I've just bought a couple of UV-5R's....

Hi all,

I've just bought myself a couple of UV-5R's (4w) and a programming cable.  As I'm currently studying for my foundation, all I've done thus far is turn them on to make sure that they're not DOA.  I'm thinking that for the time being I should program/use them for the legal 446 frequencies here in the UK for transmit, and leave the 136-174 frequencies alone for just listening?  Assuming I pass my foundation, will I be able to use these radios on the legal bands in the UK?

Many thanks

Simon.

Hi Simon,

Firstly may I wish you the very best with your Foundation studies and sure you will pass with enough study.  


The little Baofeng radios live in a love/hate world and either get a knocking or, (as in my case), absolutely loved for what they are.....Fantastic little radios for the price!

There are a few options for programming them and I'd either recommend the use of the software "CHIRP" or even better learn to program them manually. (The latter means you won't go through the pain of sorting programming cables that actually 'work'!!!!)

The CHIRP software can be found at :-

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


One manual method can be found at :-

https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_ProgMem.php

The Miklor site is worth exploring more as you'll find loads of information about these and other radios too including software programming or even how to build your own programming leads.  


Worth programming them up for PMR446 to start with so that you can have a good play with the radios first. (But remember they are technically illegal due to power output, antenna, etc. Always worth knowing as ignorance is no defence of the law.)

There are 16 analogue channels for the UK which is what you want and can be found at multiple sources including Wikipedia :-

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446


When you pass your Foundation you can program up these radios for use on two Radio Amateur bands, the 70cm band and as you mention the 2m band for legal use. Of course you can always program them before passing your exam for listening but don't be tempted to key up at all. Sure, Ofcom may not have the resources to track down illegal use but you'll not be welcomed fondly by the amateur community if you become 'one of those guys' that transmits illegally or 'kerchunk' your local repeaters!


The frequencies or band plans for 2m and 70 cm can be found on the RSGB website :-

https://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/


I'd start with programming in the Simplex channel frequencies and then add in a few local repeaters. A great source for finding out repeaters in your area is via ''RepeaterBook" which will list their input and output frequencies as well as CTCSS tones. Just do a search for repeater book and you'll find the site as well as a very handy App that you can run on a phone to instantly check repeaters in your area.


I'll leave it there for now as that's a lot of info to absorb and will keep you busy for a while.


But just to let you know.....

'Tropospheric propagation' on the 2m frequencies can allow contact with other operators way further than you'll ever expect. When I was first licenced a 'lift' allowed an operator from Liverpool to break into a conversation I was having with a friend in Bedfordshire - that's some distance for VHF over 'normal' conditions!
(Those 'lifts' are quite common too!  )

On 70cm with a home made beam antenna constructed from old TV antenna bits I was able to fire from North Bedfordshire into the Tring repeater in Hertfordshire to talk to my friend in North London......not only that but we had a call in during this from a new M7 operator who was located by the Thames!


None too shabby for a cheap little radio.


Enjoy yourself and once again I wish you good luck with your Foundation.

All the best,
Victor

Good advice from our Victor as always.
One thing that catches people out when programming repeaters it the TX and RX you need to program them opposite way to what you see on the RepeaterBook page sounds daft but does catch people out.
The frequency's are what the repeater works on so your TX is the repeater RX if you get what i mean.
It is early and you might know that but i have come across this with at least 2 new stations in my location.

Hi Simon, great minds and all that. Sat hear waiting for uv5r to be delivered. Not having much luck on 11m so worth a try.let us know how you get on.
regards
mark 26ct3433

I'm in the same boat ...I am studying for foundation and use the UV-5RTP for listening in on 2m/70cm. I also use the radio - with a Nagoya NA771 antenna and Baofeng fist mike for PMR .It has great range even when inside a building ..I am reaching 25 mile plus on PMR without issues. 

