Hi Darrell,
Darrell Wolf wrote:
Darrell Wolf KI7FTZ
I got my Tech. ticket about 3 years ago, ordered a Baofeng GT-3TP and a Baofeng cable, never could get it to work and no one in our club was able to get it to work. I had followed the directions, turn off radio, connect to cable, and turn on the radio to max. volume. Since it is plugged into a USB port I assume there is no COM port to input to get a download of the radio to CHIRP.
This is incorrect. There is a USB-to-Serial chip in the programming cable that when used with a compatible device driver that is installed in the Windows operating system will create a virtual serial port that is required by the radio and programming software. This COM port will be in the list of Ports available to CHIRP and the correct one must be selected by the user.
I recently got a new HP computer running factory installed Windows 10 and would really like to get on the air.
Since I was told it’s a UV-5R clone I tried that, got an Error 3. Then I found in your documentation that the GT-3TP should use BF-F8HP as the radio type, same problem. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or a bad radio or (most likely) bad cable.
This is correct. All UV-5R like radios with 3 power levels (menu 3 [TXP] has 3 choices -- HIGH, MID and LOW) use the Vendor: Baofeng / Model: BF-F8HP selection.
Do you have any things I should try or is there a GOOD reliable cable and where can I get it? Or is there anything as a GOOD cable, I’ve read so much about people having trouble getting their radios working and it usually comes down to a bad cable, even if 6 months earlier it worked OK.
The number 1 and number 2 most common problems that people have with programming cables (and you most likely are affected by both at the same time) are...
The majority of generic and "Baofeng" labeled programming cables are manufactured with an unauthorized copy of the Prolific PL2302 USB-to-Serial chip. The device driver written by the Prolific company and supplied to Microsoft to be automatically installed by Windows when the PL2303 chip is detected, is incompatible with unauthorized copies of the PL2303 chip. One workaround is to download, install and select the older Prolific v3.2.0.0 device driver. A link to the needed device driver and instructions for installing and selecting it are available on the Miklor website's "USB Cable Drivers":https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Drivers.php page. Another workaround is to get a programming cable that has a USB-to-Serial chip from a different chip vendor (FTDI, Silicon Labs, WCH, etc.). With these alternative chip vendors, their latest device driver can be installed avoiding any need to downgrade to older device drivers.
The 2-pin plug is not fully inserted into the speaker/mic socket of the radio. When the plug is not fully inserted, the proper connection is not made and no data can be transferred between the radio and the computer. A test for this is to remove the plug from the radio and attempt a download. The error displayed by CHIRP will be the same. This problem is more common on the GT-3 like models due to the design of the case. There is a raised ridge around the speaker/mic socket well that can contact the plastic shell of the 2-pin plug thus interfering with the plugs ability to be fully inserted into the radio. One workaround for this is to remove some of the plastic shell of the 2-pin plug to reduce/eliminate the interference caused by the ridge. This to is covered on the Miklor website. See the "Radio did Not Respond":https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_ErrorMess.php#error1 entry of the "Errors and Error Messages":https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_ErrorMess.php page and scroll down to the "GT3" section.
No programming software will work until you provide a complete and working serial connection between the radio and computer.
Jim KC9HI