amgems 79 Posted April 12, 2019 Lessons learned: Don't program radios before a ride in a parking lot. It takes longer than expected. Also may need internet access. Baofeng UV-5R is easy Baofeng BF-A58 is easy Rugged RH5R is actually slightly different from the UV-5R, but is easy to program Rugged RH5R-V2 is much different from other Baofengs and other Rugged Radio's. A little bit of Googling suggests that Rugged made this one purposely hard to re-program. Maybe because they got yelled at by FCC? RTSystems software (and cable) may be able to do it: https://www.rtsystemsinc.com/Articles.asp?ID=634 https://www.rtsystemsinc.com/RRS-5R-programming-software-and-USB-cable-s/2759.htm Chirp maybe not https://chirp.danplanet.com/issues/5251 Yaesu model XXXX Not tested yet. Looks like they can be done from Chirp with a QUALITY cable that works with Chirp and the specific radio model AND the operating system (Micosoft / Apple) of the computer doing the programming. Also not tested, but probably do-able from RTSystems software and cable. Rugged RH5X not tested yet. Chirp is free (send them a donation). RT Systems costs a few bucks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PbdBlue 46 Posted April 12, 2019 I can vouch that Chirp works for the Yaesu VX-170 and the FT-270 handhelds. Did both of mine without issue. Nothing special about the cable other than with the older legacy cables you need to load a driver for Win 7/10. With any of the Genuine FTDI cables (link provided in earlier post) you do not need to load a driver for Win 7/10. I do not have any experiience programming with a Mac so I can't comment on that. As for the RT cables it used to be that they only would work with RT software which in my past experience I did not find as feature rich as Chirp. I do not know if that's still the case. The Rugged Radio deal is interesting. They way overcharge for that radio and then lock you out??? Personally I would never buy any radio from Rugged but I get there's a niche that just wants a pre-programmed turnkey radio for the masses. So be it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagstr 287 Posted April 12, 2019 Great, I bought a quality cabe (RT at HRO ) As I understand, it will Not work with Chirp. Talking to the clerk, I told him I was using Chirp and he did not say the cable would not work. Could buy the RT Programming software and re-create Jim's document. This would establish a system for the Yaesu environment. I will try the Chirp software first. Could Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PbdBlue 46 Posted April 12, 2019 9 minutes ago, Bagstr said: Great, I bought a quality cabe (RT at HRO ) As I understand, it will Not work with Chirp. Talking to the clerk, I told him I was using Chirp and he did not say the cable would not work. Could buy the RT Programming software and re-create Jim's document. This would establish a system for the Yaesu environment. I will try the Chirp software first. Could It may not be the case any longer with RT. Let us know what you find. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
luna 14 Posted October 27, 2020 Need help on either programming side CHIRP or disc image side or radio setup. I'm a total novice to radios. So this past weekend I programmed radios on CHIRP. I programmed a UV5R (NA/771) and a BF-F8HP (stock antenna) . I was tired of carrying around a piece of paper to find out what channel the Rugged Radio guys were on, Checkers, FAIR,BFGRELAY, etc. So I inputted into CHIRP the the numbers for the names, so for ease could go straight there. Put the squelch number, from fixing poor squelch. My issue was when I was at Superstition on Wheeler Rd., everyone with their stock UV5R could hear the UTV group at top of Super, but me with my UV5R. I was so bummed. I just did a complete reset on the trail, figuring it had to be the squelch settings, or maybe the TONE or TONE SQL. I honestly don't know why wasn't able to hear, as radio's aren't my thing. Programmed for simplicity, but off somewhere obviosly. https://www.ruggedradios.com/PDF/RuggedRadios-FCC-Approved-Channels.pdf https://cdn.shopify.com/.../Baofeng_Stock_Freq_Web.pdf... https://www.mag7race.com/pdf/channel.pdf Fixing poor squelch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amgems 79 Posted October 29, 2020 If you couldn't hear the other guys it could likely be the squelch settings. The squelch settings on the cheap China radios are not very "linear". They are kinda funky. Someone told me they are like a Suzuki RM400 - either ON or OFF. There is a way to tweak the squelch, and make it useable, but I have never tried it. I've just left it at factory settings and it works ok. The other thing to look at is the antenna. Maybe try it with stock antenna and aftermarket and see if it works differently. There are some fake Nagoya antennas out there. Here is a screen shot of how I programmed my radio to work with the commonly used Rugged programmed channels, and SDAR Freq. This one is for the BF-A58 but should be the same for the UV-5R Let me know how it goes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amgems 79 Posted October 29, 2020 Here are the Rugged Radio and PCI Race Radio programmed lists PCI.pdf Rugged.pdf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
luna 14 Posted November 2, 2020 I did a full factory reset, reprogrammed, but didn't use the "Fixing poor squelch" settings and was able to hear. Thanks Amgems for the help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
