KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

Baofeng

Would it be such a terrible thing if…

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Today, on reddit’s /r/amateurradio, a fellow posted:

I recently got a radio for myself and my brother so we could communicate via radio during our airsoft games. From looking online and through some of these posts I see that to transmit we would need a license. I’m not exactly sure which license I would need to get and where to get it (is it via FCC). Thanks for the help.

I replied:

Let me dig out my can opener and open up a can of worms here……

While technically it would be illegal for these guys to use their UV-5Rs on Family Radio Service (FRS) frequencies, would it really be such a terrible thing if they do? They could set their radios to the lowest power setting, and I doubt that they’d interfere with anyone doing so.

I’d call down all the fire and brimstone (what the heck is brimstone, anyway?) I could manage on them if they used amateur radio frequencies, though.

To which, a third fellow responded:

I’d say it’s somewhere between going 10 MPH over the speed limit and not coming to a complete stop at stop signs.

I think that’s pretty much what I was thinking, except that I only go 5 mph over the speed limit. :) What do you think?

Funny stuff from /r/amateurradio

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One of the reasons I like the subreddit /r/amateurradio are the funny things that are posted to it. Here are three of the latest.

This was posted with the headline, “Those ReCaptcha’s are getting out of hand ;-).”

I thought this one was really funny, too.

I’m not a Baofeng hater, but you gotta admit this is amusing….

Need to hoist an antenna? Most hams lack this simple tool
byu/Redpsyclone inHamRadio

Videos for newcomers: Repeater 101, CTCSS for the Baofeng UV-5R, Understanding CTCSS and DCS

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I’ve gotten a couple of inquiries from new hams lately about using repeaters and programming their radios. So, I did a little searching for YouTube videos, and came up with the following:

Repeater 101 for new Amateur Radio Operators

In this presentation Bob Schmid, WA9FBO, of the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club discusses all you need to know to get started with using repeaters. He talks about transmitters, receivers, controllers, duplexers, combiners, repeater sites and of course, antennas. It’s a little long, but worth the watch.

Baofeng UV-5R: Add CTCSS and DCS Codes & Tones On The Keypad And Connect To & Talk On A Repeater

The most common reason that newcomers are unable to access a repeater is that they’re radio isn’t programmed to send a CTCSS tone. This video offers step-by-step, button-by-button instructions to program a Baofeng UV-5R to use CTCSS tones or DCS codes using the keypad, not the CHIRP programming program.

Understanding CTCSS and DCS

This video explains the basic technical principles behind CTCSS (continuous tone coded squelch system) and DCS (digitally coded squelch) as well as how they are used in analog radio systems, such as amateur radio FM repeaters. The content in this video is not strictly related to amateur radio applications, but it’s still useful info.

Amateur radio in the news: Peek inside Baofeng factory, club hold socially-distanced demo day, American Legion posts connect via amateur radio

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Walkie-talkie industry in south China’s Fujian adapts to market amid COVID-19 outbreak.

Every year, about 20 million walkie-talkies are manufactured in Nan’an, accounting for more than 55 percent of the global production. Over the past few months, the city’s walkie-talkie industry has given active response to the changing market environment amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

…..read more

Here’s something that might be possible for other clubs to try….Dan

Radio’s ‘official initiators of social distancing’ to host demo day in Campbell River.

Now in his late 50s, Pritchard (amateur radio call sign VA7UO) is helping others discover the timeless magic of amateur “ham” radios as the relatively new president of the Campbell River Amateur Radio Society (CRARS). The club will be hosting a physically-distanced field day at the Tyee Spit Sept. 5. They’ll be demoing some “really cool radios” including military equipment and satellite antennae from about 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or whenever they get tired, says Pritchard. It’s all battery-operated too, so no generators needed.

…..read more

Three Kentucky posts form a relationship through ham radio clubs

Tony Cromwell, commander of Boyle American Legion Post 46 in Danville, Ky., recently authored a report to his District 8 commander about how his post’s ham radio club has been helping other posts around it to start ham clubs of their own.

