv5r/

Here is a great English manual not written by the manufacturer.  It actually makes sense.

http://radiodoc.github.com/   Click the "Go Get It" button to download this good manual.

The Miklor site above tells you how to fix your Prolific driver problems IF it has a fake Prolific driver.  Most are.  

In my next post I'll go over manual programming.  Meanwhile, download and print this Menu description.

http://kc9hi.dyndns.org/uv5r/programming/UV-5R%20Menus.pdf

73,
Jupiter7200

I bought a UV-5RC (with an optional programming cable and software) at the Charlotte Hamfest last weekend.
My coffee maker came with a better manual. The software does not work. Maybe the cable is defective. . Yet another lesson learned.

Before you start manual programming, you should get some initial "set once and forget" settings done.  

FIRST you must set the orange VFO/MR button so that the voice says "Frequency mode" (VFO).  You cannot manually program in MR or Memory Recall (voice says "Channel Mode").

You must set the blue A/B button so that the cursor on the left side is on the upper frequency line.  You cannot manually program with it set to B line.

Frequency Mode, A line.  Now you can proceed.

The menus are all set and adjusted with this basic key sequence:

Press MENU button to enter the menus.

Use the Up/Dn arrow buttons to scroll up and down the list of submenus.  Or enter the submenu  number if you know it.

Make your selection in the submenu using the Up/Dn buttons or enter a number.

Press MENU again to exit and save the change.  Now you can go to another submenu, or

Press Exit to exit and return to regular operation.

The first submenu is 0 SQL (Squelch).  Range is 0-9, default is 5.  I set mine to 7 due to a lot of RF breaking squelch locally.  The key sequence is:

MENU, 0 (or Up/Dn to select SQL), MENU, 7 (or Up/Dn to select), MENU (to save), EXIT.
----
Next is 1 Step (Frequency Step), with steps from 2.5 khz up to 50 khz.  For the USA, use 5 khz.  Key sequence is:

MENU, 1 (or Up/Dn to select Step), MENU, Up/Dn to select 5.0 khz, MENU (to save), EXIT.
----
Transmit Power is 2 TXP.  There are only two settings, High (about 4.5 watts) and Low (about 1 watt).  I suggest setting to High.  While operating you can toggle High to Low and back without entering the menus by pressing the # key on the keypad.

MENU, 2 (or Up/Dn to select TXP), MENU, Up/Dn to select High, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
Battery Save is submenu 3.  0 is off, 4 is max.  I suggest 1 or 2.  

MENU, 3 (or Up/Dn to select), MENU, Up/Dn or press 2, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
Vox is submenu 4.  This is set from 0 (off) to 10 (maximum).  Turn this off.

MENU, 4 (or Up/Dn to select VOX), MENU, Up/Dn or 0, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
Wide or Narrow Band is submenu 5.  For ham you want WIDE.

MENU, 5 (or UP/Dn to select WN), MENU, Up/Dn to select Wide, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
Backlight Time Out is ABR (seconds) is submenu 6.  Versions BFB291 and earlier are 0 - 5 seconds.  After BFB291, 0 - 10 seconds.  5 is good, you can change this.

MENU, 6 (or UP/Dn to select ABR), MENU, Up/Dn to select 5, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
It is recommended to turn off Dual Watch (7 TDR), especially while programming repeaters.  Dual Watch will allow the radio to flip-flop between two programmed channels, or two entered VFO frequencies going to whichever has traffic.  It can be confusing and annoying.  Turn this off for now so it doesn't screw up programming repeaters later.

MENU, 7 (or UP/Dn to select TDR), MENU, Up/Dn to select 0 (off), MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
8 BEEP.  Every time you press a button it will beep.  Default is On, but you can turn this off.

MENU, 8 (or UP/Dn to select BEEP), MENU, Up/Dn to select 0 (off), MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
9 TOT is Time Out Timer.  This keeps you from transmitting too long if the PTT sticks, or you drop the radio between the seat and console.  Also if you get long-winded, it will shut it off.  Default is 60 seconds.  

MENU, 9 (or Up/Dn to select TOT), MENU, Up/Dn to select 60 seconds, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
Do you get the key sequence now?  I'll just quickly now.

