Yes, definitely, I own four of those radios. UV-K6. Brilliant radio. I've nodded all of them and used Chirp. Even a one foot rubber duck. I can pick up PMR in my bedroom. You can use a USB C Cable to charge no problem but it got to be not for data. The light will light up if the USB cable is the right one. I've brought a 3400 mAH batteries from Aliexpress for it. Great buy.
i tried to use it with PMR, but sometimes 2 radios can talk to each others, but i cannot hear them, even though minutes before i could. Maybe it considers the 0.5Watt of PMR as noise sometimes ? idk.
Just getting into the hobby and studying for my ham test these cheap radios are fine. So far I have been able to hear local emergency channels with no problems. I have found GRMS radios better suited for me and my family and what we need.
So I have always charged mine up using the USB connection but after watching your video thought that I would dig the cradle charger out and see what the difference was. Usually scanning around 20 pre programmed channels a day and maybe transmitting to reply for a radio check on the 2m band it needed charging every day, which for the price ( I payed £12 for mine ) didn't seem bad but when it was charged from the cradle charger it lasts in excess of three days ! Nice one Fred. . . 73's
Thanks Fred in the Shed for another Quansheng radio video, it looks like a winner as long as I don’t have to pay in 12 pounds of Dollars…😂! Have a great day!
the radios are decent.. the extra battery thats larger works well and also nice for small solar pannel and charging ect... be careful with small battery.. the internal board is easily blown if you drop the radio.. as it will disconnect from the radio and the proximity of the internal pins is such that it can short and render the battery non operable due to the protection feature... these radios work well as they are intended... a better radio tho in reality is the baofeng DM 1701 DMR digital radio as it uses openGD77 firmware and it is a digital DMR radio and is great for ham use with satellite tracking and a color screen for just a couple dollars more than the quansheng.
I bought 2, the second will get the add in board, as soon as I get around to buying one, and the find some magnifying lenses to be able to see the sm parts. I had no problem with the just under $30 price on Amazon, it still is worlds cheaper than my htx202 back 30+ years ago.
Only problem I've had is with the wide open front ends, they are very prone to de-sensing from out of band signals. You won't necessarily hear the interference, it'll just seem that the receiver is deaf. It's especially bad with an external antenna. I found it particularly affected 2 metres, and for ordinary 2m / 70cms operation I've usually gone back to using Baofengs.
Great review Fred ... ordered one for the fun of it heck knows how they can turn them out for the price they do...be nice to see a replacement antenna that is actually resonant for the 446 band . Best wishes Mac
I have 3 of these already, got my first one at about £30, picked up 2 more at £13 each from AliExpress, and yeah they perform exactly the same so far. Figured I'd like a backup in case I get them too wet in the rain at some point. The egzumer firmware makes them really useful. Just passed my HAM exam so I'm looking forward to being able to try accessing a couple of repeaters nearby once I get my callsign
I have that exact same bargain basement radio Fred. I am stuck with Aliexpress because most sellers on eBay and other sellers won't ship to Ukraine. Aliexpress will ship here. One thing to stress is that you have to push that cable in VERY HARD to the radio as you mentioned. That was the mistake I made and CHIRP would never recognise it - I thought i had it in to a click, but nope, I had t push harder.. On a mac you don't need a driver, which is what I use to program it. I went with egzumer on your recommendations of course! I love the bandscope btw, use it all the time.
Cheers FRED my QUANSHENG is still great for the price, but yeah you are right about that speaker, not very good, maybe one day they might change that with the new firmware on the market. See you soon Alan, 💯👍
My BAOFENG UV-B6 radio is good for use out in the forest and desert, but it picks up to much interference in the city. ✅ For in the city I use the YAESU FT-60R radios.
The Quansheng radios are slowly becoming an addiction, the price, and quality for what you pay along with the numerous firmware versions is pretty much unmatched in the budget radio market. The more I tinker with mine, the more I love it, and I have another one on the way.
