• Baofeng Uv 5b Software Developer Software
• Chirp Software Baofeng Uv 5r

Be sure to save your work in the Chirp software when you are finished. If you goof up your radio you can always restore the cloned image. The same with programming multiple radios, you should be. Kenneth, The OEM software for the UV-8 (as well as other Baofeng radios) is available on the Miklor.com website. If you have a 32-bit windows computer available to install and use this OEM software on, it would be great if you could capture a download session from it using Portmon (link below) and post it here. BaoFeng UV-5R Radio Background. BaoFeng Introduced the UV-5R Dual Band, Dual Display radio in 2012. Since its introduction the UV-5R has seen a massive success. The UV-5R has seen 2 major changes since its launch with the second generation being signified by BFB297 Firmware (2nd Gen.) in early 2013 and the N5R firmware tweak in August of 2014.

When I first spotted the Baofeng UV-B5 I was slightly more interested than normal. I kinda liked the ‘no frills’ design with the rotary encoder on top. I never got used to the system of pressing Up and Down buttons for changing frequencies or channels, and this model promised to address this issue. Its sibling, the UV-B6, is technically identical but features a flashlight instead of the alarm button and rotary encoder. The choice is yours. For the rest I expected the UV-B5 and UV-B6 to be more of the same: never perfect but value for money, with all the pros and cons we got used to. One of the cons – one I slowly started to accept as something inevitable – is a design based on SDR and DSP.

SDR is considered cutting edge technology and cheap to produce, but so far the implementation was flawed. Most of these radios lack a decent front end or produce a lot of. As a result these radios are overloaded in a heartbeat. The Wouxun KG-UVD1P and the Quansheng TG-UV2 are well known exceptions to the rule, but their price reflects this. You get what you pay for. Something changed.

Baofeng Uv 5b Software Developer Software

From the moment I switched on the Baofeng UV-B5 it was clear that engineers in China heard our cries and did something about these crappy front ends. First of all I never lost the signal of our regional 70cm repeater while walking through my house, a trick not even the Wouxun or Quansheng can pull off. Only my Yaesu VX-177 and Icom IC-U82, both expensive mono band HTs, are capable of doing that. Secondly, I never lost signal outside either.

That’s not something I can take for granted here. My QTH is known as ‘Intermod Alley’ and for good reasons. Most receivers are overloaded immediately here, making it impossible to listen into any 70cm signal below S9+20. Look & Feel While the UV-5R never feels comfortable in my hand due to its square shape and sharp edges, the UV-B5’s rounded shape makes the radio fit like a glove.

It reminded me of the comfort associated with the series, and both models certainly share some design features. They’re identical in size, the batteries have a similar shape and both radios share the same great belt clip. The batteries are not interchangeable though, and the belt clip has a little problem.

The M2 screws which come with the radio are way too short, making it impossible to attach the belt clip to the body of the HT. Fortunately I had a few longer ones in stock. UV-B5 next to the UV-5R At the left we find three keys, but only two of them are functional: PTT and Monitor. When both keys are pressed simultaneously a 1750Hz burst tone is transmitted.

The third key has no function on the UV-B5, on the UV-B6 this key acts as a switch for the flashlight. Baofeng could have used this key on the UV-B5 to activate the LCD backlight, but they didn’t. At the right we have the standard Kenwood compatible 3.5mm and 2.5mm jacks for speaker/microphones and programming cables. The UV-B5 / UV-B6 software worked right out of the box, but don’t forget to click the red button to change the language from Chinese to English. On top we find a rotary encoder which can be used to change frequency, channel, or menus and underlying parameters. A conventional on/off/volume pot is located at the right. When the volume is completely turned down there’s still some audio present, but you’ll have to put your ear close to the speaker if you want to listen to the conversation.

The stock antenna (SMA-F) is sturdy and does a remarkably good job. Replacing it with a Nagoya NA-701 or the $3.79 antenna didn’t improve performance at all, which means that there’s no need to shop for a replacement. Batteries are rated 2000 mAh, but at this stage there’s no way for me to verify these claims. As is usual with Li-Ion batteries, you need to deplete and charge the battery at least three times in a row before maximum capacity is reached. After that you can charge the battery whenever you want.

An intelligent desktop charger is part of the package; charging takes about 5 hours when a battery is fully depleted. Memories The UV-B5 offers 99 memory positions in total, plus an additional 16 channels to store FM stations. You can overwrite memories without the need of deleting them first. Manual Baofeng manuals have a reputation of being incomplete and impossible to understand. This one is actually quite decent: all features, menus and parameters are described in detail. No funny ChinEnglish either, just plain English with few grammar problems.

