Baofeng Annoying hum/whine on trx Low power, recent UV-5R and GT-3TP

[RenoHuskerDu]

I bought several new GT-3TP for ranch use and all have varying degrees of hum/whine on trx when running Low power. Audio quality is also inferior to numerous older GT-3TPs we run on the ranch. In the past I'd noticed this whine on a batch of new UV-5Rs I programmed for a friend. The advice back then was that the newer HTs had some differences, and to turn off Battery Saver in CHIRP Setting/Basic Settings to reduce that whine. I never tested that theory because he hasn't brought them back to me.

But on my new HTs, setting Battery Saver to Off doesn't remove the Low Power hum/whine (recall that the GT-3TP is FCC type UV-5R, CHIRP Model BF-F8HP). So I have a couple of questions for the group:

1) Any other ideas on how to remove that whine on trx? Again, it's only the new HTs that do it. Older ones don't.
2) Is Battery Saver worth using at all? I got hits saying it's of no use on /r and here.

For now my workaround is to run Med power (4w) if the whine is too annoying. But I prefer to always run Low unless more is needed.

 

[bharvey2]

Where are you when you are transmitting? (in a vehicle perhaps) Is it always from the same location? My first though is that an external source is introducing noise into your radio while transmitting. Unfortunately though, it's very likely that you just have a bad batch of radio. While I have little experience with Baofeng radios, I've hear that many who have tested them find no end of evidence of poor performance while others seem to find they work well enough. It seems to come down to the design and quality control of a very inexpensive product. Little of either is applied. I'd suggest trying another batch or even a different radio.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

I wish there were a similar radio to try, with the same feature set and low price point. We leave one in every pickup and UTV, what with their low replacement cost. The talking menu is hard to beat.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Where are you when you are transmitting? (in a vehicle perhaps) Is it always from the same location? My first though is that an external source is introducing noise into your radio while transmitting. Unfortunately though, it's very likely that you just have a bad batch of radio. While I have little experience with Baofeng radios, I've hear that many who have tested them find no end of evidence of poor performance while others seem to find they work well enough. It seems to come down to the design and quality control of a very inexpensive product. Little of either is applied. I'd suggest trying another batch or even a different radio.

I'm sitting by my shack. Not much running but a scanner and a 60cm Kenwood mobile, scanning. No 110 power supply in use. I hear that whine on the scanner and the mobile, as well as another HT on my person. First heard it 200 yds off, that unit was in a car. But earlier GT-3TP units did not do that.

 

[bharvey2]

I'm sitting by my shack. Not much running but a scanner and a 60cm Kenwood mobile, scanning. No 110 power supply in use. I hear that whine on the scanner and the mobile, as well as another HT on my person. First heard it 200 yds off, that unit was in a car. But earlier GT-3TP units did not do that.

That sounds like your new radios are emitting "spurs" or spurious emissions. That is, unwanted signals outside of the designed transmit frequency. If they're new enough, I'd send them back if they were mine.

 

[lamarrsy]

There was a known case of a main brand HF radio that when its display brightness was anything other than 100%, there was a whine in transmit.

I don’t know if your radios have their display backlight at ON when transmitting, but just in case, try to deactivate any display backlight and do some transmit tests with the radios in that state.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

There was a known case of a main brand HF radio that when its display brightness was anything other than 100%, there was a whine in transmit.

I don’t know if your radios have their display backlight at ON when transmitting, but just in case, try to deactivate any display backlight and do some transmit tests with the radios in that state.

Jumpin' Jehosaphat, that was it! I turned off the screen for trx and the whine went away. Now I have four functioning spare HTs. One has worse issues and it's going back to Bezos.

Thank you Sir.

 

[bharvey2]

There was a known case of a main brand HF radio that when its display brightness was anything other than 100%, there was a whine in transmit.

I don’t know if your radios have their display backlight at ON when transmitting, but just in case, try to deactivate any display backlight and do some transmit tests with the radios in that state.

Wow, stellar call lamarrsy! I think you've made RenoHuskerDu's day.

 

[lamarrsy]

Wow, stellar call lamarrsy! I think you've made RenoHuskerDu's day.

Hehehe, glad that my instinct was correct 😁 it does not correct the problem per se, but at least it allows an (hopefully) acceptable workaround.