Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

HB3XPL
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 9:15 am

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by HB3XPL » Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:52 pm

Send by e-mail thanks Roger

VK3KYY
Posts: 7473
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:25 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by VK3KYY » Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:54 pm

Thanks

ve3slm
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 1:27 pm

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by ve3slm » Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:28 pm

I am new to this group and I am attempting to try this firmware on my RD-5R's. I have two of them but I am only planning on converting one at a time.

After reading this entire thread, and the manual, I am still confused as to how to proceed.

I have loaded the CPS and started it, and attempted to backup my radio, as warned in the manual. However, my programming cable does not install a serial port so that I can connect with the CPS. The cable works flawlessly with the stock program. I have also tried the Retevis cable for my RT3, on the off chance that it had the serial driver chip that the CPS was looking for.

I guess I could attempt to flash the radio with the stock firmware updating program, but I would not be able to get a backup before doing that.

Am I missing something? Should I flash with the stock update program and then do the backups?

Thanks and 73

W1CY
Posts: 76
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2020 6:57 pm

How to load the firmware on the RD-5R?

Post by W1CY » Fri Jun 12, 2020 12:30 am

I am using the latest OPENGD77 CPS and I downloaded the latest RD-5R firmware (Experimental JUNE 11). I was able to read the existing CPS from the radio into the OPENGD77 CPS. Then I put the radio in firmware update mode, selected the firmware update tool from the CPS, selected the RD-5R from the button list, and select the firmware image. I get the Firmware writing message, but the progression bar never moves. I then was able to disconnect the radio from the cable and it still had the original firmware on it. I was forced to use the WIN10 Process management screen to force a shut down on the OPENGD77 since the cancel or the close button did not work since the CPS thought I was in an update process. How do I load the OPENGD77 (RD-5R flavor) firmware into the RD-5R radio? Thanks.

UPDATE: Got the firmware loaded by using the standalone FIRMWARELOADER.EXE application from Github.
Not able to get a reponse form my jumbospot. I will check the RxOffSet on pistar, just in case. It was working OK with stock firmware.

VK3KYY
Posts: 7473
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:25 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by VK3KYY » Fri Jun 12, 2020 1:38 am

There have been other posts about this.

There seems to be some difference with newer RD-5R radios in relation to the calibration, which this firmware can't handle

You could try adjusting your hotpsot offsets, but this still may not resolve the problem and you may need to revert back to the manufacturers firmware.

The RD-5R version is still version very experimental.

The most stable platform is the GD-77.

ve3slm
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 1:27 pm

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by ve3slm » Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:51 pm

ve3slm wrote:
Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:28 pm
I am new to this group and I am attempting to try this firmware on my RD-5R's. I have two of them but I am only planning on converting one at a time.

After reading this entire thread, and the manual, I am still confused as to how to proceed.

I have loaded the CPS and started it, and attempted to backup my radio, as warned in the manual. However, my programming cable does not install a serial port so that I can connect with the CPS. The cable works flawlessly with the stock program. I have also tried the Retevis cable for my RT3, on the off chance that it had the serial driver chip that the CPS was looking for.

I guess I could attempt to flash the radio with the stock firmware updating program, but I would not be able to get a backup before doing that.

Am I missing something? Should I flash with the stock update program and then do the backups?

Thanks and 73
I guess I should have added that I am working in Win7 Pro 64bit. When the dropdown appears for the port, there are no ports to choose from.

Thanks again

SO5AJG
Posts: 91
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:44 pm
Location: Warsaw, Poland

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by SO5AJG » Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:11 pm

I suggest uploading a new firmware using the independent FirmwareLoader program from https://github.com/rogerclarkmelbourne/ ... 7/releases
I also didn't want RD5R to load firmware using CPS OpenGD77

ve3slm
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 1:27 pm

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by ve3slm » Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:33 pm

Thank you Janusz

DL1DBY
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 22, 2020 6:56 am
Location: Frankfurt/Germany

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by DL1DBY » Sun Jun 14, 2020 12:54 pm

VK3KYY wrote:
Fri Jun 12, 2020 1:38 am
There have been other posts about this.

There seems to be some difference with newer RD-5R radios in relation to the calibration, which this firmware can't handle

You could try adjusting your hotpsot offsets, but this still may not resolve the problem and you may need to revert back to the manufacturers firmware.

The RD-5R version is still version very experimental.

The most stable platform is the GD-77.
It really seems to be the older RD-5R that have no problem with calibration with the experimental firmware.

Of my three RD-5R the older one works fine on hotspots with the experimental firmware. This unit can be recognised by a LCD display which is black on grey.

The other and newer units that still have calibration problems with the experimental firmware both have a LCD display with a blueish tint, so it is more blue on grey than black on grey. I am not referring to the tint of the white LED lighting, just the colour of the LCD crystals itself.

ok2zar
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:49 pm

Re: Experimental Baofeng RD-5R version

Post by ok2zar » Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:17 am

I've bought one of this piece just for hotspot use but I'm curious why I'm not able to use this radio (with alternate firmware of course) against any RPT (Hytera RPT, MMDVM repeater based on Motorola radios as well as ADF7021 based hotspots/repeaters). I've spent a much time by try&fail attempts to compensate frequency offset. It looks like problem on TX site. RX site looks OK - no frequency offset presented. So best reception performance is with no frequency adjusting. And best TX performance is (in my case) by substituting 5KHz for 3,72 KHz. It's possible to set this frequency from keyboard but not in CPS (immediately is corrected according to frequency step - 5 KHz).

So once I've set TX frequency up and checked the result via SDR (accurate frequency counter is not reachable for me now) then I've been able to reach 1.2% error-rate on my testing repeater but never been able to activate the repeater. I'm able to get in once the repeater is already activated by other station but not possible to activate by RD-5R. It's confusing a bit.

Really weird thing is when I use the radio as a hotspot - there is no frequency offset, I have not correction in MMDVM config file and hotspot works fine against all tested radios.

Also like to mention that attempts to adjust calibration data has no influence.

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