I have several fake NA-711s (two for 3 euros) and they work surprisingly well on the Quansheng. On 70cm from my house first floor to the nearest repeater 17 km further perfectly noise free both rx and tx according to reports. But if I put it on the opposite side of the table I do hear static/noise. And the signal still has to go through a rebar concrete cavity wall and some nearby trees. Simply amazing for such a cheap HT. On HF Egzumer seems to be less sensitive than IJV Mod which seems to be able to pick up even the weakest signals. Maybe an idea for your next video, compare the two?
nice video Ben, looks like you had the same idea with the oronge knob, making it black, SNAP lol. Also clean your gutter out by the diamond X50 pmsl.....thanks for your time doing the videos as always, great job.
@@LeHunkyDory I have, it's a lot better. I'm running Egzumer 0.22. Only complaint is that it feels like the scanning is slower now, but that may be a false observation. Comparing reception to reception with the same antenna against a PRO-97, my UV-K5(8) sounds as good. I only have one decent airband antenna, so I can't test them side by side, but back to back I'd say the audio quality is comparable.
Something that might be of interest.....I used the stock antenna to test my tiny GS satellite ground station, (433mhz) and actually received about 50 telemetry packets over 24 hours. My record distance was about 1200 km.
Hi there, thanks for the video. I'm wanting to get into these radios. Just wanted to claify two things I didn't pick up were the types of adapters I should get. I'm assuming both male SMAs to BNC and SO239 both female? And the other thing was the roof radio mount was the magmount I think I picked up, but what was the actual antenna on it? Was it the NL770S? Thanks in advance and keep up the great work.
If you're close enough then the stock antenna that came with it should work just fine. If not a base or mobile scanner antenna for VHF would improve reception. Thanks for watching.
I’m having trouble trying to hear any of the California Highway Patrol frequencies which are in the 42mhz range. Even with my 42” Abbree tactical antenna attached to a 6 foot pole, I can’t hear anything. Do I need a specific HF antenna ? Where would I find one for that frequency?
Hi, you may find a scanner antenna that is suitable for that frequency. Alternatively you could make a simple wire dipole for 42Mhz. There are lots of tutorials on UA-cam of how to make them for whatever frequency you desire. Thanks for watching 👍
That's a difficult question to answer. Basically a dedicated airband antenna would be the most suitable if that's all you want to listen too. Either a 'rubber duck' or maybe if you're using it at home, a dipole centered around the airband. For most airband RX, the stock antenna should work just fine. Thanks for watching. 👍
You would need to change the firmware from the original to one of the modified firmwares if you haven't already. Then you can either use a PC to program it or manually type in CB frequencies starting with zero, ie: 027.555 Hope that helps, see my other videos: ua-cam.com/video/kZ1i7YP05hQ/v-deo.htmlsi=ak9QahxDezF8ZFgR
Also in Texas. watching alot of your vids, Ben. New to this spectrum. SWL years ago, CB, scanning...now with an SDR dongle, but I can't figure out even the basic operation of this baby. Read the manual? It's horrible. Can anyone link a video of how to enter a frequency I would like to hear, and what to do after keying in the freq.? Do you press monitor? What should squelch be set to in menu? How do you select your added frequencies once they're in? Learned to use CHIRP somewhat today, but i feel like the chimps on Space Odyssey when I hold the HT.
Please check out the other Quansheng videos on my channel, hopefully they may be of assistance: ua-cam.com/video/kZ1i7YP05hQ/v-deo.htmlsi=K1zRv5Tve3Da1sHY ua-cam.com/video/-g7glWEVpdw/v-deo.htmlsi=T35HejPng4Ha3Jr1
hi Ben, ive got my quansheng k5 but so far havent managed to find anything at all, just white noise. its my first dip into the radio world, i only have so far the stock antenna, ant tips so i can catch my first frequency? does the quansheng only work outside? the only channels/frequencies ive got working on the quansheng is the FM radio!
