How to Program a UV-5R — Step by Step

The radio most people own first. A flat numbered menu: you press MENU, type a number, and change one setting.

This page covers: Baofeng UV-5R, Baofeng UV-5R+, Baofeng UV-5RA, Baofeng UV-5RE, Baofeng BF-F8HP, Baofeng BF-F9, Radioddity UV-5R, Retevis RT-5R. They share the same firmware, so the steps below are identical on all of them whatever name is printed on the front.

What you can do on this radio

Rather do this on your phone, standing at the radio?

The app walks you through the same steps one at a time, on a screen sized for a phone.

Open Radio Rosetta

Save a repeater to a memory channel on a UV-5R

Everything on this radio is done from the frequency you can see on the screen. So you put the repeater's frequency up first, hang the settings off it, and only then save the whole thing to a channel.

Have these to hand before you start

  • The repeater's output frequency — the one it transmits on, and the one you listen to.
  • Its offset: how far away, and in which direction, it listens.
  • Its tone, if it uses one. Most do.
  1. Press VFO/MR until the channel number disappears from the right of the display.VFO/MRThe screen should show: A frequency with no channel number beside it.This is frequency mode. It is the only mode where the keypad types frequencies instead of picking channels.
  2. Press A/B until the small arrow sits beside the top line.A/BThe screen should show: The pointer is on the upper line.The UV-5R only transmits on whichever line the arrow is on. Program the wrong line and nothing works.
  3. Press BAND until the frequency starts with 1 for 2 meters, or 4 for 70 centimeters.BANDThe screen should show: A frequency in the right band.
  4. Type the repeater's output frequency straight in on the keypad.type 146.940The screen should show: Your frequency, digit by digit.Watch out. The decimal point puts itself in after three digits. Do not go looking for a decimal key — there isn't one.
  5. Open menu 25, choose + or − to match the repeater, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›25›MENU›shows SFT-D›▲▼ + or −›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: SFT-D, then your choice.This is which way the repeater listens: above the frequency you hear, or below it.
  6. Open menu 26 and type the offset as five digits: 00600 for the usual 2 meter offset, 05000 for the usual 70 centimeter one.MENU›26›MENU›shows OFFSET›type 00600›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: OFFSET, then 00.600 or 05.000.Watch out. Five digits, with the leading zeros. Typing 6 does not mean 600 kHz — it means 6 MHz, and it will put you on entirely the wrong frequency with no warning.
  7. Open menu 13 and scroll to the repeater's tone, then MENU and EXIT.MENU›13›MENU›shows T-CTCS›▲▼ your tone›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: T-CTCS, then a number like 100.0.This is the sub-audible tone that tells the repeater you are allowed to use it. You will never hear it.
  8. Open menu 27, type an empty channel number, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›27›MENU›shows MEM-CH›type 015›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: MEM-CH, then the channel number.That saved the receive side — what you listen to.
  9. Press the ✱ key. The display flips to the transmit frequency. Press MENU twice, then EXIT, then ✱ again to flip back.*›MENU›MENU›EXIT›*The screen should show: The transmit frequency, then the same channel number again.Watch out. This is the step everyone misses. The UV-5R stores receive and transmit as two separate saves into the same channel. Skip the second one and the radio will hear the repeater perfectly and never key it up — which looks exactly like nobody wanting to talk to you.

Press VFO/MR to go back to channel mode and your repeater will be sitting on the number you chose.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL) on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 13, scroll to your tone, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›13›MENU›shows T-CTCS›▲▼ your tone›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: T-CTCS, then the tone.T is for transmit. This is the one a repeater needs.

If you set only one tone, set this one. Setting the receive tone as well is a different job — see below.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Set the receive tone on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 11, scroll to the tone, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›11›MENU›shows R-CTCS›▲▼ your tone›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: R-CTCS, then the tone.

Careful with this one. With a receive tone set, the radio stays silent for anything that is not sending that exact tone — including, often, the repeater you are trying to use. If you have gone quiet and cannot work out why, this is usually the reason.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Set the offset direction and amount on a UV-5R

Two settings, in two menus, and they are next door to each other.

  1. Menu 25 sets the direction. Choose + if the repeater listens above where it talks, − if below.MENU›25›MENU›shows SFT-D›▲▼ +, − or off›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: SFT-D.
  2. Menu 26 sets how far. Type it as five digits — 00600 is 600 kHz, 05000 is 5 MHz.MENU›26›MENU›shows OFFSET›type 00600›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: OFFSET, then 00.600.Watch out. Leading zeros matter. 6 is not 600 kHz, it is 6 MHz.

Press the ✱ key at any time to see what the radio thinks it will transmit on. If that number is wrong, one of these two settings is wrong.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Set the squelch on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 0, pick a level from 0 to 9, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›0›MENU›shows SQL›▲▼ 0 to 9›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: SQL, then a single digit.

