Updates from Kight Radio - TYT and Baofeng

Kight Radio updates from 05 May 2012:

"Great News - The TYT TH-UV3R is in stock and shipping. I have been using one for the past 2 weeks and I love it. The size is about the same size as the Baofend UV3 but construction is much stronger."

 "The New TH-UVF9 Dual Band HT (4 watts) will be available soon. I will have 2 of these to test within the next week and I will update everyone on this new radio. I have pictures posted on this site."

This is the first I've heard of the TH-UVF9. Here is the link to the listing. No price yet on this dual band, dual display 4 W unit. He does mention he will have one at Dayton.

"Baofeng UV5 - They report that the problems have been fixed and shipping the updated ones now. We will wait to test them and then release them to sell at that time. If ordering from other companies you might want to wait until they get rid of their old inventory before ordering."

Amazing how quickly they can respond with fixes. They are getting a lot of free testing from the hams that are early adopters.

"Just in case your wondering, the Baofeng UV5 looks like a TYT radio however it is not. TYT did not sell or mft the radios for them, They simply took TYT's case design and copied it. There have been some questions on who makes the TYT radios for them .... TYT is the MFG!"

I am beginning to think the cases are a core competency for China. They can make copies faster than anyone and in any color you like.

Boafeng UV-5R: Tests for Common Problems

From Jaap via the UV-5R Yahoo Group:

Off frequency receiver test:
-Tune in to a station with a known transmit frequency
-Note original receiving frequency
-Set the step size to 2.5 khz
-Increase receiving frequency until squelch blocks signal
-Note (upper) frequency
-Decrease receiving frequency until squelch block signal
-Note (lower) frequency
-Add upper and lower frequency and divide by 2
-Compare outcome and original  receiving frequency
-If they are not the same, your radio has the bug

Overheating and blurred display test:
-Set the radio to HIGH power
-Start regular communication 
-The radio might get hot; first noticeable at the top screws at the back of the radio
-The display might get blurred when the radio gets hot

No CTCSS low frequency scanning test:
-Program a channel with a CTCSS decode of a tome below 100hz for a known receiving frequency with this tone encoded
-Start scanning
-When the radio stops at the receiving frequency during reception of an encoded signal, the bug is not there

Baofeng UV-5R: Ronson UV-8R

Despite a box that looks like it says 7W in the video and on the 409Shop listing, the specs for the Ronson UV-8R say it is 5W. The HT is $56 USD. Also, I noticed the description calls it a UV-5R as the Item Number.

RONSON UV-8R BLACK 5W Dual Band 136-174/400-480MHZ

VHF/ UHF  DUAL-BAND TWO WAY RADIO

Frequency Range: 136-174 / 400-480MHz

Dual-Band Display, Dual Freq. Display, Dual-Standby
Output Power: 4 /1Watts
128 Channels
50 CTCSS and 104 CDCSS
Built-in VOX Function
1750Hz Brust Tone
FM Radio (65.0MHz-108.0MHz)
LED Flashlight
Large LCD Display
Hight /Low RF Power Switchable
25KHz/12.5KHz Switchable
Emergency Alert
Low Battery Alert
Battery Saver
Time-out Timer
Keypad Lock
Monitor Channel
Channel Step: 2.5/5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHz
ROGER SET

■ Dual band, dual display, dual standby
■ A/B band independent operation
■ 128 groups channels storage
■ Shortcut menu operation mode
■ VFO & Memory channels scan
■ Emergency Alarm
■ Tri-color background light selectable
■ 0~9 grades VOX selectable
■ PTT & ANI ID
■ FM radio and 25 stations storage
■ Voice companding
■ 50 CTCSS/104 DCS
■ PC programmable
■ Wide/Narrow Band(25kHz/12.5kHz)
■ Transmitter time-out timer(TOT)
■ High/Low TX power selectable
■ Busy channel lock-out(BCLO)

Specifications:
Item number UV-5R
General
Frequency Range 65-108MHz(FM Receive only)
136-174MHZ and 400-480HZ (TX/RX)
Channel No. 128
Frequency Stability ±2.5ppm
Antenna High gain DualBand antenna
Antenna Impedance 50Ω
Operating Voltage DC 7.4V
Mode of operation Simple or semi-duplex
Dimension（W x H x D） 100 x 52 x 32 mm
Weight 250g（including battery, antenna）
Transmitter
Output power 4W / 1W (Max 5W)
Modulation Mode 16kΦF3E / 11kΦF3E
Maximum deviation ＜5kHz(Wide) / ＜2.5kHz(Narrow)
Spurious Radiation ＜7μW
Adjacent Ch. power ≤-65dB(Wide) / ≤-60dB(Narrow)
Pre-emphasis characteristics 6dB
Current ≤1.6A(5W)
CTCSS/DCS deviation 0.5±0.1kHz(Wide) / 0.3±0.1kHz(Narrow)
Intermediation sensitivity 8-12mv
Intermediation distortion ＜10%

Earpiece / mic type : Kenwood Plug type
Antenna : SMA -Female

Via Steve (KF9ZA).