Chirp Software Baofeng Uv 5r

The manual is not without errors though. Some things are repeated twice on the same page, and according to the manual you must hold the Monitor key if you want to change the volume. That’s not the case. Operating and programming the UV-B5 In VFO mode you just type in the frequency you want and you’re done. Contrary to the UV-5R there’s no ’rounding down bug’ to deal with when entering a frequency which doesn’t end in a 0 or 5.

This happens often when a UV-5R is set to either 12.5KHz or 6.25KHz channel spacing. On the UV-B5 the frequency is correctly predicted and set without having to enter the last digit(s). UV-B5 Software Contrary to many other radios you can program all of the UV-B5’s parameters without having to use computers and software. This includes adding alphanumeric descriptions to the memories and setting ANI codes.

However, a description cannot be longer than 5 characters. Because many call signs are six characters in length, this feature isn’t as useful as I hoped for. Programming with software doesn’t change things. Menus A total of 29 menus reside in this HT. Most of them are common across similar HTs, only the Compander and the Name function stand out.

The compander is a noise reduction system which does a nice job when you’re dealing with weak signals. It works both ways: RX and TX. When used with stronger signals some distortion is introduced.

The Name function, of course, is there to access the (crippled) system for adding names to memories. Transmitter Power Output Nothing fancy here: you can choose between High and Low. Measurements done with fully charged battery at 145MHz and 435MHz respectively. Power Output VHF: High: 4.0 Watts Low: 1.8 Watts Power Output UHF: High: 2.9 Watts Low: 1.7 Watts This is less output than the manufacturer claims, from the looks of it the power output is identical to the UV-5R. Fine with me. TX Audio: Excellent reports.

Modulation is loud, bright with no distortion. Spectrum Analysis Looking good: harmonic suppression 2nd order -59dBm on VHF, -53dBm on UHF. Receiver Sensitivity: VHF: -130dBm UHF: -128dBm Excellent. Please be advised that the tolerance of most RF generators in this range is +/- 1 dBm. Even in the worst case scenario this would translate into a perfect score. Front End: This is where the UV-B5 shines. For now this is the HT to compare others with – the receiver is at least as good as the Wouxun KG-UVD1P and outperforms the Quansheng TG-UV2.

Overloading is not impossible, but far from easy – almost unreal for an HT this price. Conclusion The Baofeng UV-B5 is close to perfect. The only two niggles are the 5-character limit for alphanumeric descriptions and the belt clip screws which are too short. For the rest: best value for money to date. Needless to say, I’m keeping this one. Price (includes shipping): $53 at $42.50 at (but you have to buy 2 of them).

Have you checked the charger of UV-3R+ is intelligent or not? I know the charger of UV-3R is not intelligent. But I had opened the charger of UV-3R+, there is a chip “2YL6” inside. I found this link there are some useful info. In that link, but no conclusion. The 2YL6 is another name of IN4054.

It seemed is the same chip produced from another company Belling name it BL4054. From the pdf, the UV-3R+ charger seemed an intelligent one. But I am not good at this, can not make a conclusion.

What is your opinion? Hi Hans, thank you for your in-depth review. I wanted a decent Chinese HT for some time now, but the lack of finding one that uses a reliable power system prevented me from jumping into the Chinese market.

I really like the way some Chinese manufacturers allow to charge the battery directly from an AC wall plug, DC adapter, or USB port like TYT does with their TH-UV3R and TH-UVF9. If you travel a lot, the portability of these types of power systems makes it very convenient. If the charging electronics that are built into the battery fail, you can just buy another battery for cheap.

The charging bases most manufacturers supply seem unreliable at best, this includes Wouxun. How does the charging base look on this Baofeng UV-B5/UV-B6? Is there a connection for a DC car adapter? Does this radio have multiple squelch levels, or is it ‘squelch on’ ‘squelch off’ like the Baofeng-UV-5R? Does the up/down arrow buttons change channels as well as the rotary encoder? And when in VFO, how do you go from VHF to UHF? Does the radio actually have two simultanios receivers, or does it still work as a dual watch like the Baofeng-UV-5R?

What does the orange button on top do? Does this radio still have the audible feedback in spoken English, and how do you get the diplay to light up? Hi Nate, yes, it does gave multiple squelch levels. The difference between the various levels still isn’t large, but better than we know of the UV-5R. The rotary encoder performs the same function as Up and Down; you can use both. There’s only one VFO and two displays, as is usual at this price level.

All it does in Dual Watch is switching quickly between the two frequencies you entered. There’s no ‘Band’ key to switch from VHF to UHF. Instead you just type in the frequency you want. I think this is a better system, there’s less room for errors and confusion.

