UV-9R Not Transmitting

1

Since a lot of the activities that my family and I participate in is outside of cell coverage, I’ve carried multiple radios for emergency situations or to stay in contact with other groups. Primarily it’s been Marine and GMRS.

So that I only had to carry one radio that scanned all of the frequencies, I thought I’d test it out with a cheaper Baofeng UV-9R radio.

I’ve been trying to figure out the programming using CHIRP but as much as I’ve tried to understand, I definitely have something incorrect as I can only receive the channels but not transmit and would appreciate some help with my naivety.

Guess I can use example channels to show how I have it programmed and hopefully that will show why I’m having issues?

Freq: 156.050, SEA 01, Tone Mode: (None), Tone: 88.5, ToneSql: 88.5, DTS Code: 023, DTCS Rx Code: 023, DTCS Pol: NN, Cross Mode: Tone->Tone, Duplex: off, Offset: 0.00, Mode: FM, Power: High

Freq: 462.5625, GMRS01, Tone Mode: (None), Tone: 88.5, ToneSql: 88.5, DTS Code: 023, DTCS Rx Code: 023, DTCS Pol: NN, Cross Mode: Tone->Tone, Duplex: off, Offset: 0.00, Mode: FM, Power: High

Thank you!

2

I am guessing, but you are trying to use an amateur radio on bands that it is not approved for, so it may have been sold to you “locked” to amateur frequencies only. (144-148MHz and 420-450MHz.) This radio is neither approved for GMRS, nor marine band. We actually cannot provide any guidance because this forum does not allow the discussion of illegal activity.

Not any of my business of course and I am not the frequency police, but I would suggest you get a good GMRS radio and obtain a licence for GMRS (if you are in the U.S.) plus you get a proper, approved marine radio and marine radio operator licence for use on board a boat. I am assuming you only use marine band on board a boat, because usage on land is a pretty serious violation, and can invoke a visit from the regulators. It is possible that one can interfere with life-saving operations.

A good radio dealer (such as our forum hosts) can provide you with a lot of good information on better radios that will meet your needs. Years ago, there were some dual-band marine radios that also transmitted on GMRS (yes; two licences would be required) but I think they are all discontinued now. But good luck in your search.

3

I looked under the CHIRP programming and reviewed the radio but did not find any of the locks you mention. Are they internal and if this radio is sold universally, how would they sell and note this for each applicable country they are sold in and their laws?

For HAM frequencies, I’m still trying to figure out the differences between ‘(None)’ and ‘off’ for the Duplex setting? I thought you used ‘off’ for if it was a licensed frequency that you don’t want to accidently transmit on and ‘(None)’ for if it was a Simplex contact?

Still can’t find the reason this radio won’t transmit for any of the frequencies.

4

Got it. For anyone else’s reference, not sure if this was the major culprit but I changed Duplex to ‘(None)’. Also found out that I didn’t have the first 4 Marine Channel Frequencies matching my Uniden when testing . Worked for the other channels though. I programmed to these https://www.boatsafe.com/us-vhf-marine-radio-channels-frequencies/ but the first channels are different than my Marine VHF radio which I don’t understand.

5

If the radio is locked to a specific range of frequencies, it is in the firmware of the radio itself, not the programming software, so you won’t find any “locks” in CHIRP for this.

When the duplex mode setting in CHIRP is set to (None), it uses the same frequency for both transmit and receive. If you do this you will need to set the Offset field to either + or -.
If you choose OFF, transmitting in duplex mode is disabled.

It is important to reiterate what Chickenhawk said regarding the use of non-FCC type accepted radios in the US. These radios are allowed to be sold as long as they are locked down to the ham bands only. This is because the amateur radio service is used a lot for experimentation in the hobby, and licensed hams are allowed to build their own radios for this purpose, so no certification of the equipment is needed. This means that such type acceptance is not required for radios intended for ham use. This is pretty much the only exception to the rules.

All the other services, including GMRS and marine, require the radios to be FCC approved for their respective service. The FCC generally does not allow these radios to operate on multiple services or outside the service for which they are specifically approved. While there have been exceptions, the Cobra MRHH450 Dual GMRS/Marine radio being one of them, it still must be type accepted for use on each of those services. Marine frequencies and marine radios are not allowed to be used on land.

6

Probably the thing to test, from the keypad, not chirp, is to establish which bands are unlocked - so select 144.0125 and see if it transmits - I guess you don’t actually have any licence at all, so a dummy load would be sensible. If 144.0125 transmits, then try 143.9875 - and see if that doesn’t. Then you’ll know where it works, but frankly - I suspect you have one of the legit radios for the States - and the only band it will transmit in is one you don’t have a licence for, so the radio is to be honest, a bit pointless. You also of course would need a marine licence for that band, but as Rick says - in the US, type approval means that even with a licence the radio is still banned from use. Oddly, here in the UK, our rules simply require radios to be to the standard, they don’t need certification.

7

I got it to work as needed. They’re not locked, I just had the duplex set incorrectly.

I’m surprised by this cheap radio. Comes in nice and clear and the scan / skip works great. Much faster than my others.

8

A wanna be police any one can monitor on a band and transmit the other. and nope they aren’t discontinued. sad ham.

1 Like
9

exactly right these know it all’s will keep people out of their bands until they croak and we get their radios and then fcc will open lic ham like gmrs. and they can basically pass on cant wait.

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10

I’m really sorry, but I have no idea what you are saying? I’m a Brit, so probably it’s a brand of English that’s a bit odd? I can usually work American out?

11

Either a cut-and-paste spammer with a limited grasp of English, or some kid with an even more limited grasp of English. Can be safely ignored.