Baofeng gt-3 as a scanner - new user

[AlJones]

I have some experience as an old CB-er and some military experience (very antiquated) so I don't think I'm completely dumb but trying to set this radio up as a scanner for the local (south Texas area) has got me ready to go pull out the gin bottle.

The one aspect that I have to question is that I'm in an old trailer with metal sides - will that affect UHF/VHF reception as it does the commercial AM/FM bands? Apparently not as I'm not hearing the same thing with the radio outside.

Using the information found here for Brewster county and a daily copy of chirp, I have 24 frequencies set in the radio. When I go to scan I'm hearing nothing ... every once in while I'll hear someone break squelch but no voice to go along with it.

I've followed the notes here on how to set up the UV5 which appear identical to the GT3 and still hear nothing.

I won't present myself as anything but an absolute novice so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KC9HI]

I have some experience as an old CB-er and some military experience (very antiquated) so I don't think I'm completely dumb but trying to set this radio up as a scanner for the local (south Texas area) has got me ready to go pull out the gin bottle.

The one aspect that I have to question is that I'm in an old trailer with metal sides - will that affect UHF/VHF reception as it does the commercial AM/FM bands? Apparently not as I'm not hearing the same thing with the radio outside.

Using the information found here for Brewster county and a daily copy of chirp, I have 24 frequencies set in the radio. When I go to scan I'm hearing nothing ... every once in while I'll hear someone break squelch but no voice to go along with it.

I've followed the notes here on how to set up the UV5 which appear identical to the GT3 and still hear nothing.

I won't present myself as anything but an absolute novice so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just saying that you did something and it doesn't work is not enough information. It would help if you would give us an example of one of the channels that you programmed and how you programmed it.

One thing that I would recommend (and it could be your problem) would be to Tone column. For scanner (receive only) operation it can and should be ignored. Menus 10 through 13 should all be set to OFF.

Also, don't bother programming any channels where the Mode is something other than FM or FMN. Those are the only modes that a GT-3 will be able to receive.

And just because a frequency is published on RadioReference.com doesn't mean it is active. For example the city, county and university police analog frequencies are still listed in my area. They are probably maintained as a backup for the digital system that they now use. There is never any traffic on them.

Jim KC9HI

 

[AlJones]

Jim, appreciate the response and I have to admit that when I wrote that I thought I understood more than I did ... I located one of the local hams, and there are a surprising number considering our area is extreme remote desert (which might explain why there are so many). She's set up a couple of class sessions and in co-operation with another out of Alpine we're set up for a Tech test on the 18th.
Yep, the ham community is just as friendly as it was when I first found it and started swl'ing 50 years ago when I could not wrap my head around the code requirements!
//al - ex KBND0388 (a for real CB license!) and future k5'er ( I hope! )

 

[KC9HI]

Jim, appreciate the response and I have to admit that when I wrote that I thought I understood more than I did ... I located one of the local hams, and there are a surprising number considering our area is extreme remote desert (which might explain why there are so many). She's set up a couple of class sessions and in co-operation with another out of Alpine we're set up for a Tech test on the 18th.
Yep, the ham community is just as friendly as it was when I first found it and started swl'ing 50 years ago when I could not wrap my head around the code requirements!
//al - ex KBND0388 (a for real CB license!) and future k5'er ( I hope! )

Al, Awesome. It sounds like you have a plan and are headed in the right direction. Good look on the test.

Jim KC9HI (ex KGI5368)

 

[KD8DVR]

A Baofeng radio has a notoriously slow scan speed. I'd recommend buying a cheap UHF/VHF scanner. Also, many systems have gone to 800 Mhz and some of the data you may have in your radio now are outdated. The accuracy of a database depends on the Admin for that area.

 

[ermin]

Also. Not sure if this applies to the gt-3 but do not use a receive PL. On the uv-5r mine will recieve nothing whe scanning on any channel programed with a receive PL.

 

[AlJones]

A Baofeng radio has a notoriously slow scan speed. I'd recommend buying a cheap UHF/VHF scanner. Also, many systems have gone to 800 Mhz and some of the data you may have in your radio now are outdated. The accuracy of a database depends on the Admin for that area.

