I won't be doing any more radio videos, but I have some music and guitar stuff coming up.

Strange that it worked, and strange that the UV5R was missing - it is the most popular one.

It is not likely that anyone would hear you on an unused channel, but it's very hard to determine if a channel is actually unused. Many channels which sound quiet are actually actively transmitting data. So yes, the FCC would probably try to find whoever is spamming that channel. You could probably get away with using the FRS channels, but it's not strictly legal to do that with these radios.

In use, you can always dial in a frequency that is not in your list. It won't be added to the list. You can also save a new channel to the list, but you can't give it a name, you can only name channels in Chirp.

Usually I try reloading the Device Manager, Unplugging the device and plugging in again, rebooting the system, and then plugging the device again. Searching for drivers, etc.... it can get complicated on newer systems if it doesn't just show up automatically. I think the radio has to be ON for it to work, but try it both ways.

@@jasmine2501 i had to download a driver for the cable and got not working. Thanks!

Master Surveillant do you have a link to the driver? Im having the same issue

@@FruitFlyHD check the video description, we can't put links in comments.

@@jasmine2501 baofengtech.com/pccable/ 🤦‍♂️

It's built in to the program as shown in the video. You can also get the numbers from many official sources and from the relevant governments of the countries where you are sailing.

you get static when listening to channels? What about broadcast stations? It's strange that you can't find some clear channels, but a lot of noise on a channel could cause Chirp not to connect.

No, I have no idea about Macs anymore. I abandoned Apple 20 years ago.

And for what it's worth I did do a Google search but found nothing relating to my radio not having a band button, or what that means and if my radio has a different way of going about what the band button does on other radios. I'm literally just getting started, this is my first HAM radio. I got it because of everything that's currently going on in our country. My grandfather was a HAM radio enthusiast but he died before he could teach me about it. I remember sitting in a little room he had upstairs and listening to him talk to someone in Germany (I believe) and him telling me how awesome HAM was.

@@mechveteran01 I have no idea. Newer radios are being changed all the time.

@@jasmine2501 well dang, I figured if anyone would know it would be you. I appreciate you taking the time to respond though. I'll be watching more of your videos I'm sure, as I learn about HAM, thanks for taking the time and energy to make them.

@@jasmine2501 Also i read through the manual that came with it and it shows a band button in the manual so that was a dead end as well.

@@mechveteran01 if it does not have the AM/FM radio then it doesn't need that. It only switches between that. So maybe if it doesn't have that, it wouldn't need the button.

Yes they all use the same cable interface.

@@jasmine2501 I have not been able to download/upload an image to my BF-F8HP

@@theheist5 keep in mind, the one in the video is "illegal" now. If you bought yours recently, it will have a different system,

It will do what it is supposed to do, but I really don't know if you can use these channels there. I don't know which channels you use for what things.

Some of them will reset to English. Check the memory and see if it is cleared.

Only can listen to it

There is one exception to being able to transmit. If in the event of an emergency you have no other way of communicating, you can use this to try and raise help.

Hide it

If you program FRS channels properly -- low power, narrow bandwidth -- you realistically will never get caught or bother anyone. The channel mode with FRS freqs programmed is way safer than having the thing in frequency mode, where you can easily step on channels, and will get caught. Same with MURS.

Probably you disabled the transmit on one device. You shouldn't be using these to transmit unless you're licensed.

@@jasmine2501 My dad is licensed and they are his. I purchased them for him as a gift (even though they are beginner radios) so I was trying to set it up for him before I gave it to him. So now will you help me with thi issue now that you know the people they are for is licensed? I just pulled them out the box. How are transmission disabled. My dad knows but I dont want him to know I want this ready for him when he gets them

@@SpeakNowHoldYourPeace the only thing I can think is if it's actually disabled.

@@jasmine2501 I figured it out. It was just the frequency. One of the radios would not transmit on that frequency where the other one did.

Are you following the instructions in the video? I have programmed all the FRS channels into mine, no problem.

@@jasmine2501 .. Yes, I've programmed more than 75 channels, in two radios, without any problems - and those frequencies manually in both radios (afterwards saved into channels). Again, the problem is unique to those specific frequencies, in both radios. The only thing consistent between the two is the software, hence my question.

@@dwightstewart7181 This could be the result of updates in the programming. Very strange for sure.

@@jasmine2501 .. Yeah, it's definitely got me stumped. I don't know if it's a change in the radio (impacting the software), a bug in the software version I downloaded, or something else. Luckily, it's only impacting those specific frequencies, which I don't need. Everything else in the radio and software works perfectly. Thanks for taking the time to ponder the issue with me.

If you are using Chirp, verify that the available bandwidth includes frequencies this high under left hand sides settings?

I don't know, what happened when you tried it?

Yeah, I suspect it will, even though I don't own that model. They use the same menu structure and such. There may be different menu items etc.

@@wesleybuff2536 Thank you!!

