Help Needed:Baofeng UV-5R Not Picking Up Repeater After Chirp Programmig

Hey gang. So Ive had no issues before with hitting my local repeater on my Baofeng UV-5r. I just got a new laptop because my old one is messed up and I cant connect anything usb to it. So I downloaded Chirp, the driver for y USB cable and uploaded the program list from my HT. I edited it to pick up a local 911 dispatch which works fine but now my local repater isnt comig theough at all. Also when I try to edit the channel manually in the radio menu, when I go to change the offset from 00.000 to 00.600 like its supposed to, it just clears it and resets back at 00.000. The problem here is that in Chirp, I have the repeater set to 00.600 like its supposed to be. So now Im totally confused as to why its not showing up that way on my radio and this HAS TO be the reason my local repeater isnt coming through...right?

Ive triple checked my program list in Chirp and even tried redownloading the list back into both my UV-5Rs and its the same old story. Im at a loss as to why Im locked out of my programming menu for the offset, PL Tone and a couple other things most likely. Is there a problem with Chirp or just a setting I need to change? Thanks in advance.
 

seekerbeta

Observer
does the repeater have a tone? check all the programming. if you want email me seeker beta @ gmail . com and email me the config file. I can look at it for you
 
Yes it has a tone of 118.8. The weird thing is I just found that I can receive the repeater in frequency mode when I toggle with the orange VFO/MR button but when I switch back to channel mode I dont think it picks up the repeater anymore. Thank you Seeker I can send you the Chirp program list but is there anything else I can send you? Is there a way to send you stuff from my radio? I just passed my Tehnicians exam yesterday and I want my radios perfect for when I show up in the FCC databade so I can finally begin transmitting! Though I have no idea if I have my radios set up properly to do that so that might be an entirely different problem lol. Thanks again for the help.
 
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When using Chirp it doesnt give me the option to set the tone for RX or TX. In fact like I mentioned earlier, the exact same program list that worked fine in my radio is the one I uploaded into Chirp. I edited other channels but NOT the Repeater channel Im having problems with. I took a screenshot but Photobucket is not loading properly on my laptop so I can host the screenshot. In Chirp I have it set to -.600 offset and a PL tone of 188.8. Then I upload the program into my radio and the radio shows it as -00.000 for the offset and the T-CTCS as 118.8. Theres no option for this in Chirp to change it to R-CTCS and whenever I try to change these settings manually in my radio they just reset back to the incorrect value. As I said before...VERY frustrating.

So the problem is that I need the PL Tone to be set to R-CTCS and not T-CTCS, correct? And I also need an offset of NEG 00.600 rather than NEG 00.000 but the problem is my radio wont let me change these manually and theyre set up in Chirp the same way theyve been in my radio, working fine until I uploaded them into the newest version of Chirp(as of yesterday anyways, theres a newer version as of today that I havwent bothered with yet) and this new laptop running x64 version of Windows 10. Does anyone know why this is happening?
 
OK I finally got Photobucket to load and work properly. Heres a screenshot. The problem is AT LEAST with channel number 1. Channel 1 is for my local repeater. The one Ive had zero problems getting until now. I dont see any way to change the PL Tone from Tx to Rx:

 

k9lestat

Expedition Leader
Dbl check the pl tones and if it's plus or minus off set also dbl check for a custom offset.

Sent from my QMV7A using Tapatalk
 

Airmapper

Inactive Member
On CHIRP I notice your display has blank cells, on mine EVERY cell has a value, even if it's the default, there are no empty spaces. I'm not sure why the difference, but it is a difference.

Aside from that things seem to be set correctly, however I don't know what the empty cells mean. Perhaps they need default values. Mine were pre-filled upon pulling down the data from the HT, so I never had blank cells in the first place.

On programming manually, it sounds like you are not locking in changes. If voice is active, when you get done making a change, I think you hit the menu button again and the radio will literally say the word "CONFIRM." If you don't hear it say CONFIRM then whatever you changed does not stay.

Programming it manually is a pain but once you get the logic of it it actually does make sense, cumbersome as it is.
 
Ok Im gonna address everyones input in order.
1. Ive checked at least a dozen times and the plus or minus offset in the chirp program IS correct.
2. Yes the list has blank cells, but every channel works except for channel 1 and those cells were blank when I uploaded the list FROM the radio to Chirp. Never had a problem with the blank cells before. I can see if that makes a difference in channel 1 but I dont k ow why it woupd only matter for the repeater.
3. I am DEFINITELY locking in the settings. I have voice turned off so it doesnt say confirm, but Ive done this a lot before and I know to press menu again after making a change. I press menu to access the part I want to change, make the change, press menu again and the change immedietely resets. Thats the problem Im having with changing it manually.

Since the settings are correct in frequency mode I even tried to save the repeater from frequency mode into channel mode and it wont save. Its the exact same flawed repeater parameters as before.
 

