Baofeng UV-3R: Software Version 1.10 (UV-X4)

Mike, G0CVZ, alerted us to version 1.10 of the Baofeng UV-3R/UV-X4 software.

You can go to the Vero Telecom Download page and look for "Dual Band Pocket Radio UV-X4(Dual Watch) New Version" or you can use this direct link.

This version also uses the .3R file type.



The most notable update is the ability to update the FM Broadcast memories. Click "Program" the "FM Freq."

Yahoo Groups: Amateur and Ham Radio

I was poking around the Yahoo Groups and noticed that under the category of "Amateur and Ham Radio" there are about 7,200 groups. There are almost 200 with more than 1000 members.

The Yaesu FT-817 has the largest group with over 12,000 members.

The Wouxun KG-UVD1 group has 2,300 members and averages about 400 messages per month.

The Baofeng UV-3R group has around 1,900 members and averages close to 500 messages per month.

Baofeng UV-3R: Speaker Mic

I briefly mentioned it in the previous post, but NH7QH Radio Supplies, LLC has a speaker mic for sale that will work with the Baofeng UV-3R Mark II. The critical note is that it only works with the Mark II. If you read through the UV-3R Yahoo Group archives, you will see a) lots of people asking why you need a speaker mic for the UV-3R and eventually b) no one having an answer for one that works well with the original UV-3R.

NH7QH Radio Supplies, LLC

A quick plug for NH7QH Radio Supplies, LLC (Hawaii's Ham Radio Store)... I've mentioned them before as a supplier of the Baofeng UV-3R, but the reason for this post is their RSS feed. If you aren't familiar with RSS feeds, they allow you to subscribe to a web site and have updates delivered to you. I manage my subscriptions in Google Reader. When you follow a lot of web sites, it makes the task much easier. My recent Reader stats:

From your 140 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 4,710 items, clicked 194 items,starred 339 items, and emailed 0 items.

Back to my point, NH7QH's site has an RSS feed, so I know when he's added new products to this store. It is an easy way for me to keep tabs on what he's got going on.

For example, he recently added Speaker Mic for the Baofeng UV-3R Mark II, announced his Black Friday Sale (Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner for those that are interested!), offers a USB to Serial Adapter, and has a new Mini Dualband SMA Antenna.

I wish other sites would do the same.

Baofeng UV-3R: Second Harmonic Issue

December's QST has a Technical Correspondence (Boafeng UV-3R 2M/70cm Handheld Transceiver) article about the second harmonic issue in the Baofeng UV-3R. Bob Allison, WB1GCM (ARRL Lab Test Engineer), used an HP-8563E spectrum analyzer to determine if the radio meets the standards of FCC Part 97 for spurious transmissions. Bob finds that the radio (two units tested) failed to meet the standards and that "to legally transmit with these radios in the 2 m band, you would have to add a second harmonic low-pass filter at the antenna jack."

First, if you don't understand the basics of a spurious transmission on the harmonic, Steve (K9DCI) provides a good analogy on the of UV-3R Yahoo Group discussion on this topic:

"Spurious signals are more like driving with a 10 foot long beam sticking out the side of the car. As long as you drive on desert roads, you can relax because you "probably" won't whack any hitchhikers in the back of the head."

Some time ago, I had noted the spurious emission problem and posted a link to the mod to fix it on my UV-3R page. And I had thought the issue might have been fixed in newly manufactured radios, since the UV-3R had gotten FCC Type 90 Acceptance. For a major information dump on the topic, I would start with this UV-3R Yahoo Group post - also from Steve (K9DCI). Grant, ZL2BK, documents the magnitude of the problem at various frequencies. Basically, the filtering is better as frequency increases.

It is the issue that will not die on the UV-3R Yahoo Group:

• The original discussion
• The new discussion prompted by the QST article
• And the Mark II?
• And the Mark II again
• How big of an issue is this really?