I have also used the Baofeng as an emergency backup marine radio, which although isn't an approved marine device , certainly performs and having used it to summon coast guard / RNLI assistance this summer while walking on a remote beach...No -one questioned the type of radio. Only praise from the emergency services for me having the fore thought to carry a radio while out walking in an area where mobile phone signal was non existent due to terrain. And before you jump up saying ''licence ????!'  I hold an Ofcom Ship Portable Radio Licence -  

I’ve used the RT Systems software to programme a number of Baofeng’s for myself and others. I don’t know if the Chirp software does the same, but with the RT programme you can set a channel to “No Transmit” to avoid accidental transmissions on, say, marine frequencies or on ham frequencies if your license hasn’t come through yet. You can easily revert to transmit capability once the license is issued by simply reprogramming the radio.

great little radios i have mine just for pmr as there good and with a new antenna you get a good range

Victor wrote:

Hi Simon,

Firstly may I wish you the very best with your Foundation studies and sure you will pass with enough study.  


The little Baofeng radios live in a love/hate world and either get a knocking or, (as in my case), absolutely loved for what they are.....Fantastic little radios for the price!

There are a few options for programming them and I'd either recommend the use of the software "CHIRP" or even better learn to program them manually. (The latter means you won't go through the pain of sorting programming cables that actually 'work'!!!!)

The CHIRP software can be found at :-

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


One manual method can be found at :-

https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_ProgMem.php

The Miklor site is worth exploring more as you'll find loads of information about these and other radios too including software programming or even how to build your own programming leads.  


Worth programming them up for PMR446 to start with so that you can have a good play with the radios first. (But remember they are technically illegal due to power output, antenna, etc. Always worth knowing as ignorance is no defence of the law.)

There are 16 analogue channels for the UK which is what you want and can be found at multiple sources including Wikipedia :-

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446


When you pass your Foundation you can program up these radios for use on two Radio Amateur bands, the 70cm band and as you mention the 2m band for legal use. Of course you can always program them before passing your exam for listening but don't be tempted to key up at all. Sure, Ofcom may not have the resources to track down illegal use but you'll not be welcomed fondly by the amateur community if you become 'one of those guys' that transmits illegally or 'kerchunk' your local repeaters!


The frequencies or band plans for 2m and 70 cm can be found on the RSGB website :-

https://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/


I'd start with programming in the Simplex channel frequencies and then add in a few local repeaters. A great source for finding out repeaters in your area is via ''RepeaterBook" which will list their input and output frequencies as well as CTCSS tones. Just do a search for repeater book and you'll find the site as well as a very handy App that you can run on a phone to instantly check repeaters in your area.


I'll leave it there for now as that's a lot of info to absorb and will keep you busy for a while.


But just to let you know.....

'Tropospheric propagation' on the 2m frequencies can allow contact with other operators way further than you'll ever expect. When I was first licenced a 'lift' allowed an operator from Liverpool to break into a conversation I was having with a friend in Bedfordshire - that's some distance for VHF over 'normal' conditions!
(Those 'lifts' are quite common too!  )

On 70cm with a home made beam antenna constructed from old TV antenna bits I was able to fire from North Bedfordshire into the Tring repeater in Hertfordshire to talk to my friend in North London......not only that but we had a call in during this from a new M7 operator who was located by the Thames!


None too shabby for a cheap little radio.


Enjoy yourself and once again I wish you good luck with your Foundation.

All the best,
Victor

Thanks Victor, much appreciated!!

You're more than very welcome Simon.  

I'm always thoroughly pleased if any of my 'drivel' helps in any way.


All the best,
Victor

Yorker999 wrote:

I'm in the same boat ...I am studying for foundation and use the UV-5RTP for listening in on 2m/70cm. I also use the radio - with a Nagoya NA771 antenna and Baofeng fist mike for PMR .It has great range even when inside a building ..I am reaching 25 mile plus on PMR without issues. 

I have also used the Baofeng as an emergency backup marine radio, which although isn't an approved marine device , certainly performs and having used it to summon coast guard / RNLI assistance this summer while walking on a remote beach...No -one questioned the type of radio. Only praise from the emergency services for me having the fore thought to carry a radio while out walking in an area where mobile phone signal was non existent due to terrain. And before you jump up saying ''licence ????!'  I hold an Ofcom Ship Portable Radio Licence -  

Thanks chap. Can I just ask where you purchased your NA771 from please?  I've just googled them and Baofeng have them on its website for £6 whereas Amazon sellers are charging £20-£30 for them!?!

Victor wrote:

You're more than very welcome Simon.  

