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Baofeng UV-5R and my PC issue

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MDMassey

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Hello there, I am new here! I just got myself a Baofeng UV-5R and a programing cable. I am using CHIRPS on a Windows 7 machine and I have installed the drivers, downloaded the radio's memory to CHIRPS and in the 5 or so minutes that the radio was hooked up to the computer it got extremely hot near the 2 mounting screws for the belt clip. This is the same area as the battery interface is as well. I unplugged the radio from the computer and took out the battery for a little while to allow for better cooling. The radio cooled off and stayed cool when not hooked up to the computer.

I dont know if the order of hookup had anything to do with the temps or not but just in case here is what I did.

Installed the driver into Windows.
Radio was on and set to a non receiving freq.
plugged the programing cable into the radio.
Plugged the radio into the computer and windows finished the driver install and assigned COM3
Opened CHIRPS and downloaded the radio memory.**

** durring the download process CHIRPS had a message that instructed me how to hook the radio to the computer, stating to have the radio powered off, plug in the cable, power up the radio and choose the com port and download.

Could having the radio powered up before the CHIRPS software instructed have caused the radio to get hot?

Thanks for any help!

Dom
 
joeuser

joeuser

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I haven't had that issue but I dont think it would cause that. Radios get warm when charging it being used a bit. I've always had mine on a full battery when I connect it to PC & CHIRP
 
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jaspence

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Baofeng radio hot

I have a Baofeng, and on one of my computers, it tries to transmit as soon as I plug it in. It does not do this on my laptops or other desktop. Being on transmit for 5 continuous minutes could certainly heat up a small radio at high power.
 
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jaspence

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No, it is a computer or radio issue. The cable and radio work fine in every other computer. I believe it is an issue with motherboard firmware in regards to the USB/com setup. The cable is one of the multi-cables that come with adapters for several different radios, and I have no problems other than the one radio.
 
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jaspence

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Baofeng problem

I just tried my UV-82 on my work laptop and had the overheat problem, although the files transferred properly. The radio was hot almost instantly at the top near the antenna.

Since my other radios and cables (I have a collection of about 60 HTs) work, I don't think it is in the bios. I have been in computer repair, teaching, and IT work for over thirty years and generally have my computers up to date.
 
M

MDMassey

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Not sure. How do you check? I know my UV-5R is the newer version with the clear British sounding voice. I just got a BF-F8 that has the same voice.

Dom
 
M

MDMassey

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On the radio it is BFS297 but the guy in he video said I need to check it with the computer to be certain. I can do that when I get home.

On a side note, I did a test tonight to see if steady transmitting will cause the radio to heat up like it did on the computer and it did. After about 5 minutes of steady transmit the same area of the radio was getting hot. So now I need to see if the hook up procedures are the reason. I guess I have stuff to do tonight when I get off work.

Dom
 
M

MDMassey

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Spanaway, WA
My firmware version is BFS313 on both my UV-5R and my BF-F8. I was able to get them to upload and download last night tho at times with some trial and error. So long as the radio would stop going into Xmit mode it didn't get too hot at all. I also found that powering the radio and plugging it in then plugging into the computer seemed to leave the radio in Xmit for longer periods and gave me more errors in chirp.

So plug cable into computer, let windows find it then plug radio into cable.

Now this is the first ham radio I have owned or really got into programing and I am not sure why everyone complains about how hard it is to program. I found that while the menus are not laid out very logically they are easy enough to figure out what is needed in each. The only quirk is setting up duplex mode as the offset feature, while it works great in freq mode, does not work in channel mode. You have to program both the Xmit and Rcve freqs manually and save them both to the channel.

Dom
 
joeuser

joeuser

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CHIRP & Baofeng are not the same company. So, the people that complained were using what? Baofengs stuff or CHIRP or something else?



If it was Baofengs stuff, they deserve the frustration. Any amount of research clearly shows Baofengs stuff sucked & CHIRP is the way to go.
 
M

MDMassey

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Jul 30, 2014
Messages
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Location
Spanaway, WA
People just complain that the Baofeng is hard to program. I read quite a few reviews and watched a few videos before I purchased this radio. I found it was not that hard at all. Granted this is my first hand held radio, and I dont have alot of experience with others but I didnt find programing hard at all. Now I can completely agree with the manual being very short and missing alot of the important stuff for beginners but there are plenty of videos and other tutorials out there that make up for it.

Now for something that is a PITA to program... I have a Uniden BCT15X that I sometimes just want to throw through the window!!

Dom
 
joeuser

joeuser

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Oh... program by hand maybe, I wouldn't even buy a radio if it couldn't be programmed by a PC - to much stuff anymore, to complex for this ' LDS ' & THC laden brain to deal with!
 
temchik

temchik

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Aug 5, 2014
Messages
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Hi All,

First time poster here...

I noticed the same problem, if the radio is plugged in via the Prolific cable it goes into Transmit mode and puts out a lot of RF interference to adjacent channels as well. It actually overloads my other UHF radio. Uploading / Downloading works fine, but as soon as Uploading finishes and the green light turns off the Red one comes back on

So, I guess there is no solution?

Thanks!
 
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