This has only been tested on the UV-5R and UV-S9Plus. This may also work with other models.

Programming the channels of Baofeng radios is straightforward using CHIRP. That’s great, but it seems to me that a radio that requires a computer and a special cable to program is pretty useless in the field.

The general belief is that manual programming of these radios is difficult. I can understand why. I spent several hours fiddling around. I studied various tutorials and followed step by step instructions without success. Putting together bits I’ve learned with some experimentation, I have the following sequences that work without fail for me.

Programming these radios isn’t difficult, just a little odd in comparison to my Yaesu FT-60. The main difference is that to program a duplex channel on the Yaesu, you set everything up in VFO mode, transmit and receive frequencies, CTCSS, etc. Then in one step you transfer all of it into a memory channel.

With the Baofeng, you start out the same way, setting up everything in the VFO, but storing it is a two step process. The receive and transmit parameters are stored in two steps by storing to the same memory channel twice. This can be tricky but I found a straightforward way to do it that’s easy to remember. At the end I include a little “theory of operation” that might help you visualize what’s happening.

FIRST

Before following either the SIMPLEX or DUPLEX procedures below, erase the contents of the memory channel you want to program. Let’s say you want to erase memory channel 5.

MENU (to enter menu mode)
DEL-CH (select the DEL-CH function, use arrows or enter 28)
MENU (to enter the delete channel function)
Select the channel with arrows or numeric entry
MENU (to perform the memory delete operation)
EXIT (to exit menu mode)

Note that the DEL-CH and MEM-CH functions display a 3-digit channel number. If the number is preceded by CH, like CH005, then the memory is in use. If the channel number is plain like 005, the channel is empty and can be programmed.

SIMPLEX PROGRAMMING

Switch to VFO mode and the upper display (A), and enter the frequency you want to store. Then perform the following steps.

MENU (To enter menu mode)
MEM-CH (select the MEM-CH function, use arrows or enter 27)
MENU (to select the MEM-CH function)
Select the channel using arrows or numeric entry
MENU (to perform the memory store operation)
EXIT (to exit menu mode)

Now switch from VFO to memory mode (VFO/MR), select your new channel and test it.

DUPLEX PROGRAMMING

Remember to delete the channel you want to program, described in the first step above.

Switch to VFO mode and the upper display (A). Since we’re talking duplex, you’re probably trying to set up a channel for a repeater and will need to program offset and CTCSS. I’ll show all of the steps below.

First, enter the downlink frequency (the frequency you listen to). Let’s say it’s 146.685. Enter 146685 and it should display on the upper (A) VFO.

Let’s say the repeater has a negative offset of 600 kHz (input is at 146.085) and an input PL tone or CTCSS of 103.5 Hz, no downlink PL, no DCS. So your radio must transmit a 103.5 Hz tone to break the squelch on the repeater.

MENU (to enter menu mode)
R-DCS (select R-DCS function using arrows or enter 10)
MENU (to select the function)
Use arrow keys to turn this off
MENU (to perform the operation)

R-CTCS (select R-CTCS function using arrows or enter 11)
MENU (to select the function)
Use arrow keys to turn this off. (If your repeater has downlink PL and you want to try using it, then set this to the right frequency. I would leave it off for now and experiment later.)
MENU (to perform the operation)

T-DCS (select T-DCS function using arrows or enter 12)
MENU (to select the function)
Use arrow keys to turn this off.
MENU (to perform the operation)

T-CTCS (select T-CTCS function using arrows or enter 13)
MENU (to select the function)
Use arrow keys to select 103.5 Hz (or your repeater’s CTCSS tone frequency)
MENU (to perform the operation)

SFT-D (select the shift direction function using arrows or enter 25)
MENU (to select the function)
Use arrow keys to select + or – shift/offset. Our example repeater is minus.
MENU (to perform the operation)

OFFSET (select the offset function using arrows or enter 26)
Enter the six digit offset. Note that the display is in Mhz! So the 600 kHz offset of our example repeater is 000600.
MENU (to perform the operation)
EXIT (exit menu mode)

Once you’ve become accustomed to programming the radio, some of the parameters above will already be set and can be skipped or just checked.

At this point you can test your VFO settings and make sure you can use the repeater. If all is working properly, the next steps will program the channel. (which you have previously erased as described in the first step above.) Let’s say channel 5 is your target. Do not skip any steps below.

MENU (enter menu mode)
MEM-CH (select the MEM-CH function using arrow keys or enter 27)
Select channel 5. It should display 005 not CH005. If it shows the latter, you failed to delete the channel as instructed in the first step above. You must delete the channel before attempting to program it. You can probably delete it now using the DEL-CH function, 28, but this has not been tested throughly.)
MENU (to perform the store to receive memory operation)
EXIT (to exit menu mode)

Momentarily press the *SCAN key. This engages “reverse mode” that will flip the transmit and receive frequencies in the VFO so that the transmit frequency is now displayed in A.

MENU (enter menu mode)
MEM-CH (should already be selected and since it already has a receive frequency but no transmit frequency, will display CH005. This is correct.)
MENU (to perform the transmit memory store operation)
EXIT

Switch to memory/channel mode VFO/MR and test your new channel.

The above is the “magic sequence” that makes it easy. If you have everything set up in the VFO, and the target channel is already deleted, the sequence is:

MENU
MEM-CH
Select channel
MENU
EXIT
*SCAN
MENU
MENU
EXIT

Once accustomed to it, you can delete the channel, set up the frequency, PL tone, offset, offset direction, and program the channel in well under a minute.

Theory of Operation

Each memory channel has space for a receive frequency with its associated parameters, and a transmit frequency with its associated parameters. When you delete a channel, it clears both.

When you store a frequency and its parameters into an empty channel, the information gets stored in the receive space. When you store a frequency and parameters a second time to the same memory channel, that information gets stored in the transmit space. So it takes two steps to program a duplex channel because they have different transmit and receive frequencies.

Storing a simplex channel only requires the first step. You store the frequency and parameters once and they reside in the receive space. If you transmit on a channel that only has the receive space programmed, the radio will transmit on the receive frequency, and you have simplex.

In other words, if only the receive space of a channel is programmed and the transmit space is blank, then the channel is treated as simplex. It will transmit and receive on the receive frequency. If both receive and transmit spaces of a memory channel are programmed, the radio will operate duplex on the two different frequencies.