…..read more

What would you do if you came across a group illegally using amateur radio frequencies?

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This morning, I got the following email from a former student:

I’m looking for some wisdom. If I’m communicating over amateur radio channels with a couple groups of people who are using radios without licenses, should I use my call sign? I’m wondering if by doing so, I make myself a target. The groups I’m dealing with are two militia groups and one RV campground, all three using Baofengs. I cannot stop the usage. So do you think it’s wiser to just hide in the group and not identify myself, or always identify myself so I am legal?

Thanks for your wisdom.

Wow. What a question, eh? My initial reaction was that this is really a no-win situation, if you want to be strictly legal. It’s a rules violation to not properly identify, but it’s also a violation to communicate as an amateur radio operator with other stations not operating in the Amateur Radio Service (except, of course, in emergencies).

I asked Dan Henderson, N1ND, the ARRL “rules guy” about this, and he replied,

The FCC doesn’t require amateur licensees to verify whether the other station is licensed before the are allowed to communicate with them – but upon determining that the other station is not one with which you are permitted to communicate, then the burden falls to the licensed amateur to follow the rules and cease communication with the unlicensed station.

I also suggested that he consider reporting the illegal operation to the ARRL. The ARRL Volunteer Monitor Program is supposed to work with the FCC on these types of issues, but I didn’t find any way to do this on the ARRL website. I emailed Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, who’s heading up the program, about this, and he replied that you can report this activity directly to him. His email address is [email protected].

If it were me, I might politely advise them that it’s not really legal to use amateur radio frequencies, and that they might want to use the Family Radio Service (FRS) or General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) frequencies instead.

FRS is license-free, but radios used on FRS frequencies are supposed to be limited to 2 W output. I’m guessing, though, that they could use their Baofengs on FRS frequencies at the 5 W or even 8 W level, without serious repercussions, even though it’s technically illegal.

GMRS would really be the way to go. Legally using GMRS radios does require paying for a license—which some preppers would be hesitant to do—but you can use higher power radios (up to 50 W!) and even set up repeaters.

Anyway, my question to you is what advice would you give my student?

A reader asks: Should I be worried about losing my license?

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The infamous BF-888

Yesterday, I got the following email from a reader:

Hi Dan,

I recently joined the Neighborhood Watch here. They use rebranded Baofeng BF888s radios on channel 5 to communicate. This radio is pre-programmed by the factory, and as far as I can see, using channel 5 is not really legal. Channels 6 and 7 are FRS/GMRS frequencies, so they should be OK, but the rest are not according to web searches I made while trying to find out about these radios. Here are the channels and frequencies that I’m talking about:

  • CH5: 462.525 CTCSS 114.8
  • CH6: 462.625 CTCSS 127.3
  • CH7: 462.725 CTCSS 136.5

This presents a dilemma for me, as I am the only licensed ham in this Neighborhood Watch group, and I was not in on the decision to use channel 5. Can I lose my amateur radio license if I program my own Baofeng UV5-RV2+ radio to 462.525 MHz?

Should I tell the Neighborhood Watch folks that they need to use a different channel, or should I leave well enough alone? These folks are not tech savvy and will not likely understand what the frequencies are, or what CTCSS means, much less what is legal versus illegal for their radios.  I don’t want to lose my license over this, though, so I am asking What Would Dan Do?

Signed,
Nervous in Neighborhood Watch

I replied:

If I were you, I’d strongly suggest to them that they use channels 6 and 7, rather than Channel 5. The reason for this is that I think interference is more likely to be reported by users on Channel 5, which is used by the Industrial/Business Radio Service and the Public Safety Radio Service. (See https://fccid.io/frequency-explorer.php?lower=450&upper=462.575).

Also, be aware that operations on those frequencies may not be strictly legal. Power output for FRS radios is restricted to 2 W.

Could you have your amateur radio license revoked for using those frequencies? Possibly, but your group would certainly be given a warning first before such a drastic action was taken.

Was that good advice? How would you have replied?

Did the FCC just make Baofengs illegal? Short answer: NO!

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Is the UV-5R now illegal?