Hi Fred, I love all your content and your enthusiasm for the radio hobby and contribution to the community you and a few other channels have got me back into radio Just a random question as I am planning to build a new radio 'shack'/ setup myself, Where do you have your main shack like in the loft/attic or in an outbuilding i.e a shed like it says in your username?? Just wondering as I am pondering whether to put my gear in my shed or my attic room (want to have lowest interference possible) and these are pretty much my only 2 options (sorry if the question is a bit random) Cheers, Steve in Cumbria, england, 73's
Hi Steve. I have two small shacks. One in the loft area and one in the little shed just outside the house. None are ideal as they both pick up noise from the house. The shed is prob the better of the two. If possible my advice is to set up a shack as far from any buildings as possible to reduce QRM noise. Good luck.
@@CB-RADIO-UK Thank you for the reply! Yeah I have a good solid shed, more of a granny flat really. Very big and well insulated and is at least 30m from the houses (long but narrow garden with the building/shed at the bottom) and luckily farmers fields at the back, so gonna go for that. I liked the idea of the convenience of having the shack in the house but the shed it is ! Thanks for the advice, keep up the great content All the best, Steve
Fred what is the connector called so I can use a Telescopic aerial for aircraft please I know it's a SNA but what the last bit called. Great video btw. Thanks
Great video like always Fred, Quansheng UV-K5 or UV-K6, I already have the UV-K5 with egzumer loaded is it worth buying the new model or should i just mod this one ?
I think this particular issue has been proved once and again! A 25 buck radio that do what the Quansheng do is nowhere else to find! I get more satisfaction from the mods on this thing than playing with 20x times more expensive equipment!
This must be one of the first Radios on the market to have some form of SSB even if not true SSB .Don't know why Radio Ham Radios Hand held don't have SSB easy for manufacturer s to do with all the technology available
Absolute BARGAIN 👍 I've had mine for a year now and the modding community and features they've made is just incredible 👍 The crazy cheap cost of the accessories is great too !
Just fell on this and found it interesting but wanted to comment on flashing in case you dont mention it ,certainly when doing similar with cars it always needed good battery power that was stable or otherwise you corrupted the eprom Don't know if this would apply here so don't shoot me if things have moved on😊
Hello Fred, would you please tell me how i can set the frequentie from low to hi. sothe scanning will start. and how i start scanning? thank you for your reaction.
Mine was £10.02p. It's okay but I have noticed it seems not to receive as well as my Baofeng UV-5R on certain repeaters. The Quansheng seems to receive more static and seems worse with the longer 771 antenna. I can place them side by side and the Quansheng isn't picking anything up but the UV-5R is booming. I don't know if the Quanshengs are all the same like that? It does work well though at other times on closer repeaters and for the price is worth anyone's money. In future, I'll be sticking with professional/quality brands.
I BOUGHT A BAOFENG 6 months ago, wanted one since a teen, 40yrs ago, but was unable to input my channels, all 4 wanted, then i fand i carnt pick up anything without inputting towers receivers nearby, unable do that i settle for watching on line, i never realised i was so dumb" kinda keeps ya feet on the ground so to speak. but i watch instead.
When you were listening on the aircraft band I noticed the channel bandwidth was set to 25KHz. Is it capable of the European 8.33KHz channel separation?
good luck with that I tried and some strange thing happens would not let me program i had to use another program to edit the frequency offsets as chirp won’t let you
IJV firmware has a .py file to include in Chirp (fully explained in the IJV manual) and you can read/write channels and settings. About 20 seconds more each time you start Chirp to add the shim.
Being a gainfully employed RF tech for many.. many years, these trinket "radios" stuffed with half baked DMR and stolen microcode are not to be praised in any regard, they are toys at best. You get what you pay for and I can attest to that, I started repairing radios in the 90's and the design and semiconductors used in these are "get er done" technology and nothing more. One of my favorites are the "multi-band am/fm" offerings.. when will people learn?