Baofeng UV-5R: Ronson UV-8R

So, we have the Baofeng UV-5R, the Waccom UV-5R, the original TYT TH-F8, and now the Ronson UV-8R that looks like the other radios, but claims to be a7W dual-band HT. I don't see the radio on the 409Shop.com site yet so no price or other details..

Baofeng UV-5R: TYT Spare Batteries

Hans compares the TYT TH-F8 and Baofeng UV-5R batteries. The batteries appear to be the same except for a slight weight difference and some cosmetic molding. And despite the different rated capacities, he suspects they may be identical internally. He's going to do some more looking, but if that is true then the TYT battery is a much better deal at $4 less than the Baofeng. Looks like the Baofeng brand is beginning to be worth something.

Baofeng UV-5R: Off Frequency Receive Problem?

There have been more than a few reports of an off frequency receive problem (here, here, here, here, here, and there).

Remco, PA3FYM, did some testing and had no problems with his UV-5R. Full results here.

"Hans [1] asked me to measure the frequency accurary of my Baofeng UV-5R too, because some people claim the UV-5R being 'off frequency'. I assumed that the transmit frequency is an indicator for the PLL accuracy for both RX and TX, as I did not open the UV-5R to measure the local oscillator frequency itself. Measurements with a HP-5326A (yes, nixie tubes! ;-) and a homebrew prescaler, in conjunction with a calibrated rubidium standard as time base, revealed the following results (sample time: 10 sec, accuracy 10 Hz):

UV-5R display        frequency
145.000 (MHz)      145.000.040 MHz       (+ 40 Hz)
432.000 (MHz)      431.999.930 MHz       (- 70 Hz)

My UV-5R frequency accurary @145 and 432 MHz is (far) better than 0.5 ppm, which is very good. 

References
[1] http://hamgear.wordpress.com"

Baofeng UV-5R: SC33 Case Review by KC9HI

Jim, KC9HI, reviews the $11 USD SC33 Case for the UV-5R from the 409Shop:

"The case is definitely designed for the UV-5R and is a real snug fit. Almost too
snug. The radio loads into the top of the case. A top flap goes over the top of
the radio and snaps in the back. The top flap is notched for the antenna, but is
easier to put in place if the antenna is removed first. This is especially so
with the Nagoya NA-701 aftermarket antenna because the base is a little bigger
in diameter than the stock antenna. I was worried that the case might put
pressure on the antenna and eventually stress the antenna jack. There is also a
cutout for the On/Off/Volume switch and the flashlight LED.

The front of the case has a cutout for the VFR/MR button and TX/RX LED.There is
a small hole for the mic and a 3x3 hole grid for the speaker. There are plastic
covered windows for both the display and keyboard. I could easily read the
display through the display window. I never tried to operate the keyboard
through the keyboard window, though.

The PTT side of the case also has a plastic window to let you see and operate
the three buttons on that side of the radio.
The speaker/mic port side of the case has an opening that lets you open the port
cover so a speaker mic can be plugged in.

The back of the case is notched so it will also fit if the belt clip has been
installed.

Unfortunately the case covers the charging terminals on the back of the battery
and the charger base guide slots on the sides of the battery, so removal of the
case is necessary in order to charge the battery. For me, this pretty much makes
the case impractical so I decided very quickly that I wasn't going to use it."

409Shop SC33 for UV-5R

Baofeng UV-5R: Alphatags 7 Characters via CHIRP

Timing is everything... Last night, I finally got around to updating the 7 Character Hack post with a Google Cache link to the missing instructions. So, what do I read this morning?

CHIRP will now do the heavy lifting for you and update the radio with 7 character alphatags. Daily builds are here.