The original intention was to have a local scanner - there are a half dozen of us who bought them because they're inexpensive (yeh, I'm cheap!) but that has quickly turned into interest about the Tech class since (for me) they've done away with the code requirement. We've found out that the scan speed is slow, but for our area that's acceptable, we're only talking about a small handful of locals (sheriff / ems / border patrol).

I'll decide a bit further down the line how much time and money I'm willing to invest. I've been pricing the 2m mobile units and they're priced right for me to use when I head north to the family's stomping grounds or east over to my brothers and hopefully with a lot less idiot chatter than CB.

 

[AlJones]

Ermin, using chirp to program the GT-3 ... I've admitted I'm a rank novice, right? "receive PL" can you equate that to one of the chirp columns for me, please?

Before I confuse the issue too much, the GT-3 belongs to a neighbor who knows less about this than I do (is that *really* possible?) I have a UV-82L on order which I hope will arrive in the next couple of days. Expect me to make comments about both the GT-3 and the UV-82L depending on whose radio I've got in hand at the moment.

Now back to studying ....

 

[ermin]

GT-3 & Chirp

Ermin, using chirp to program the GT-3 ... I've admitted I'm a rank novice, right? "receive PL" can you equate that to one of the chirp columns for me, please?

Before I confuse the issue too much, the GT-3 belongs to a neighbor who knows less about this than I do (is that *really* possible?) I have a UV-82L on order which I hope will arrive in the next couple of days. Expect me to make comments about both the GT-3 and the UV-82L depending on whose radio I've got in hand at the moment.

Now back to studying ....

Hello

In CHIRP under the Tone Mode column make sure it says Tone not anything else. And only put a tone in the Tone column. Not the ToneSql column.

Enjoy and get your license. I've had two of the UV-5R's for over a year now and am a Ham and have a blast with them. I really got them to be used in my local CERT program so they serve double duty.

73

Ermin

 

[KC9HI]

Ermin, using chirp to program the GT-3 ... I've admitted I'm a rank novice, right? "receive PL" can you equate that to one of the chirp columns for me, please?

Before I confuse the issue too much, the GT-3 belongs to a neighbor who knows less about this than I do (is that *really* possible?) I have a UV-82L on order which I hope will arrive in the next couple of days. Expect me to make comments about both the GT-3 and the UV-82L depending on whose radio I've got in hand at the moment.

Now back to studying ....

Typically novices are advised to not use a receive CTCSS (PL) tone. If the station you are listening to does not transmit a CTCSS tone, or you program the wrong tone, you will hear nothing. No RX tone always works.

That being said, see the CHIRP Guide on the CHIRP page of the miklor website (section 6) for an explanation of the various columns and how they work with one another.

CHIRP Programming - Miklor

Jim KC9HI

 

[teufler]

Terlingua file

HERE IS A GT3 file that should work. It is zipped , per RR requirements. Ham stuff I left off, as it looks like two simplex weather spotting frequencies are all that is listed. Good luck on getting a ham ticket. Did some research on your community, it looks like a lively place.Never beento that part of Texas. Flew in the Navy, on cross countries from Corpus to El Paso but beverf have been "in country" so to speak.
Mike, WD0GSY

 

[AlJones]

HERE IS A GT3 file that should work. It is zipped , per RR requirements. Ham stuff I left off, as it looks like two simplex weather spotting frequencies are all that is listed. Good luck on getting a ham ticket. Did some research on your community, it looks like a lively place.Never beento that part of Texas. Flew in the Navy, on cross countries from Corpus to El Paso but beverf have been "in country" so to speak.
Mike, WD0GSY

Interesting looking file; I'm suffering waiting delivery of *my* radio so I can play with it. I haven't seen the ICE freq before, they don't get down south much but when they do it tends to be "interesting".

Reading the Part 97 puts me to sleep; after going over the questions one time I was hitting about 70% correct - want to get that up a little more just in case the test has all the ones I don't remember!

Lively area - during the chili cook off and spring break, I might agree it gets a bit lively, otherwise it's nicely really quiet.