10 R-DCS  is Receive Digital Coded Squelch.  Set this to (0) off.  
-----
11-R-CTCS is Receive CTCS Tones.  Set this to Off (0).  You will set up tones for repeaters later, but here set it to off.
-----
12 T-DCS  is Transmit Digital Coded Squelch.  Set this to (0) off.  
-----
13 T-CTCS is Transmit CTCS Tones.  Set this to Off (0).  You will set up tones for repeaters later, but here set it to off.
-----
14 VOICE  set to 1 English.  If your radio is not speaking (0) or is speaking Chinese (2), you know where fix this, Menu 14 to 1.
-----
15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 Leave them alone for now.  The Default settings are OK.
-----
There are two frequency/channel lines in the display, the upper line is A, the lower line is B.  You choose between them with the blue A/B button.

In CHANNEL Mode, you have three choices of how the channel appears, CH number (reads as CH-000, CH-001, CH-002, etc), NAME ("alpha tags" can only be entered with software), or FREQ.  Even if you choose NAME or FREQ the channel number will appear on the side in small digits.  If you choose NAME and no alpha tags are entered, it will read as CH-001, CH-002, etc.

Menus 21 MDF-A and 22 MDF-B set how the A (upper) line and B (lower) lines appear.  I recommend setting these both to NAME.

MENU, 21, MENU, select NAME, MENU (to save), EXIT.
MENU, 22, MENU, select NAME, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
23 BCL Busy Channel Lock-Out prevents being able to transmit if the channel is busy.

Default is Off, leave it off.
-----
24 AUTOLK (Automatic Lock Keypad)

Default is Off, leave it off.
-----
25 SFT-D  Direction of Frequency Shift + or -.  

Default is Off, leave it off for now.  This setting is does not affect repeater channels saved in Channel Mode.
-----
26 OFFSET  0.600 mhz (for 2 meters) or 5.0 mhz (for 70 cm)

Default is 0.600.  Leave it alone for now.  This setting is does not affect repeater channels saved in Channel Mode.
-----
27 MEM-CH  This is used for setting up repeaters or other frequencies in Channel Mode.  We'll do this later.
-----
28 DEL-CH  This is used to delete channels already in the radio.  You cannot edit a channel once programmed.  You must delete it and start over.  We'll do this later.
-----
29, 30, 31 are Standby (purple), RX (blue), and TX (orange) backlight colors.  If these colors are acceptable to you, skip past these three submenus.
-----
32 AL-MOD Alarm Mode.  If the Alarm button is pressed, by default the radio will transmit the tone over the air.  There is no choice for Off, so set this ti SITE, meaning it will only make an audible noise on site, your radio, but will not transmit the alarm tone over the air.
-----
33 BAND  default is VHF, leave it as is.
-----
Submenus 34, 35, 36, 37, set all four  to OFF (0).
-----
38 PONMSG  Power On Message.  Set this to MSG.  

MENU, 38, MENU, select MSG, MENU (to save), EXIT.

Later, when you use software, you can enter your Name and Call Sign so that when the radio is powered on, those will appear on the screen for a few seconds.
-----
39 Roger.  The CB Roger Beep.  Turn it off.

MENU, 39, MENU, select 0 Off, MENU (to save), EXIT.
-----
40 RESET  Leave this alone.  It is what it says.
-----

Next is some basic operation.

Yes, you are right about the manual.  Download the manual in the link in my first post.

You can get a driver that will work with your cable by going to the link I provided to solve that problem.

DO NOT use the Baofeng factory software.  Discard any CDs that came with your Chinese made cable.  Do not use the software, do not use the driver on that CD.

Instead use CHIRP.   CHIRP will also program more than 60 HTs and Mobiles, and is FREE.

To get CHIRP, go to this link and download:

http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

Once you have the latest CHIRP downloaded and installed, the correct driver for your cable as per the Miklor site, you are ready to program with software.  But not yet.  My next installment will be manual programming.

I got one, use CHIRP to program and I REALLY like this little radio. Never had something that wasn't high end before, but honestly I can't find fault with this radio. It works exceptionally well and is replacing my two slightly older "high end" HT's.  
You just have to work past the initial WTF moments and learn it a little. Once you get the hang of it, you'll enjoy it. I can't believe this thing was only $50 and works this well.

