Baofeng UV5R / UV82 Squelch Issue Resolution

Great News for UV5R and UV82 radio owners.

The Baofeng UV5R / UV82 series are known for having a very loose squelch.
There are ten Squelch levels. Zero is OFF, One through Nine is barely closed.

The Latest Daily Build of CHIRP has added a Service Settings tab which allows you to change the internal values of the various levels.
A weak signal will open the receiver, and only a solid signal will open at level Nine.
This is described in detail at the Miklor website under Resolve the UV5R / UV82 Squelch Issue.

Note: This eliminates popping static from opening the squelch at random.
Really annoying when mobile.

 

Thanks for the info! I have a few Boo-Fangs and the weak squelch drives me crazy. I just downloaded the newest CHIRP and updated one UV-5R and it now works great.

 

Interesting this may be a problem with the 2meter/70cm model only,

I have the UV82X, 2meter/ 220MHZ model and I have never had this squelch issue, in fact at a setting of 2 both receivers are quiet while frequently driving around both Phoenix and Portland.

The 2meter band opens squelch at -123dbm while 220 MHz opens at -122.5 dbm at my squelch setting.

 

Thanks for the information. I have one of these radios and that seemed to be the only problem with them. They work well for commercial radio also. Never had a real problem with the one I have at work, not on an amateur frequency, however.

 

HUH? WITH does this have to do with Bao feng radios? Part One

It just seems to me, maybe I am wrong, but:
If you are going to stay on subject, this subject is "Squelch Problems With the Bao Feng radios."

If you don't know anything about the subject, and all that you have to do is spout spoue and venom about something else that you think is "Oh-So-Important" about something else.

Now, , pardon me while I go off subject.

I own several of the "Chinese toy radios" and I have found them quite good in quality, not toys and a lot less expensive than the Big-4 radios.

Granted there are some inter-mod problems not of too much to worry about. But, being the acquisitions officer and communications officer for a small museum railway company; I would not like very well to have to go to BigMo and pay the price that that company wants for the expensive equipment that they sell.
I have to look at the bottom line. I also use and own several of the "chinese toy radios" that the person was ranting about.
When one of our techs dropped it off of his belt and onto the ground, hitting a RR tie; I thought that that was the end of that radio. However, that "toy radio," when I put the battery back on it and straightened out the antenna, performed just as well as it did before it was dropped.

Try that with one of your "Big-4" radios. I will bet you that you will end up going to the local radio shop to buy another one.

I speak this from experience. What real world experience does this bloody troll have with anything other than his pet Japanese radios?

BTW: open up that Japanese radio and look at the chips inside with a magnifying lense. Betcha the labels on the chips say, Vietnam, Malayysia or (OMG!) China.

 

Continued from above. Part Two.

Rather than using the Zed as a crying towel, why don't you do something like, oh maybe, use the time to actively correct your resume, go to an employment agency or talk to someone in your field who might help you in this problem?
Sitting and moaning about how bad things are in this world is not productive.
For example: when I came to Cleveland, Ohio, I was totally broke, ex-wife had done me in financially.
I didn't set around moaning about it. I got a little bit of help, bought myself a new camera (started here as a photographer) and went to a local newspaper here, after producing a photo-resume and got a job in my field as a photojournalist.
I found out about the new job by going on a photo-shoot at a local railway museum here n Cleveland, got interested in what was going on there and started there as a volunteer.
When the time for getting a new license came along, I was asked by the COO if I had any interest in being the licensee for the RR museum.
I got that position and now I manage the radio and communications facilities (while they aren't that extensive) and have made the operation a lot better than it was when I started there.
I didn't sit around saying "How terrible things are," and not doing something about it.
But I also will tell anyone that if you don't try to do something that nothing (for sure) will happen.
NNOw, I am off of my soap box and will stop ranting. -/30/-

 

If this works it is great news. I have a UV-5R and the poor squelch is really my only complaint with the radio! I'm going to give this a try today.

 

N2OBS

It is not only rude but poor form to be so far off topic. it does not contribute to the thread and is of no help what so ever. If there is a moderator for this forum they should pull your post down ASAP.