Three days ago, the FCC published Enforcement Advisory, No. 2018-03. It begins:

The Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has observed that a growing number of conventional retailers and websites advertise and sell low-cost, two-way VHF/UHF radios that do not comply with the FCC’s rules. Such devices are used primarily for short-distance, two-way voice communications and are frequently imported into the United States. These radios must be authorized by the FCC prior to being imported, advertised, sold, or operated in the United States.

Many of these radios violate one or more FCC technical requirements. For example, some can be modified to transmit on public safety and other land mobile channels for which they are not authorized, while others are capable of prohibited wideband operations. Such radios are illegal, and many have the potential to negatively affect public safety, aviation, and other operations by Federal, state, and local agencies, as well as private users. Because these devices must be, but have not been, authorized by the FCC, the devices may not be imported into the United States, retailers may not advertise or sell them, and no one may use them. Rather, these devices may only be imported, advertised, sold, or used only if the FCC first has approved them under its equipment authorization process (or unless the devices operate exclusively on frequencies reserved for amateur licensees or they are intended for use exclusively by the federal government). Moreover, with only very limited exceptions, after being authorized, the devices may not be modified. Anyone importing, advertising or selling such noncompliant devices should stop immediately, and anyone owning such devices should not use them. Violators may be subject to substantial monetary penalties.

This advisory seems aimed squarely at radios, such as the Baofeng UV-5R and other inexpensive Chinese radios, and a lot of hams are worried that a) they won’t be able to get cheap Chinese radios anymore, and b) the radios that they currently have are now illegal.

Fortunately, that’s not the case. Having done some work for BTECH, a company that sells a lot of Baofeng radios, I asked them how they read this enforcement advisory. What they said is that what is illegal is selling radios without FCC certification or selling radios “outside of their designed use.” The example they gave me would be selling a UV-5R for FRS use.

This morning, on reddit, Noji, KN0JI, posted the text of an email exchange that he had with Scott Stone, Deputy Chief, Mobility Division of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Noji asked,

Does Part 95. 591 mean that all Baofeng UV-5R and UV-92 radios (which can transmit [on] FRS and GMRS frequencies) will become illegal to buy or sell in the U.S. after September 2019, even for amateur use?

To which, Stone replied,

No. Those devices to not have Part 95 certification, so they are not authorized for use in FRS or GMRS. i.e. they are not capable of operating under this subpart. They can be used by amateurs, but only on amateur frequencies.

So, there you have it. If you’re ever in Ann Arbor, MI, give me a call on the W8UM repeater (145.23-, 100 Hz PL), and I’ll (legally) answer with one of my Baofengs.

UPDATE 9/28/18: I should have listened to Bob, K0NR, who, in his comment below says, “This story is far from over.” Apparently so. See FCC Back pedals — All transceivers capable of transmitting on frequencies that require certification must be certified and can not be used on Amateur radio for more info. It may just be that the FCC does consider these radios to be illegal for use on amateur radio frequencies. Frankly, this discussion is over my head. I guess that we’ll see how concerned we have to be when the FCC starts shutting down companies selling these radios or actually confiscating them from hams.

It seems to me that the manufacturers could sidestep all this legal turmoil by simply producing service-specific models that are programmed to transmit only on those frequencies of that particular service. The hardware needn’t change, just the software.

UPDATE 10/3/18:

The ARRL has now gotten involved in this discussion. Their position is that these radios are legal for amateur radio use. I expect the FCC to issue another clarification at some point stating this.

Amps boost HT signals to 20 – 40 W

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Full disclosure: I was hired by BTECH to write the user guide for these amplifiers.

At the recent Livonia swap, I had for sale a little HT amplifier that I had acquired when I purchased my first handheld from a fellow club member. I never used the amp, but it was supposed to make the HT more useful in situations where more power was needed. Heathkit made a similar amplifier, the HA-201. I haven’t seen a similar product on the market since then.

Now, however, BaoFeng Tech (BTECH) has introduced the AMP-25 Series of amplifiers for the 2m and 70 cm bands. They boost a handheld’s signal of 2W to 6W up to 20W to 40W.

