Baofeng 888s chanels on a uv-5r

mattcorker

Im new to this and im struggling. weve used baofeng 888s radios at work for around 5 or 6 years and we have around 50-60 of them but were thinking of upgrading to the uv5r. weve bought two of them but they wont talk to each other. ive tried to program the uv5r to the channels of the 888s but theres so much i dont understand ive not made great progres. the 888s will transmit to the uv5r but the uv5r wont transmit to the 888s even though the green light comes on(just no sound). i bought the cable and the cd came in chinese. ive managed to figure out how to get the bf-480 program into english and also download the 888s channels into it but cant get them on to the uv5r.

Can any of you help me figure out how to make my uv5r talk to the fleet of 888s radios we have. and please bear in mind im technologically retarded.

thanks

Matt

thelordgod

For a start use Chirp to program the radios - its way better. The problem you have is that there is CTCSS (tone coding) enabled on some channels. Read the channels from the 888 and you will see it. You will need to program this tone into the 5r. BTW the 888s are not license free PMR radios (nor the 5r). They output too much power and are using the wrong frequencies.

mattcorker

Thanks Thelordgod,

When I get The Chirp software are there legal channels i should program into both the 888s and the 5r instead of the ones already on the on the 888? and if so is there a file i could plug into chirp to install them?

Thanks, Matt

thelordgod

If you have no license neither of these radios can be used legally in Ireland. The 888s are not PMR446 compliant despite being marketed as such. Only ham radio operators are licensed to used such equipment.

grogi

thelordgod wrote: »

If you have no license neither of these radios can be used legally in Ireland. The 888s are not PMR446 compliant despite being marketed as such. Only ham radio operators are licensed to used such equipment.

How much power does the 888s emit on Low setting in the PMR446 range?

mattcorker wrote: »

When I get The Chirp software are there legal channels i should program into both the 888s and the 5r instead of the ones already on the on the 888? and if so is there a file i could plug into chirp to install them?

888s does not come pre-programmed to PMR446. Wiki page lists the exact channels you would need to program, but you'd still be illegal - as BF-888s has removable antena.

thelordgod

grogi wrote: »

How much power does the 888s emit on Low setting in the PMR446 range?

I measured a pair of them putting out almost 2 watts on low power.

888s does not come pre-programmed to PMR446. Wiki page lists the exact channels you would need to program, but you'd still be illegal - as BF-888s has removable antena.

Correct.

thelordgod

Just an update on this - I had a pair of these on the bench today. Power output was between 2.3 and 2.8 Watts depending on frequency. The low/high power setting makes no difference whatsoever.

grogi

thelordgod wrote: »

Just an update on this - I had a pair of these on the bench today. Power output was between 2.3 and 2.8 Watts depending on frequency. The low/high power setting makes no difference whatsoever.

What do you use to program them? CHIRP or something else?

thelordgod

I find Chirp the best but the Baofeng 888 software works too