Programming Baofeng UV-6

[Windy_Miller]

OK, has anyone managed to get the software to work? I have downloaded the UV-6 / UV-7 software from the Baofeng support site, but on running it, it will not accept the COM port being changed from COM5 to COM1. The serial lead being used is a proper serial lead, not a USB one, so there are no issues with USB drivers. The same lead has worked perfectly on several other models of Chinese radios, with their respective softwares.

I did find a copy of UV-6 specific (not including UV-7) software somewhere which will allow COM1 to be used, but will not communicate with the radios.

The supplier says they have had success with the UV-6/UV-7 software, but over USB rather than 9 pin serial. However, they did say they had the usual USB driver problems to sort first.

Changing COM1 to COM5 in Windows (XP) Device Manager doesnt seem to help, as it still will not communicate. Odd, as it works so well on other versions.

Anyone had any success with these?

Cheers

Windy

[QRP]

Read about the program CHIRP
There is also comments on the various connections to the radio

http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chi ... CableGuide

http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

[Windy_Miller]

Already have, but the UV-6 is not yet listed or supported on the CHIRP page.

[pwmonkey]

am working fine with UV-B6 and Windows 7, USB cable that came with a BF-888.

pw

[Windy_Miller]

Cheers for that.

The UV-B6 is a bit different from the UV-6 in that the former has a keypad and a display, the latter doesnt. They both have different software downloads on the Baofeng site, and even trying all the available software with the UV-6 (out of frustration, and in case they had misnamed something) seems futile.

[pwmonkey]

^^ oops, I thought the internals would be the same, just the keys/display differ, seems odd you need wholly different software.

pw

[houlotte51]

Did you find a solution?
I just received my UV6 and the cable but no way. No connection between the radio and the computer. The software don't find the comm port.

[toby]

hi,

a longer while ago i got a comport change tool from adunnowhere.
i uploaded it in a zip to my homepage for you. give it a try:

http://hansti.de/setcom.zip

[wasserbueffel]

Or here

http://www.linkfile.de/download-781bb09 ... 6d0e43.php

@Tobi
Rumtreiber!

Walter

[Windy_Miller]

Did you find a solution?
I just received my UV6 and the cable but no way. No connection between the radio and the computer. The software don't find the comm port.

Not as yet. The supplier said that he had no problem using a USB lead to program them, so I acquired one of those instead of the traditional 9 pin d-sub serial lead. Still no joy.

After wasting an awful lot of time trying everything under the sun, they went back to the supplier who said he would try and program them with his USB lead. If he couldn't program them, he would replace them, and if he could, then I would send him the .dat file with the required programming. Not heard back yet as to how it is going, but may give them a reminder after the new year.

[W4GRJ]

I am having the same problem. At first I thought it was the radio, they sent me another radio...same issue.
Nice radio, to bad we can't get them programmed.
Jack
W4GRJ

[Windy_Miller]

Have heard back from the supplier. He says he can programme them no bother. So looks like I will need to send him the .dat file to upload. A bit of a pest, as it cancels out one of the advantages of them, being self programming.

Have also asked how he does it, as it appears that this is a very common problem, much more so that the usual USB com port issues that some have with their Chinese radios.

[signal47]

Greeting from northern Canada.
I'm new to this site,so, I'm not certain if my comments will be allowed as of yet.
I too had major problems these UV-6, I finally managed to get them programmed, although it was quite the experience. If this reply gets posted, i'll post in details what I have done.

[signal47]

Hello from northern Canada.
I managed to get these radios programmed using the UV-6/UV-7 software that got from emailing Baofeng Corp.
The two radios that I bought from ebay came with a USB cable. Since I already had a serial port cable that I've used to program dozens of radios with, (kenwood, puxing, baofeng uv-b5/b6, linton), they all have the same pins), I tried that without success.

In desperation, I connected the USB cable that came with the radios. Since the software only allowed me to select com 4, that is where I plugged it into.
VOILA! To my amazement & delight, it worked.
I'm not certain if the problem is entirely with the cable (as in...one has to use a Chinese made cable), or, like the lady who sent me the software from Baofeng suggested that I turn off my anti-virus before downloading the software. Either way, I hope this helps somebody.

PS- I used Windows XP.
Thank you for allowing me to comment. Cheers to all & happy new year.

[Rusty]

Today I wondered on your Transmission One site and ran across a blog about programming the Baofeng UV-6 Ham radio. It seems some folks are having problems programming the radio. Well, I think I can help. At present I am vacationing in Lake Havasu AZ and a friend called and said he just purchased six Baofeng UV-6 radios for his survival group. He said he could not program them and would I mind doing it for him. I said sure and told him to send then down. Well they arrived yesterday about 5 pm and I had all six programmed in about 9 hours. I don't know why but I seemed to be good at programming any of the Baofeng radios. Over the last several months I have programmed about twenty five UV5R's, UVB6's, UV888's and now the UV-6's. I do not have a Ham license yet, but when I return to my home state I think I will take the exam. You Ham folk are a great breed and I want to be part of your team. So let's get started trying to solve the programming problem.

There are three basic issues that seem to be problematic for the UV-6. They are the programming cable, software drivers, and programming software. These are discussed below:

Programming Cables - The correct cable for this radio is the USB-02 from Baofeng. I got mine from Amozon.com. They cost about $7.00 plus shipping. The cable fits many different radios.

Software Drivers - I got my drivers from two sites. Keep in mind they may be different than mine as I have an IBM work alike that uses Vista. Yours may be different. These are the sites that also have the software. I got mine from Baofeng and the 409 Shop Limited. Here is the link for both.

409 Shop Limited
http://www.409shop.com/shop_displaynews.php?id=292

Baofeng
http://www.baofengradio.com/en/services ... 20Software

http://www.baofengradio.com/en/services ... ssName=USB Driver


Make sure you select the correct drivers for your computer. Keep them in separate file folders.

Programming Software - This is where I feel the problems lies. I tried two versions from different web sites. The main problem here is one of the versions only provide support for four or five serial ports. My computer already used most of them so I could not use this version. I even tried reassigning them with no avail. The version I selected made 16 serial ports available. This single item I feel allows the computer to communicate with the radio. If in doubt what ports are being used click your control panel and check your device manager and see what ports are available. That one thing made the difference every time. For at least 4 hours I tried different ports. Make a list as you go so you will not go over the same one twice. Personally, I feel that none of the software is first class stuff, but for the most part it works. Don’t give up, remember it took me 9 hours. Here is the link for both sites. Be careful and select the correct software download.

Baofeng

http://www.baofengradio.com/en/services ... rogramming Software

409 Shop Limited

http://www.409shop.com/shop_displaynews.php?id=292

One Last Problem - I call it the "the channel one" anomaly”. Simply stated I was not able to program channel one on the radio. Every time I would input the frequency data it would disappear when I tried to save the file. It happened on both versions. So, to get around the problem I left Channel One blank. It's not a problem when the radio is on. When you click to channel one the unit beeps softly letting you know the channel is blank. Other than that all channels work fine. I just mailed the box back to my good friend.

I hope I helped somewhat. Don’t give up.