@@EdStraker-m9kIf that's your attitude.. then here's why.🤨 As I had mentioned, I work in the industry and people using half baked, toy radio equipment incorrectly is a determent to the trade and the professionals that use them.. it's polluting spectrum with garbage chinese designed "radios" and people that don't have a clue how to use them properly.. just stick to playing with your cellphones, we will thank you for it.
@ I use mine only for receiving and I hear no evidence to suggest what you say is true, you have a good imagination and an ulterior motive for your opinion I’m sure.
@@EdStraker-m9k If I had a dime for every time I've heard "I use mine only for receiving" over the years.🤣 I don't care what you do with your chinese trinkets.. just don't use them in licensed commercial spectrum, they are garbage and made with junk parts and zero QC.. obviously you don't understand that being an issue. Most of these "radios" don't have FCC/IC registration or even tested for compliance. There is a reason for this, simply because they wouldn't pass. A secondary point would be privacy, some of you just don't get that fiddling around and listening to private communications is in fact illegal in some cases, especially decoding DMR; www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/interception-and-divulgence-radio-communications Being a Service Technician in the Radio industry for many years is my only "ulterior motive" here.. we don't like your kind.. it's pretty simple! You seldom know about proper protocol and just copy and paste from the internet.. do you even have a radio operator's license?.. I could assume no.. probably not even a HAM license. Like I said, stick to your cellphone.. it's the ONLY RADIO you are legally licensed to use.
I've bought many things from Ali, two things never got sent and one got trapped in customs and I was refunded for all of them (eventually). The one trapped in customs arrived anyway a month or two later 😂
Get discount with this code here.
Yes, definitely, I own four of those radios. UV-K6. Brilliant radio. I've nodded all of them and used Chirp. Even a one foot rubber duck. I can pick up PMR in my bedroom. You can use a USB C Cable to charge no problem but it got to be not for data. The light will light up if the USB cable is the right one. I've brought a 3400 mAH batteries from Aliexpress for it. Great buy.
i tried to use it with PMR, but sometimes 2 radios can talk to each others, but i cannot hear them, even though minutes before i could.
Maybe it considers the 0.5Watt of PMR as noise sometimes ? idk.
Just getting into the hobby and studying for my ham test these cheap radios are fine. So far I have been able to hear local emergency channels with no problems. I have found GRMS radios better suited for me and my family and what we need.
So I have always charged mine up using the USB connection but after watching your video thought that I would dig the cradle charger out and see what the difference was. Usually scanning around 20 pre programmed channels a day and maybe transmitting to reply for a radio check on the 2m band it needed charging every day, which for the price ( I payed £12 for mine ) didn't seem bad but when it was charged from the cradle charger it lasts in excess of three days ! Nice one Fred. . . 73's
Thanks Fred in the Shed for another Quansheng radio video, it looks like a winner as long as I don’t have to pay in 12 pounds of Dollars…😂!
Have a great day!
Fred, I went one step further and added all the sub tones as well and labelled them PMR1, (no tone), PMR1-01, to PMR1-15 (with tone), etc.
Thanks for the video. I often wonder how they can manufacture radios like this for the money.
the radios are decent.. the extra battery thats larger works well and also nice for small solar pannel and charging ect... be careful with small battery.. the internal board is easily blown if you drop the radio.. as it will disconnect from the radio and the proximity of the internal pins is such that it can short and render the battery non operable due to the protection feature... these radios work well as they are intended... a better radio tho in reality is the baofeng DM 1701 DMR digital radio as it uses openGD77 firmware and it is a digital DMR radio and is great for ham use with satellite tracking and a color screen for just a couple dollars more than the quansheng.
These are so good when you manage to upload the Laptop software and modify them - Top review here too!
I bought 2, the second will get the add in board, as soon as I get around to buying one, and the find some magnifying lenses to be able to see the sm parts. I had no problem with the just under $30 price on Amazon, it still is worlds cheaper than my htx202 back 30+ years ago.
