Programming the Baofeng UV-5R for GB3DA Danbury Repeater

The Baofeng UV-5R is proving itself to be a very popular handheld radio, not least because of its price-tag of under £30. It’s a powerful little 2m and 70cm handheld, and a solid successor to the Baofeng UV-3R.

Programming the UV-5R for access to local repeaters such as GB3DA can be a little tricky, partly due to the less-than-ideal manual, which has been translated from the native Chinese. To help out users looking to set this up, here’s a short guide on how to program the Baofeng UV-5R for the local GB3DA 2m repeater.

Essentially, you have two choices – programming from the radio’s front panel, or programming via a PC and a cable. Here, we’ll try to help with both:

Programming GB3DA from the radio

Here’s how to program GB3DA into the Baofeng UV-5R from the radio:

Setting the frequency:

• Press the blue [A/B] button to get to A (the upper of the two channels)
• Press the orange [VFO/MR] to get to “Frequency” mode
• If you’re not on 2 metres, press the [Band] button
• Tune to the Output frequency of the repeater. For GB3DA, this is 145.725.

Setting the offset:

• Set the direction of offset first: Press [MENU], then use the [Up/Down] arrows to get to “SFT-D” (Menu item 25) and press [MENU]
• Now press ‘2’ to set a negative “-” minus offset. Then press [MENU]
• Now set the offset of 600kHz: Press [MENU], then use the [Up/Down] arrows to get to “OFFSET” (Menu item 26) and press [MENU]
• Now enter 000.600 , Then press [MENU]

Setting the CTCSS tone:

• Press [MENU], then use the [Up/Down] arrows to get to “T-CTCS” (Menu item 13) and press [MENU]
• Use the [Up/Down] arrows to set the CTCSS code. For GB3DA, this is 110.9. Then press [MENU]
• Press [MENU] to complete programming

Set bandwidth to “Narrow”

• Press [MENU], then use the [Up/Down] arrows to get to “W/N” (Menu item 5) and press [MENU]
• Now use [UP/DOWN] to set “Narrow”. Then press [MENU]

You may also want to set the power to High (5 watts). Do this via [MENU] option 2 “TXP” (0 = high power).

Storing to Memory:

You should now save this to the radio’s memory, so you can recall it easily. To do this:

• Press [MENU], then use the [Up/Down] arrows to get to option 27 “MEM-CH” and press [MENU]
• Use the [Up/Down] arrows to select a free channel, eg. “001”
• Press [MENU] to store the “Receive” settings, and press [EXIT]
• Next, press [* SCAN] to switch from receive to transmit mode
• Press [MENU], then use the [Up/Down] arrows to get to option 27 “MEM-CH” and press [MENU]
• Use the [Up/Down] arrows to select the same channel as used above (eg. “001”)
• Press [MENU] to store the Transmit settings
• Finally, press [* SCAN] and [EXIT] to return to normal operation

 

Programming from the PC

Programming repeater information and memory settings into the Baofeng UV-5R is a lot faster and easier if you’re able to connect your radio to a PC. For this, you will need:

• A Baofeng UV-5R radio
• A Baofeng USB programming lead – (UV-B6 USB Lead from Amazon)
• Free Baofeng programming software – www.baofengradio.com

For GB3DA, the settings are:

• RX Frequency: 145.72500
• CTC/DCS: Off
• TX Frequency: 145.12500
• CTC/DCS ENC: 110.9
• Power: High
• W/N: Narrow
• PTT ID: Off

That’s it. Hopefully, you’ve now programmed your Baofeng UV-5R successfully. Any questions or problems, please let us know in the box below!

 

Related Links

• Guide to using the UV-5R – Written by Steve M6UEH
• Need help connecting a handheld to a PC for programming?