I have a uv-5r and a uv-5rc. I like the 5r better but there's nothing wrong with the 5rc. Minor differences. The extended batteries don't cross but other than that they are a REALLY good $40 radio(got it on a sale on Amazon). I'm able to hit the local repeater from 25-30 miles away with it. My reports from that distance aren't great but it's only 5 watts.  It may not be great for a $300-400 HT but then it's not one.
For $50 stick it in the GHB or BOB and feel confident that you didn't drop $300 on something you rarely use and just keep ready.

Also there are some Youtube vid's that will help you out on programmed the radio. Go to youtube and do a search for your radio.

Some of the Youtube videos appear to be guys that copied others.  And one of the first ones shows programming R-CTCS (receive tones), which I don't recommend.

R-CTCS (aka Tone Squelch) causes that the radio for that programmed channel to listen for a tone coming from the repeater before it will break squelch.  Not all repeaters retransmit the tone.  The videos don't explain this and seem to imply it must be done.  If you program your HT to use Tone Squelch, and the local repeater does not retransmit the tone, your radio will not hear the repeater.  On the other hand, if you leave R-CTCS off, the HT will hear that repeater whether or not it transmits a tone.

Next up will be some basic operation if you've followed along so far.

I'm still working on the manual programming, then I'll go over using CHIRP.

Turn on, naturally, with the volume knob on top.

The orange button toggles between VFO (radio voice will announce "Frequency Mode") and Memory ("Channel Mode").

In VFO (or "Frequency Mode") you can enter frequencies directly with the keypad, no decimal, so for 146.520 just enter 1-4-6-5-2-0.  If you get to the final digit and the radio won't take it, you possibly have it set for the wrong band.  If so, press the BAND button below and to the right of the speaker (above and to the right of the keypad), and try again.  The same with UHF, if the UV-5R won't accept the entered frequency, press the Band button and try again.

In Memory Recall (or "Channel Mode") if programmed with software, you may have alpha-numeric tags for the channels, in which case the channel number is displayed on the right edge of the screen.

Dual Watch should be turned off, but new UV-5Rs come with it on.  Turn off via Menu 7.  To do this, press Menu, 7, Menu, 0, Menu (radio says "Confirmed"), Exit.

The blue A/B button chooses between the two channel or freq lines on the display.  You will see a cursor on the left of the line that is active.  This is NOT two different memory banks, only one bank of 128 channels.  But you can have one line selected to one freq or channel, and the other line to another for fast switching between the two channels you are using at the moment.

In Channel Mode you can select other channels by using the ^ and v arrows to step up and down the channels or you may enter a channel number with the keypad.  Since there are 128 memory slots, you must enter three digits.  So, to select Channel 3 on the key pad press 0 - 0 - 3.  If you press only 3 or only 0 - 3, it won't change channel.  An aside, there are 128 memory slots, and Ch-000 is a valid channel.  The highest valid channel is CH-127.

Program all channel memory slots for High power, which is 4.5 to 4.7 watts depending on frequency (they advertise 4 w).  To toggle to Low (appx 1 w) press the # key on the lower right of the keypad.  You will see "L" appear on the upper left of the display when the UV-5R is set to Low Power... nothing for High.

Under the rubber door on the right side are two holes for speaker and mic.  This radio accepts the same type 2-pin plug as Kenwood HTs.  Most Kenwood, or Kenwood type speaker-mics will work.  You can get them on eBay for $12-$15.  Also, there is one type like police use which has a rubber duck antenna on the mic, and a cable that Y's off at the bottom to the speaker-mic plug and to the antenna connector.

Pressing and holding the Monitor button (below PTT on the left side) will open Squelch.

Pressing and releasing Monitor button quickly will operate the LED "flashlight" on top.  I have actually found this useful a few times.

Just above the PTT on the left side of the radio is the CALL button. If you press and hold the orange CALL it will set off a siren alarm.  It was set from the factory to transmit that tone... an emergency or "man down" signal for industrial use?  We don't want that for ham, so I have set Menu 32 (AL-MOD, alarm mode)  to "Site", which is audio only, not transmitted over the air.  There is no way to disable it completely.  To turn the alarm off, just press the orange CALL button again.  For hams, at least, this is useless.

