Bad Baofeng UV-B5 transmitter?

[baltimorecs]

My neighbor brought me his two new Baofeng UV-B5 radios and asked if I would look at them for him. Although I have an EE, I am not a radio expert by any means. (But I did set up his programming software and USB cable.)

He bought these after passing his amateur exam and one works fine while the other does not. The first one has good transmission quality and reception. The second has good reception, but I believe the transmitter is bad. The reason I believe that is that whenever you press transmit, it emits a tone the entire time you have the PTT depressed. You can hear it on the transmitting radio's speaker as well as on another receiving radio.

I also tested it with one of my HT1550's that I use for work and the same thing happens. I don't feel like the cost of the radio justifies a repair - maybe just salvage the battery as a spare and keep it for spare parts (case, antenna, etc.) The scan mode doesn't seem to be fast enough to use it just as a scanner -- but I thought I would check here to see if anyone had an idea if it could be a simple fix.

Nothing is set to transmit, EOT is off, TOT is off, VOX is off. It just sounds like a bad transmitter.

Thank you.

 

[MTS2000des]

to be expected with bargain basement, stamped out Chinese electronics, like a DVD player from Wal-Mart

the radios can be opened up, but it isn't easy, and if the PA or driver is bad, unless you have an SMD reflow station, it's pretty much a trash bin radio. Good for future parts like housing, LCD unit, battery, antenna, belt clip, etc.

 

[prcguy]

These have pretty good warranties if bought from a legit US dealer like Import Communications. If under warranty send it back and they usually ship you a new radio.
prcguy

My neighbor brought me his two new Baofeng UV-B5 radios and asked if I would look at them for him. Although I have an EE, I am not a radio expert by any means. (But I did set up his programming software and USB cable.)

He bought these after passing his amateur exam and one works fine while the other does not. The first one has good transmission quality and reception. The second has good reception, but I believe the transmitter is bad. The reason I believe that is that whenever you press transmit, it emits a tone the entire time you have the PTT depressed. You can hear it on the transmitting radio's speaker as well as on another receiving radio.

I also tested it with one of my HT1550's that I use for work and the same thing happens. I don't feel like the cost of the radio justifies a repair - maybe just salvage the battery as a spare and keep it for spare parts (case, antenna, etc.) The scan mode doesn't seem to be fast enough to use it just as a scanner -- but I thought I would check here to see if anyone had an idea if it could be a simple fix.

Nothing is set to transmit, EOT is off, TOT is off, VOX is off. It just sounds like a bad transmitter.

Thank you.

 

[prcguy]

Yea but you can buy 10 of these radios with free programming software for what Bloatarola charges for just the programming software for one radio. And you wont have to sell your house to fight the legal problems if you somehow get caught with pilfered Bloat software.
prcguy

to be expected with bargain basement, stamped out Chinese electronics, like a DVD player from Wal-Mart

the radios can be opened up, but it isn't easy, and if the PA or driver is bad, unless you have an SMD reflow station, it's pretty much a trash bin radio. Good for future parts like housing, LCD unit, battery, antenna, belt clip, etc.

 

[MTS2000des]

Yea but you can buy 10 of these radios with free programming software for what Bloatarola charges for just the programming software for one radio. And you wont have to sell your house to fight the legal problems if you somehow get caught with pilfered Bloat software.
prcguy

yak yak yak, whine whine whine..want some cheese with your wine?
where did the OP mention anything about Motorola?

10 pounds of dung in a 5 pound bag. these radios are what they are, cheap and disposable. the OP was asking about serviceability, having owned several Chicom radios I can tell you (unlike your off topic rant about Motorola...what that has to do with this I don't know) I can tell you they are NOT serviceable at all. Throw them away.

 

[Nicholas440]

I had 2 of the Baofeng uv B5 radios also, and one was bad. The one I had would emit a loud buzz momentarily each time you pressed PTT, also it would transmit sometimes and other times you press PTT and nothing happens. It was intermittent transmit, and the buzz that just told me it was a bad unit. I only paid $36 for the entire radio , charger, battery etc, so I did as was suggested to you I salvaged the battery, charger, and the antenna and tossed them in the drawer as spare parts the tossed the radio. Some of these units are just no good right out of the box but at $40 for the whole package if you get a good working one it's well worth the money. If you can send it back then I'd do that too, but mine was sent from China and took a month to get here, and communications with the seller were not good at all so I opted not to even attempt to get a replacement.

 

[AK9R]

The conclusion that these "cheap Chinese" radios are throwaway radios with little opportunity for servicing aside from complete replacement has been adequately established, in my opinion.

The conclusion that these "cheap Chinese" radios are considerably less expensive than radios built for the rigors of public safety LMR service has been adequately established, in my opinion.

Unless you have something to contribute to the OP's question of "is there a simple fix for an apparent bad transmitter", please keep your comments to yourself.