As you can see in the above links, it does not appear that the issue was resolved in the Mark II. Some speculate that it is a quality control issue, but I am more inclined to think it is a limitation built into the design/components of the UV-3R. G4TUP suggests that Vero Telecom (and the various resellers) do not care as they designed the radio for the commercial market and, at the higher frequencies, it works within the standards. To keep the waters muddied, Bob (GM4CID) reports that Vero Telecom claims to have fixed the issue. And Andy (G0FTD) found that hisYaesu VX7R is worse than an unmodded UV-3R.

Here is the link to the low-pass filter mod that shows you how to add a 0805 size 33pF capacitor to reduce the emissions on the second harmonic.

Oh, and because I am apparently a sadist, here is a follow-up link where the same mod was performed and the results were less successful.

Baofeng UV-3R: Is Big Brother using my UV-3R to track me?

No.

Baofeng UV-3R: Receiving Interference

My Hungarian is a little rusty, but here is the description of the video:

"Two Baofeng UV3R radio is, in fact, Mark and I had. Unfortunately, if Gerje close to the car GPS units. However, only VHF UHF frequencies did not already have this feedback, not only on the floor near the GPS, but other customers (!) Is near. Unfortunately, essentially at the same time I use it on the radio and a GPS device so this is very disturbing phenomenon. Maybe if smb. megoláds know what the write me or kommentezzen. Thank you"

Apparently the GPS makes the UV-3R go nuts. He is able to change the squelch setting and it does its DSP thing and the interferance is filtered out.

Baofeng UV-3R: Cheap UV-3R Repeater

Bart (eo512) has created a UHF repeater using two UV-3R Mark II and a small UHF duplexer. He thinks he'll be in the hole for less than $200 (excluding antenna and feedline) for the project.

I'll have to check back later as he indicates he'll add more notes about the setup.

Baofeng UV-3R: Spare Parts

Thanks to shovelheadjake for pointing out that you can order lots of spare parts for your UV-3R from the 409Shop.

Wouxun and Baofeng Group Buy

Anyone interested in a group buy of the Wouxun or Baofeng should meander over to the World Wide DX forum.

Baofeng UV-3R: Alpha Tags

While they do not display on the radio, you can enable the alpha tags in the UV-3R Mark II software.

1. Close the UV-3R software if you have it running.
2. Browse to folder where the software is installed. (The default is C:\Program Files\UV3R.)
3. Double-click the "setting.ini" file.
4. In the first section, [setup], change the value for name to 1. The line should now read "name=1" without the quotes.
5. Close the file and save the changes.
6. Run the UV-3R software.

The fields in the name column should no longer be grayed out and you will be able to edit them.

Baofeng UV-3R: Mark II Software

[ Don't have a UV-3R yet? Get one here. ] 

UPDATE 11-12-12: A new version (1.10) has been released under the UV-X4 model. It adds the ability to update the FM Broadcast memories via the software. 

With the release of the new Baofeng UV-3R Mark II, the original software has also been updated. (You still have the option of using CHIRP.) And, as usual, Julian is ahead of the curve with his post about the updated software.

To use the software, you will need a few obvious items - the UV-3R (Amazon), the free software, and a programming cable. Download the software here for version 1.09. You can order the programming cable or build one. If you don't have a radio, then you can order one here, there, and yonder.

Before walking through the install, here are some trouble-shooting tips to keep in mind.

• Make sure the first memory location is populated. It will cause errors if it is left blank.
• Always read from the radio first and save the file as backup. It is nice to have a known good config. This practice does assume you can read from the radio without writing first.
• As you may have gathered from the lines just above, sometimes you must write a file to the radio first. An example of this situation is when you get an NKT_3R.EXE Error Signature.
• Likewise, if you get both rows on the display showing DDD.D25 then try adding some frequencies via the software and write to the radio.
• Make sure your cable is good.
• Confirm in Device Manager that the USB driver installed correctly.
• Verify that the COM Port used by the USB device matches what you have configured in the software - see screen shots below.
• Set the baud rate to 1200 if you have inconsistent results using the software.

Also, you should note that the old software created ".dat" files. The new software creates ".3R" files. You cannot simply rename a ".dat" to ".3R". However, you can open the new ".3R" files in the old software.

The install process is fairly simple.