0 leaves the speaker open all the time and you will hear hiss. Most people settle around 3 to 5. Turn it up until the hiss stops and no further — every notch above that is a weak station you will never hear.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Change the transmit power on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 2, choose HIGH or LOW, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›2›MENU›shows TXP›▲▼ HIGH or LOW›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: TXP, then HIGH or LOW.

If the repeater hears you fine on low, stay on low. It doubles your battery life and stops you covering up other people further away.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Listen on the repeater's input on a UV-5R

A repeater listens on one frequency and talks on another. Reverse swaps the two over, so you hear what the repeater hears.

  1. Press the ✱ key.*The screen should show: The frequency changes to the repeater's input, and a small R appears.Nothing is being saved and nothing is being changed permanently. Press it again to go back.

Two things this is good for. If you can hear the other station in reverse, the two of you are close enough to talk directly and leave the repeater free for everyone else. And if you hear nothing at all in reverse while the repeater is plainly busy, the station you are hearing is a long way off — which is worth knowing before you answer them on low power.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Name a memory channel on a UV-5R

This one is a short answer: you cannot. There is no way to type a channel name into a UV-5R from its own keypad. What you can change is whether the screen shows the frequency, the channel number, or a name that was put there some other way.

  1. Menu 21 sets what the top line displays.MENU›21›MENU›shows MDF-A›▲▼ FREQ, CH or NAME›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: MDF-A, then your choice.
  2. Menu 22 does the same for the bottom line.MENU›22›MENU›shows MDF-B›▲▼ FREQ, CH or NAME›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: MDF-B, then your choice.

If you set these to NAME and the screen stays blank, that is because no name has been stored — not because the radio is broken. Names have to be written in with CHIRP and a programming cable. For most people that is the moment CHIRP starts being worth the trouble.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Delete a memory channel on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 28, type the channel number, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›28›MENU›shows DEL-CH›type 015›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: DEL-CH, then the channel number.

There is no confirmation and no undo. Check the number before you press MENU.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Turn off the roger beep on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 39, set it to OFF, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›39›MENU›shows ROGER›▲▼ OFF›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: ROGER, then OFF.

This is the short chirp your radio sends when you let go of the transmit button. It is off by default on most radios and on by default on this one, and nobody on the receiving end enjoys it.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Turn off the voice announcements on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 14, set it to OFF, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›14›MENU›shows VOICE›▲▼ OFF›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: VOICE, then OFF.

The setting has an English and a Chinese option as well as OFF. If yours is talking to you in a language you did not choose, this is the menu that fixes it.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Turn off dual watch on a UV-5R

  1. Open menu 7, set TDR to OFF, press MENU, then EXIT.MENU›7›MENU›shows TDR›▲▼ OFF›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: TDR, then OFF.

Dual watch is why the radio sometimes answers on the line you were not looking at. With it off, the radio listens and transmits on one line only — whichever one the arrow is against — and stops surprising you.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Lock the keypad on a UV-5R

  1. Press and hold the # key for about two seconds.hold #The screen should show: A small padlock appears.Hold it again to unlock. This is the manual lock and it works whatever the menu says.
  2. To have it lock itself, open menu 24 and set AUTOLK to ON.MENU›24›MENU›shows AUTOLK›▲▼ ON›MENU›EXITThe screen should show: AUTOLK, then ON.The keypad then locks on its own after a few seconds of being left alone.

Worth doing before the radio goes on your belt. The transmit button is not locked by either method — only the keypad is — so a radio pressed against a car seat can still key up.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

Factory reset on a UV-5R

Two choices behind one menu item, and the difference between them is every channel you have ever programmed. Read which is which before you commit — there is no undo, and the wrong one costs you an evening with CHIRP.

  1. Open menu 40.MENU›40›MENU›shows RESETThe screen should show: RESET.Watch out. Forty, not thirty-seven. A great many cheat sheets and forum posts put reset at 37 — on this radio 37 is RPT-RL, the repeater tail revert setting, and changing it does nothing you would notice. If you have been told 37, you have been told wrong.
  2. Choose VFO if you want to keep your channels.▲▼ VFO›MENUThe screen should show: VFO.VFO puts the menu settings — squelch, beep, backlight, timeout and the rest — back to factory, and leaves every programmed channel exactly where it was. This is the one you almost always want. It fixes a radio somebody has fiddled with, without costing you the work of setting it up.
  3. Choose ALL only if you genuinely want the radio empty.▲▼ ALL›MENUThe screen should show: ALL.Watch out. ALL is the full wipe: every menu setting AND every saved channel, back to a blank out-of-the-box radio. Your repeaters are gone. If you did not program them from CHIRP and keep the file, they are gone for good and you are typing them all in again by hand.

Try VFO first. It clears up almost everything that sends somebody looking for a reset — a radio that has gone quiet, a setting changed by accident, a menu somebody else has been in — and it costs you nothing. ALL is worth doing only when you are handing the radio to somebody else, or starting over on purpose. And whichever you pick, this is the argument for programming with CHIRP and keeping the file: with a saved image, even ALL is a five-minute inconvenience instead of a lost evening.

Checked on the radio itself, not just read off a manual.

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