Only problem I've had is with the wide open front ends, they are very prone to de-sensing from out of band signals. You won't necessarily hear the interference, it'll just seem that the receiver is deaf. It's especially bad with an external antenna. I found it particularly affected 2 metres, and for ordinary 2m / 70cms operation I've usually gone back to using Baofengs.
Great review Fred ... ordered one for the fun of it heck knows how they can turn them out for the price they do...be nice to see a replacement antenna that is actually resonant for the 446 band .
Best wishes Mac
You can also buy them with the expansion board already soldered in on tha website for around €60-
Frid in the shed your new Quansheng is awesome my friend
Fred RadioID ?:D
Fred report this idiot.Tom 👍.
I have 3 of these already, got my first one at about £30, picked up 2 more at £13 each from AliExpress, and yeah they perform exactly the same so far. Figured I'd like a backup in case I get them too wet in the rain at some point. The egzumer firmware makes them really useful.
Just passed my HAM exam so I'm looking forward to being able to try accessing a couple of repeaters nearby once I get my callsign
I have that exact same bargain basement radio Fred. I am stuck with Aliexpress because most sellers on eBay and other sellers won't ship to Ukraine. Aliexpress will ship here. One thing to stress is that you have to push that cable in VERY HARD to the radio as you mentioned. That was the mistake I made and CHIRP would never recognise it - I thought i had it in to a click, but nope, I had t push harder.. On a mac you don't need a driver, which is what I use to program it. I went with egzumer on your recommendations of course! I love the bandscope btw, use it all the time.
It actually does manage to get the 5W on the higher frequencies. Lower frequencies use less. You can always adjust the TX power too.
Cheers FRED my QUANSHENG is still great for the price, but yeah you are right about that speaker, not very good, maybe one day they might change that with the new firmware on the market. See you soon Alan, 💯👍
Frid in the shed I learn lot from you about bying cb radios and antennas for cb radios and power supplys for cb radios my friend
Thanks for making these videos.
I've got a k5 + a k6, love both of them
The k6 @@cornbread-KO5RN
What is the difference between the k5 and k6 ?
Nothing really, just a fancier front @@johnmcd6652
My BAOFENG UV-B6 radio is good for use out in the forest and desert, but it picks up to much interference in the city.
✅ For in the city I use the YAESU FT-60R radios.
Such a very versatile radio.
The Quansheng radios are slowly becoming an addiction, the price, and quality for what you pay along with the numerous firmware versions is pretty much unmatched in the budget radio market. The more I tinker with mine, the more I love it, and I have another one on the way.
Yes your right. You can have a lot of fun for about £15
Hi Fred, I love all your content and your enthusiasm for the radio hobby and contribution to the community
you and a few other channels have got me back into radio
Just a random question as I am planning to build a new radio 'shack'/ setup myself, Where do you have your main shack like in the loft/attic or in an outbuilding i.e a shed like it says in your username?? Just wondering as I am pondering whether to put my gear in my shed or my attic room (want to have lowest interference possible) and these are pretty much my only 2 options (sorry if the question is a bit random)
Cheers, Steve in Cumbria, england, 73's
Hi Steve. I have two small shacks. One in the loft area and one in the little shed just outside the house. None are ideal as they both pick up noise from the house. The shed is prob the better of the two. If possible my advice is to set up a shack as far from any buildings as possible to reduce QRM noise. Good luck.
@@CB-RADIO-UK Thank you for the reply! Yeah I have a good solid shed, more of a granny flat really. Very big and well insulated and is at least 30m from the houses (long but narrow garden with the building/shed at the bottom) and luckily farmers fields at the back, so gonna go for that. I liked the idea of the convenience of having the shack in the house but the shed it is ! Thanks for the advice, keep up the great content
All the best, Steve
Fred what is the connector called so I can use a Telescopic aerial for aircraft please I know it's a SNA but what the last bit called. Great video btw. Thanks
Its a "female to female SMA barrel connector "
@CB-RADIO-UK thank you, I appreciate you telling me.
