Jan 11 2015

Adjusting Baofeng squelch, first results

This morning I re-programmed some Baofeng radios using the latest Chirp Daily Build.

Confirmed to be NOT compatible: firmware BFB231 and BFB251. You need BFB291 or higher. You can check this by powering up the radio while holding the ‘3’ button.

Confirmed, no issues:

Model no: / Firmware version according to Chirp:
UV-82, B82S25,
GT-3, BFS311
GT-3 Mark II, N5R-213 / BFB297
GT-3TP, N5R3401 / BFP3-25
GT-5, B82S25

The actual effect on the squelch varies from model to model. The UV-82 and GT-5 for example stay more sensitive than the Sainsonic GT-3/MKII/TP versions. The latter are nearly deaf at SQ9.

11 comments on “Adjusting Baofeng squelch, first results”

  1. On my UV-82 I have to hold down the 5 key instead of the 3 key, other BaoFengs may be similar. If you have a problem with the 3 key, try this.

  3. Hi. Thanks for the tip. I have Baofeng A52 (BFS311), and the squelch is almost non-existence. Based on the offset’s information in source code (chirp/uv5r.py) of the chirp daily, I made chages to the squelch values using binary file editor. The new values are from the previous article, which are in decimal.

    I had a great result with these changes, and yes S9 is almost ‘deaf’ for Baofen A52.

    0x18A8 = VHF, S0
    Offset Default Modified; Numbers are in hexadecimal.
    000018A9 11 18
    000018AA 12 1D
    000018AB 13 22
    000018AC 14 27
    000018AD 15 2C
    000018AE 16 31
    000018AF 17 36
    000018B0 18 3B
    000018B1 19 40

    0x18C8 = UHF, S0
    000018C9 0F 18
    000018CA 10 1D
    000018CB 11 22
    000018CC 12 27
    000018CD 13 2C
    000018CE 14 31
    000018CF 15 36
    000018D0 16 3B
    000018D1 17 40

    Thank you and 73
    9W2GNU

  4. I set my BF-E500S and UV5R+Plus slot 1 to zero on VHF and UHF and I get silence. No PL on.
    Using the radio’s own menus I set squelch to slot zero and the squelch stays open so I know it can.

    Ideas?

  6. Okay here’s a clue. I changed the setting for slot zero from zero to 17. I wanted to see if that would close the open squelch. I set the radio to VHF and made sure the PL tone was off. Nope. Even 17 wouldn’t quiet the squelch. The numbers change but not the settings.

    So, in the case of my two radios the mod does nothing useful.

    • On a UV-5R with BFS311 firmware and a UV-82 with B82S25 firmware I have found that squelch menu setting position 0 keeps the quelch open regardless of the value programmed into it. For example I programmed menu position 0 to 64 and decreasing values down to 0 in menu position 9. The squelch levels then were “backwards” but menu position 0 still opens the squelch.

      • You are correct. 0 is the only useful value for squelch setting 0. Also setting to squelch settings 1 through 9 to a value of 0 is not useful. Only values from 1 to 123 should be used.

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