To get it to a consistent starting point for the video. If people do that, it's the only way I can be sure their settings were exactly the same as mine. Some of the new ones have been played with already, probably for QA purposes. Mine was set to English for example, so I have no idea what other settings they might have done.

You have no idea what state it's in. A factory reset means you are starting with the same thing I did in the video. It's really the only way to make sure we're starting at the same place.

@@jasmine2501 Cool, thanks for your reply!

please be sure you are starting with the factory reset and everything else I said to do.

It took ten minutes to show the basics of how it works when you do simple stuff, I didn't want to make a 30 minute software manual. Admit it, you wouldn't be here if this vid was 30 minutes.

Possibly you have the wrong type of radio selected. Could also be a driver problem, bad cable, version of Chirp, etc.

same thing happened to mine. cable wasnt pushed in all the way into radio

@@gfgarcia91 yeah one of my cables is really hard to push in. If it doesn't click all the way then it won't work.

To make sure you're starting with the same settings as mine.

No idea, why don't you download it and report back what you find out?

Almost everything can be programmed through the built in menus, but some things like channel names and power levels can't be done. The radio is definitely useful without any software, but the software helps you get a bit more out of it.

because I have experience helping people through computer procedures and it helps to start with a blank slate where no unknown settings have been made. Doing a factory reset means I'm starting from a known state, which will be the same for all users.

@@jasmine2501 I really need some help I am trying to follow your instructions but it keeps telling me that thr drivers are not installed (code 28). There are no compatible drivers for this device. I made sure everything on my computer is up to date please help?

@@MarcusAurelius12 I'm not a systems expert, but I was able to get the driver from BTech web site. It is "FTDI" driver, used for many different things, not just these radios.

It's cheap Chinesium... if you want the features of a thousand dollar radio, you can get one of those. They have really nice panels with lots of buttons and great computer interfaces supported by the companies. These BF radios are a novelty, they aren't intended for serious HAM usage.

@@jasmine2501 yeah i was gonna get the Android rfinder b1 but everyone said to start cheap. I spent the last several hours trying this bs. I miss windows 7. Any recommendations on what else i can do?

@@lancedooley7558 contact your local ARRL chapter and see if they can help? If you want to get into real HAM stuff, you'll need them anyway. Most of the BF features can be programmed through the panel, it's the just the advanced channel settings and the name which you can't do. BF has some software which is supposed to work, but it didn't work for me. Mostly everyone uses Chirp, but variations in computer hardware and operating systems and potential 3rd party software means that's not always easy. It might not work with your setup. Hard to say. Do be sure you have restarted and done all that stuff and you have the right cables plugged in all the way and you're doing everything exactly as shown in the video.

@@jasmine2501 i got it to work. I just downloaded a bunch and it finally did it. I appreciate it. I will definitely get with my local and an elmer to start getting more. I have my class for ham in the next 3 weeks but already have my gmrs license which i know i can only listen and not broadcast same as frs. Just trying to get an early start.

Because it is almost ALWAYS a problem with your machine and there's too many possibilities. Making your computer work correctly isn't the point of this video.

@@jasmine2501 Fair point.

But like, you just watched a video of it working. Must be on your end.

How can I help you? What isn't working?

@@wesleybuff2536 if they wanted answers, they would have said the problem. It's just an angry outburst.

@@jasmine2501 I peruse the instructional videos of video creators that are less responsive and answer 30 or 40 questions a week. Unfortunately between a third and half of the comments are like this, but that's okay! I just want to try to help them enjoy the hobby that I do because I know it can be frustrating, but in the end yield a heck of a lot of satisfaction and learning.

@@wesleybuff2536 It took me years to learn this - but what you are doing is a waste of time. The kind of person who posts a question on KZfaq instead of just going and getting the answer immediately with a little research, does not actually want the answer. They want someone to interact with them, personally. Otherwise they would just look up the answer. Same reason people ignore the FAQ on a group, and ask the same questions over and over again - they don't want the answer, they want someone to pay attention to them, personally.

Sorry if this did not help you, but it was done on Windows 10. If your software is installed correctly and you follow my steps exactly, it should work. As I mentioned to another user, the factory reset is important because that's the only way I can know exactly what state you are starting from. Changes to versions of CHIRP are also not within my control and it's entirely possible this video is out of date.

I have given no legal advice. That's you, trying to do that, and not really doing it.

@@jasmine2501 So you don't think there is a problem teaching people how to program there radios so they can talk on the weather channels? The reason the FCC is cracking down and the radios is because there are to many people transmitting on frequencies that they should not be transmitting on! You are just making a bad thing worse!

@@donaldsmith3048 no, I think this is a technical video that has nothing to do with any of that. Plenty of videos have covered the legal aspects of this, and everything is published by the FCC or agencies of other countries. This is simply a technical video about how to do something. If you think there's a problem that needs to be addressed, then you should address it yourself. This is YOU tube. YOU do what you want. Further, there's nothing you can possibly get out of this interaction. You have not proposed a solution to the thing I don't think is a problem.