开云体育

Awhile ago I ordered a cable assembly from Digirig for the Baofeng UV5R model handheld radios.

The cable is prewired for the Digirig and comes with a second programming cable that uses the Digirig's serial capabilities allowing a program like Chirp to read and write the radio's program memory.

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My reason was to see if the inexpensive $35 Baofeng radio will work with VARA FM and Winlink for nearby stations accessing the W0AYE-10 gateway.

The results?

Yes and no.

I have two of these radios, one a few years old and the other purchased in the past year.? Both UV5R model.

The old one works VARA FM like a dream and seems to be a rival to the Yaesu FT-60 I've been using.

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The new UV5R with identical settings, on the other hand, is unable to complete a connection with the gateway.

It's transmit to receive turnaround time is way too slow for VARA causing the incoming data to be missed.

Searching the Internet showed this to be a very common issue with the Baofengs and VARA FM.

What remains unclear is if the problem is model change related or variations within same models.

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If you have one and want to find out, I can probably test it before you spend $35 on a cable set.

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For folks planning to use handheld radios, invest in a gain antenna around 2' long. Night and day difference in signals.

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73

Mike N0QBH

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I was able to make the new BaoFeng UV5R work with Winlink and VARA FM today!

Previously, I had reported it was incapable of doing Winlink VARA using it with a Digirig and the custom cable for Baofeng.

I thought I had tried opening the radio's squelch before (i.e. setting it to noisy), but apparently not.

Going in to the Baofeng UV5R menu squelch is item #1. Press menu then 0 then menu again.

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Another setting that can be important is menu #35 STE (squelch tail eliminate).

It should be turned off.?

Same method as above.?

Else the radio sends a 55 Hz tone at the end of a transmission.

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I tested mine with a 4k file and it was just as good as the old Baofeng and a rival to the FT-60.

Opening the squelch decreases the transmit to receive turnaround time to an acceptable speed.

The frugal ham smiles.

73

Mike N0QBH

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I've had time to use the Baofengs on VARA FM and, unfortunately, the newer radio is still on the edge in turn around time.

In other words, it has a lot of retries.
VARA FM has rigid timing between transmits and acknowledge.?

VHF is assumed to be a solid path.

After a couple of attempts the other station will bail.

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By comparison, VARA HF is different and often uses 10 - 15 retries due to fading and RFI we experience doing HF radio.

I include this to differentiate the two modes with similar names.

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When I can buy a dual band 5W hand held today, made by a major radio maker like Yaesu for $160,? which is up to $300 cheaper than they used to be, the choice is a no brainer.

Buy from the Japanese.?
The $35 radios will talk back & forth fine on the repeaters, they are just not always cut out for digital.

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73

Mike N0QBH

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