Quickly pressing and releasing the Orange CALL button will switch the UV-5R to the FM broadcast band.  It will start way down at 74 mhz ( FM broadcast band in Asia) the first time.  After that it will go to whatever the last freq you had entered.  You can enter 9 - 2 - 3 - 0 - 0 for 92.3 FM, or 1 - 0 - 2 - 5 - 0 - 0 for 102.5 FM.  You have to enter 5 or 6 digits.  If anything comes in over the VHF/UHF freq you selected in A or B, it will override the FM broadcast channel.

In channel mode, pressing the * (star) or Scan button (just below EXIT on keypad) in Channel Mode will "reverse" repeater input/output output frequencies, so that you are then listening on the repeater input frequency, and transmitting on the repeater output frequency.  My mobile rig and many others have the same feature (a key marked "REV").

To send DTMF tones for Echolink nodes, press and hold the PTT button while pushing the numbers.  Then it will produce the tones.  Pressing the numbers without PTT enters frequency in VFO ("frequency mode") or channel numbers ("channel mode").

That covers basic operation.  By now you should be able to operate Simplex.  Try giving your call on 146.520 mhz (National Calling Channel for 2 meters) and see if you get a response.
___________

Next installment, I will describe how to program repeaters and other frequencies manually.

Thanks. I just passed the Tech exam on Wedensday and I have 2 of these radios. So this is helping.

The UV-5R programs a little differently from other HTs, no harder, no easier, just differently.  But then, different brands program differently, too.

The software programming problems are almost all related to the counterfeit Prolific chips in the cheap Chinese cables.  Many people on the Ham Radio Deluxe forum were having the same problem with the counterfeit Prolific USB adapters.

One way around this is to use a Kenwood type (one 3.5 mm stereo pin and one 2.5 mm stereo pin) back to a serial plug.  And then use a known good USB adapter, and many are available.

Here's one that I purchased.  It works well with any of a half dozen different USB adapters I have.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220725369790

(edit to add this link)

http://threeoldcrows.com/shop/magento/ham-radio-equipment/accessories/programming-cable-with-db-9-9-pin-serial-connector-for-kenwood-baofeng-wouxun-radios-serial-db-9-to-type-k-2-pin-connector.html

I have also used one of these cables:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220898637479

It is from a reliable ebay seller.  It is identified in my computer's Device Manager as Prolific, but my laptop had the ver. 3.2.0.0 Prolific driver already installed.  At any time your computer could do an automatic update and load the latest Prolific driver and stop working.  I would then have to remove the new, and reinstall the older driver.

(edited to add link to this FTDI chipped cable)

http://threeoldcrows.com/shop/magento/ham-radio-equipment/accessories/programming-cable-with-ftdi-usb-to-serial-uart-controllerfor-kenwood-baofeng-wouxun-radios-usb-to-type-k-2-pin-connector.html

Read about programming cables and drivers here:

http://miklor-uv5r.99k.org/UV5R-Drivers.html

A problem with some cables is that the rubber around the pins does not allow the plug to plug into the UV-5R's socket all the way.  Trimming the rubber a little can fix that.  Scroll further down the page at the Miklor site above to see how.

After all this, some cables are just bad cables.  Baofeng does not make the cables.  

I advise you to discard any CD of drivers and software that comes with cables you may buy.  Use CHIRP instead.  More about programming with software later.

Next will be manual programming.

Congratulations and welcome to ham radio!

I'm making sure that I'm subscribed to this thread.


Vulcan94

I spent 2 hours today trying to install the driver for the Baofeng on my computer. Never got it to work.

Manual Programming of Repeaters with the UV-5R

(1) Select the A (or Upper) line using the blue A/B button.

(2) Press orange VFO/MR button to put the radio in "frequency mode".

NOTE - All memory programming must be done via the A line and in frequency mode, and Dual Watch (menu 7) must be off, as we set previously.

(3) You may not program over a channel already in memory.  The memory channel must be empty.    All of those frequencies pre-programmed in your new UV-5R were put there in the factory for test purposes.  You don't need them.  Delete every one of them using Menu 28 (DEL-CH).  Same key sequence as others, Menu, 2 8, Menu, use the arrow buttons to scroll through.  Any channels you find, press the Menu button again, and get a voice telling you it is deleted.  Press Menu again to enter the submenu, use the arrow buttons to scroll through, again press Menu to delete, and keep doing this until you find no more channels.  Press Menu to leave the submenu, and press Exit.