Try to find out what the transmit (tx) frequencies of your nearest 70cm and/or 2m repeaters are and enter them in the first two channels. This is what turned me into a radio amateur a long time ago, listening on a scanner to these radio amateur guys who seemed to know a lot about technical stuff. Keep in mind that by law you are not allowed to use/transmit on these repeaters. But you can listen to them and they are your best bet to see if things are working properly. And when you manage to get a Novice amateur license (the exam is not that hard) you are allowed to use them. I live in the Netherlands where many of these repeaters are connected so with this simple Quansheng I can almost cover the whole north of the country. PS: Outside is always better but I can use the nearest repeaters, about 17 km or over 10 miles distance, from inside my house first floor without a problem. According to other radio amateurs my signal sounds good and is noise free so the Quansheng is performing extremely well. The higher the frequency the more obstacles in the path become a problem. So in general VHF (2m= 144 MHz) will give you a wider range when compared to UHF (70cm = 440 MHz).
@@ingeborgsvensson4896 Thank you, but you see...Something like "enter them into the first two channels" is a mystery...I assume you enter Frequency mode?" but I don't see a difference on the radio when I press the key combination, for that, I dont think. 😞 Getting to be frustrating just fumbling around. I wonder how much more they'd have to charge for a proper manual? 😂
@@boostismagic It must be difficult if its all new to you. Lets say your local 2 meter band repeater is transmitting on 145.600 MHz and you want to enter that into one of the channels. Take your K5 and keep VFO (button 3) pressed until you see numbers you can enter. Then enter 145600 with the number-pad. You are now listening on that frequency. It is possible you don't hear anything because nobody is using the receiver at this time. If you want to store/save it in a memory channel so you don't have to enter it every time you want to listen: go to the menu by shortly pressing the big M button. Use the arrow keys to scroll down and find a menu item like ChSave. Press the M key again and it will suggest a channel number. Let's say you want this frequency stored in channel 30. Use the arrow keys to go all the way down to 30. Press M again, the screen will ask Sure? and if you press M once more it will be stored in that channel. In the menu you can also change the channel name with ChName, for example 2M-REP so you know it is you local 2 meter repeater. There are a lot more settings but let's keep it simple for now. In the menu you can also set the squelch (noise suppression) to a low setting, you will hear noise/static at setting 0 so set it a bit higher so you will only hear something when there is actually someone using that repeater. You can exit the menu with the exit button. With key nr 3 you can switch between VFO (variable frequency oscillator, this shows the frequency on the display) and MR (memory where your channels are stored. Give these instructions a try so you get a little bit used to the device. I understand it may seem a bit overwhelming at first but don't give up too soon. It is now weekend and that is usually the time these repeaters are used the most. If you want to tell me where you live (just town, village or city. No address!) I can look up at what frequencies your local repeaters can be heard. Just play with the settings a bit and if you have any further questions let me know. GL!
@@boostismagic YT keeps removing my comment so I will do it in sections. It must be difficult if its all new to you. Lets say your local 2 meter band repeater is transmitting on 145.600 MHz and you want to enter that into one of the channels. Take your K5 and keep VFO (button 3) pressed until you see numbers you can enter. Or press F followed by 3, depends on your firmware. Then enter 145600 with the number-pad. You are now listening on that frequency. 1/
@@boostismagic It is possible you dont hear anything because nobody is using that repeater at this time. If you want to store/save it in a memory channel so you don't have to enter it every time you want to listen: go to the menu by shortly pressing the big M button. 2/
Im sorry maybe you're already covered that but can you listen to cb radio without modifying the motherboard? I think i have not understood why have you modded the quansheng in the first place. Thanks!
No problem, A standard UV-K5, UV-K5(8), UV-K6 or UV-5R Plus with stock firmware won't be able to receive CB. If you changing to any of the modified firmwares then yes they will receive down to 18Mhz (including 27Mhz CB) The UV-K5(99) with stock firmware will receive from 20Mhz. If you modify any of the models with the HF hardware mod board then they will receive from 150Khz to 30Mhz with better sensitivity on AM, USB, LSB & CW. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for watching 👍
@@iuristasiv9360 The mod only changes the FM broadcast circuit so instead of receiving say 87 - 108Mhz wide FM it does 150Khz-30Mhz AM,USB,LSB & CW as well. The rest of the circuitry remains the same, so it still works just the same on both transmit & receive on VHF & UHF.
