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amgems

Baofeng Freq. / Rugged Radio Freq. ?

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I seem to remember reading that the Rugged Radios (blue RH-5R) are programmed differently than the Baofeng ( black UV-5R). I think the RR RH-5R are programmed to the SCORE frequencies? Is that correct?

My buddy (lives in Lake Isabella) just took advantage of the RR 25% off sale and got the moto kit that comes with the blue RH-5R. We're going to be riding together in a couple of weeks on the BAR 10 ride and it will be nice to have the radios talking to each other.

I mentioned to him about the CHIRP software http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home but I'm not sure he will get his blue radio reprogrammed in time. We may not want to bring our laptops to the ride to reprogram his blue radio, 'cause we would have to leave the laptop in the truck while we are riding.

So... I'm thinking it might be easier to just set my black Baofeng to one of the SCORE Freq's that he has? Does any one know what those freq's are? I'm guessing my Baofeng could just be set to it in VFO mode?

If he can get CHIRP and figure it out we should be good to go. But if not, I'm looking for contingency plans. Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

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It's not that they are programmed differently, it's that the Rugged radios were limited on the low freq range to 150.000. This made it impossible for people with Rugged radios to talk with other members on the standard SDAR radio refreq. of 146.505. So you can either "open" up those lower frequencies on the Rugged by using the CHIRP (easy from what I'm told) or just plan on using a frequencies above 150.000.

FYI...I know member Downs (just moved to Texas) and Mikey777 have the CHIRP software and know how to use it.

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my rugged radio got about 6 months ago was programmed with all of their frequencies mainly the baja pits and etc. but was able to get to 146.505 perfect maybe they changed it or didn't program mine right but no chirp needed.  

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2 hours ago, Bp619 said:

my rugged radio got about 6 months ago was programmed with all of their frequencies mainly the baja pits and etc. but was able to get to 146.505 perfect maybe they changed it or didn't program mine right but no chirp needed.  

 

So were you able to just punch in 146.505 when in VFO?

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Just now, amgems said:

 

So were you able to just punch in 146.505 when in VFO?

Dunno anything about radios tech or what vfo is but just hit 146.505 and worked. 

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19 minutes ago, Bp619 said:

Dunno anything about radios tech or what vfo is but just hit 146.505 and worked. 

Was that frequency already programmed in and available or did you enter it on the radio's keypad?

VFO Stands for variable frequency oscillator. Basically, when the radio is in VFO mode you can enter the frequency you want by typing it in on the keypad.

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16 minutes ago, Bp619 said:

Wasnt programmed just typed it in

Cool, Maybe my friend will be able to do that as well. I was kinda thinking that the radio would have to be re-programmed with Chirp to do that.

Thanks

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As LB said, I have the software and the reprogramming cable if you need help.  

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46 minutes ago, Mikey777 said:

As LB said, I have the software and the reprogramming cable if you need help.  

I have the cable and the software, I just won't be able to meet up with my bud before Bar 10. He lives up in Isabella and a newb with radios. If I could hook up with him I could fix him up in ten minutes.  If his new blue  radio comes in like Bp's did, then we won't  have to re-program it prior to the ride. We can key in the freq. we need. If it is locked out like LB mentioned and he can't get below 150.000 MHz and key in the 146.505 I may have to key in one of his freq's into my radio. Appreciate the offer.

I was just thinking about this, and remembered I have the cloning cable. Shoot, maybe I can just clone my radio to his. Anybody tried that?

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As long as you both have a common frequency you should be able to communicate without any issue.  We operate on the 146.505 because it is under the 144.000-148.000 MHz Amateur 2M band.... assuming all use is by licensed operators.  

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Amgen, call you buddy and see if he can key in the frequency directly, like you are talking about. When I got my Rugged radio, it would NOT let me do that. Every time I attempted to key in a freq. below 150.000, it just reverted to 150.000. Maybe they have changed it, or maybe Brian got one that wasn't programmed by Rugged before it shipped out.

Also, you will have plenty of time at BAR 10 on Friday night at the hotel to program your buddies radio....just a thought.

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When I got my rugged radio, like Oracle, it would not let me do that. I couldn't even manually program the SDAR frequency. If you buy while talking to a rugged rep on the phone, they will program it for free there, and then send it to you ready to go. Otherwise, have your bud program it with Chirp.  Even in Isabella, he might find a few folks that ride dual sport and use the rugged and know how to use the chirp program, then as mentioned, it only takes a few minutes, then you could program a couple frequencies to use when you meet up. Also, have him simply get on his radio and ask some ham folks if they know. It can be a pretty small world cross-referencing dual sport and ham users, and with all the 4 wheel folks turning to ham from cb, he might have luck reaching out to some 4 wheel clubs too.  Have fun.  

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Thanks for all the replies and info. I have two of the Baofengs, and I found the cloning cable, so I might do a test by cloning one of mine to the other. That might be a real quick and simple way to synch things up for Bar 10.

I do have the program from the unmolested Baofeng stored in Chirp, so if the cloning process screws things up I can reload it with the default Baofeng factory program.

There is the outside chance he can do it before hand too....

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Amgems,

  How did the Frequency Thing work out!   Once you get to 146.505,  lock the keyboard so it doesn't change in your pack.

  Bagstr

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1 hour ago, Bagstr said:

Amgems,

  How did the Frequency Think work out!   Once you get to 146.505,  lock the keyboard so it doesn't change in your pack.

  Bagstr

It worked out great ! He was able to just punch in the frequency and lock the keypad. Maybe the RR radios are now programmed differently and/or inconsistently?

This is the first time we have used the radios on a long ride, and it was great! We were able to talk to each other and also to other groups of riders in front of and behind us. For example, that was nice with all the gates. We could tell the guys behind us (when in range) we were going to leave the gate open for them, and they would close it.

Now officially hooked.

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If riding with a few different groups in the area, each with radios, having a few of the different simplex frequencies preprogrammed will let you switch to a new simplex frequency without worrying about accidentally tuning to a repeater input frequency and causing interference.  

Here's a link to a page that shows a block of the various simplex frequencies for the various ham bands.

http://wackradio.com/ham/index.htm

One other thing that I sometimes do is to program a CTCSS tone squelch frequency on the radios in my group.  Helps keep the radio a bit quieter by not breaking the squelch unless the received signal has the right CTCSS tone.  See:  http://www7.taosnet.com/ebear/pltones.html

On a related note, has anyone here used a Sena SR10 to interface with a PTT on a 2-way radio?

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