IEEE article about hacking Quansheng’s UV-K5

[AK9R]

A writer for the IEEE Spectrum labels the Quansheng UV-K5 as "The Most Hackable Handheld Ham Radio Yet".

"The key technical distinction between the 5R and K5 is a seemingly minor design choice. With Baofeng’s 5R, the firmware resides in read-only memory. But Quansheng stores the K5’s firmware in flash memory and made it possible to rewrite that memory with the same USB programming cable used to assign frequencies to preset channels."

"This feature has opened the door for improvements to the K5 that are well beyond what Quansheng offers out of the box. Hopefully, this design will inspire other radio makers to offer more support for modders, in turn bringing more innovation to the VHF and UHF radio bands."

The Most Hackable Handheld Ham Radio Yet

The UV-K5 can be modded at the click of a mouse

spectrum.ieee.org

 

[merlin]

Too bad so many radio makers just don't like the idea of people hacking and modding their radios.
Newer technology makes it increasingly more dificult, but looks like the K5 has the simple basic blocks.
Someone good with radio and programming ARM CPUs could make these do anything inside of their hardware limits.

 

[PreferredCustomer]

A writer for the IEEE Spectrum labels the Quansheng UV-K5 as "The Most Hackable Handheld Ham Radio Yet".

"The key technical distinction between the 5R and K5 is a seemingly minor design choice. With Baofeng’s 5R, the firmware resides in read-only memory. But Quansheng stores the K5’s firmware in flash memory and made it possible to rewrite that memory with the same USB programming cable used to assign frequencies to preset channels."

"This feature has opened the door for improvements to the K5 that are well beyond what Quansheng offers out of the box. Hopefully, this design will inspire other radio makers to offer more support for modders, in turn bringing more innovation to the VHF and UHF radio bands."

The Most Hackable Handheld Ham Radio Yet

The UV-K5 can be modded at the click of a mouse

spectrum.ieee.org

I just ordered one from Amazon for $30.00 this morning.

Slightly more expensive than a good Pizza.

Pizza, you can only enjoy once, this radio I can play with over and over.

I keep hearing about this radio, so I wanted to see what it's all about.

 

[prcguy]

I just ordered one from Amazon for $30.00 this morning.

Slightly more expensive than a good Pizza.

Pizza, you can only enjoy once, this radio I can play with over and over.

I keep hearing about this radio, so I wanted to see what it's all about.

It’s a fun radio and receiver performance seems better than a Baofeng plus the menu structure is very good. I upgraded the firmware and have used mine on 2m SSB where I used double sideband suppressed carrier and everyone else was USB. It worked great and I got a good 40mi with a rubber duck antenna and I could hear a station over 80mi away on SSB. The 20Hz steps work great for tuning in SSB stations.

 

[nd5y]

Too bad so many radio makers just don't like the idea of people hacking and modding their radios.

Because making firmware, software or hardware changes that affect RF performance or parameters could void any FCC certifications the radio had.

 

[AK9R]

Because making firmware, software or hardware changes that affect RF performance or parameters could void any FCC certifications the radio had.

Except that amateur radios require no FCC certification (except for 10m amplifiers). The FCC certification that most VHF/UHF handhelds get is a Part 15B equipment authorization which covers the radio's limitations as a scanning receiver.

I think what I'd like to see is a VHF/UHF amateur radio that had updatable firmware and filtering to keep the radio from receiving or transmitting outside of the amateur radio bands. I think that would keep the FCC happy and give hams the opportunity to play with how the radio functions. @prcguy experiments with sideband sound very encouraging.

 

[merlin]

Except that amateur radios require no FCC certification (except for 10m amplifiers). The FCC certification that most VHF/UHF handhelds get is a Part 15B equipment authorization which covers the radio's limitations as a scanning receiver.

I think what I'd like to see is a VHF/UHF amateur radio that had updatable firmware and filtering to keep the radio from receiving or transmitting outside of the amateur radio bands. I think that would keep the FCC happy and give hams the opportunity to play with how the radio functions. @prcguy experiments with sideband sound very encouraging.

The firmware could be moded to inhibit TX outside amateur, RX should be open season.
Just ordered one so yet another hack radio.

 

[SigIntel8600]

I ordered mine today. Ability to update firmware mods on a $30 dollar radio is a no brainer. Can't wait to check it out.

 

[prcguy]

The firmware could be moded to inhibit TX outside amateur, RX should be open season.
Just ordered one so yet another hack radio.

If you can figure out how to inhibit TX outside the amateur bands I would request you don’t send me a copy.

 

[vagrant]

I’m figuring the TX power is reduced for out of band TX. Is it down to mW, in particular for the 1.25m band?

 

[prcguy]

I’m figuring the TX power is reduced for out of band TX. Is it down to mW, in particular for the 1.25m band?