(You might prefer to make a typed list, with the Channel Numbers you wish to assign each frequency, offset (0.600 mhz for 2m or 5.000 mhz for 70cm), shift (+/-), and tone.

You do not have to program the repeaters in order.

Make sure you are in the correct band.  When you enter a frequency, as you enter the last digit the radio will say "Cancel" if you do not have the correct band selected.  In that case, press the BAND button once.  Now you may enter your frequency.

First repeater (example) to program:

We are going to program a repeater on 147.300 mhz with + shift and 103.5 tone.

Set the Shift by pressing Menu, 2 6 (or use the arrow keys to scroll to Menu 26 SFT-D), Menu, and press 1 (for +) or use the arrow keys until you have a + indication.  Or you may press 2 (for -) or scroll with arrow keys to bring up the -.  Press Menu again to save, then Exit.  The radio will say "confirm."

I suggest you do not set a receive tone for now.

Set a transmit tone or DCS code by entering Menus 12 (T-DCS) or 13 ( T-CTCS).  Since we are entering a regular transmit tone, press Menu, 13 (or arrow buttons to get to Menu13), Menu, use the arrow buttons to select the correct tone, in this case 103.5.  Then press Menu again to save, and press Exit.

Now you have Shift and Tone entered.  If you enter a tone, or one is already in Menu 12, and your repeater does not require tones, it will work anyway, won't hurt a thing.  However, if your repeater requires a tone, and your radio does not transmit a tone, or transmits the wrong tone, the repeater will not be activated.

So, look again at the frequency you have entered in the A or upper line.  Confirm it is correct (147.300).

Here we go...

Press Menu, 27 (or arrow keys to scroll to Menu 27 - MEM CH), Menu.  The radio says "Memory Channel".

Enter the channel number you want to assign it, from 000 to 127.  Press Menu to save. The radio's voice will say "Receiving Memory".

(Each time you program a new channel, you must reset the correct tones and shift direction (+/-).  Remember to set tone to off for the receiving portion of the programming, then set the transmitting tone.)

(a) Now enter the HT's Transmitting frequency (repeater input freq), in this case 147.300 + 0.600 = 147.900 mhz.  So, enter 147900 via the keypad.  

(b) OR if a non-standard split, you would now enter that transmitting frequency via the keypad.

Now press Menu, 2 7 (or scroll with arrow buttons to Menu 27 -MEM CH), Menu, the radio will say "Memory Channel".

Enter or scroll to the same Channel Number you already programmed for receive freq, and then press Menu again.  The radio will say "Transmitting Memory".

Press Exit.

Repeat the above process, each time entering the receive frequency first.  Then the correct shift and tone.

In an earlier post we had set the power, as default, to High, so all channels will be on High.  This is an HT.  If you wish to go to low power, the easy way is to use the # key on the keypad to toggle to Low.  An L will appear on the upper left of the display when the UV-5R is in Low.  Nothing if in High.

UPDATE!!!!  6-15-13

Manual Programming Flow Charts for repeater channels -- Right click and save as.

http://kc9hi.dyndns.org/uv5r/programming/uv5r%20standard.pdf     For standard repeater splits.

http://kc9hi.dyndns.org/uv5r/programming/uvr5%20odd.pdf      For odd splits.

Finally, I would set Offset to 0, shift to 0, no tone, and program the simplex frequencies in as channels.

For Simplex there is no need to program the frequency twice (as for repeaters) via Menu 27.  Programming only once for "Receiving Memory" will also put the same frequency for Transmitting.

I usually put 146.520, the 2m National Calling Channel in Ch-000 slot.  This of course is Simplex, and has no Offset, no Shift, no tone.  (I've already put my favorite local repeater as Ch-001.)

Also, I program the 2 m Simplex frequences beginning at CH-100.  These use no offset, no shift, no tone.

These simplex frequencies begin at 146.400 for CH-100.  (Note, 0.015 mhz increments between each simplex channel)

CH-100   146.400
CH-101   146.415
CH-102   146.430
CH-103   146.445
through
CH-112   146.580

then another series in the 147 mhz range.  (Again, 0.015 mhz increments between each simplex channel)

CH-113    147.420
CH-114    147.435
CH-115    147.450
through
CH-123    147.570

Finally I  program these four 70 cm frequencies

CH124    445.000
CH125    446.000
CH126    446.500
CH127    446.520

Now you don't have to remember the Simplex frequencies.  You can scroll through them beginning at CH-100.

