Search the Community

Greetings. If you have programmed your AR-152 radio with Chirp or RT Systems BAO-152 programming software, it is possible that your radio is malfunctioning and you won’t know it because your AR-152 will continue to appear to function normally. I need your help if you (1) have programmed your AR-152 radio with third-party programming software and (2) you own or have access to a VHF-UHF Power Meter. I have purchased a number of these radios and I believe that I have discovered a fairly serious problem that probably affects all AR-152 radios because, as far as I know, Baofeng is still using its original hardware design and A152V01 firmware version. But, since your radio still appears to operate normally, the true problem will be hidden from you. Here’s the problem: When you first receive your new AR-152 it functions correctly. However, as soon as you connect it to either Chirp or RT Systems’ BAO-152 programming software and program the radio, a Transmit Power malfunction is triggered and, after this happens, there appears to be no way to restore the radio to normal operation. One of the problems with this malfunction is that your AR-152 radio still appears to function normally. It can still receive and make transmissions. There is zero hint that anything is wrong. When you set TXP=High/Mid/Low, the little “H”, “M”, “L” indicators appear in the LCD and so on. When you push the PTT button, the little transmit icon makes it look like your radio is transmitting the selected power. However, the truth is very different and the only way to determine if your AR-152 is working properly after it has been programmed, is to measure its Transmit Power. If it works properly, setting TXP=High should always produce the highest Transmit Power and setting TXP=Mid should always produce more power than TXP=Low. If you have not yet programmed your AR-152, I strongly recommend that you NOT do so. Configure its Memory channels only via the built-in menus and avoid programming it with external software and you will not trigger the malfunction. If you have programmed your AR-152 with external software, I’d like you to do a quick Transmit Power test and report your results here. Any Surecom Power/VSWR Meter with a 50-ohm test load will work for the test. Here’s the test procedure: Fully charge your AR-152 battery. Put your radio in VFO mode with a long press of the MENU key. Enter a VHF frequency (such as 144.000 MHz) and test the Transmit Power at each of the radio’s three TXP settings (High, Mid, Low). Make a note of the frequency you used and the Watts at each TXP setting. (Hint: The keypad shortcut to change the TXP setting without using the menu is a short-tap of the #/lock-keypad key while the radio is in standby.) Pick a UHF frequency (such as 462.600 MHz) and test the Transmit Power at each of the radio’s three TXP settings (High, Mid, Low). Make a note of the frequency you used and the Watts at each TXP setting. Describe the kinds of programming changes you made when you programmed your AR-152. Turn your radio off. Then press and hold the 3/SAVE key while you turn the radio back on. As soon as the LCD comes to life, release the #/SAVE key and the firmware version of your radio will momentarily appear. It happens so fast that you may need to do this several times so you can record your firmware version. Please include it in your post. (All of my radios have firmware “A152V01”, which I believe is version 1.) If your radio has the Transmit Power malfunction, you’ll discover that the Watts you measure do not match the TXP settings. When TXP=High, the Watts will be too low. When TXP=Mid or TXP=Low, the Watts will be the same and they will be way too high. The dangerous aspect to this is: You think your radio is transmitting its lowest power when you set TXP=Low. But, in reality you’ll be transmitting at nearly full power. To help you visualize the problem, I’ve attached five graphs which illustrate what is happening. Each data point on the plotlines was measured by me. The before measurements were made before the radio was programmed. The after measurements were made after the radio was programmed. The first graph shows the AR-152 when it is working correctly. This is how our radios should work. The second graph shows the AR-152 after the malfunction has been triggered by programming the radio. The third graph combines the first two so you can view both in one graph. The fourth graph focuses on TXP=High only and shows its dramatic drop in level after the malfunction sets in. The fifth (last) graph focuses on TXP=Mid and TXP=Low. The reason TXP setting are shown in the same graph is because, after the malfunction is triggered, the radio thinks they are the same setting and regardless whether you select TXP=Mid or TXP=Low, you'll get the same power level and it will be way too high. Thanks in advance for your help. Together, I hope we can demonstrate to Baofeng that this malfunction is not an isolated incident and this will prompt them to give its solution their highest priority. If you know other AR-152 radio owners who have programmed their radios, please ask them to join myGMRS and add their Transmit Power measurements to this thread. Again, thanks! Kind regards, RGB