The Voice Prompt is there and as useless as all the other implementations we saw so far. Some menu items aren’t announced, neither are underlying parameters. Switching on the LCD backlight is a problem. It will light up when you change frequency or channel, but I’d prefer a ‘dead’ key to do that. I’m pretty sure though that we can utilize the Flashlight key, it probably involves soldering one resistor to make this key useful. This mod is on my ‘To Do’ list, but I don’t have not much spare time during the holidays.

When it comes to TX range, there will be no noticeable difference between the three radios. Both the UV-5R and the UV-82 share the same (easily overloaded) front-end. The UV-B5, while not perfect either, is much less prone to overload.

This will result in better reception under challenging conditions. Even better are most Wouxun radios and the QuanSheng TG-UV2. At the top of the list are the (expensive) mono-band radios made by Yaesu, the FT-277R and FT-270R. These radios don’t care about interference at all. I received my new UV-B5 today.

My first impression is that it fits indeed better in my hand than the UV-5R, the keys are a bit smaller and also a bit more difficult to push than the UV-5R. The display light is only blue rather then the 3 colours of the UV-5R but that doesn’t bother me much. What I still can’t find out is how the scan memory channels: I switch from frequency mode to channel mode, according to the manual I then should push Menu and VM/Scan, however then nothing is happening In frequency mode, the same procedure starts a bandsearch starting from the frequency in the display; that’s fine, but I also want to be able to scan all saved memories, anyone??

Thank you Hans. I did finally see where a U.S. Outfit by the name of Radio Mart is selling the UV-B6 but not the B5.

Radio Mart is a seller on Amazon. I also think one can buy directly from them. They are selling the B6 for 46.99 USD plus 6.49 USD for shipping. I’m more interested in the B5 but still torn between it and UV-5R Plus. Then too I see so many issues posted on Yahoo about the UV-5R. I’m not sure I need a project radio vs. One that works well.

Bottom line is that I am just undecided! Thank you Hans. Best 73 Bob, N7SGM. Hans: Thank you for your web page.

It has been very useful to me since I recently got my ham license. Your reviews were essential in helping me choose the right (cheap) equipment to get me started. I recently got the Baofeng UV-B5, largely based on your opinion and test results, but I found it disappointing and quirky. Maybe I just got a lemon and this is to be expected at this price range. Here are my observations, hoping they might be useful to somebody: 1.- Since your review of the UV-B5 was largely done in comparison to the UV-5R, we might mention that the “chareto mistake” at the bottom of the charger is gone. Since opinions on the entertainment value of this “warning” differ, this might be a plus or minus, depending on the user. 2.- The display on the UV-B5 is in my opinion one of the worst in its class.

It´s very small, blurry and with poor contrast, at least to my 50-year old eyes. Additionally it is very heat sensitive. Here in Valdivia, Chile we are suffering the worst heat wave in recorded history and ambient temperature above 32ºC causes discoloration and display fading, although it´s pretty even without hot spots. 3.- The rotary encoder for frequency tuning is very loose and uneven, with about 30% of it´s rotation perimeter where it doesn’t register input. A bit of careful adjustment of the tightening ring on the outside cured about 95% of the problem, but it´s still very loose and occasionally still misses the input rotation. I partially disassembled the radio and found out that the rotary switch is precariously attached to the PCB.

It decided not to mess with it until the problem gets worse or fails completely, something I expect will happen fairly soon. 4.- I noticed the unit burns my hand by leaking RF thru the battery contact on the antenna side. Since I am fairly ambidextrous, I was puzzled this only happened when I used the radio with my left hand (i. Pressing the PTT switch with my left thumb). It never happens when I transmit using the right hand (PTT with the right index). A bit of single-blind testing with friends and family confirmed this observation.

Interestingly, the problem completely went away when I replaced the stock antenna with the “$3.75 wonder antenna”, of which I bought several on your recommendation. This is very puzzling to me.

Is this a placebo effect or I just got a bad radio or a faulty antenna? Can somebody else reproduce this weird effect? Finally I would like to mention that of all the cheapo chinese HT´s I have bought (Wouxun KG-UVD1P, Baofengs UV-3R, UV-3R Mark II, UV-5R and the TYT-UV3R) my favourite is still the TYT UV3R. Small as the BF UV-3R, but with a useful keyboard, excellent and intuitive operation and menus, decent software and by far the best and nicest display. The only real con is the lack of cross band operation.

Greetings form Valdivia and please keep up the great work! Alex (CD6377). I never paid attention to such ‘warnings’. I think the display isn’t bad at all, but my 57-year old eye are still perfect. The heat problem is something I only noticed with the UV-5R. Long transmission don’t degrade the display readability at all. But, it’s winter here.

No issues so far (8 UV-5B’s bought and redistributed amongst other hams). The RF leak – I had the same effect with the BF-666S and wrote about that. RF should be blocked on the PCB. Strangely, I didn’t notice it with the UV-B5.

