Quansheng UV-K6 with broken/choppy audio

[Farrenc]

I've had three UV-K6 radios and all three have had this problem: on receive, the audio is sometimes broken/choppy. The meter will show a solid signal, but the receiver drops out -- green receive light goes out. If I push the monitor button to open the squelch, it stops the problem. Here's a video of it happening with another radio next to it working perfectly:

Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Farren / KB0AZJ

 

[merlin]

I think the signal is too hot. Maybe a few Db attenuation at the antenna input.
Supposedly, the boards in the K6 and K5 are identical and my K5(8) doesn't seem to have that issue.
Already noted somwhere that parts are wide tolerance so no two radios will be exactly the same.

 

[nd5y]

Receive audio chopping and the squelch closing on voice peaks like that on a real FM receiver means the modulation peaks of the signal being received are exceeding the receiver passband.

That means either the transmitter is overdeviating or the receiver bandwidth is too narrow or both. If the receiver is set to NFM or Narrow then set it to FM or Wide and see if it imporves.

On a crappy CCR direct conversion transeceiver on a chip it type radio without real IF filters, especially if it has hacked firmware, there is no telling if it's a narrow bandwidth issue or something else.

 

[Farrenc]

Well, the radio is set to Wide so that doesn't seem to be the problem.

Are any of the alternative firmware options better for problems such as this?

 

[jeffd2332]

I had the same problem. Set the squelch to 4 and it should fix it.

 

[pb_lonny]

I also had this issue and found it was due to "too much" signal.

 

[3phone]

I have Quansheng UV-K6 and I have the same issue with the signal cutting constantly when using a particular repeater (at least this is the only repeater that I have experienced the issue with). I have checked and the radio is set to Wide, also I am running the latest Egzumer v0.22 (if this makes any difference). I am not sure how to fix this can some one suggest a possible solution?

 

[nd5y]

Did the radio work properly with the original manufacturer's firmware?

Do you have complete documentation for the firmware? Does it affect menu settings? Does it affect operation in other ways? If you don't know the answers then why are you using it?

If you want reliable communications and a device that works properly then don't use a $30 CCR with experimental hacked firmware and wonder why you have problems.

 

[RichardKramer]

The issue stops when you open the squelch or monitor button; it's a squelch turned too tight issue; as Jeffd2332 said.

 

[3phone]

Did the radio work properly with the original manufacturer's firmware?

Do you have complete documentation for the firmware? Does it affect menu settings? Does it affect operation in other ways? If you don't know the answers then why are you using it?

If you want reliable communications and a device that works properly then don't use a $30 CCR with experimental hacked firmware and wonder why you have problems.

I will answer to your first question, that means that answering the rest of the questions is pointless. And yes, the behavior was the same.

Any meaningful suggestions, or shall I buy a $1000 radio?

 

[3phone]

The issue stops when you open the squelch or monitor button; it's a squelch turned too tight issue; as Jeffd2332 said.

The squelch is set to 4, but I will try with opening it a bit more. Not sure if it will make any difference, because as far as I know the settings are more or less close to the Baofeng UV-5R - either opened or close. But again I will test a bit more.

 

[RichardKramer]

Playing the video back, I see the squelch was set to 1; so it's not the squelch. Seems to be a receive circuitry issue.

 

[vagrant]

I have one of those radios and just did some testing using a local NOAA weather FM broadcast.
1. I am using the Mfg. firmware.
2. The audio is fine when set to "Wide".
3. The audio becomes choppy when set to "Narrow". It behaves just like the radio in the video.
4. With the setting remaining at "Narrow", when I set the squelch to "0", the choppy audio disappears.

 

[nd5y]

If the audio cuts out (or squelch closes) only on voice peaks it probably means the receive bandwidth is too narrow.

 

[EAFrizzle]

Having a tone squelch on the Rx frequency can chop the audio on CCRs as well. I never use a receive tone on them unless absolutely needed.

 

[vagrant]

If the audio cuts out (or squelch closes) only on voice peaks it probably means the receive bandwidth is too narrow.

I’m wondering if the OP and others are not confirming the Wide setting and simply press Exit. Hopefully that’s the issue. My radio works fine, but at $30 l do not expect much.

I don’t often use these CCR’s as I have other radios. They are fun to play with, but not rely on.