Hi, I've got some UV-5G Plus radios to program. I already know how to use CHIRP and have successfully programmed a bunch of good old UV-5R radios. My issue is that my family is near the Canadian border zone. We're not allowed to transmit on 462.6500, 467.6500, 462.7000 and 467.7000. (I understand that as a practical matter with a 5W walkie talkie the feds aren't going to chase me down, but I have folks in my family concerned about the law.) For my UV-5R radios, it's trivial to disable transmitting on a programmed channel. But for the UV-5G Plus, I can't seem to do it in CHIRP, or the program downloaded from Baofeng. The pre-set channels that come on the radio for those frequencies do not allow me to remove the transmit frequency in CHIRP. Now for the NOAA weather channels I added, disabling transmission was easy. It works just like it does for the UV-5R. Anyone have any tips? Thanks!

I've been using the Chirp software fine with my UV-5Rs for a few years, but for the first time I am trying to program a GMRS repeater connection. I received permission from a few local owners, and they all sent me strings of characters. But I cannot figure out how to code into Chirp because the column names (and dropdown values) do not seem to correspond. Here is one example: DPL662 467 input 462 output 5.0 split Can someone please tell me which items go where in the Chirp grid? I greatly appreciate any help!

I have a Wouxun KG-UV8D+ and I'm using CHIRP or the Wouxun software to program it. I just can't seem to get it right. The repeater is 462.6000 - Out PL 110.9 - In DPL 712 What I need to know is what gets entered into each column in CHIRP. I don't understand the column abbreviations.

Hello everyone! I am new to GMRS and just got two BTech GMRS V1 as starter units (one for me and another for my wife). I am attempting to connect to a nearby repeater with the following parameters: 462.650+ 141.3 PL. As listed in myGMRS website, it uses the same PL for TX and Receive. I used CHIRP to program both radios (see attached figure). When I transmit with one unit, and keep the other one on receive at the same frequency, i can hear it is connected, but I cannot hear voice going through... can someone help me find what am I doing wrong? Please advice... thanks in advanced!

So I am new to GMRS and I was just given repeater info for the area, it looks like this: 462.### - TX ###.#, RX ###.# But when I look in CHIRP I see: Under Tone mode there are these options: Tone, TSQL, DTCS, and Cross. Which one do I select? Is the TX the Tone column and RX the ToneSql column? There are lots of options for Cross Mode, do I select something there?In the end, how to I translate the info I got into something I can program into the radio? Thanks for the help!!!! Sam

Hi everyone, Call sign: WRDH829 Tried creating an account but apparently the site isn't seeing my call sign yet. It is new. I received my radios today and getting them set up and have a few questions that I hope someone can help. A little background - my primary reason (excuse to the spousal unit) is to use the radios when we are vending at art festivals. Some of the events we vend at, are in areas with little/no cell coverage and we need to be able to reach each other. 1) A GMRS set up for dummies guide anywhere? 2) Wide FM vs Narrow FM? The radios came preprogrammed with NFM on all channels. Any +/-'s to choosing wide vs narrow? Since the low channel numbers are shared between GMRS and FRS, and FRS is only broadcasting narrow, how does that affect GMRS if I am broadcasting wide? 3) CTCSS and DCS - I don't see any discussion about the why would I choose one over the other? I assume you use these codes so that our radios would stay silent unless they receive the matching code. But is there a reason to select DCS vs CTCSS? 4) Power level for the GMRS channels - any reason not to transmit on the higher power (other than battery life)? Thanks - I appreciate any advice and look forward to joining the group. Fred