Baofeng Baofeng 888s - Takes Programming / Won't Transmit

[ghnelson]

I'm stumped on this one. I have 3 sets of Baofeng UV-82HP radios. They are programmed and work just fine with each other. I am now trying to program my 888s so they can communicate on ch1-16 with the UV-82HPs.

Chirp does not recognize the 888s but I can program the 888s with the Baofeng 1.08 software. Chirp does recognize the UV-82HP and programs them just fine.

I've verified that the 888s have the same channel configs. When I key up, the UV-82HP wake up but no sound is heard on either radio. Our team has other 888s, and they work just fine with this config. Before the re-programming, my 888s were working fine as well.

Can someone tell me if there's an error in my 888 configs here?

888 Frequencies:


888 Functions:


UV-82HP Frequencies:

 

[buddrousa]

For 1 the tone 199.5 is an invalid tone
For 2 the tone squelch on the 82 says tone is 100.0

 

[KevinC]

For 1 the tone 199.5 is an invalid tone
For 2 the tone squelch on the 82 says tone is 100.0

Some of the CCR's will accept anything for a tone. But yes, the mismatch is probably the issue.

 

[ghnelson]

Ah, too long of a day. Ok, corrected that and still nothing. Nothing is sent or received. Config from the 888:



It's so bizarre. The UV82 definitely picks it up, screen goes blue when the 888 is keyed up. No audio in either direction. I'm stumped.

 

[KevinC]

Is the UV82 set to transmit a tone?

 

[ghnelson]

Is the UV82 set to transmit a tone?

no, I don't believe so. Oddly- we have other 888s in the fleet that work fine so I'm not sure. Maybe I have some weird variant here and they are just bricked at this point?

 

[buddrousa]

Between Tone Mode and Tone Squelch is a Tone add the 100.0 in that also.

 

[ghnelson]

Between Tone Mode and Tone Squelch is a Tone add the 100.0 in that also.

on which radio? Never had to use that before. Won't that change tone mode from TSQL to Tone then?

 

[PDXh0b0]

Try changing to wideband W/N to W

Doesn't make sense, but I programed a couple newer Chinese radios & used Narrow band....radio didn't work, I switch to wide band, it worked 🤷

 

[ghnelson]

Try changing to wideband W/N to W

Doesn't make sense, but I programed a couple newer Chinese radios & used Narrow band....radio didn't work, I switch to wide band, it worked 🤷

worth a shot. No joy. UV82 picks it up but no audio. Not even static.

I tried Low vs High transmit power and no joy either.

 

[buddrousa]

I have no idea about cheap radios I program commerical conventional and trunking public service radios

 

[KevinC]

Don't know the radio, but if it has a monitor button do you hear the other radios if you press/engage it?

 

[ghnelson]

Don't know the radio, but if it has a monitor button do you hear the other radios if you press/engage it?

Nope. Don’t hear the radios at all when they key up. Not even static.

I’m thinking these are bricked or are some kind of weird variant. I think I need to return / exchange them.

I checked against another working 888. Configs and memories are identical. What’s weird is the working 888 is detected both as an 888 and v8a in Chirp. However, the non working 888s are only detected as v8a in chirp- I can’t get chirp to see them as 888 at all.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Do you have an sdr you can try an visually see the actual frequency the 888s is transmitting on?

 

[hill]

Some of the newer CCR are locked down to transmit only on ham frequencies.

 

[ghnelson]

Do you have an sdr you can try a visually see the actual frequency the 888s is transmitting on?

Negative

 

[ghnelson]

Some of the newer CCR are locked down to transmit only on ham frequencies.

I wonder if that’s what is happening here

 

[FKimble]

You have high and low voltage transmit both disabled on your screen copy?

Frank

 

[ghnelson]

You have high and low voltage transmit both disabled on your screen copy?

Frank

Are you referring to the Settings screenshot of the 888? If so, yes we have high and low voltage tx disable checked.

I checked a working 888 and both are checked on that one.

 

[ghnelson]

After more testing, I was able to prove that the 888s can RX when I set the squelch to 0. My UV82HP was able to TX to it. Still no TX from the 888 though.

MYSTERY SOLVED. Here's the steps I found that fixed it.

I have no idea why this works but I stumbled across this youtube video. The symptoms aren't the same as mine but somewhat in the ballpark.

#1.
I download the .480 repair file from the youtube description (dropbox link) and I wrote it to the non-working 888 radio via the Baofeng v1.08 OEM software.

#2.
Fired up Chirp. Restored my working 888 config to the radio. For model type, I had to set the model type to V8A. It refused to be recognized by CHIRP as an 888. (I'm stumped on this point as we have several 888s on our team and they get detected as V8A AND 888 in CHIRP)

#3.
After restarting the 888s after reprogramming, they are working without issue to the other 888s and to my UV82HPs!!!

I am a newbie to this and was just doing basic programming via USB to help out so I don't have the tools or knowledge to figure out what the heck was going on here but thought I'd post the steps to fix it in case it helps others.