KB9AZZ

 

Here is what I have found by experimenting with the squelch mod on a UV-5R with BFS311 firmware and a UV-82 with B82S25 firmware. The results appear to be the same on both. Other models or firmware versions may have different results.

As you may already know the squelch menu (MENU 0) has 10 sub menu settings labeled 0 to 9.
Each of the 10 settings can now be programmed with a value of 0 to 64.

Menu setting 0 keeps the squelch open at all times regardless of what level value is prgrammed into it.
Small increments between vaules, such as the way the factory default values are set, are not noticeable.

Spreading the values out in increments of 8 appears to work well:

0 0
1 0
2 8
3 16
4 24
5 32
6 40
7 48
8 56
9 64

64 is very tight and takes a very strong dead full quieting signal to open the squelch.
0 is loose but still not loose enough for extremely weak signals. I'ts definitely not like having a traditional squelch pot set right at the threshold.

I also tried programming the values backwards with 0 set to 64 and 9 set to 0 and that worked as expected. Menu setting 0 ignores whatever value it is set to and still opens the squelch even when set to 64.

Maybe somebody with a calibrated signal generator could measure the values on several of these radios and then measure several real radios with the pot set to 10 equally spaced positions and come up with a set of values that mimics the squelch pot action on a real radio.

 

Thanks for the upgrade it is excellent software by the way,

Some UV82X values from my stock radio

Measured with a Cal'd HP8640 Generator

2 meters
0= 0,, open squelch
1=14 -123 dbm sq opening
2=15 -122.5 dBm opens
3=16 -122 dBm opens
4=17 -121.5 dBm opens
5=18 -120.5 dBm opens
6=19 -119.5 dBm opens
7=20 -118 dBm opens
8=21 -117 dBm opens
9=22 -116.5 dBm opens

220 MHz
0=0, open squelch
1=17 sq opens at ~ -122 dBm
2=18 sq opens at -120.5 dBm
3=19 sq opens at -119.5 dBm
4=20 sq opens at -119 dBm
5=21 sq opens at -118 dBm
6=22 sq opens at -117 dBm
7=23 sq opens at -115.5 dBm
8=24 sq opens at -114.5 dBm
9=25 sq opens at -113.5 dBm




Using the CHIRP service menu I was able to set my radio, on each band, 2 and 1 1/4 meter, for ~ -122dbm Squelch opening at level 1 which produced a ~9db SINAD signal and then each increase in squelch setting results in a further ~2 db tightening of the squelch threshold.

Squelch Hysteresis on both bands before and after seems the same and is 2 db which is just perfect.


Also, are there any future plans to investigate if there are locations for setting the transmitter power output in the UV82X?

The reason for asking is that my radios high power is fine at 4.6 watts on 2 meters and 4.0 watts on 220 MHz, however; the low power is 2.2 watts on 2 meters and 1.85 watts on 220 MHz and a lower setting around .5 to .75 watt would be more desirable.

Mike

 

If you look on the FCC OET web site at the documentation submitted for the UV-82 for certification, you will see a tune up procedure that has screen shots of software that has tabs that appear to be for high and low power, squelch, modulation, volume, filter and frequency range. Apparently it is only for internal factory use. I haven't seen it availe anywhere or seen anybody talk about having it. I don't know if the CHRIP guys can add that capability. I too would like to have .5 W or less low power.

 

k3nxu-
Thanks for the report, that is helpful.

Yes, it's a "toy". Guess what....they're all "toys".

 

I wonder if any similar functionality has been found for the UV-3R MKII. It has some quirks, and it would be interesting to tweak/customize it if possible.

I have to ask, as I have never heard of the 'Big 4' before. The Big 3 are commonly regarded as Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu...who holds the mysterious #4 spot?

 

Alinco (disregard extra characters)

 

I laugh at your crying rant, Kia is a South Korean company, in cooperation with Hyundai, and all your parts in that Kenwood are made in Japan. I think you need to take this to a AM talk radio station, or perhaps a Craigslist add looking for a job. Please keep this off of QRZ