Have you looked into modding an upgrade to the speaker? Just asking because I would like to upgrade it as well.
Very little room in the case :-(
great video
Mine was delivered today. Thanks for the video tips.
No problem 👍
Not available in NZ 😢
High quality recomended
Great wee radios for the price of a loaf and milk and half a dozen eggs .
AliExpress are selling the radio with the modded board already done £50 if you don't want to solder yourself
Thats good to hear. I will prob wait till its £20
@@CB-RADIO-UK id probably wait till they use the latest modded board in its 3rd variation now
Hi mate, can i transmit on cb or only receive ?thank you
Hi. The radio will transmit but its so far away from its design freq its totally useless so just receive really.
I bought 1 2wks ago too but off Ebob for £25
Nice little handscanner.
Great video like always Fred, Quansheng UV-K5 or UV-K6, I already have the UV-K5 with egzumer loaded is it worth buying the new model or should i just mod this one ?
No they do the same thing. Cosmetics only.
@@CB-RADIO-UK Thank you Fred 😁
I think this particular issue has been proved once and again! A 25 buck radio that do what the Quansheng do is nowhere else to find! I get more satisfaction from the mods on this thing than playing with 20x times more expensive equipment!
Totally agree and if you do brick playing then you have not lost to many pennies.
This must be one of the first Radios on the market to have some form of SSB even if not true SSB .Don't know why Radio Ham Radios Hand held don't have SSB easy for manufacturer s to do with all the technology available
Absolute BARGAIN 👍
I've had mine for a year now and the modding community and features they've made is just incredible 👍
The crazy cheap cost of the accessories is great too !
Hi Fred, what’s the deal difference between this and the UV-K5(8)?
I’m going to buy one but unsure what to get!! Thank yiu
Hi. Same radio different cosmetics.
@@CB-RADIO-UK thanks for getting back to me!! So if I told you I had circa £50 what would you recommend I get?
Just fell on this and found it interesting but wanted to comment on flashing in case you dont mention it ,certainly when doing similar with cars it always needed good battery power that was stable or otherwise you corrupted the eprom
Don't know if this would apply here so don't shoot me if things have moved on😊
Haha, you bought that Fred?!. Just joking Fred. I don't know what I'm typing about. I just love my fellows I'm subbed too, that's all.
Thanks for the sub!
Hello Fred, would you please tell me how i can set the frequentie from low to hi. sothe scanning will start. and how i start scanning? thank you for your reaction.
Hi. No prob. See here. ua-cam.com/video/NYsQ3UtbPKs/v-deo.html
@@CB-RADIO-UK thank you verry match. from the netherlands. i have flash the radio. i am happy.
Mine was £10.02p. It's okay but I have noticed it seems not to receive as well as my Baofeng UV-5R on certain repeaters. The Quansheng seems to receive more static and seems worse with the longer 771 antenna. I can place them side by side and the Quansheng isn't picking anything up but the UV-5R is booming. I don't know if the Quanshengs are all the same like that? It does work well though at other times on closer repeaters and for the price is worth anyone's money. In future, I'll be sticking with professional/quality brands.
can you scan and pick up walkie talkies being used nearby on this radio ?
Yes if you program the 446 MHz channels.
I miss the days when you did ssb videos with pukka dave and everyone else including steve 318 mobile
Yeah i miss them but none of those guys are on the 4pm 305 anymore.
Are Quansheng radios legal for use (transmit) on the amateur (ham) bands in the UK?
Legal only if you have the correct Ham licence
can you make it stay a few seconds on channels when scanning before it moves on ???
Yes just press the PTT.
I BOUGHT A BAOFENG 6 months ago, wanted one since a teen, 40yrs ago, but was unable to input my channels, all 4 wanted, then i fand i carnt pick up anything without inputting towers receivers nearby, unable do that i settle for watching on line, i never realised i was so dumb" kinda keeps ya feet on the ground so to speak. but i watch instead.
These Quansheng radios have moved things forward when modded. Loads of vids on the channel.