Baofeng UV-5R: Version Info

M makes an educated guess that the information displayed when holding various keys down during power on is a version/firmware revision:

If you switch the radio on while holding hold down the "3 key" the radio shouldbriefly display "VER BFB230" which I suspect is either the model number of majorfirmware version.

If you switch on the radio while holding down the "6 key" the radio shouldbriefly display the firmware revision number, and what looks like a firmwarebuild ID. For example mine displays "1203101 VER-05"

Mine is "VER BFB230" and "1201002 0000002". I ordered mine the night they became available on the 409Shop, so I may have a very early collector's edition.

Baofeng UV-5R: CHIRP Support

Ed (Import Communications) sent a UV-5R to Dan, so that he could add it to the list of radios supported by CHIRP*. That was three days ago and Dan has already added support for the UV-5R in his daily builds!


*"CHIRP is a FREE cross-platform, cross-radio programming tool. It works on Windows and Linux (and MacOSX with a little work). It supports a growing list of radios across several manufacturers and allows transferring of memory contents between them."

Baofeng UV-5R: Kight Radio Update

Kight Radio and Electronics posted this update on their site yesterday:

"04/04/12

I would like to mention that one of the best sources of information and radios is Ed at www.wouxun.us Ed knows these radios and he one of the nicest guys I know. He will stand behind the products he sells. Ed has been a guest several times in my home in China. He sells more Wouxun Dual band radios then anyone. He is by far the largest seller of Wouxun in the US.

We are holding off selling the Baofeng UV5 because of some issues with the radio. Black out display problem, receiver being off frequency, and too much transmit audio. These problems should be solved soon and when they are, we will have them available."

 I have been seeing the traffic about the off-frequency problem, but I've not had a chance to digest it all. Hopefully tomorrow I can read through the backlog and put together a summary.

Programming Software Problems

I agree with Julian (G4ILO), the various Yahoo Groups are almost unreadable right now due to the flood of programming issues - mostly related to counterfeit chips:

"Problems with programming cables seem to be making up half the traffic in forums and groups dedicated to handheld radios. The problems are all associated with cables that use (or claim to use) Prolific USB adapters. These days, programming cables come with USB adapters built-in, so the need for separate USB to RS-232 converters - which could use a less troublesome FTDI or Silicon Labs chipset - is eliminated. But so, unfortunately, is the option to solve the problem by using a different type of adapter."

These are the major steps - no matter what radio/software.

1. Successfully install the USB to Serial adapter driver for the programming cable. Verify that the OS says the device is working properly by looking in Device Manager (Windows).

2. Also in Device Manager, determine what COM port the cable is using.

3. Install the programming software for your radio.

4. Configure the software to use the COM port that was verified in Step 2.

5. Read from the radio.

You cannot move to the subsequent step until you have successfully completed the prior one.

Baofeng UV-5R: Software v2

Ed at Import Communications has gotten a new version of the UV-5R programming software.  On the UV-5R Yahoo group, he notes that:

The new file has been uploaded to the Files section and also placed on my web
site. It starts in English and does 2.5 kHz frequency entries.

Download is here. The readme file states:

This is version 2 of the programming software for the UV-5R.  If installing over a previous version, you must first remove or rename the file "BF5R_CPS" from your original folder.

Improvements to this software will continue and newer versions will be announced and posted to the UV-5R Yahoo-Group and to the web site www.UV-5R.com as they are received.

73, Ed
www.UV-5R.com

The software installed in a different path than the original version I had. YMMV. I left the radio at work, so I couldn't really test it, but it does open with the menus in English. A step (no pun intended) in the right direction!

Baofeng UV-5R: Performance

First some good news.. no spurious transmissions on the harmonic (unlike the UV-3R):

"Looking at a scope there is no unwanted 2nd harmonic on 145 Mhz" Jaap (PD0JDG )

And some notes on the power output:

"I measured mine with a Welz wattmeter and a 50 ohm dummy load. I get a little more than 5 watts on both 2 and 440." Brent (WB4SPA) 

"I measured power output with digital swr/pwr meter. Maximum Power output is 4watts on both vhf and uhf. I got swr of antenna suppleid with uv5r as, 1;1.5 on 143.000mhz vhf and 1:1.5 on 475.000mhz uhf. And on all other freq swr is more than 2." Puranik (VU3KOD)

And Steve (WB8GRS) has some squelch, sensitivity, and power output measurements.

Baofeng UV-5R: Alphatags 7 Characters Hack

Six characters not enough for you on your UV-5R display? Despite a limit in the current version of the software, you can manually edit the .dat file and add a seventh character. I recommend adding the first six characters via the software and then only editing the file to change the extra character.