Next big post, programming with software.

Do you have a good Serial to USB adapter?  If so, order the Kenwood type serial cable here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220725369790

A co-worker just bought two of the UV-5RC radios and handed them to me to program since I have a cable, etc.



I've tried the "official" app and CHIRP. CHIRP is still a little buggy it seems for that radio, but there is one killer feature I'd love to see on the official app but I don't think exists -- please correct me if I am wrong: Why can't I "insert" a memory channel above or below another channel? Or at least be able to cut and paste blocks of channels down a notch or two? I grouped certain areas together, but if I want to add another repeater in that group? I have to put it at the end... Any other option?

The daily build version has "beta" support of it... ie, it works every-other-time... I am half tempted to use the official app to write all the freqs, then read back into CHIRP and move things around and write back into the radio. A clunky way of doing it, but programing these cheap radios are always clunky. WHY importing from a CSV isn't standard on all brands of radios is beyond me...



 

With Chirp with mine you can, just right click on a channel and pick your choice.

Chirp works like a charm for me. Just make sure you use the 3.2.0.0 driver (directions here, http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/UV5R-Drivers.html), and the daily build Chirp, http://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/LATEST/.

Well, unless you need the latest fancy features like ptt I'd and such whitch is unlikely needed in a ham setting...Jim Unroe had everything working on the latest stable build...

I tested it through bfb297-299...I fear I'm the one that prodded Jim to keep going on the rest of the features...and I haven't had much time lately for radios...maybe this month I will again...

So, the stable build should work fine, as there may from time to time get a new bug with the still changing code on the bfb radios...

Btw: I use chirp, on well over a dozen radios, I actually reprogrammed a dozen in less than abou a half hour...I keep an image per radio...I use some of the fancy features on business band...

Bret

You can copy / paste blocks of channels and make room to insert a channel.

Also, under EDIT menu, you can move up, move down.

You can select by clicking on one channel, then select an additional channel by holding down Control button and clicking on it.  Then in Edit, click Exchange, and the two channels will swap places.

CHIRP most certainly does suppor the UV-5R and variants (which are all cosmetic, internally the same).

Get the CHIRP version on the main page:  

http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

A good cable is also important.  This has been discussed here and in other threads.

For those of you that continue to have problems with programming cables, send me an IM.  I will have some cables available that use the Silicon Labs CP2102 UART USB converters.  Once the driver is installed (I'll email the driver to you) this is a very stable cable.

I did not forget about programming with CHIRP.  I just need to get some screen shots hosted somewhere.  (Now I have a Photobucket account set up.)

I can confirm the better all around "radio" capabilities of the B5.

Better recv, better squelch, better transmission power, much better stock Antenna.

The B5 is a solid 5 watts. Very easily programmable from the keypad.

Same cable issues and chirp operation is the same as the 5R.

The baofeng stock app actually works for the B5.

Same price ($53 from 409shop), so I suggest everyone get the B5 over the 5R.

The accessories do not interchange, and the B5 is the future, so if you don't already have a 5R, get the B5.

Has anyone ever installed the CHIRP software and it never prompts your for the radio/com port.  I moved to a new PC and it never asks me to configure like it did on my last PC.  When I try to "Download from Radio" it does nothing.  Cable and driver are installed correctly.

Plug the cable into the computer and radio, but do not yet turn on the radio.

In your computer's Device Manager, look in Ports and see what COM Port your cable is using.

Open CHIRP.

Turn on the radio.

At the top of the CHIRP window click the Radio Menu.

Click Download from Radio.

You will get a window open that says Port, Vendor, and Model.  Make sure Port is the Com Port you observed in Device Manager.

Set Vendor to Baofeng, and Model to UV-5R via the drop downs.

That's just it.  When I click "Download from Radio" it never prompts me for anything.  I've uninstalled/reinstalled, rebooted multiple times.  Really at a lost as my last PC was very easy.  This PC is win7 64 and my old PC was a WIN8 64bit.

It turns out my issues with CHIRP were because the 040313 daily build had some bugs, so I uninstalled it and installed 040213 daily build and everything works great!



