Gosh setting up a baofeng

Trying  to setup  a baofeng  am I having  problems,  do you  need the data cable to put the  repeaters  in...

You don't but it bloody well helps!

I set mine up the other day, there's some useful videos in YouTube of how to do it, but yes without the data cable it can be a bugger to set up

Hi Chris,

They definitely at first can appear way too complicated to program manually than they need to be.

I had problems programming mine initially but this turned out to be due to poor instructions and/or poorly translated 'Chinglish' manuals. There are much better instructions available online nowadays.

My go to website for such radios nowadays is at :-

https://www.miklor.com/

There's a wealth of really good information there.


If it helps any, as I initially had problems with programming I was advised of the 'CHIRP' programming software. It did seem like a godsend and worked straight away from my Linux system at first. I know people had problems with the Windows version which centred around USB lead problems, (the same old 'Prolific' driver issues!) I even went as far as building my own lead and happily programmed my radio via the software. 

However, after letting my grandchildren play with it for PMR with their walkie-talkies last summer, (I had cleared the Ham frequencies), I found the Chirp software no longer worked due to a Linux upgrade.....despite 'fixes' the software still doesn't work!!

That made me realise that I really need to get a handle on manually programming the damn thing!


Manual programming has huge advantages :

You can program on the fly - 
If somone asks you to go to such and such 'simplex' channel you can program the frequency straight in, (whether to memory or even temporarily on the 'frequency mode'). Much quicker than going to the computer and scrabbling around trying to find that damn USB lead!

You can program away from a computer - 
When 'lockdown' finally ends you may find yourself enjoying portable operations, the simple fun of taking your radio out with you! If you move out of range of your own repeater whilst say out walking, you may wish to access another repeater. If you have downloaded the 'RepeaterBook' app to your phone, (well worth it!), you can instantly see what repeaters are in range. That app will give you the frequencies and tones you need, quickly punch them in and voila, you're banging into another repeater!

You could even take the radio with you on a UK holiday, (when we get that far), check the 'RepeaterBook' app on the phone, quickly program the radio and chat on a repeater near your holiday destination. All good fun!

More importantly, once you're used to programming the radio you can do it much faster than via a computer.


Get to really 'know' your Baofeng radio, you'll thank yourself. Nearly all the radios in the range are programmed in a similar/same way so that knowledge will carry across.

I still think they are fantastic radios, especially for the price. You don't have to worry about losing it, breaking it, having it stolen, dropping it down a ravine, in the sea, etc. etc. £20 - £30 and you've got a new one....at that price you can even have a spare.


Lots of waffle, hopefully some of it is useful.

All the best,
Victor

Data cable & CHIRP,
should make things real easy.

at least if you do get a problem it shouldn't be to difficult to fix.

A good friend let me borrow his baofeng until mine got sorted through the software all good now, got out this morning to Hungary first contact outside the uk in 35 years, nice qso also Newyork.. Which was really good very pleased aerial working good at 10ft to the base, going up another 20ft when the Tk arrives good old eBay lol..

There are some good cables available online, I got mine from this chap through an eBay advert https://www.pjbox.co.uk/  but it will depend on where you are located what is the best option for you, the downloads page he does is very handy and it is also where I got the driver to resolve the Windows 10 issue when programming from a Win 10 machine.

Well worth bookmarking for future reference:

https://www.pjbox.co.uk/pages/downloads

Alan

When I was setting my up for use as a scanner, I had trouble saving channels.

Found out I had to delete what was already marked as ch001, before I saved a new channel as ch001.
Felt verry silly.

If under memory/ delete the channel number has ch before the number, you already have it in use for a diffrent frequency.