Baofeng Baofeng programming

[Tbird76]

Hello to all, very new to this community. I have a Baofeng UV-5r, on CHIRP, with proper programming cable. Question is that I have looked on my local county database on this site, have the frequency numbers, programmed it and uploaded the changes to my handheld. My problem is that nothing is coming across the channel. It is a local fire department w/ 155.550, type; RM, tone of 179.9. What am i doing wrong please and thank you to all that help me.

 

[nd5y]

Does the UV-5R receive anything else?
Did you verify with another receiver that you don't hear anything?
Remove the tone and see if that helps.

 

[Tbird76]

Does the UV-5R receive anything else?
Did you verify with another receiver that you don't hear anything?
Remove the tone and see if that helps.

Yes sir, I have the actual radio from the department setting beside me and i am hearing the dispatches. I did try and remove the tone setting in CHIRP but still nothing on my UV5R.

 

[Ace9133uwu]

Try setting the channel to Narrowband (Menu 5). That could possibly help.

By chance, what model is your other radio? Could be that your county is on a digital operating mode (DMR, NXDN for example). The UV5R doesn’t trunk. Its only modes are VHF and UHF conventional.

 

[Tbird76]

Try setting the channel to Narrowband (Menu 5). That could possibly help.

By chance, what model is your other radio? Could be that your county is on a digital operating mode (DMR, NXDN for example). The UV5R doesn’t trunk. Its only modes are VHF and UHF conventional.

Thank you, honestly i dont know about their radio. I was going off the reference list on this website. I will try the menu 5 though thank you so much. I was honestly just trying to confirm if I had used CHIRP correctly. Appears that i failed lol

 

[Ace9133uwu]

I checked your profile and saw that you’re located in Colorado. I did a DB search for 155.550 PL 179.9 & found the frequency associated to Pueblo County. It’s an old fire simulcast with the city of Boone. Apparently, 155.550’s callsign is KNBX237, Boone FD. Correct me if I’m wrong on that one. I also found 155.550 associated to Pueblo rural fire protection district, however there is no obvious callsign. That said, the KNBX237 licence expired roughly 12 years ago. I’m assuming due to the deprecation of the conventional system and migration to Colorado DTRS- a P25 phase one system. Basically a UV5R is going to be deaf on P25 and at the last you would need a P25 capable scanner.

 

[nd5y]

Thank you, honestly i dont know about their radio. I was going off the reference list on this website. I will try the menu 5 though thank you so much. I was honestly just trying to confirm if I had used CHIRP correctly. Appears that i failed lol

The difference between narrowband FM and wideband FM on a Baofeng will NOT cause the radio to not receive anything at all. You have some other problem. It could be that whatever database listing you programmed is wrong.

 

[Tbird76]

I checked your profile and saw that you’re located in Colorado. I did a DB search for 155.550 PL 179.9 & found the frequency associated to Pueblo County. It’s an old fire simulcast with the city of Boone. Apparently, 155.550’s callsign is KNBX237, Boone FD. Correct me if I’m wrong on that one. I also found 155.550 associated to Pueblo rural fire protection district, however there is no obvious callsign. That said, the KNBX237 licence expired roughly 12 years ago. I’m assuming due to the deprecation of the conventional system and migration to Colorado DTRS- a P25 phase one system. Basically a UV5R is going to be deaf on P25 and at the last you would need a P25 capable scanner.

Then that’s the problem lol, we listen to their dispatches everyday on our mutual aid radio. Was trying to test my programming skills!! Lol I have to learn lots more!! Thank you for your knowledge

 

[Ace9133uwu]

The difference between narrowband FM and wideband FM on a Baofeng will NOT cause the radio to not receive anything at all. You have some other problem. It could be that whatever database listing you programmed is wrong.

Fair enough- I thought I’d throw that suggestion out there just for process of elimination.

 

[Ace9133uwu]

Then that’s the problem lol, we listen to their dispatches everyday on our mutual aid radio. Was trying to test my programming skills!! Lol I have to learn lots more!! Thank you for your knowledge

You can always program in some local common-use channels to get some use out of your Boofwang. Any businesses, restaurants, city works such as sanitary, street or parks departments. You can also try railroads. You’re in BNSF & UP territory, so there’s plenty to listen to on that side of things. I also like to have 2m and 70cm amateur repeaters in mine for severe weather- be it summer or winter. In this digital world of P25 there’s still much that can be heard on the conventional side of things!