 

[teufler]

Go to Callsign Database by QRZ.COM
they have a practice test section that is very good. Years ago,when I prepared for my extra exam, I took the prtactice exams alot. Read from a test book, a chapter a night. The math, took two nights. What was really heavy reading was when I took the OO exam. The League sent me the Arrl handbook, test manuals for tech, general, and extra, plus the FCC Rule Book, complete part 97. Just a big box of books and I gopt an exam, that was an open book exam that I found few of the questions in any book I had received.
I got the GT-3, then a couple as a gift for people, then an F8-hp, and lately the Termn 8R. I have not had any problems, once I understood that you must watch what Firmware the files have. The one I sent to you, was from my GT-3. I wasn't sure if you were a volunteer with the local public safety people so I left the frequencies to transmit. If not, read the file with Chirp, then in the Duplex column, click and change to off. This way you will monitor and never transmit.

 

[teufler]

ne filer big bend

updated file. Got all the ham stuff, for Brewster County in this one. During bad weather, ham networks can usually get the weather info faster than tv or public service.

 

[AlJones]

HYmmmm, thanks Terry, I think ... I looked through the file since it's a text file ... now would you mind telling me what a .996 file type is, please? Chirp claims to not know what it is and I don't either.

Just noticed and this has to just be coincidence - you now have 997 posts and this has a file type of .996 ..... that is just a coincidence, yes??

 

[teufler]

tHE CORRECT FILE

OH CRAP i SENT the wrong file. Here is the right one. tHE 996 FILE IS FOR A 396XT, MY MISTAKE.

 

[teufler]

checking, did the new radio arrive today. The ponies of the express were probably tired. Its along way from Alpine to your home and then back to Alpine.. Do you live in the Terlingua Springs area or in the old Town of Terlingua?

 

[AlJones]

It finally arrived ... I'm not sure where it went between NJ and here but, to my mind, 16 days to make that trip is a bit long.
I knew that there's a Wednesday night net so I listened to it; heard a couple of people I know and several I didn't ... to be expected, I'm a hermit.
Had a chat on FRS-1 with the neighbor and got joined by another neighbor (about 1.5 miles down the road) sounded good - almost like we were in the same room. Considering what I remember from CB days, the voice quality on this little radio is really surprising. Even the dx's on the net tonight were clear; not sure which were coming through the repeater and which were direct though. I would expect FM To be a better signal though.
So far my qualms center around the inability to change between frequency / channel mode without turning the radio off an back on - but then I'm old school where cycling anything tends to reduce its life; I presume I'll eventually settle down to channel mode once I get a license and can actually get up.
The other thing that bugged me for REAL I thought the UV-82 was another version of the UV-5 but such is apparently not the case. I had to export / import the files from the GT-3 to the UV-82 - the file structure is apparently different enough that it's not straight across.
The only thing I did not get in the "kit" was an adapter for a car charger. Even given an exceptional battery life (I played with the neighbors GT-2 for something like three days and never had to charge it!) I'll still be spending time in the jeep so a DC adapter is going to be a necessity (er, I may be as old as Methuselah, but I still camp in a tent when I'm "running around")
The other thing I can see coming down the road is an external antenna for the mini-rig in the Jeep.
I can definitely see this eating up my pittance of a SS check, but it's a lot better pass time than many I could go for!

 

[teufler]

For taking the GT-3 mobile, I bought this adapter. DHT Handheld Antenna Cable for Wouxun Baofeng Quasheng Linton - Adapter for UHF Base and Mobile Antennas - SMA Female to UHF SO-239 Female Connectors 6 from Amazon. About $6.50. The adapter will attach to a regular pn259 coax, and will take the strain off the coax connector on the radio. Also, unless you have a metal roof, on your jeep, you have a horrible ground plane to work from. Reduced range. Also on my GT-3 file, go into settings, othersettings, and remove my call sign and put something else for your radio id. The radio file I sent has the frequency name on side A and the actual frequencies on side B.

 

[AlJones]

I've been remiss, so I guess it's time to update this thread a bit.

Took the test Saturday (04/18/15) and passed with an astounding (to me, anyway) 34 our of 35. It'll be a few day, I'm told, before I actually get my call but I'll update again when I do.

Appreciate the help with the HT, maybe shortly I'll be able to actually use it as it was intended.