10W UV380/UV390 PLUS - WORK IN PROGRESS

[VK3KYY]

We have received multiple reports of the latest 10W UV380/390 "PLUS" versions not working correctly with the firmware.

It appears that initial / older 5W versions of the UV380/390 PLUS may work OK, but newer 10W radios do not work correctly

Unfortunately we do not know what hardware changes have been bade by the manufacturer (TYT) in newer version of this radio which make it incompatible.

We also do not know whether the PLUS version of the radio is still manufactured or whether the new production runs are only the 10W version

I have attempted to contact TYT on multiple occasions, directly and via dealers, over the last 6 months, but TYT are not willing to provide any technical information about their radios.



I do not personally own the PLUS versions of these radios, and do not have the time or money to buy one of them to attempt to understand why the new versions don't work. However its possible that someone who has bought one of the radios which does not seem to be compatible will be able to analyse why the new radios don't work.

The source code for the UV380 firmware is available for anyone who wants to modify the firmware to work with this new hardware


Edit.

We now made some progress to support the 10W UV380 PLUS version, but need more testers

[CU7AAZ]

Hello Roger,

It is not very easy for TYT and Retevis to provide some information.
I've already given up asking them questions...
Waste of time
But curiously, they publish photos on Facebook (official page) of radios with OPENGD77 firmware.



Thank you very much Roger,
Happy 2024

73s
CU7AAZ

[VK3KYY]

Hello Roger,

It is not very easy for TYT and Retevis to provide some information.
I've already given up asking them questions...
Waste of time
But curiously, they publish photos on Facebook (official page) of radios with OPENGD77 firmware.



Thank you very much Roger,
Happy 2024

73s
CU7AAZ

It is also the same for Radioddity and Baofeng.

Radioddity and Retevis are not manufacturers and have limited information from their suppliers e.g. TYT.

Baofeng seem to have even less communication than TYT. The Baofeng do not seem to post firmware for many of their radios, so its not even possible to return these radios to the firmware which was originally in the radio when it was purchased

Its likely that both TYT and Baofeng are actually quasi-governmental companies, because they probably also produce radio hardware for the Chinese government etc

Its always been unclear who writes the firmware for the radios. It does not seem to be TYT or Baofeng and is likely to be another government department which writes the firmware, as we know the same organisation writes the firmware in both Baofeng and TYT radios, hence why its easy to Baofeng to make radios like the old DM-1801 and DM-1701 which are almost identical to the TYT radios and then instantly have firmware for these radios, becuase its just a modified version of the original source code from whoever writes the firmware for the TYT radios

[CU7AAZ]

It's true friend Roger,
Baofeng in particular is a total mess, they give very weak responses.
And now chips with hidden IDs are in fashion mode..
It's their policy, sometimes a little strange, but we have to respect it, we have no other solution hehehe

[VK3KYY]

...

we have no other solution hehehe

Design a new radio ?

[KQ4MDM]

This makes me sad. I have emailed twowayradios and asked for original firmware. They are supposed to be getting back to me. I feel like I am hosed though. I’m guess this new ham learned a hard lesson.

[KB8YKF]

I have emailed twowayradios and asked for original firmware.

Just out of curiosity, do your examples from buytwowayradios.com have any “10 watt” branding on them? That seems to be a recent change.

[VK3KYY]

This makes me sad. I have emailed twowayradios and asked for original firmware. They are supposed to be getting back to me. I feel like I am hosed though. I’m guess this new ham learned a hard lesson.

It may be possible for us to support this new version in the future if someone who has bought one is able to analyse the interconnection between the IC's on the PCB.

Did you try loading the non-PLUS version of the official UV380/390 firmware ?

[KB8YKF]

Did you try loading the non-PLUS version of the official UV380/390 firmware ?

I remember reading this report of a person trying non-plus firmware on a plus unit and running into problems: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3145#p27959

[VK3KYY]

Did you try loading the non-PLUS version of the official UV380/390 firmware ?

I remember reading this report of a person trying non-plus firmware on a plus unit and running into problems: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3145#p27959

Ok. I read those posts and it indicates that TYT changed things with the hardware of the PLUS version of this radio

The confusion seems to be based on this YouTube video


youtu.be/h0PMK-aohx0

Posted by W4KWS who is not registered on this forum

Anyone with the Plus version should probably contact W4KWS to confirm the details of this radio