I’ll check it out. It would be easy to fix; adding a micro version of the 6-hole ‘pig nose’ between the + of the PCB and the battery. Yet the factory should do such things, not us. From the looks of it you’re encountering problems unknown of till now.

Extended RX + TX above 470 Nhz no Problem. Look Picture. One need only adjust the ini settings in the program directory. Then start the progam in administrator mode! After entering the frequencies the band limits are saved with the file! Here is my (revised Ini Settings) setup com=3 language=english searchcom=1 compander=0 channel=0 ModelInfo Freq0=136-174/400-470 data0=400047 Freq1=144-148/430-450 data1=430045 Freq2=144-146/430-440 data2=430044 Freq3=136-174/245-246 data3=246024 Freq4=136-174/400-520 data4=400052 Freq5=144-146/430-432 data5=432043 Good Luck Walter. You can use the software and optional programming USB cable to program your own DCS scanner with the UV-B5.

Simply put the frequency you want to scan identical in all memory channels 1 – 99. For each channel use a different DCS code. Then just start scan or manually use the channel knob to step through each DCS code manually. Not as slick as a built-in scanner, but gets the job done. I used this method with my UV-B5 to discover and open a DCS squelched Motorola CP-200. With Motorola radios, only 84 of the 105 DCS codes are relevant, so you have more than enough channels with 99 memories on the UV-B5.

I have revived my b5 today, sadly there are problems. The receive is very poor, if I put the radio down and not hold it in my hand, signal is lost.

Second, some signals change tone from bass to treble with different signal strength, IE if I move the radio to a poor reception position, the tone goes bassy and if I raise the HT the tone goes higher treble with the better received signal. Lastly, and more severe is I can not hear or activate any repeater period. I ordered from aliexpress so I dunno if that makes a difference.

It’s almost like the antenna connection isn’t connected inside the radio, maybe not soldered to the board? I don’t want to open it and void my “warranty” until I find out if I can return it or not. Anyone heard of this problems?

Very sad day for me. Hey Chris, Glad to have found your post regarding the bass to treble issue. I have the same extraordinarily annoying issue with my B6 I just received.

Yours is the only specific mention of this on the net I could find but is likely part of the build in every B5 & B6. Less fussy operators may overlook the problem, and may have something to do with the pre and de- emphasis circuits in the radio. It is something I have never encountered in many years with massive quantities of transceivers and receivers. I actually posted a comment yesterday describing transmitting a significant warbling tone on all frequencies between 154-166 Mhz. Wonder if you have this same issue?

Yes I trimmed the stock antenna a bit but my NA771 made a loud CRACK sound but now it fits great.not sure what I broke. I have COMP off I dont see tail cut, is it STE? The tone is hard to explain.

If I have a low signal received, it sounds low tone or bassy, if the signal improves, the tone goes high with more hiss. So far the antenna issue was a big problem, maybe you could make a special page for it I could have fried my output transistors. I also hear a buzzing sometimes when the squelch breaks.

Is the perfect device not there. Somewhere there is always something The change with the pitch when receiving many new devices.

Called DSP (Feature or nonsense?) If reception is weak takes the rush from the pitch (deeper playback) Is the reception better, then the NF is higher. Squelch the scan whistles ever.

Short Is settling from the DSP. All effects of RDA block. That’s the price of cheap devices. Nevertheless, the UV B5 is still one of the better units (others have a lot more bugs!) Walter. A juicy little bit that might be helpful to somebody: Today I absentmindedly stuck my UV-B5 in the UV-5R charger and left it there for 3 hours until it was charged. Only when I retrieved it I realized my error, thankfully without ill consequences.

The radio fits a bit loosely, since it is narrower at the base, but the contacts lined OK (and thankfully with the proper polarity). This might be helpful if you are travelling with both radios, since you only need to carry the UV-5R charger. As a cautionary note, I have a plain (old) UV-5R. I don´t know if this trick will work with the newer UV-5R model chargers (-A, -B, -E, -UU, Plus, whatever). Try at your own risk and if your house burns down, It´s not my fault;). Hi Hans, thanks for all your efforts, it’s much appreciated.

I’m set to order a UV-B5 over the UV-5R due mainly to your advice. My question is if all programming cables are the same for the all the UV-XX models? I can’t seem to find a cable for the UV-B5. Also, i’m not finding the software either. It seems the 409SHOP website doesn’t offer either the cable or the software, from what i can see. When i place my order, will a UV-5R cable and programming be ok for the UV-B5? Can you point me in the right direction?