Hi It wont let me buy one, keeps saying payment failed or contact bank?
Try a different listing .
Has anyone been hit with UK import duty when buying these from AliExpress
When you were listening on the aircraft band I noticed the channel bandwidth was set to 25KHz. Is it capable of the European 8.33KHz channel separation?
Yes it can with Egzumer.
Will this radio can you get AIRBAND.
Yes
Is it allowed to listen for free and no license?
Yes it is.
I think the radios look great, but do you listen to using them? Airband is ok, but foreigners rambling away?
Try to read the radio with Chirp now that it is flashed with the new firmware and see what happens!!!
No always do chirp first.
yes but you try chirp now and tell me what happens!! after the modded firmware is uploaded try and connect with chirp!!!
You cant. You have to enter presets manually.
good luck with that I tried and some strange thing happens would not let me program i had to use another program to edit the frequency offsets as chirp won’t let you
IJV firmware has a .py file to include in Chirp (fully explained in the IJV manual) and you can read/write channels and settings. About 20 seconds more each time you start Chirp to add the shim.
Armel F4HWN firmware is much better. Egzumer is no longer being developed Armel has improved it immensely.
calling them crangshang from now on
Being a gainfully employed RF tech for many.. many years, these trinket "radios" stuffed with half baked DMR and stolen microcode are not to be praised in any regard, they are toys at best. You get what you pay for and I can attest to that, I started repairing radios in the 90's and the design and semiconductors used in these are "get er done" technology and nothing more. One of my favorites are the "multi-band am/fm" offerings.. when will people learn?
You should try one of these radio's they are simply amazing. Check out my SSB receive videos.
If that’s your opinion why are you here, killjoy.
@@EdStraker-m9kIf that's your attitude.. then here's why.🤨 As I had mentioned, I work in the industry and people using half baked, toy radio equipment incorrectly is a determent to the trade and the professionals that use them.. it's polluting spectrum with garbage chinese designed "radios" and people that don't have a clue how to use them properly.. just stick to playing with your cellphones, we will thank you for it.
@ I use mine only for receiving and I hear no evidence to suggest what you say is true, you have a good imagination and an ulterior motive for your opinion I’m sure.
@@EdStraker-m9k If I had a dime for every time I've heard "I use mine only for receiving" over the years.🤣 I don't care what you do with your chinese trinkets.. just don't use them in licensed commercial spectrum, they are garbage and made with junk parts and zero QC.. obviously you don't understand that being an issue.
Most of these "radios" don't have FCC/IC registration or even tested for compliance. There is a reason for this, simply because they wouldn't pass.
A secondary point would be privacy, some of you just don't get that fiddling around and listening to private communications is in fact illegal in some cases, especially decoding DMR;
www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/interception-and-divulgence-radio-communications
Being a Service Technician in the Radio industry for many years is my only "ulterior motive" here.. we don't like your kind.. it's pretty simple! You seldom know about proper protocol and just copy and paste from the internet.. do you even have a radio operator's license?.. I could assume no.. probably not even a HAM license. Like I said, stick to your cellphone.. it's the ONLY RADIO you are legally licensed to use.
LOL What's the risk?
Well about 15 quid :-)
Good luck when ordering anything from AliExpress terrible company you may as well just put your money down the drain now
Sorry but I don't trust those sites
I've bought many things from Ali, two things never got sent and one got trapped in customs and I was refunded for all of them (eventually). The one trapped in customs arrived anyway a month or two later 😂
Seriously,is quite insulting, what risk? Risk is go to a petrol station in US or GP in UK
I have sweet, no idea what your on about.
It’s not very good. £12 sums it up really
Compared to what for £12. Receives ok.
@@CB-RADIO-UK Selectivity is the worst I’ve ever heard. Save your brass for something decent none Chinese
@@garysharp293😂😂 everything is made in china regardless of brand
@@Steven-Sea_gull Mmmm not my 101D!!
@@garysharp293 how much is that
Will have to give it a go,
56ct004
Glenn