Baofeng New Baofeng HT Problem

[QPLou5645187]

If you are a newbie with limited or zero radio knowledge then they are both horrendous if you don't know what you are doing. You need to know what all the radio settings and menus do and you need to know what all the fields in CHIRP do and what to put in them.

Baofengs are just as easy to program from the keypad as Alinco, Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu HTs.

If you are a newbie with limited or zero radio knowledge then they are both horrendous if you don't know what you are doing. You need to know what all the radio settings and menus do and you need to know what all the fields in CHIRP do and what to put in them.

Baofengs are just as easy to program from the keypad as Alinco, Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu HTs.

What an excellent and encouraging response for all of us that are new and trying to learn from all of you that have been in the business for a long time. I sure hope not everyone on this site shares the same attitude as you!

 

[n0xvz]

He did share that radios can be hard to programing you don't know what the settings means. Otherwise the Baofengs aren't any more difficult than one of the other brands. So the "oldtimers" are sharing that knowledge with the "newbies". Stick around...you can contribute too.

 

[QPLou5645187]

I took it totally out of context then and I will apologize for my harsh response. It just caught me off guard and to me it seemed inflammatory instead of trying to be helpful. I'm so very overwhelmed right now I don't know what to think. Just when I think that I getting somewhere, a curve ball comes my way and it's frustrating. There's so much to learn and so little time!

 

[mmckenna]

There's so much to learn and so little time!

You've been here 24 hours. Pace yourself.

Some of us have been in the two way radio industry for decades. We're still learning.

 

[QPLou5645187]

Thank You for keeping me grounded! I lose sight of big picture sometimes!

 

[buddrousa]

Take a deep breath go downtown and do the River Walk and relax.

 

[a727469]

Ok, I’ve read all this and I go back to my original post concerning programming in one or two local police or fire frequencies to see how they work after reading the manual. This should take just a few minutes. Have you done this? Then as mentioned proceed to Chirp for setting up more.

No, this hobby is not simple and requires time and much patience. It is not for everyone. As you say, you are overwhelmed and frustrated which I understand. However, life is too short to continue this if it causes ongoing frustration.

Please do not take this the wrong way, but you may find this is not for you.
Many here have given good advice but you mainly have to assess the reasons you really want to pursue this. I hope you do since the ultimate goal is happiness but do not let it stress you.

 

[a727469]

Thread 'Why Your Hobbies Matter - Benefits of the radio monitoring hobby.'
Why Your Hobbies Matter - Benefits of the radio monitoring hobby.

You might want to take a look at this.

 

[FKimble]

And do not program in any tones. They are only needed when talking to the repeater. You don't need them for listening only.

 

[ecps92]

And do not program in any tones. They are only needed when talking to the repeater. You don't need them for listening only.

Not True, if listening to a FB4/FB6 licensed repeater with multiple business' Ops or even a simplex Itinerant/Business band where you have 6 different stores at a Mall each with it's own PL or DPL

 

[FKimble]

So a freq with a tone programed will only receive transmissions with that tone. With out a tone you will receive all transmissions on that freq regardless of tone, would you not? Do those repeaters have one input freq and different output frequencies depending on input tone? If so you need each output freq programed in with or without tone right?

Frank

 

[nd5y]

So a freq with a tone programed will only receive transmissions with that tone. With out a tone you will receive all transmissions on that freq regardless of tone, would you not?

Correct.

Do those repeaters have one input freq and different output frequencies depending on input tone? If so you need each output freq programed in with or without tone right?

A community repeater has a controller that allows multiple PL tones or DCS codes or both. There is still only one input frequency and one output frequency. Only one user can talk at a time. All the tones do is prevent the user groups from having to listen to eachother.

Back before trunking was common there were a lot of UHF community repeaters and a lot more users on low band and high band simplex business frequencies. The users were supposed to disable their receive tone and make sure the repeater (or simplex channel) was not in use before talking. The mobile radios usually had a switch or contact in the microphone hanger so when you pick up the mic it disabled the PL or DCS decode and allowed the users to hear other users and not interfere with them.

 

[WSBA407]

Connect your cable to the radio (turned off) and then connect the other end of cable into a USB port on PC. With PC on, turn on the Baofeng. Your radio is a BF-F8HP and is supported by CHIRP. You should go online to Radio Reference and look for frequencies in your location, whether the freqs are for GMRS, HAM or Police/Fire/rescue etc.....Make a list of all the ones you want. Take note if the frequency uses a TONE, or TONE SQUELCH or DCS (digital tone). It will tell you in RR. With radio connected and PC on turn radio on. Click on the CHIRP icon to star the program. You will get a welcome screen. Go to TOP left of window and click on the RADIO tab. In the drop down menu pick "Download from Radio". Then another little box pops up where you first choose PORT.....there should be something in that field showing available port. select that then go to next field and click "Vendor" and look for the "Baofeng" choice and shoose that. Lastly go one more step below to find the MODEL...look for BF-F8HP. If your version of CHIRP is current you will find the model in the list. Then "OK" it and if all went well you should see progress bar in green downloading whatever is on radio to the program. Now get your list of freqs you want to program. Go to the top left and click on "File" then "new"....a new empty screen will appear. Start filling in from left to right starting with "Frequency".....you can skip "name" field for now.....click on the "tone mode" field to choose either "tone" if the freq has a single ctcss tone. If the freq has tone squelch, which is a tone on both TX and RX choose "TSQL" and you also set the actual TSQL number in the "Tone Squelch" field.....if there is no tone used just skip this field....and if there is a digital tone, "DTCS" then pick that and enter the actual DTCS code the feq uses in the "DTCS" field..... dont worry about the "RX DTSC" "DTCS Polarity" and "Cross mode" fields.....I am not sure what they do and I never use them. Since you will only be MONITORING you dont have to set anything else in row except maybe for "Mode".....so check if freq is either FM NFM ect in drop down list. In Radio Refeence they show the modulation type. I am not sure if there is a TX prohibit feature in radio cause you dont want to accidently transmit.
I know this might sound confusing but thats the simplest way I can think of on programming that radio with CHIRP. Become familiar with the pages on radio reference. It would be helpful to know where you are located to find the right section on RR to get this information.

I sure appreciate all of your help here getting started. Thank you. I'm just trying to learn how to navigate these pages, forum.