I do wish CHIRP allowed for RX and TX frequency fields instead of just RX + offset.... When doing non-ham repeaters that have odd-splits having to do the math for each repeater gets old after awhile (first world problems, I know )

Now, on to programming with CHIRP.

If you received a CD with your radio with other software, discard it.  I promise you will not miss it.  You don't need it.  You don't want it.

Go to this site and download CHIRP.  It is free and works with over 60 different radios.  With half a dozen programming cables you can program 90% of the HTs and Mobiles on the market.

http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

Once installed, and you have the cable plugged in (do not turn on the radio at this time), open your computer's Device Manager, look in ports, and observe which Comport your cable is using.  Remember that number.  Be aware that can change if you plug the same cable into a different USB port.

Make sure the cable is plugged firmly into the UV-5R.  

Open CHIRP.

Turn on your UV-5R.

For this and every other programming software I have used, you must first download the radio into the program to create a template for the program to use.  Do not start filling in blanks and try to write to the radio.  Read the radio first.

At the top of the CHIRP window, click the Radio menu.  Then in the window that pops open, select the correct Comport that you observed in your computer's Device Manager.  Select Baofeng.  Select UV-5R.

Now click OK.

There are frequencies already programmed into the UV-5R.  You do not need to save any of them.  They are used for testing the radio at the factory only.  They are not useful to you for any reason.

Click to the left of each channel and click your Delete button.  Gone!  Scroll down the channel list and delete all.

There is a way to import frequencies, repeaters, other frequencies, by using the Radio menu > Query Data Source > Repeater Book.  There choose your desired location and download.  It will take a few seconds to go online and find the information.  Also, you can download other info using Download Stock Configuration in the Radio menu.  That's how I got the NOAA frequencies (weather).

So, once you have queried Repeater Book, you get something like this:

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I did this several times in different tabs, and gathered repeaters from various counties, then pasted them into this tab, leaving some space in between so I can add more repeaters in the future.

Where the repeater call signs appear, you can click there and type in another name for the repeater, such as NYC1, NYC2, NYC3, PHILY1, PHILY2, STLOU1, STLOU2.  Whatever you want that helps you identify the repeater easily.

Use split in the Duplex field and put the TX frequency in the Offset field.

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You may also just type in the blanks.  In this case, I put 146.520, the National Calling Simplex Frequency in Ch-000.

In the Tone Mode column, since no tones are used for simplex, use the drop down list by clicking, and choose (None).  The 88.5 hz will appear in the next two columns, but since (None) is chosen for Tone, there is no tone used.

For the next channel, Ch-001, in the Tone Mode column click the drop down, and chose Tone.  I recommend you do not use TSQL, which requires the repeater to transmit a tone in order for your radio to break squelch and hear it.  Not all repeaters transmit a tone, so it is best to not use this feature.  You can't go wrong by not using it.

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If your repeater (or Simplex) does not use a PLL Tone, and you have previously chosen (None) don't bother with this.  But if  your repeater does use a PLL tone, here is where you chose the tone frequency.  Click and go down the list, click on the correct frequency.  Or you may simply type it in the cell.

I'm skipping over the DCTS, as this will be done similarly to the PL Tones if you need to do this.

Now, for all repeaters and simplex using PL tones or not, you should chose Tone>Tone here.  Those using DCTS get more complicated, I'll not go into that here.

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Just use the drop down in this column and chose Tone>Tone if not selected already.

Here you will chose the shift, +, -, none, split, off.

For those repeaters that shift up in freq, chose +.  For those that shift down, chose -.

For Simplex, chose None.

For odd splits, chose Split, and type the Transmit frequency in the Offset column.

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There are some frequencies, such as LE, Marine, NOAA Weather, Railroad, or others that you may wish to monitor, but do not ever want to transmit on, even accidently.  For those you can inhibit transmission on those frequencies by choosing Off.

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Note the Offset column.  For 2 meters, the offset is usually 0.600 mhz.  For 70 cm the offset is 5.0 mhz.  Set accordingly.

The UV-5R is capable of Wide Band or Narrow Band FM.  For all ham use, chose Wide by simply selecting FM.

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Narrow Band FM would be obtained by choosing NFM.  If you chose NFM for ham use, your signal will sound weak to the other station.