I purchased one of these UV-B5 units also, and I think it’s good looking, like my Wouxun KG UV6D, but it’s a poor performer. I have a good receiver on mine, but the transmit audio is very low and weak, no where near the robust, loud, claims made on the reviews. The display is poor, it’s dim, and hard to read, because the lcd digits look pale and dull looking, nothing like the Baofeng UV 5R I have. The backlight does not come on when a signal comes in like the UV 5R does, and I’m forever pressing a key to get the backlight on so I can see what I’m doing in dim lighted rooms. I would prefer the UV 5R’s features into the UV B5 any day, they cheaped out on many features that my UV 5R has.

About the only good thing I can say about the B5 is that it hears amazingly well but it does not talk well at all. I think I’ll end up putting it on Ebay and I’m have a FDC FD 880 dual band ht on order which from the videos I’ve seen can run circles around the B5, it has dedicated backlight features that can be ON, OFF or AUTO, plus a 3 color display which is brighter and crisper looking. So we’ll see when that one gets here. Thanks for the great in depth review on this B5, I was hoping for an amazing little radio, but it’s not even as good as my UV 5R. UPDATE on my Baofeng UV B5: I’m not sure what was wrong with the one I got but I but I did a factory reset on it, then I reprogrammed all the channels into it and presto! For whatever reasons the display looks brighter, the LCD looks a little better, and I also replaced the stock antenna with an RH-901S which has a center load and it’s 18 1/2 inches tall, and the upper 9 inches of it is ultra flexible and thin, but it does stay straight when the radio is set on the table.

The thing I noticed most was a few guys on the local repeater asked me what I was using because it was so LOUD! I told them it was the UV-B5 I had bought for $53 and they were amazed at the quality and loudness of the transmit audio. This radio hears things that the UV-5R and KG-UV6D have trouble hearing. ( I own both of those also) What also has impressed me was I’ve tested the stock antenna against the RH-901S and the 901S wins hands down, it punches into repeaters that are 30 miles away, whereas the stock antenna will not bring those repeaters up at all, it hears them, but wont bring those repeaters up like the RH-901S antenna will, so I’m convinced that this extra long center load antenna has more gain. Overall I’ve gotten used to not having the extra bells and whistles that my Wouxun, and Baofeng UV-5R have, and I have found myself using this UV-B5 more than the other two. Basically I really like the louder transmit audio, and the more sensitive receiver on this radio. I thought I had gotten a Monday morning special at first but after a Factory Reset, and reprogramming it’s performing beautifully.

What I wish they had done on the B5 radio was use the side button that does nothing to activate the display lamp so you can turn that on and have it stay on a while as you’re checking things in a dim room or at night. The way I have to do it now is to hit the A/B button to cause the lamp to come on then I check it. So to sum it up I think it is a very good radio, it hears extremely well, and the transmit audio is loud and clear, and I also note that I can use it all day without draining the battery with moderate transmissions.

I have a spare battery that I keep in the charger so battery power is not a problem at all. I got the RH-901S antenna on Ebay for $5.19 with free shipping from Hong Kong If you have one of these radios and it’s not working properly, try the factory reset, it just might take care of the problems. I think I’ll have to order another UV-B5 this one I have is ok, but it’s got some strange quirks to it lately.

Occasionally if I have the “beep” turned on instead of a beep I get an open squelch noise. Also at times when I am transmitting I push the PTT button, and nothing happens, it sits there until I turn the radio off then back on again. There are some other bugs too such as a loud BUZZ sound momentarily after I key up when using the local repeater. I don’t know if any of you have experienced this, but it does get annoying when the radio won’t transmit when you are in a QSO I may get one from AliExpress, this one came from 409shop, and this one came in a plain cardboard box marked Baofeng the same box that my UV-5R came in. The photo on their web site shows a fancy box.

When asked about that they said they ship whatever box is available at the time. I wish I could check the firmware version on this one I bet it’s one of the first batch from a Monday morning run lol Oh well, for $41.86 I’ll just get another one because I know they do work very well when you get a good one I tried factory resets, but can’t fix this problem.

Have ordered one anyway (I wasn’t expecting a formal IP rating in this price range). Will keep it under wraps and use a speaker mic in wet conditions. Speaking of speaker mics, I found one online that incorporates an antenna extension (ie maintains antenna at shoulder height with radio inside my rucksack). Do you reckon this will be worthwhile, or will the gain be outweighed by the cable loss? Plus this will be the first dual band set I’ve used, and I’m wondering if the supplied antenna is a compromise between the two bands (ie can the TX performance output you measured be improved by optimising the antenna to the band in use)?

Extendable antennas are notorious for damaging the transmitter section of hand held radios because of the bad/unpredictable SWR. Hence I will NEVER recommend them. An damage example: Even if you find a good, big antenna, the performance of the radio likely won’t improve.