@@m7frs272 is not maybe,is fake. But i have the real nagoya and is crap for me,stupid long antenna almost for nothing, i perfer walk in around with some long wire
Very helpful, thank you friend.
Cheers from Texas.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it and found it useful 👍
Wouldn't it be great if someone would add a Meshtastic app to the open source firmware so the radios could be used for off grid text messaging ?
Given that Meshtastic relies on LORA, it's unlikely that would be possible.
Kamilsss655 firmware gives you this option
There is already a Firmware that Supports Text msg
@@michael_the_chefone that supports full APRS too, look up KD8CEC (the version with on device RX isn’t quite out yet, but it will be very soon)
I have several fake NA-711s (two for 3 euros) and they work surprisingly well on the Quansheng. On 70cm from my house first floor to the nearest repeater 17 km further perfectly noise free both rx and tx according to reports. But if I put it on the opposite side of the table I do hear static/noise. And the signal still has to go through a rebar concrete cavity wall and some nearby trees. Simply amazing for such a cheap HT. On HF Egzumer seems to be less sensitive than IJV Mod which seems to be able to pick up even the weakest signals. Maybe an idea for your next video, compare the two?
I've done a comparison of the firmware option but not of testing the sensitivity. Maybe a future video 😉👍
nice video Ben, looks like you had the same idea with the oronge knob, making it black, SNAP lol. Also clean your gutter out by the diamond X50 pmsl.....thanks for your time doing the videos as always, great job.
Ha ha, yeah funny enough the XYL mentioned the gutter today 😉
the shitty abbree 4 foot whip for vhf and the na771 for uhf works pretty well for me
Nice video. I have 2 of those and flashed the various open source firmware into them in order to improve AM reception quality on airband.
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it 👍
Apparently they've heavily improved the AM airband with some firmware updates in the last month for the uvk5, have you tried it?
@@LeHunkyDory I have, it's a lot better. I'm running Egzumer 0.22. Only complaint is that it feels like the scanning is slower now, but that may be a false observation. Comparing reception to reception with the same antenna against a PRO-97, my UV-K5(8) sounds as good. I only have one decent airband antenna, so I can't test them side by side, but back to back I'd say the audio quality is comparable.
Interesting.!
What happens when you join two types of coax, with different Velocity Factors, or different shield % coverage.?
Really useful video thankyou
Thanks for watching and glad you found it useful 👍
Hi. Very useful and helpful video. Can you provide the symbol of the antenna you have on your car?
Something that might be of interest.....I used the stock antenna to test my tiny GS satellite ground station, (433mhz) and actually received about 50 telemetry packets over 24 hours.
My record distance was about 1200 km.
Thanks for the info and thanks for watching 👍
Can we receive 174-350mhz and 350 to 400mhz with given stock antenna ?
grabbed one of those nagoya 773s i like it
Thanks for watching 👍
Ottimo video!!
Hi there, thanks for the video. I'm wanting to get into these radios.
Just wanted to claify two things I didn't pick up were the types of adapters I should get. I'm assuming both male SMAs to BNC and SO239 both female? And the other thing was the roof radio mount was the magmount I think I picked up, but what was the actual antenna on it? Was it the NL770S?
Thanks in advance and keep up the great work.
Yes, that's all correct 👍 thanks for watching, glad you found it useful.
Thank you 👍
You are welcome, thanks for watching 👍
both great radios ,, how ever i got rid and got uv5rH instead kicks 7.5 watts out and air band is way better,,, theres nothing on CB round here
Did you remove the black/orange vfo knob and put it on the other radio Ben? Thanks for the video!
Well spotted! Yes I did 😉👍
I'm close to the water and airport in Florida. Which antenna would you recommend? Recently got the quansheng K6 UV K5(8). My very first two way radio
If you're close enough then the stock antenna that came with it should work just fine. If not a base or mobile scanner antenna for VHF would improve reception. Thanks for watching.
I want that solid black knob on the K6.