I'm always thoroughly pleased if any of my 'drivel' helps in any way.


All the best,
Victor

It certainly does Victor!! I have plenty of other simple questions stored-up to ask too!

TheReverend wrote:

Yorker999 wrote:

I'm in the same boat ...I am studying for foundation and use the UV-5RTP for listening in on 2m/70cm. I also use the radio - with a Nagoya NA771 antenna and Baofeng fist mike for PMR .It has great range even when inside a building ..I am reaching 25 mile plus on PMR without issues. 

I have also used the Baofeng as an emergency backup marine radio, which although isn't an approved marine device , certainly performs and having used it to summon coast guard / RNLI assistance this summer while walking on a remote beach...No -one questioned the type of radio. Only praise from the emergency services for me having the fore thought to carry a radio while out walking in an area where mobile phone signal was non existent due to terrain. And before you jump up saying ''licence ????!'  I hold an Ofcom Ship Portable Radio Licence -  

Thanks chap. Can I just ask where you purchased your NA771 from please?  I've just googled them and Baofeng have them on its website for £6 whereas Amazon sellers are charging £20-£30 for them!?!

Many fake's about.
I have several of both (don't ask long storey) google how to tell the fake's from genuine.
Think the fakes come in an orange package and genuine green but there is a mark in the writing that tells the genuine ones.
I sold some of the genuine ones for £16.50 posted and tried to sell the fake ones on the bay at 3 for £12 i think it was but not sold any so they hang as orniments on the shack wall.

just a little update, my £23.00 UV5RT arrived last Tuesday. programmed 16 pmr channels and 2m repeater. never heard a sausage for days, I've been scammed was my thoughts. Had a nana nap Saturday afternoon, with the beofeng on scan. To my surprise it burst into life. First contact about 6mile,then 10miles then Hull to Bridlington 20 miles. More strange everyone I spoke to was a licenced amateur. Did you receive yours and what was your experience with these radios. To many contests on HF are pushing me into form of radio, no offence if you like contesting.
take care 
mark

Markone wrote:

just a little update, my £23.00 UV5RT arrived last Tuesday. programmed 16 pmr channels and 2m repeater. never heard a sausage for days, I've been scammed was my thoughts. Had a nana nap Saturday afternoon, with the beofeng on scan. To my surprise it burst into life. First contact about 6mile,then 10miles then Hull to Bridlington 20 miles. More strange everyone I spoke to was a licenced amateur. Did you receive yours and what was your experience with these radios. To many contests on HF are pushing me into form of radio, no offence if you like contesting.
take care 
mark

Thanks for your reply Mark.  I've been busy working, so I'm just about to order the NA771 antennas from Knights.  I trust them and know that they'll be selling originals.  My UV-5R's are re-badged versions fulfilled by Amazon, from a company called eSYNiC.  I've no idea how the bands are programmed, so I'll be looking through that this evening, if I get the time!  I can feel plenty more questions on the horizon on this!

Hi Mark, nice to see you having bit of fun with these great little radios.  

Hi Simon, you'll soon be getting to grips with yours too.



There's a good little antenna review section on the Miklor site I mentioned above :-

https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_AntennaPage.php

It includes details of how to spot a fake Nagoya too.


I've played around with quite a few 'homebrew' antennas on my Baofeng and you'd be surprised of how capable these little radios are. On the stock antenna I was easily able to fire up my local 2m repeater anywhere in the house but I must be close to it as I can even open it with a dummy load!
I had to venture outside to open the next 2m repeater but the nearest 70cm repeater required me to hang out of a bedroom window to open it and was a bit of a precarious situation to be in(!)

I soon purchased a BNC adapter for it so I could play with antennas, the 'pigtail' types usually fail from poor crimping so I have a direct screw SMA to BNC on it although I had to put a washer between to seat properly and have a mechanically strong fitting. Never failed yet.  

I found for 2m VHF a base coil loaded half wave worked best, a commercial version would be something like the MFJ-1714. Unfortunately it's not such a great arrangement for UHF 70cm/PMR. I soon constructed a dual band version which although didn't perform as well on 2m VHF did give me great UHF performance. These are a bit more complicated to 'homebrew' so I'd suggest something like the RH770's which are branded by several manufacturers.

