Thursday, December 29, 2011

Baofeng UV-3R: Expanded Frequencies

In addition to the old trick of opening up the ability to store alpha tags in the Baofeng UV-3R, Frank Fort notes in the comments that he's opened up the frequencies available to his radio via the software:

"Baofeng Uv-3r Mark 11 is now with a 115Mhz to 530Mhz TX and RX modification, with the modded program...
  • Close the UV-3R Mark 11 software if you have it running.
  •  Browse to folder where the software is installed. (The default is C:\Program Files\UV3R.)
  •  Double-click the "setting.ini" file.
  • I tried copy and paste but didn't worked for me so i just changed manually for this.
[setup]com=2searchcom=1name=1
language=english 
[ModelInfo]
Freq0=[136-174/400-470]
data0=6013401700400047
Freq1=[115-400/400-529]
data1=5011993900409952
  • Close the file and save the changes.
  • Run the UV-3R Mark 11 software.
The (Name) option will work in the program only,not on the Baofeng but you can take notes.
So now you have now 3 frequencies choices in the menu up left in the program window. Now that's fun...I have a Baofeng Mark 11 with 19 menu options and work very well..."
Anyone else try it and have any luck? I know with the Wouxon that you can open it up and receive, but that the radio isn't designed to transmit outside the original frequencies.

13 comments:

  1. Hi I cannot get thismod to work I followed your instructions exactley and in the software it only shows 2 bands 136-174 400-470 and
    144-146 430-400 you did not mention which version of the Boafeng software to use to do this mod !
    i tryed restoring factory defaults on the radio and reinstalling the Sw with different versions
    NO luck! please help

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  2. I think this is the software he was using:
    http://www.brickolore.com/2011/12/baofeng-uv-3r-software-version-110-uv.html

    Also, do you have a Mark II version with the 19 menus and dual display?

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  3. Mr. Brick.
    Are you getting any power on the 222MHz band?
    How sensitive is the radio on 222?
    Any luck getting into the local 222MHz repeaters with your unit?

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  4. @Nate - I was posting the notes that Frank provided in a comment. I don't have a Mark II to test. I suspect that 1.25M band might not work very well due to optimizations for the actual 2M/440 bands it was designed to use - both in the "SDR" code and even the hardware (antenna, for example, assuming you are using the stock antenna). People who have opened up the Wouxun have reported poor performance outside the intended bands. I think this might be a similar case.

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  5. Brick, Even if it gets out only 25% of the power on 1.25m, that will be more than the 300mW I get from my VX-7.
    Naturally, you'll have to get a new tri-band ducky...
    Is Frank available to elaborate more on his findings?

    Nate.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It did not work as described
    but this did!
    it shows a nice 3 options now
    i did not test to load the HT , no cabel...yet
    _________________________________________________
    [setup]
    com=1
    searchcom=1
    name=0

    language=english

    [ModelInfo]

    Freq0=[136-174/400-470]
    data0=6013401700400047

    Freq1=[144-146/430-440]
    data1=4014601400430044

    Freq2=[115-400/400-529]
    data2=5011993900409952
    _____________________________________________________

    ReplyDelete
  7. i have a uv-3r mark 2 my findings using this method . soon as 200 mhz is tuned the display goes funny . also on line 2 where vhf is , if you tune as if to go down further it goes onto uhf . when you try to get the vhf back again its just stuck in the uhf. any one else encounter this when attempting to expand the radio

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you try to program a repeater/simplex via the USB cable directly into the memory?

      Delete
  8. I did the frequency expansion on my radio today and took several measurements using a HP E8285A test set, these may be of interest to anyone asking about the radios use on the 220 band. Basically what i concluded is that the radio is not very usable as a transmitter in that band as the output power is extremely low. Also the full modified frequency range does not seem to work, I noticed the PLL not locking on some of the frequencies. below are some measurments for those interested

    115 - 128 MHZ not usable due to PLL no Lock, TX on 128.7MHz when set to any of those frequencies
    525 - 529 MHz not usable due to PLL no Lock, TX on 387 when set to that range

    TX power measurements (Two out of 3 bars for battery level)
    146.520MHz 1.33 Watts on low, 1.88 Watts on High
    446.000MHZ 0.69 Watts on low, 1.60 Watts on High
    200 MHz 67mW on high
    220 MHz 5mW on high
    225 MHz 3.2mW on High

    RX measurements (amount of signal needed to produce S5 on bar graph)
    140 MHz -110dBm = 0.7uV
    220 MHz -96dBm = 3.54uV
    225 MHz -94dBm = 4.46uV
    250 MHz -79dBm = 25.1uV
    450 MHz -106dBm = 1.12uV
    524 MHz -98dBm = 2.82uV

    73's everyone

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Forgot to mention there is also a "No Lock" zone from 175 to 193MHz

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    2. Hello Nate.

      Thanks for doing those tests, its extremely helpful for people like me who don't have access to good test equipment.

      I wanted to know if you could check the TX an RX on 477mhz ? In Australia and New Zealand there is a citizen / public band operating on 477mhz and i wondered if the UV-3R would be a good radio to use.

      Your help would be greatly appreciated.

      Thanks.
      Daniel from VK3.


      Delete
  9. hello friends I'm having trouble programming my ht, when put to record setting begins at the frequencies 400 MHz and soon after appearing on 500 mhz, it begins to appear after 4-0900 and is very hard to get to 200 mhz really need to rotate the knob , will be I did something wrong when programming? 73

    zz2sbx@hotmail.com

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