baofeng

YouTube: Baofeng UV-5R | The Gateway Drug To Ham Radio

UV-5R programming

The recommended way to import a CSV in CHIRP is to download from your radio, delete all rows of channel memories (select all, right click, delete), then import the CSV.

unlocking

Unlock to use a UV-5R on Part 90 and FRS/MURS/GMRS bands.

IIRC you don’t need to unlock it if you’re programming with CHIRP, it only affects frequencies entered by keypad. [TODO: is this true?]

UV-5Rs may require different unlocking tricks. Some folks report new UV-5Rs that can’t be unlocked. But many new UV-5Rs can be unlocked. Consider buying from a seller that has a return policy.

YouTube: How To Unlock A New Baofeng UV-5R

UPDATE: This Unlock works on Baofeng UV-5R radios manufactured after around 2020 however there are reports that it may not work on UV5R radios manufactured after mid 2022.

UPDATE#2 - I have seen reports here and online that this hack does not work on new UV-5R radios manufactured after approximately July 2022 - BUT, those radios can easily be unlocked by the “Factory Reset” option in the menus.

UPDATE #3 - I have seen reports that some newer radios (purchased after July/Aug 2022 are locked, and cannot be unlocked.

Some folks say their GT-5Rs could not be unlocked without complicated re-flashing of firmware. But some also say the standard UV-5R trick worked.

GT-5R unlocking

CHIRP has an additional restriction for GT-5R to prevent programming frequencies outside ham bands. You can program as a UV-5R to get around this restriction.

UV-5R redemption arc

Baofeng had/has all these problems

major problems
- easily used on any land mobile frequency, including emergency services, etc.
- programmed with factory test frequencies out of the box, not legal ham bands
- bad spurious emissions on harmonics/overtones of Tx frequency
minor problems
- easily used on Part 90 business band and FRS/MURS/GMRS
- marketed as walkie talkies, no mention of ham license
- transmitting at power levels greater than allowed
- authorization sticker issues

FCC action against Baofeng in 2018

GT-5R

intended as an “FDA-compliant” UV-5R
introduced 2021
fixed the spurious emissions problem
locked to ham bands

new UV-5Rs

looks like new UV-5Rs are identical in hardware to GT-5R as of 2022
pass spurious emissions spec more reliably as of ~2022
locked to ham bands
- generally easy to unlock

GT-5R vs. UV-5R?

seems they’re the same? any reason to prefer GT-5R in 2024?
- it’s possible the GT-5R has better quality assurance testing?
some batches of GT-5R harder to unlock
- many are just as easy as UV-5R
- some batches of UV-5R also harder to unlock

Further info

FCC citation (pdf)

ARRL: FCC Cites Baofeng Importer for Illegally Marketing Unauthorized RF Devices

YouTube: Watch This Before Buying A Baofeng Ham Radio… Or Another One

Radioddity: GT-5R

Frequency Range: 144-148MHz, 420-450MHz (TX) | 144-148, 136-174MHz, 400-480MHz (RX)|
Output Power: 4W / 1W (Max 5W)

Spurious emissions demonstrated here:

YouTube: Dump the UV-5R and Get the GT-5R (#387)
YouTube: Replace Your Baofeng UV-5R With This…
YouTube: Good And Bad Baofeng UV-5R On Spectrum Analyser

Spurious emissions:

harmonics and spurs
tends to be much worse on VHF than UHF
some UV-5Rs are pretty ok and pass spec, some are terrible

New UV-5R spurious emissions improvements:

RadioReference: BaoFeng Spectral Purity IMD Testing

Having personally carried out these measurements dozens of times, including on a range of amateur transceivers, I can confirm that earlier Baofengs were terrible in both harmonic and intermodulation distortion but more recent units are much better with harmonic distortion although they are still not very good with IMD.