Baofeng UV-5R family

Menu numbers below are the UV-5R's; the BF-F8HP and UV-82 share them.

Photo: P e z i, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The keys you will use

Knob on top

turns the radio on and sets the volume. Turn until it clicks, then about a third of the way.

PTT

the big button on the side. Push to talk, let go to listen.

MONI

the small button under PTT. Hold it to hear everything on the frequency, static included; a short press turns the flashlight on and off.

CALL

the small button above PTT: the FM broadcast radio. Press it again to come back. Do not hold it: on many units a long hold sets off the alarm siren.

MENU

opens the settings. Inside a setting, MENU also means "start changing it" and "save it".

▲ ▼

move through the settings, change a value, or nudge the frequency.

EXIT

backs out one level, and leaves the menu.

VFO/MR

switches between typing a frequency (the screen shows a frequency) and a saved channel (the screen shows a channel number).

A/B

the screen shows two lines, A and B, and an arrow points at the one that is live. A/B moves the arrow.

BAND

with a frequency showing, swaps the live line between 2 m and 70 cm.

✱ SCAN

a short press shows the repeater's input for a moment (reverse); hold to scan.

#

a short press swaps high and low power (the screen shows L on low); hold to lock or unlock the keys.

Number keys

type a frequency, or type a setting's number inside the menu.

How the menu works

The whole radio is one list of 41 numbered settings (0 to 40), and every change goes the same way:

• Press MENU. The screen shows a setting's name and number.
• Type the number, or press ▲ ▼ until it shows.
• Press MENU once more to start changing it; the value blinks.
• Press ▲ ▼ to pick the value, or type digits where a step says so.
• Press MENU to save; the radio says "confirmed". Press EXIT to leave the menu.

If a key does nothing, the keys are locked: hold # for two seconds. If the screen shows a channel number where you expect a frequency, press VFO/MR once. The voice announcements are setting 14 (VOICE); the beep after every transmission that other people hear is setting 39 (ROGER), and OFF is the polite choice. To start over from the factory: setting 40 (RESET) → ALL.

Set it up, in this order

1. Squelch

   Menu 0 (SQL) → 3.

2. Frequency step

   Menu 1 (STEP) → 5.00K.

3. VFO mode

   Press VFO/MR until the display shows a frequency. Turn off dual watch for now: Menu 7 (TDR) → OFF, so the radio stays on one frequency.

4. Simplex first

   Type 146520 on the keypad. Menu 25 (SFT-D) → OFF, Menu 13 (T-CTCS) → OFF.

5. Offset for a repeater

   Menu 26 (OFFSET) → 00.600 on 2 m or 05.000 on 70 cm. Menu 25 (SFT-D) → + or − as the repeater record says.

6. Tone

   Menu 13 (T-CTCS) → the tone from the record. Menu 11 (R-CTCS) → OFF.

7. Power

   Menu 2 (TXP) → HIGH.

8. Save the channel

   Hold Menu, press 27 (MEM-CH), pick a slot, press Menu twice. Do this once for the receive side and once for the transmit side on the UV-5R: the second save stores the offset.

CHIRP knows this radio as Baofeng UV-5R: you can load the repeaters from Near you into channels later; for the first contact the steps above are enough.