The fun really comes in when you hook them up to much bigger antennas!
Sure, they won't be as portable as with a stock antenna on them but your range would be massively increased. I've had mine hooked to everything from dipoles, J-Poles to Yagi beams and even ran it as my 'homebase' setup for quite a while. (I've heard operators hook them up to the old Diamond white stick collinears with great success.)

You'll often hear the stories about 'front end overloading', 'intermodulation distortion', etc. but I've yet to experience any of those problems so far.

The nice thing about these radios is you don't have to worry about them too much.....break it, lose it or even if it gets stolen it's just another £20 or so for a replacement.


I hope you guys have as much fun with your little radios as I've had and still having with mine.

Oh, Mark, most of my PMR contact has strangely enough been with other Hams - but still nice to use my CT call sign over there.


All the best,
Victor

TheReverend wrote:

Yorker999 wrote:

I'm in the same boat ...I am studying for foundation and use the UV-5RTP for listening in on 2m/70cm. I also use the radio - with a Nagoya NA771 antenna and Baofeng fist mike for PMR .It has great range even when inside a building ..I am reaching 25 mile plus on PMR without issues. 

I have also used the Baofeng as an emergency backup marine radio, which although isn't an approved marine device , certainly performs and having used it to summon coast guard / RNLI assistance this summer while walking on a remote beach...No -one questioned the type of radio. Only praise from the emergency services for me having the fore thought to carry a radio while out walking in an area where mobile phone signal was non existent due to terrain. And before you jump up saying ''licence ????!'  I hold an Ofcom Ship Portable Radio Licence -  

Thanks chap. Can I just ask where you purchased your NA771 from please?  I've just googled them and Baofeng have them on its website for £6 whereas Amazon sellers are charging £20-£30 for them!?!

I GOT MY NA771 FROM BAOFENG .CO.UK

beware - there are a lot of sites selling fakes.

hi Simon, plenty of info on you tube for programming, did mine manually,16 channels pmr and the local repeater. Not even bothered reading instructions. Hope you find time to have a  play.

hi victor, the Diamond antennas and good quality coax are next on my shopping list.

take care
mark 26ct3433

Hello Simon,

I'm assuming your talking about the Baofeng UV-5r transceivers. Yes they can be programmed by hand or by the chirp program (I do it by hand on the keypad) for the full PMR446 16 channels.

BUT.................. 

In the UK for it to be licensed free you cannot go beyond 500 mW 1/2 watt of TX power. 

There is the problem, as the lowest TX for the UV-5r is One Watt (in the menu settings LOW). Meaning you got to shell out 75 English pounds for a three year or is it 5 year licence to use the higher wattage. You can listen for free but cant transmit. 

This is regardless if you got a foundation licence to use the Ham frequencies or not.

As PMR446 at higher TX power is considered commercial in the uk. but what is 75 squid these days? that is 25 or 15 squid a year for the higher power use.

I'm going to renew my licence for the higher power, as I uses to get out of PMR446 transceiver (with screw in aerial option) 50 miles on a good day. Can you do that with half a watt of TX power...? some say you can. 

I need to conduct a experiment  

73s

Mr Scientist

good luck finding someone who pays £75 to use a £30 radio, but get the legal point. May be if OFCOM policed the bands (all bands) operators my be inclined to pay a little. If I was to be honest, the radio world is basically self policing and can be like the wild west. Last week on 11m I came a cross a uk station using 1kw of power so think 5w will not keep many awake of a night.
take care
mark

Peeta, (Mr Scientist), I'd already pointed out the technical illegalities to Simon in an earlier posting....

...but also assisted and wished him the very best with his Radio Amateur Foundation studies where he'll get the most use from them.


You'll also be surprised how far 500mW can get you, especially with a 'Tropospheric Lift' on.

Victor wrote:

Peeta, (Mr Scientist), I'd already pointed out the technical illegalities to Simon in an earlier posting....

...but also assisted and wished him the very best with his Radio Amateur Foundation studies where he'll get the most use from them.


You'll also be surprised how far 500mW can get you, especially with a 'Tropospheric Lift' on.