The AMP-25 Series comes with accessory cables to connect an HT to the amplifier, a power cord, and a microphone.

There are four models in the series:

  • AMP-V25 operates from 136-174 MHz and can be used for analog FM, P25 Phase 1, C4FM (System Fusion), NXDN, IDAS, dPMR, and MPT1327 modes.
  • AMP-V25D operates from 136-174 MHz and can used for all of the modes supported by the AMP-V25 plus DMR and P25 Phase 2.
  • AMP-U25 operates from 400-480 MHz and can be used for analog FM, P25 Phase 1, C4FM (System Fusion), NXDN, IDAS, dPMR, and MPT1327 modes.
  • AMP-U25D operates from 400-480 MHz and can used for all of the modes supported by the AMP-U25 plus DMR and P25, Phase 2.

The amps come with an RF cable to connect the RF output of an HT to the amp, a control cable to connect the control signals, a power cord, and a microphone, which plug directly into the amp and allows you to not have to hold the HT being used as the signal source.

The amps are designed to work with any BaoFeng or BTECH handheld transceivers, but they will also work with any handheld radio that outputs 2 W – 6 W with the appropriate cable. With the included RF Cable, the amplifier will also work with Wouxun transceivers, some TYT transceivers, and some Kenwood transceivers. If the supplied cables do not connect to your radio, you will need to use adaptors or build cables with the appropriate connectors.

BTECH sent me a demo unit to use when writing the user guide. I connected it to my UV-5R and talked to a few guys on the local repeaters. All of them gave me nice signal reports. I didn’t do any spectral testing, but BTECH says that the amps have harmonic filters on the input that allow them to transmit a clean signal even if the input isn’t as clean as you’d like.

The AMP-V25 and AMP-U25 cost $88. The AMP-V25D and AMP-U25D cost $105. They’re available directly from BTECH.

Don’t throw out that cable!

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I often criticize hams who are cheap, but in truth, I’m probably just as cheap as anyone in amateur radio. Case in point, when I bought my $25 Baofeng UV-5RA, I bought the cheap programming cable for it, even though I had a hunch that it wouldn’t work. (Baofeng UV-5Rs now go for about $30 on Amazon.)

Even though I kind of expected it not to work, I was disappointed when it didn’t. I wasted an hour or two searching websites for information and trying things, such as shaving off some of the plastic around the connectors to get a tighter fit. After a while, I just gave up, and then spent some time figuring out how to program it manually. Programming the Baofeng manually is nearly impossible, though, and after an hour, I had only managed to get the two most popular repeaters into memory.

Figuring that the cable was just junk, I tried to sell it at the Monroe hamfest in June. I was only asking $2, but when I told guys that it didn’t work, they put it back on the table and walked away. Now, I’m glad that I didn’t sell it.

About a month ago, I ran across a blog post, Build your Own Programming Cable,  by John ‘Miklor’ K3NXU. The gist of the post is that you can replace the little USB – serial converter board in the dongle with a board that uses a CP2102 chip (see right). This board does the same thing that the non-functional board does, and this one works! I paid $3.40 to have mine shipped free from China. It took about two weeks to get here.

A couple of days ago, I got around to trying it out. I popped open the dongle case, unsoldered the three wires, and then soldered those wires to some jumpers supplied with the board that have little connectors that fit onto the header you see in the picture above.

I downloaded Chirp, then plugged the cable into the Baofeng. Nada. I tried the Wouxoun KG-UVD1P and got the same result. Disappointed again, I re-read the blog post and found this, “Note 1: Some boards may have the TxD and RxD reversed. If it doesn’t work the first time, reverse the two wires. No damage has been done.” I reversed the TX and RX wires, and BINGO, it worked like a charm.

It’s really amazing how much easier it is to program the Baofeng with Chirp. I wish I’d run across this blog post a year ago.

So, if you have a programming cable that doesn’t work, don’t despair. Even if you don’t have a cable, you can make your own completely from scratch. The blog post shows you how to do this as well.