Someone on eBay sells a 3d printed one
The black button comes from the Baofeng UV5R+.
I’m having trouble trying to hear any of the California Highway Patrol frequencies which are in the 42mhz range. Even with my 42” Abbree tactical antenna attached to a 6 foot pole, I can’t hear anything.
Do I need a specific HF antenna ?
Where would I find one for that frequency?
Hi, you may find a scanner antenna that is suitable for that frequency. Alternatively you could make a simple wire dipole for 42Mhz. There are lots of tutorials on UA-cam of how to make them for whatever frequency you desire. Thanks for watching 👍
What's the best antenna for listening to the Air Band?
That's a difficult question to answer. Basically a dedicated airband antenna would be the most suitable if that's all you want to listen too. Either a 'rubber duck' or maybe if you're using it at home, a dipole centered around the airband. For most airband RX, the stock antenna should work just fine. Thanks for watching. 👍
so you can get the CB freqs with a rubber duck? how do i input the 27. numbers in?
You would need to change the firmware from the original to one of the modified firmwares if you haven't already. Then you can either use a PC to program it or manually type in CB frequencies starting with zero, ie: 027.555 Hope that helps, see my other videos: ua-cam.com/video/kZ1i7YP05hQ/v-deo.htmlsi=ak9QahxDezF8ZFgR
@@m7frs272 ok thanks. i can see i need egzumer. much appreciated :)
Also in Texas. watching alot of your vids, Ben. New to this spectrum. SWL years ago, CB, scanning...now with an SDR dongle, but I can't figure out even the basic operation of this baby.
Read the manual? It's horrible.
Can anyone link a video of how to enter a frequency I would like to hear, and what to do after keying in the freq.?
Do you press monitor? What should squelch be set to in menu? How do you select your added frequencies once they're in? Learned to use CHIRP somewhat today, but i feel like the chimps on Space Odyssey when I hold the HT.
USrael
Keep the squelch as low as possible, set to 0 on HF bands. Switch between VFO and MR (3 on numpad) for frequency or channel mode. Arrows for up/down.
Check out Quansheng Radio UK Users Group
Quansheng Radio UK Users Group
Please check out the other Quansheng videos on my channel, hopefully they may be of assistance:
ua-cam.com/video/kZ1i7YP05hQ/v-deo.htmlsi=K1zRv5Tve3Da1sHY
ua-cam.com/video/-g7glWEVpdw/v-deo.htmlsi=T35HejPng4Ha3Jr1
Any tips for a better reception of AM air traffic frequency?
I'd recommend upgrading to the egzumer firmware for better AM reception:
ua-cam.com/video/kZ1i7YP05hQ/v-deo.htmlsi=jHzZUKn2SU_mrBEa
Smiley Antenna makes rubber duckies for very specific airbands, I have also had success with a generic Chinese airband whip from eBay
A outside discone would really help.
hi Ben, ive got my quansheng k5 but so far havent managed to find anything at all, just white noise. its my first dip into the radio world, i only have so far the stock antenna, ant tips so i can catch my first frequency? does the quansheng only work outside? the only channels/frequencies ive got working on the quansheng is the FM radio!
Try to find out what the transmit (tx) frequencies of your nearest 70cm and/or 2m repeaters are and enter them in the first two channels. This is what turned me into a radio amateur a long time ago, listening on a scanner to these radio amateur guys who seemed to know a lot about technical stuff. Keep in mind that by law you are not allowed to use/transmit on these repeaters. But you can listen to them and they are your best bet to see if things are working properly. And when you manage to get a Novice amateur license (the exam is not that hard) you are allowed to use them. I live in the Netherlands where many of these repeaters are connected so with this simple Quansheng I can almost cover the whole north of the country.
PS: Outside is always better but I can use the nearest repeaters, about 17 km or over 10 miles distance, from inside my house first floor without a problem. According to other radio amateurs my signal sounds good and is noise free so the Quansheng is performing extremely well. The higher the frequency the more obstacles in the path become a problem. So in general VHF (2m= 144 MHz) will give you a wider range when compared to UHF (70cm = 440 MHz).