Hand held radios are designed to be very sensitive because of the relatively small antenna. The moment you connect a large high-gain antenna, the receiver will overload in a heartbeat. Instead of better signals all you get is noise. You might get away with it in the proverbial ‘middle of nowhere’, where no other signals are present. Other than that: just use the UV-B6 with the supplied antenna (which, BTW, is very good). Hi Hans, some friends and I have been banging our heads against the brick wall of ignorance trying to pick our first HT’s and your reviews of the B5/6 and PX-888 have been.incredibly.

helpful and educational. Thanks to the information we’ve almost decided on the UV-B5/6 instead of a PX-777 or 888 We just have one question: Which would you say would perform better across acres of forest and field or simulated urban area? You list the tradeoffs as the B5’s having better audio quality while the 888’s are more powerful. Power output never equals range. In order to gain one lousy S-point (6 dB), you need to multiply RF power by a factor of 4. Let’s assume an HT delivers 5 Watts and you want to gain those 6 dB, you need to crank up RF power to 20 Watts – which is impossible given the design of an HT.

Antenna quality, height and lack of obstacles are way more important. So, in short, the effect of 1 Watt extra power output is negligible. Both radios will perform about the same.

The UV-B5 might even do slightly better thanks to the clear TX audio and better selectivity of the receiver. Hi Hans, First of all, thank you for your detailed and scientific review. Based on your comments I bought a B5 and so far I’ve been pretty satisfied. I certainly prefer it to my older-3R+. I’m wondering whether there’s a way to thoroughly clear out the memory and put everything back to factory default condition a “deeper” reset than the Menu + Power switch on combination. Perhaps something using a programming cable and an image file of the original factory contents.

Do you have any thoughts about this? And finally, I’d welcome any comparison between the Baofeng UV-B5 and the TYT TH UVF9. Thanks again Hans, and also thanks to all other contributors to the blog. 73 Greg PS: I tried to post a few minutes ago using IE, with great frustration. The typing “lagged” quite badly, and after filling out the comment form, I got an error message.

I’m typing this using Firefox, hopefully with better results. Hi Greg, I’m sure there’s way for a hard reset, but that would require opening up the radio and find the reset line on the radio chip and short it. Not really user friendly. A programming cable + software can restore factory defaults and original programming, assuming you once read the original contents and saved it into a file. Not sure what would be the point / advantage though. I didn’t get any other complaints about IE so far.

Might be a fluke. I use Linux/Firefox, so I’m not as knowledgeable on IE quirks as I used to be. I’ve been fairly happy with the UV-B5.

My main annoyance is the battery charger. The “red” “charging” light really looks yellow (red plus green) and is barely discernable from the green “charged” light. You have to watch the charger closely, and frequently, in order to remove the battery pack as soon as the charger indicates “charged.” I’ve found that if I don’t pull the battery right away, the charger will continue charging, and the battery ends up with a charge of over 8.3 volts!

If I then use the radio with the voltage that high, the memory becomes scrambled and all hell breaks loose strange and unpredictable operation. Luckily I’ve cured this with the recommended “reset all” process (thank you, John!) but that’s still a PITA.

Incidentally, the vendor sent me a replacement charger, which was exactly the same as the original. So unless Baofeng comes up with a truly smart charger, that stops charging when it should at 7.4 volts. I honestly cannot recommend this radio to anyone.

Next, I’m going to try a TYT UVF9. Hopefully its charging circuit works correctly. Besides, I want a radio that has an optional battery pack with greater mAH capacity, but from what I’ve heard and read the Baofeng UV-5 is not a great performer (especially with its wide-open front end). I have heard a few good things about the UVF9, and 409 Shop says they have a larger battery for that radio.

If anyone has had problems with the TYT, please let me know! Otherwise I’m going to order one in a week or so, and I’ll report back here. Hans: thanks again for the good review and for providing this forum!

The Tonfa UV-985 is an 8 watt dual band HT with a form factor / shape like the Baofeng UV-5R. The UV-985 is $50US. The Baofeng UV-5B is under $40US now. Looks like Baofeng and Tonfa are divisions of same company from the looks of radio and its nomenclature. It will be interesting to see reviews on it when they start coming in.

I am most interested in the sound and selectivity of the UV-985 receiver and audio. The Baofeng UV-5B is plenty sensitive, audio sounds great, but could use improvement on selectivity as WiFi and cable modem noise nearby affects it.

The Radio Shack HTX-245 (Icom) is less affected by this type of noise, for example. Excellent Baofeng blog and review! Josh (KF4BF). When my UV-B5 came in the mail, I could not get the latch to engage the battery pack at all. The latch would not engage and capture the battery pack.

The battery pack would just fall off. So I took out my pocket knife and scraped the two rectangular holes in the battery pack where the latch engages. You have to make sure the two latch tabs have a flat surface to rest upon within in the two holes of the battery pack. The latch engages now, holding the battery pack sufficiently, but it is not a tight fit.