All credit for this hack goes to Szombathely-77 Zoli (http://frekik.hu/) who was kind enough to post this information in a comment. The instructions are here in Hungarian and English!

[[[ UPDATED 2012-04-09: Google Cache Link to the Instructions UPDATED ]]]

Chinese Radios - The Center Part II

A commenter on yesterday's post about which Chinese manufacturer is really making all these radios pointed me to this link at Kightradio. (He is the one offering the TYT TH-UV3 for sale.) There are multiple updates on the page:

03/19/12 "The TYT TH-UV3 Dual Band HT is on the way to me now. I will update everyone as soon as I receive them."

So he could have the TYT TH-UV3 any day now. We do live in interesting times.

02/20/2012 "Baofeng UVD-5R Dual Band 4 watt HT was just released for sale in China. This is a nice little Dual Band rig but as of now, the menuis only in Chinese. This is howthe first UV-3R started out and then they made the english menu later. I would like to note that this radio looks exactly like the TYT F8 Radios. In talking with TYT I found out this is a COPY and not a radio made by TYT and sold to Baofeng. TYT has a patent on the case so we will see what TYT does about this later. So if you buy one of these on the internet, BEWARE, its menu is ONLY IN CHINESE and hard to figure out. I have one to test and I am having the menu translated and I will update you later on this.

Dual Band mobiles are not anywhere close to being released. I would not look for them at Dayton this year. Maybe if we are lucky, a few months after Dayton but this is just my personal guess with info I hear in talking with the MFG's every few days."

We know that are now versions of the UV-5R that do Chinese only, Chinese & English, and English only. And he has been told that Baofeng is ripping off TYT's case. More interesting is his claim that the dual band mobiles (KG-UV920R anyone?) won't be available for a few more months.

No Date "We attended the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and the Canton Export Fair Oct 15,2011

We will be updating the site in a few days with all the New Goodies we found at the show. Lots of exciting things in the works so be sure to check back with us and get updated.

We are in China now so if you have any special radios you would like us to purchase for you, contact us and we will be glad to purchase for you.

Call 405-227-9980 (Our time is opposite the USA time so when its 11 am in the US, its 11 pm in China) Please call late evening your time to reach us.

We can get you the latest versions of Wouxun,TYT, Baofeng and others at Hong Kong Prices."

Pretty cool that he offers to ferry radios back from China. Shipping and wire transfers can make a good deal go bad very quickly.

11/11/2011 "Wouxun is going to raise the price effective now of the KG-UVD1p & UVD3 about $22.00 This is because of dealer requests to add 2.5 steps to those models. Its seems more like a move on Wouxun's part to increase the retail price like they have been wanting to do for sometime. They also increased the min wholesale order to 500 units. This is going to put the Wouxun HT's in a higher price class and TYT and others will have the advantage. Hong Kong will have a much lower price and attract more customers. As far as the Dual Band mobile, I would not look for it anytime soon and when it does come out, I am anxious to see the price. Wouxun is not aware of other companies working on Dual Band Radios because they pay little attention to their competition."

Build your brand and demand higher prices. It is the American way!

Baofeng UV-5R: A Rainbow of Screen Colors

We had colorful UV-3R radios, but now we have colorful screens on the UV-5R. Picture via K6FIN as part of his unboxing and review of his UV-5R.

Baofeng UV-5R: Schematics

Via RadioScanner.ru, a direct link to a PDF Schematic of the UV-5R. It is interesting that the file name is F8UV-1846 (bottom right in the drawing). I wonder if the F8 is for the TYT TH-F8 and the UV is for the UV-5R. Just some idle speculation on my part.

Baofeng UV-5R: Giveaway

Not here, but at AmateurRadio.com. Go there to win a Baofeng UV-5R in a giveaway sponsored by ImportCommunications.com. You must be a licensed ham in the US or Canada. Enter before 27 March 2012 20:00 UTC to be eligible.

Kudos to Matt and Ed for another giveaway!

I should also mention that Ed says he will shipping the UV-5R radios tomorrow.

Baofeng UV-5R: Picture with the Case Removed

Here is the first picture I have seen of the a UV-5R that has been taken apart. The picture is from Jester316 at the AR15 forum. I'm sure more will follow as others crack open the unit. I wonder if a Waccom version has the BFUV-5R stamp on it.