Baofeng UV-5R not receiving after pressing any key - HELP?

[Flipster99]

I just bought a new UV-5R and I've programmed up the FRS channels to start with... when I turn the Baofeng radio on and tune it to FRS Channel 1 (462.5625) and press the transmit button on my FRS radio, I can receive the transmission on the Baofeng without any issue. I can press the transmit button the Baofeng and receive the transmission on the FRS radio without any issue. But as soon as I press any key on the Baofeng (ie. I can press the Exit Key or the Monitor button to turn on the light (any key at all other than the PTT)), I can not long receive transmission from the FRS radio (and I've tried this with several FRS radios. After this happens, I can still transmit from the Baofeng to the FRS radios, but not the other way. The only way to fix this is to either re-key the frequency again (462.562) or turn the radio off & on again. The FRS radio has only channel settings, no other settings? If I just use the PTT button, it seems to work fine but that's not how this is suppose to operate and it's driving me crazy.

Am I missing something on this radio or do I have a dud? I programmed this up using the Chirp software and everything seemed okay until I tried pressing another button and it stopped receiving. I've even reset the entire radio (twice) and keyed the frequency in manually and have the same issue.

Any ideas or do I just send this back for a new radio?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Jaxco]

go to miklor and look up the factory restore procedure and follow it to the letter. That is what I had to do. Also, toggling between channel mode and frequency mode can cause that to happen as well. You fix that by turning it off, then back on.

 

[Flipster99]

I think I found the problem in another post... apparently just turning off the BEEP causes this problem - as weird as that sounds... I enabled the beep again and the problem no longer exists... I need to do a little further testing, but it seems like my issue has been resolved.

 

[W8RMH]

That's one reason that Baofeng radios are not approved for use on FRS.

 

[Flipster99]

Hi W8RMH...

Why exactly are Baofeng radios not approved for use on FRS?

 

[Jaxco]

Baofeng minimum power is double legal FRS power - plus - Baofengs have removable antennas. I could list more but that is more than enough.

 

[WB4CS]

Hi W8RMH...

Why exactly are Baofeng radios not approved for use on FRS?

FRS requires a radio that's FCC Part 95 approved. Baofang radios are not Part 95 approved radios.

Specifically, legal FRS radios cannot have a removable antenna and cannot exceed 0.5w transmit power. The Baofang breaks both of these rules as well.

For your reference, here's the complete FCC Part 95 rules, which include the FRS, GMRS, MURS, and CB radio services. eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations

 

[jonwienke]

There's a bug in some Baofeng firmware versions that disables receive if you turn off key beep.