@@ingeborgsvensson4896 Thank you, but you see...Something like "enter them into the first two channels" is a mystery...I assume you enter Frequency mode?" but I don't see a difference on the radio when I press the key combination, for that, I dont think. 😞
Getting to be frustrating just fumbling around. I wonder how much more they'd have to charge for a proper manual? 😂
@@boostismagic It must be difficult if its all new to you. Lets say your local 2 meter band repeater is transmitting on 145.600 MHz and you want to enter that into one of the channels. Take your K5 and keep VFO (button 3) pressed until you see numbers you can enter. Then enter 145600 with the number-pad. You are now listening on that frequency. It is possible you don't hear anything because nobody is using the receiver at this time. If you want to store/save it in a memory channel so you don't have to enter it every time you want to listen: go to the menu by shortly pressing the big M button. Use the arrow keys to scroll down and find a menu item like ChSave. Press the M key again and it will suggest a channel number. Let's say you want this frequency stored in channel 30. Use the arrow keys to go all the way down to 30. Press M again, the screen will ask Sure? and if you press M once more it will be stored in that channel. In the menu you can also change the channel name with ChName, for example 2M-REP so you know it is you local 2 meter repeater. There are a lot more settings but let's keep it simple for now. In the menu you can also set the squelch (noise suppression) to a low setting, you will hear noise/static at setting 0 so set it a bit higher so you will only hear something when there is actually someone using that repeater. You can exit the menu with the exit button. With key nr 3 you can switch between VFO (variable frequency oscillator, this shows the frequency on the display) and MR (memory where your channels are stored. Give these instructions a try so you get a little bit used to the device. I understand it may seem a bit overwhelming at first but don't give up too soon. It is now weekend and that is usually the time these repeaters are used the most. If you want to tell me where you live (just town, village or city. No address!) I can look up at what frequencies your local repeaters can be heard. Just play with the settings a bit and if you have any further questions let me know. GL!
@@boostismagic YT keeps removing my comment so I will do it in sections. It must be difficult if its all new to you. Lets say your local 2 meter band repeater is transmitting on 145.600 MHz and you want to enter that into one of the channels. Take your K5 and keep VFO (button 3) pressed until you see numbers you can enter. Or press F followed by 3, depends on your firmware. Then enter 145600 with the number-pad. You are now listening on that frequency. 1/
@@boostismagic It is possible you dont hear anything because nobody is using that repeater at this time. If you want to store/save it in a memory channel so you don't have to enter it every time you want to listen: go to the menu by shortly pressing the big M button. 2/
Im sorry maybe you're already covered that but can you listen to cb radio without modifying the motherboard? I think i have not understood why have you modded the quansheng in the first place. Thanks!
No problem, A standard UV-K5, UV-K5(8), UV-K6 or UV-5R Plus with stock firmware won't be able to receive CB. If you changing to any of the modified firmwares then yes they will receive down to 18Mhz (including 27Mhz CB) The UV-K5(99) with stock firmware will receive from 20Mhz. If you modify any of the models with the HF hardware mod board then they will receive from 150Khz to 30Mhz with better sensitivity on AM, USB, LSB & CW. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for watching 👍
@@m7frs272 so on mod board it will not go more than 30mhz?
@@iuristasiv9360 The mod only changes the FM broadcast circuit so instead of receiving say 87 - 108Mhz wide FM it does 150Khz-30Mhz AM,USB,LSB & CW as well. The rest of the circuitry remains the same, so it still works just the same on both transmit & receive on VHF & UHF.
@@m7frs272 oh ok so there's no loosing by installing the hf mod
@@iuristasiv9360 no, not at all.
Ok
Your nagoya is fake😂
So are mine. And they work amazingly well on the Quansheng.
Maybe but it works very well 😉
@@m7frs272 is not maybe,is fake.
But i have the real nagoya and is crap for me,stupid long antenna almost for nothing, i perfer walk in around with some long wire
Very helpful, thanks from South Africa ZS6AKW 73
Glad you found it useful, thanks for watching 👍
✋73's🎙KD9OAM🎧📻