DaveNay

Adventurer
Ok Im gonna address everyones input in order.
1. Ive checked at least a dozen times and the plus or minus offset in the chirp program IS correct.
2. Yes the list has blank cells, but every channel works except for channel 1 and those cells were blank when I uploaded the list FROM the radio to Chirp. Never had a problem with the blank cells before. I can see if that makes a difference in channel 1 but I dont k ow why it woupd only matter for the repeater.
3. I am DEFINITELY locking in the settings. I have voice turned off so it doesnt day confirm, but Ive done this a lot before and I know to press menu again after making a change. I press menu to access the part I want to change, make the change, press menu again and the change immedietely resets. Thats the problem Im having with changing it manually.

Since the settings are correct in frequency mode I even tried to save the repeater from frequency mode into channel mode and it wont save. Its the exact same flawed repeater parameters as before.

Two suggestions.....

1. Do a factory reset on the radio. (http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/UV5R-Recovery.php)
2. Use a different memory slot.
 

portabill

New member
Hello JJ. My non-expert thoughts.

1. Which version of Chirp?

2. Maybe pull the image from the radio and compare to the one you loaded

3. My opinion, and you know how much that is worth, is that several menu options related to TX/RX frequencies, such as option 26 "Frequency Offset" are used when you program a memory channel from the keypad. They aren't used for operations. Chirp also doesn't use the menu option defaults when it writes to the radio. What makes me think that way is because you don't have to change those settings every time you switch repeaters.

4. I was told it was best to pull an image, modify it, then load the modified image. Do you have the original image from the radio?

5. I keep a spreadsheet with frequencies and modify it. Then I save it out to .CSV and load it into the image I want to modify.

Gotta run to a meeting....

Hope this helps
 

4x4junkie

Explorer
OK I finally got Photobucket to load and work properly. Heres a screenshot. The problem is AT LEAST with channel number 1. Channel 1 is for my local repeater. The one Ive had zero problems getting until now. I dont see any way to change the PL Tone from Tx to Rx:

Changing between a TX (only) tone and a TX + RX tone is done under "Tone Mode" (setting "Tone Mode" to "TSQL" applies whatever tone setting is in the "ToneSql" column to your radio's RX). RX tones are not normally used except for cases of local interference, so you normally would set "Tone Mode" to "Tone", which it then ignores anything present in the ToneSql column (which appears to be how you have it set).

According to your screenshot, on the radio's display, there should NOT appear a small "CT" or "DCS" on the left side while receiving... the "CT" however should appear while you transmit.

If that's not the case, then i have to agree, the changes aren't taking hold (being locked in) properly in the radio, or maybe you need to do a factory-reset on the radio (the radio is supposed to reboot itself after the list finishes uploading, check if that is happening... if not, then it's not taking hold in the radio).

Be aware not all repeaters retransmit a tone on the output (or transmit a tone on the output that is different than the input). If this is the case you won't hear anything through your speaker if "Tone Mode" is set to "TSQL" and no tone (or the incorrect tone) is set under ToneSql". The green RX Busy light should still light up to indicate it's receiving the repeater's signal however.


Finally (FYI), you may want to set the "Duplex" setting on your channels 4 & 5 (and any others similar to those) to "Off", which will inhibit the TX, preventing any accidental transmissions there (disregard if you are actually authorized to be transmitting on those freqs).
 
4x4Junkie, thank you for that information. Ive read it several times over and will probably read it another dozen times to let it sink in. So heres an update because some people are asking questions Ive already answered a couple times.

-I AM running the program list that was originally in the radio. It went from radio to chirp to radio.
-Again, Im running the latest version of Chirp. The one thatcame out on October 10th of this year

Heres the important part. Today I was able to receive the repeater in both frequency mode AND channel mode even though they have different saved settings. In frequency mode it it has the correct offset of NEG .600 and the recieving tone is 118.8. In channel mode the offset is NEG 00.000 and the transmit tone is 118.8. So one of these is setup i correctly and since my license isnt in the fcc database yet, I cannot test either to see if anyone can hear me on the repeater.

4x4Junkie, I looked in settings on Chirp a couple times before reading your post and I did not see an optionlike you mentioned. Im guessing its actually in the program list column settings. I apologize for my ignorance but I get very confused as to what all those settings mean between my radio settings and Chirp. Thats why I need to read your post several more times.

Does anyone else suggest that I do a factory reset on my radios? I have 3 of these UV-5Rs by the way. All of them identical in both model, date purchased and antenna(Nagoya 771). Thank you.
 
In just a moment I will post shots of my radios display screen. In channel mode, the A band is KBZ4IN and it is the local repeater which is 146.760. In frequency mode it will also be in te A band(top of display) and will just read 146.760. As you will see, the offset and other characters are different between the two even though they are the same repeater. I am sure this is because of the dofferent saved settings and at least 1 of them is setup incorrectly, not allowing me to both receive AND transmit. Right now Im able to receive on both...at least I was able to today.
 
Heres the pics. I also took a video that I will try to post a link to. I really hope I explain it well enough. It is a video of me going through the radios settings for both frequency mode and channel mode for the 146.760 local repeater.


 

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