Victor, thanks.  I live in a bowl shaped valley, so I'd be very surprised if anything made it out of here when testing 446!!

I did try to do some Chirp programming last night, but without success.  I'm not sure that my 'Baofeng' programming cable is working with the radio (or at all!), as Chirp isn't finding it.  I suspect I need to check which com port it's assigned to and try again tonight.  I took one of my UV-5R's to work today and spent a bit of time scanning the stock frequencies before settling to listening on 145.500 and 433.500 for the drive home, just in case there was anyone calling out, but nothing heard.

Hi all, I've just updated the USB Serial drivers on my laptop and got one step further with connecting to the UV-5R via Chirp, yay!  It's connected and it's downloaded the current profile, so I'm happy that the cable works.....I'm just wondering why my other UV-5R I'd already tried to program didn't connect, so I might re-set that one and try again, or just go the manual route.....either way is good experience.

Hi Simon,

Well done with the programming mate.  

There can be some 'finickity' problems such as Windows altering the COM port to ensuring the cable is pushed all the way into the radio and switching on in the right order. None of them big issues really but manual programming is a skill worth learning if you want full flexibility.

I doubt you'll hear much activity on the FM calling channels, we certainly don't around this way so it might be worth programming up for the nearest repeaters.

Round your way the nearest repeaters would be in Swindon and Newbury both on 2m and 70cm and within coverage of your home location and maybe commute.

You can find repeaters with either the 'RepeaterBook' app or take a look at this site :-

https://ukrepeater.net/maps.html

To help out the repeaters are :-

GB3WH - Swindon -2m analogue voice
GB3TD - Swindon - 70cm analogue voice
GB3NE - Newbury - 2m analogue voice
GB7NT - Newbury - 70cm analogue voice

I mention 'analogue voice' as a lot of repeaters are digital versions which you won't be able to receive on your Baofeng.

You can see the input/output frequencies, CTCSS etc. on the above site or just search for the repeaters directly, (type the call sign into a search such as 'GB3WH').


I don't know how busy the repeaters are down there but worth a listen. GB3PI near me is usually busy around morning and afternoon commute times but GB3BF is very quiet apart from an often quick 8pm 'net' for the local club. You're lucky in that you have four accessible repeaters within range!

Worth giving them a listen and if you hear some radio traffic it'll give you a buzz knowing that once you pass your Foundation you'll be able to chat back!   


Best of luck,
Victor

Oh, just to add.....

I know radio 'clubs' are not for everyone but always worth at least one visit and see how it goes.

Round your way there is the :-

SDARC - Swindon & District Amateur Radio Club

and also the :-

NADARS - Newbury And District Amateur Radio Society

(click on any of the above to go to their websites)


Some clubs are great with a lot of activity, warm welcomes to new people and a great way to meet 'Hams' in your area.
They're not for everyone, (myself included, unusually socially awkward ), but can be 'just the ticket' for some.

Of course there's always good old Charlie Tango - we welcome all regardless of radio interest and we have natural 'social distancing'.

I am a member of SDARC and get info mails through from them. I haven't used the Swindon VHF and UHF repeaters, but from the posts I get through it looks like the VHF one gets a lot of use. They have been having a weekly get together on 2m, the next one is scheduled as below..

Start: Monday, November 15, 2021 7:30 PM
End: Monday, November 15, 2021 8:30 PM
Location: GB3WH
Tonight we will run a net using GB3WH.
The net will run from around 1930 and be an open forum for discussion allowing us to keep in contact during this difficult time. 

Please join us, all contributions are very welcome. The more the merrier.

Callsign:	GB3WH
Band:	2M VHF
Frequency:	Your Transmit    145.050MHz
	Your Receive      145.650MHz
Channel:	R2 - RV52
Tone Access:	118.8Hz CTCSS (J)

GB3WH user guide available on GB3WH site.

I have only joined in the end of one net which they held on 10m a couple of months back, but from that and mail correspondence they appear friendly and welcoming.

M0GQC (youtube channel AmateurRadioUK) is Swindon area based and sometimes uses VHF/UHF, one to listen out for as he has a fun and down to earth/real feel to his videos.

Great info by CT members here in this thread, thank you, it has been interesting. Need to stop dilly dallying and press the buy button on one of these little units