The battery pack moves slightly with respect to the frame. Baofeng needs to improve on their latch design. It works fairly well though in the UV-B5.

Hi again Hans Thanks for that, I guess what I’m asking is “is the voice processing digital?”. The reason I’m asking is that I’m a motorcycle riding instructor and I’m having trouble getting clear, audible voice transmission on a motorcycle above 90K/h. Clear enough for my students to understand my instructions.

I’ve been told that digitally processed voice will be greatly better than analogue voice processing, I’m looking to buy two higher quality transmitters (UVB6 perhaps?) and a bunch of cheaper receivers for my students to use, listen only (BF-888 perhaps). Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I think I have a workaround to the 114.8 PL decode issue on this radio; likely a programming error. The 114.8 decode setting is dead on receive to all standard PL tones. It appears it has been mistakenly omitted on the chip during programming, but the 118.8 decode setting will pass both 114.8 & 118.8 perfectly. It doesn’t appear to be a “wide bandwidth” issue as some have theorized, as this phenomena doesn’t occur with sequential tones that are closer together than 4Hz.

My B6 appears to transmit / encode 114.8 properly though, go figure!? Give it a try & let me know!

Got 4 uv-b5’s from amazon. They only had 28 menu settings.

Factory reset one and it now has 29 settings. It was missing setting #24 TXAB but now in dual standby mode the channel selection arrow cycles between the two current stations and you must set the TX priority of display1 or display2 its very annoying and I liked it better before as it would only activate when a signal on the other station was detected. I also noticed that before I facrory reset the radio that the squelch monitor button (the one below ptt) if short pressed would turn the back-light on and if long pressed it would turn the squelch off.

Now when pressed no back-light and it instantly turns off the squelch. How do I get this back to the way it was, I see no options for this in the software or chirp. I think these were a newer batch that had been upgraded at the factory but when I reset they reverted to an earlier configuration, any thoughts on how to adjust? Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes not. This $30.000 fine for illegal GMRS use dates just a few months ago. I’ve seen more examples, but I don’t keep track.

In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, we find Remel, Inc. (Remel) and its corporate parent, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (Thermo Fisher), apparently liable for a forfeiture in the amount of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for their apparent willful and repeated violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act), and Sections 1.903(a) and 95.3 of the Commission’s rules (Rules). The apparent violation involves the unlawful operation of radio frequency devices on a General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) frequency for more than nine years without Commission authority. Yea mess with big brother at your own risk. Looks like that business was unlicenced for 9 years or somthing to that extent, i thougt gmrs was limted to immediate family only, so each employee must have a “licence” unless immediate “family” of the licensee. But if you do have a GMRS licences, would they really even know if you used a “baofeng” so long as it was set within the correct power limits and frequencies settings for gmrs?

At least for casual or emergancy use? With testing equipment, you can set these up to transmit under 500mw to be under FRS specs Ever heard of anyone getting fined for specifically using a “baofeng” for GMRS, FRS murs, etc.?

These folks were likely nabbed by the FCC field office in Kansas City Mo, as this company’s located on the outskirts of the metro area. OK here’s more.

According to the FCC, GMRS is a land mobile radio service available to individuals for “short-distance, two-way communication to facilitate the activities of licensees and their immediate family members.” Part 95 GMRS licenses are only available to individuals. “Entities primarily engaged in communications associated with commercial activity, such as the companies, must instead apply for Commission authorization under the Industrial/Business Pool of the PLMRS Private Land Mobile Radio Service,” the FCC told the companies. The FCC warned Thermo Fisher in 2012 about its operation of an unlicensed base station repeater on 462.575 MHz at its facility in Lenexa, Kansas.

Thermo Fisher told the FCC that it had operated handheld radio transmitters “for a number of years” but discontinued their operation last year as soon as the firm became aware that the radios were not properly licensed. So, in essence the unlicensed repeater was the beginning of the end. No Morse or verbal station I,D. And the fact the nature of their radio traffic and use was unauthorized for the service they were operating within.

Now, I’m not advocating using a radio that is not type accepted, but total flagrant willful ignorance was the motivational factor behind this enforcement action. Hi Hans, Many thanks for all of the very useful information. I’m looking for new (replacement) VHF / UHF radio’s to use in the mountains. Key purchasing criteria are size & weight + transmission / receive range performance (distance & audio quality). I’m keen on the B6 from your helpful reviews.

