KG-UV8D won't receive - Broken or simple fix?

[MikeSD]

I have a ton of these Chinese radios. Boefeng, Wouxun, etc. In fact, I have 2 of each.

So, today I realized I had only 1 of the Wouxun KG-UV8D (black button version). I decided I would pair it up with a 2nd radio. Bought one and when I got it, it had the green buttons. No biggie I guess. Also had the narrower band than my original.

But my problem is, it won't receive on any frequency. I can transmit just fine. I tried it on repeater and simplex modes. No receive at all.

Either I have a DOA unit, or there is some simple fix I haven't heard about, that might cause it not to receive.

Broken or easy fix?

 

[jaspence]

Receive problems

Try a speaker mike or earphone to see if it is the speaker or a circuit board problem. If you can find the right size, a speaker should not be too hard to replace. If it is a circuit problem, repair on a printed circuit is very likely to far exceed the cost of a new radio.

 

[MikeSD]

No, it's not receiving. Its not that there is no sound. There is no reception at all.

The receive light doesn't come on and the received signal strength indicator on the LCD doesn't show received signal.

 

[Delta33]

They're cheap so just buy another, rather than stress over it.

 

[Hans13]

You probably already did this, but, did you try a known good antenna? (i.e. Swap antennas.)

 

[MikeSD]

It's not the antenna. I could have no antenna or a paperclip and it would still register a signal indication.

The radio is either completely defective on receive, or there is some funky setting that can cause it to appear not to receive. That us why I tested with vfo on simplex. No apparent receive.

I'm thinking dead unit. It's going back today.

 

[MikeSD]

I also noticed this is a radio that only goes to about 480MHz. I want to expand it to the full 519 upper limit.

What is the preferred way of doing that?
What is the preferred S/W for programming this radio?
Is this this the best s/w for programming this radio

I ask these, having one already. But the one I have was purchased already designed to work to 512. This model is slightly different and I don't know what current s/w is best for this version radio.

 

[jonwienke]

Get a radio that actually goes up that far?

Even if you can hack the radio to go outside the design limits, it's probably not going to work that well on transmit or receive.

 

[MikeSD]

Get a radio that actually goes up that far?

Even if you can hack the radio to go outside the design limits, it's probably not going to work that well on transmit or receive.

It's not a problem. I only need to go slightly out of bounds. Actually, I just checked and I really don't have to go out of band at all, except one channel. It won't be an issue at all. I've done this on other radios and they work just fine. And no, I haven't done it yet to the subject radio that's not working. Never even got that far, before noticing it wouldn't receive.

I may just keep it stock and not change it at all, since I really don't need that one channel that badly. Just means having two different programming files. No biggie. Probably better to have two programming files anyway, since the radios are technically slightly different.

My replacement is arriving today.

 

[Delta33]

Just remember, you get what you pay for! Quality costs but is worth it in the long run.

 

[Hans13]

It's not the antenna. I could have no antenna or a paperclip and it would still register a signal indication.

I once had a transmitter with an antenna short that wouldn't receive a thing but somehow managed to leak rf (from the body??) enough to transmit to a nearby receiver. Surley it was a freak thing, only once in 35 years, but since you have multiple antennas handy, it would've been worth my time at least.

Over the decades I have been troubleshooting things, the simple, easy things to quickly rule out are worth the time. This has held true over all of my career fields. In each I was considered a fixer of difficult and impossible problems.

If you have factory reset it, properly programmed a test frequency, and it still does it, I would send it back.

Good luck with it.

 

[MikeSD]

Was broken. Sent it back. Got the new one yesterday. Works fine now.