When you get real far from the designed tx bands it’s all over the place. On CB it puts out a signal but not much and the higher harmonics can be considerably stronger. I played with some VHF low freqs into a military amp that takes in 1-5w and puts out about 20w with auto band pass filtering. With the Quansheng feeding it the amp put out about half power and it was clean, meaning the radio was barely driving it within the VHF low range and the amplifiers filters were doing a really good job.

I could also hear the Quansheng on 1200MHz into my Icom 9700 at close range so it puts out a tiny signal there and also receives.

 

[vagrant]

Thanks, that was my guess. I ordered the UV-K6 (version 8) I think it is. I’ll test it. It looks to be fun for the various modding features on the RX side of things.

 

[prcguy]

Thanks, that was my guess. I ordered the UV-K6 (version 8) I think it is. I’ll test it. It looks to be fun for the various modding features on the RX side of things.

I may have posted this before but this is the mod I used (IJV) and right below the video are links to the firmware and a web site that will remotely install the firmware for you in about 30 seconds. There are other firmware mods but I haven’t tried them yet.

 

[MUTNAV]

It’s a fun radio and receiver performance seems better than a Baofeng plus the menu structure is very good. I upgraded the firmware and have used mine on 2m SSB where I used double sideband suppressed carrier and everyone else was USB. It worked great and I got a good 40mi with a rubber duck antenna and I could hear a station over 80mi away on SSB. The 20Hz steps work great for tuning in SSB stations.

2M SSB for this cost, where has this been!!!

(how exactly is this done?)

Thanks
Joel

 

[prcguy]

2M SSB for this cost, where has this been!!!

Thanks
Joel

It is SSB receive but DSB surpressed carrier transmit. It seems to work fine talking to other SSB stations and at $30 it’s stupid cheap.

 

[prcguy]

2M SSB for this cost, where has this been!!!

(how exactly is this done?)

Thanks
Joel

How is this done? Some hams have re-written the internal software that gives the radio new features. You look over the various flavors of firmware on the Internet and download one into your radio. It will then do new stuff. See post #13 above for one of the firmware mods in the YouTube video.

 

[MUTNAV]

How is this done? Some hams have re-written the internal software that gives the radio new features. You look over the various flavors of firmware on the Internet and download one into your radio. It will then do new stuff. See post #13 above for one of the firmware mods in the YouTube video.

Thanks... found the videos. for $30 SSB it's great (for experimental use only of course).

Very exciting work being done.

Found one video about FT8, but it's completely in German so can't tell exactly what it is about.

Thanks
Joel

 

[richardrosa]

A writer for the IEEE Spectrum labels the Quansheng UV-K5 as "The Most Hackable Handheld Ham Radio Yet".

"The key technical distinction between the 5R and K5 is a seemingly minor design choice. With Baofeng’s 5R, the firmware resides in read-only memory. But Quansheng stores the K5’s firmware in flash memory and made it possible to rewrite that memory with the same USB programming cable used to assign frequencies to preset channels."

"This feature has opened the door for improvements to the K5 that are well beyond what Quansheng offers out of the box. Hopefully, this design will inspire other radio makers to offer more support for modders, in turn bringing more innovation to the VHF and UHF radio bands."

The Most Hackable Handheld Ham Radio Yet

The UV-K5 can be modded at the click of a mouse

spectrum.ieee.org

I just received one of these, and I cannot seem to get the USB port to be recognized. The 'Charging' light is lit, so the radio sees the cable, but my computer doesn't know anything is connected. I've tried 3 different USB cables with the same results.

Does anyone know if there is some magic that needs to be done to enable data transfer? Or is the USB broken?
I was really looking forward to being able to try out some of the firmware changes.

All the other functions of the radio seem to be operational.
USB issue not withstanding, this little device packs an AMAZING amount of functionality for $30!


Thanx

Richard Rosa

 

[lamarrsy]

I just received one of these, and I cannot seem to get the USB port to be recognized. The 'Charging' light is lit, so the radio sees the cable, but my computer doesn't know anything is connected. I've tried 3 different USB cables with the same results.

Does anyone know if there is some magic that needs to be done to enable data transfer? Or is the USB broken?
I was really looking forward to being able to try out some of the firmware changes.

All the other functions of the radio seem to be operational.
USB issue not withstanding, this little device packs an AMAZING amount of functionality for $30!


Thanx

Richard Rosa

The USB port n the radio is for charging only.
Programming the radio is done via the microphone/speaker jack on the right side.
You did order a programming cable with the radio, did you ?
If not, you will have to place an order for a programming cable.

 

[prcguy]

I have a lot of handhelds around here and my Quansheng is becoming my go to radio for size, weight and it just seems to get the job done. Big radios take note, there is a new radio in town!