Next is Power setting.  While the UV-5R can be set to use different power settings for different channels, (High is appx 4.5 watts, Low is appx 1 watt), I would recommend that ALL channels be set to High.  Then if you wish to lower power, simply press the # button on the key pad, and the power level will toggle down to Low.  Then pressing # again will toggle power back to High.  But the default setting should be High.

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I got this idea from a post on the UV-5R Yahoo Group.  It is difficult to remember all of the Simplex frequencies.  So why not program those frequencies into memory?  Further, they can be simply "named" or "alpha tagged" by frequency, such as 146.520 is named 146520.  Or the group poster's idea, replace the 14 with SX so that 146.520 would be named SX6520.  The SX tells you it is a SimpleX frequency, and you know the first two digits are 14, and the rest is 6520.  So you know by looking that SX6520 is a Simplex frequency of 146.520.

Even though 146.520, the National Calling Simplex Frequency was previously placed in CH-000 as NATCAL, it is here again in the middle of these frequencies.

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These Simplex frequencies begin at 146.400 (SX6400), and go up by 15 khz increments to 146.580 (SX6580).  I began these at CH-100 and run through CH-112.

Then there is a gap, and the Simplex frequencies pick up again at 147.420 (SX7420) at CH-113, and run on up in 15 khz increments to 147.570 (SX7570) in CH-123..

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CH-124 through CH-127 are some 70 cm Simplex frequencies.

Next, over on the left are some settings I suggest you copy for now.

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Click where it says All Settings to expand the list.

Next, click where it says Basic Settings (in blue).

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Squelch is 0-9, and my area is noisy, so I have Squelch set to 7.

Battery Saver settings are 0-4.  This does save a little power, but it also takes some time for the radio to "wake up", like wiggling the mouse on your computer to get it out of sleep mode.  You may miss the first bit of a transmission.  0 is off, 4 is maximum power save.   I use it on a setting of 1.  

The UV-5R is VERY good about power usage, and you get a surprising long use out of the 1800 mah battery, and with the larger 3600 or 3800 mah battery, you can use it all day for 4 - 5 days on one charge.  When not actually transmitting or receiving, it draws almost no current at all.  

Time Out Timer, I suggest 60 seconds.  If you need more you yak too much and you can overheat the radio.  You just don't need more in most cases, but you can increase Time Out here if you think you do.  This is good in case something is pressed against the PTT switch, such as dropping your radio down between the seat and console.

Display A and B, (that is the upper and lower line on the display), set these to NAME.

I like the colors chosen, they make sense, and turn off that damned Roger Beep!  Sounds like a Criminal Bander!

Advanced Settings.

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Normally most hams don't use VOX.  Too easy to make unintentional transmissions, and that is poor ham practice.  Set VOX to 0.

Uncheck Dual Watch unless you don't mind not knowing what channel you are listening to and it is bouncing back and forth between the A and B displays.

Alarm Mode... I don't know what this cheesy feature is really for, but by setting Alarm Mode to Site, the alarm button will only make a sound on the speaker, and not transmit that sound on the air... another ham no-no.

The rest, just set as you see in the picture above.

This is an interesting tab, Advanced Settings.

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Leave the 6-PowerOn Message 1 and 2 alone.  They identify something in the radio not really useful to us.

Power On Message 1 and Power On Message 2 are the fun items.

I set the top one to my first name and last initial.  You can use upper and lower case letters, some symbols, and spaces here, for a total of 7 characters.  For the bottom line, the same, so I put my call sign there.  You can only program these with software.  A good way to keep track of which radio is whose.

Or if you have a number of these in your organization, you can assign a radio number there, HT1, HT2, etc.  So it could read, as you turn it on:

HamCert
HT1

Leave the rest as the stock settings.  NO!  This radio will NOT do 1.25 meters (220 mhz), even if you change these numbers.  Just leave them alone.

Work Mode Settings

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The takeaway from this is, at the bottom, that 5.0 khz is the tuning step  you want to select.

This is what the DTMF settings page looks like.  I suggest you don't change this unless you know what you are doing and have a good reason.

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But I just thought I'd show it to you anyway.


Well, guys, that's about it!  Have fun with your UV-5R!

I am going to IM some email addresses for you to ask this.