I plugged the USB cable into the radio and then into my computer. I turned on the radio and Windows 7 installed the Prolific appropriate driver. In this case, it is using COM8.

As I mentioned in the trouble-shooting, you may need to change the baud rate to 1200. Right-click the device and select Properties. You can change the baud rate (Bits per second) using the drop-down box.

Now that we know the USB driver is installed correctly and which port it is using, we can start installing the software. Double-click the file you downloaded (extracting it from the compressed file if needed - if you need something to open .RAR files, try 7-zip.) Click Next.

If you are okay with the default install location, click Next. Otherwise, use the Browse button to change the location.

Click next to use the default name for the Program Folder that will be visible under your Program Files.

Confirm your settings and click Next.

Once the file copies are complete, click Finish.

You get one more screen showing the version. Click OK to complete the install.

To launch the application, double-click the short-cut it created.

You can click Help then About to confirm the version you are running. If you've installed previous versions, this might be worth a couple of seconds to make sure you have launched the latest one.

Click Settings the Communication Port to make sure your configuration matches the COM Port the USB device is actually using and then you are off to the races!

Baofeng UV-3R: Change the Color of Your UV-3R

Ed, at Wouxun.us, has the UV-3R shells available ($5.95) in red, yellow, blue, and camo if you want to play dress up with your rig.

Baofeng UV-3R: Colors on Sale, UV-3R Mark II in stock

Chris, NH7QH, is now showing the UV-3R Mark II in stock at NH7QH Radio Supplies. Also, he's got the color versions on sale for $55 to $57.

Baofeng UV-3R and Wouxun KG-UV6D

Looks like Hawaii Radio Sales (aka NH7QH Radio Supplies aka Baofeng-UV3R.us) will soon have the Baofeng UV-3R Mark II. They have added it to their web site and listed it at $60.00.

Wouxun.us also has a couple of updates:

KG-UV6D with 2.5 tuning steps and other new features in stock in mid October.  Special introductory price announced soon.

New Baofeng UV-3R with Dual Display will begin shipping October 11, order now.  All colors available.  Colored shells also available.

Looks like we'll have plenty of items to pick from for Christmas!

Baofeng UV-3R: Mark II Display

Check out the video to get a feel for the two line display on the Baofeng UV-3R Mark II.

Baofeng UV-3R: Is the UV-X4 the Mark II?

I got an e-mail from Vero Telecom announcing the UV-X4. The image shows the dual display and dual band antenna. Also, it shows the new FCC number.

Dear Our valued customer,

Good day！UV-X4 has approved CE,FCC  and ROHS certifications:

 

Want To More Detail About UV-X4,Please Download the Brochure of UV-X4:

OEM MOQ : 100 PCS

Thanks and best regards!

VERO SALES TEAMS

3 floor,No.3 Chongxiang St,Quanzhou,Fujian,P.R.C 362006

T: 86-595-22496660 | F: 86-595-86761912 | M: 86-159 6055 9990

W: http://www.verotelecom.com  | E: info@verotelecom.com

Baofeng UV-3R: Mark II

The internet is all a twitter with news that there is a new version of the UV-3R - the Mark II.



No one knows yet, but speculation abounds that the loud volume and other issues may have been fixed. Also, perhaps this version will work with a speaker-mic. The only certainties are the new dual frequency display and a dual-band antenna.

One of the VeroTelecom sites has been updated to mention a dual display version. FleetwoodDP has them on their site with the new info as well.

Andy posted on the UV-3R Yahoo Group with some additional info:

"Got an email today from 409 shop. I asked about whether the Mark 2 is able to do dual receive FROM the memories (Mk1 cannot, you have to dual watch in VFO mode only). Apparently you can (hooray). The cycle between the frequencies is apparently every 5 seconds. Also you can do VV/UU/UV modes too. The Mark 1 cannot, it can only switch between a VHF and a UHF frequency."

I'm disappointed to see a new Yahoo Group for the UV-3R Mark II. I'd be surprised if they are so different that it is worth a new group.

I'll post more as people start getting their hands on the Mark II.