However, I’ve also been advised that the UV 3R+ models (and Vero VX-4) will have a similar range and performance. I’m not sure I believe this? For sure the 3R is neat, small and has a super convenient charging set-up, but I’m keen to try and get a picture of the performance sacrifice in the mountains or in a valley of the 3R vs. Tough ‘grey’ question I know, but your expert opinion would be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance from all of us who need these in the mountains. Simple answer it cannot transmit and receive at the same time. Many years ago I had a 450 MHz band repeater in NYC and in the car I had full duplex using two antennas on the car front and back.

I had no desense. As long as the receiver has a little filtering a duplexer is not needed at all. I forget the spacing I think it was 5 mhz.

It was a auto patch repeater so it was great having duplex. That repeater covered all of NYC,LI and NJ. Most fun I ever had with Ham Radio other than fast scan ATV.

Then I moved to upstate NY I miss it. I like the b6 over the b5, found that I never ever use the dial and have many times needed a flashlight. The dial is very slow and only good if using a headset and you want to change channels while on your belt. I never do that and always have the unit in my hand, the arrows and pad are much much faster to just type in the channel or frequency, if you hold down the arrows they scroll faster than you could ever turn the knob.

For an emergency radio id rather have a flashlight than a dial especially when Everything The dial can do the pad and arrows can do better and faster. Hans, thank you but no, it is long out of warranty. Clive, no I have no color deficiency. The problem is that when charging the light is supposed to be “red” but the green LED also stays on.

And since green is a brighter color than red, the “green + red” combination looks very similar to the “green only” status when the battery is fully charged. Not a problem with my eyes, a problem with the charger design (they should have made the green LED go off when the red one is on then it would have given a pure red, rather than a greenish-yellow as it now appears. Oddly enough, battery indicator is far from accurate on my B5, it shows, for a long time, that the battery is full, even though its far below 8V and then somewhere between 7.6 and 7.4 it finally subtracts 1/3 of battery lifes indicator, an hour or two later its finally at the last bit of battery power indicator and.

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The hard way - ham related youtube, podcasts and more. All: Could use some advice. I'm planning to take many of your suggestions and make my first radio a value priced Baofeng HT. My question is.

In looking at them on Amazon there are many different models, each with their own 'improvements.' I think I've narrowed it down to either a version of the UV-B5 or the newer (with supposedly better antenna) UV-B6. Now there's the even newer G Mark II. So what's a guy to do? I'd like a good radio with decent flexibility (tri-band with Chirp?). It needs to work with mag mount antennas.

Decent battery life is important. Good tx/rx is obviously important, and a reliable mic / speaker would be nice.

Price isn't an issue as all the various Baofeng HTs are under $100.00. I'd just prefer to not buy three different models (yet) figuring out which is the best. To boil it down, if you were going to buy a Baofeng HT today, with your experience, which would it be? One of the ones I listed above. Or a completely different one?

Thanks in advance for your advice and recommendations! It's appreciated. Edit: The title has become a little misleading.

When I first posted I was trying to decide between the two radios listed. Well, thanks to the great feedback, it's really become more of a 'which Baofeng HT is preferred' from the current crop flooding the market. You can add the UV-82, and G-3 Mark II to those being discussed. I can't thank all of the people taking time to reply enough for their feedback! Edit 2: posted in the thread. Since it shows most of the current line-up I thought it was a good thing to 'sticky' here.

As far as I know, the UV-B5 and UV-B6 are the same radio, only the B6 doesn't have the channel selection knob on top - it only has the volume control know. Instead, the B6 has a flashlight function in the form of a little LED.

I find the LED function pretty useless, and the channel encoder really useful, and that's why I like the UV-B5 better. I have a UV-B5 (and some other Chinese radios - I'm a bit of a cheap-Chinese-radio-junkie.) and it's a nice radio, better receiver than the UV-5R series as far as I can tell. The only problem I see with it that the charger power cable is single isolated which means it doesn't comply with European consumer safety laws.

I have no idea about American laws or any other countries. From the perspective of a private person, this doesn't stop you from buying it; just be aware that it's a weak point, and be careful with the power cable.

So choose which ever you like based on personal preference - flash light or channel knob - and rest assured that in either case you have a nice radio. I think I found it because it was located on a site called The Ham Coach. They had an article on the B5 that I liked.

I didn't see that chart until after I'd bought my B5, or I might have gotten the 82 as well. Sorry-I can't compare it to anything. It's my first HT, my first UHF/VHF unit, my first modern radio, and my first xmtr of any kind.

I bought it because the price point was attractive. I didn't know if I'd like the world above 30MHz, and didn't want to spend a lot of money to find out. As a first radio I like it. I performs reasonably well (I can only compare it to the SDR software on my laptop), it was less complicated and quirky than I had feared, and I feel like I got value for my money. But beyond that I can't say.

My regular interest is in radios that glow in the dark-rigs that resemble microwave ovens or pieces of furniture. All this stuff that's full of semiconductors is largely baffling to me.