How to Program a UV-K5 — Step by Step

Ten jobs printed on the number keys and reached with F, plus a fifty-one item menu you scroll through. These steps are for Quansheng's own factory firmware.

This page covers: Quansheng UV-K5. One model, so nothing here has to be translated from a near relative — every step below was written for exactly this radio.

What you can do on this radio

• Save a repeater to a memory channel
• Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL)
• Set the receive tone
• Set the offset direction and amount
• Set the squelch
• Change the transmit power
• Listen on the repeater's input
• Delete a memory channel
• Turn off the roger beep
• Turn off the voice announcements
• Turn off dual watch
• Lock the keypad
• Factory reset

Save a repeater to a memory channel on a UV-K5

On this radio you build the whole repeater in frequency mode — frequency, offset direction, offset amount and tone — and then store it with one save. The manual names the frequency, the offset direction and the tones among the settings that go into the channel; it does not name the offset amount, so the closing checks it. There is no second save into the same channel the way there is on a Baofeng.

1. If DW is on the screen, turn dual watch off first: press MENU, scroll to item 17 TDR, press MENU, choose OFF, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 17 TDR›MENU›▲▼ OFF›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: TDR, then OFF. DW leaves the main screen.A precaution. The manual does not say how dual watch interacts with programming, and with it off the arrow stays on the line you are working on.
2. If DW or WX is still on the screen, do the same for cross-band: press MENU, scroll to item 18 WX, press MENU, choose OFF, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 18 WX›MENU›▲▼ OFF›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: WX, then OFF. DW and WX leave the main screen.Watch out. WX here is cross-band, not the weather radio.
3. If the solid arrow is not on the line you want to program, press F then 2 to move it.F›2 (A/B)The screen should show: The solid arrow moves to the other line. That line is now the main channel.Everything you change in the menu goes to the line the arrow points at.
4. Find out which mode that line is in by pressing an arrow key once: a small step in frequency means frequency mode; a jump to a different stored channel means channel mode. If you cannot tell, do the next step. The frequency step after that settles it for good — in channel mode, typing the digits picks a channel instead of showing your frequency.▲▼ one press, to testThe screen should show: In frequency mode, the up and down arrows step the frequency a little at a time. In channel mode they jump from one stored channel to the next, and the manual says channel mode displays the channel number.Watch out. The screen alone may not tell you which mode you are in — item 23 MDF can make channel mode show a frequency too. Do not change anything else in the menu until you are sure, because in channel mode the menu changes the stored channel itself.
5. Only if the test showed channel mode, or you cannot tell: press F then 3, then press an arrow key once to test again.F›3 (VFO/MR)›▲▼ one press, to test againThe screen should show: If F then 3 took you to frequency mode, an arrow key press now steps the frequency a little at a time.Watch out. F then 3 switches back and forth. If you were already in frequency mode, it just took you out of it — the test tells you. Press F then 3 again, and press an arrow key once more to confirm.
6. Type the repeater's output frequency as digits only — for 146.940 MHz that is 1 4 6 9 4 0.type 146940The screen should show: Your frequency on the main line with the decimal point in place — 146.940, possibly followed by smaller digits.Watch out. There is no decimal point key, and ✱ is not one — a short press of ✱ opens the manual dial page. Typing digits only is how this page reads the manual, which does not spell out the keystrokes or say how many digits the radio waits for. If the digits picked a channel instead of building a frequency, you were in channel mode: press F then 3, type the frequency again, and check the screen shows it before going on.
7. If you are not sure what frequency mode was last used for, check five items before going further — six for a DCS repeater. Open each one the same way — MENU, scroll to it, MENU — and read it. 4 R_DCS, 5 R_CTCS and 11 SCR should be OFF; 6 T_DCS should be OFF unless your repeater uses a DCS code, and if it does, 7 T_CTCS should be OFF instead; 10 W/N should be wide. If an item already reads right, hold EXIT. If it does not, scroll to the right value, press MENU to save it, then hold EXIT.check 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 7The screen should show: Each item's current setting as you open it.The save copies whatever is set in frequency mode, including anything left over from last time. A leftover receive tone makes the channel silent; a leftover scrambler setting garbles everything you send. Wide is general US practice for amateur repeaters, not something the manual says.
8. Press MENU, scroll to item 8 SFT-D and press MENU to open it. Choose ADD for a plus repeater or SUB for a minus one, press MENU to save, and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 8 SFT-D›MENU›▲▼ ADD or SUB›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: SFT-D, then OFF, ADD or SUB. Back on the main screen, + or − appears beside the frequency.ADD means you transmit above the frequency you hear; SUB means below. These are the manual's words for what is usually called plus and minus.
9. Press MENU, scroll to item 9 OFFSET and press MENU to open it. Set it to how far away the repeater listens — in the US that is usually 0.6 MHz on 2 meters and 5 MHz on 70 centimeters (general US practice, not from the manual). Press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 9 OFFSET›MENU›set it to read 0.6 or 5 MHz›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: OFFSET and an amount in megahertz.Watch out. The manual gives this item a range, 0 to 999.9999 MHz, and does not say whether you scroll to the figure or type it — and there is no decimal point key. Whichever you try, do not press MENU until the screen shows six tenths of a megahertz for 2 meters, or five megahertz for 70 centimeters, with however many zeros the radio prints. A slip of one digit here is ten times the offset.
10. Press MENU, scroll to item 7 T_CTCS and press MENU to open it. Scroll to the repeater's tone, press MENU to save, and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 7 T_CTCS›MENU›▲▼ your repeater's tone›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: T_CTCS and a tone. CT appears on the main screen once a CTCSS tone is set.7 is the tone you SEND, which is what the repeater needs. 5 is the tone you listen for; leave it OFF unless you know the repeater sends that tone back out.Watch out. If the repeater uses a DCS code instead, use this step only to make sure item 7 reads OFF — if it does not, set it to OFF and save. Then set item 6 T_DCS to the code the same way, and do not go back into item 7 afterward: the manual does not say whether the two share one setting. DCS then shows on the main screen instead of CT.
11. Press MENU, scroll to item 13 MEM-CH and press MENU. Pick the channel to save into with the arrows and press MENU. The screen asks SURE?; press MENU again to save, then hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 13 MEM-CH›MENU›▲▼ pick an empty channel›MENU›SURE?›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: Channel numbers. A bare number such as 015 is empty; one shown as CH-015 already has something in it. Then SURE?.Watch out. Pick a bare number. A channel marked CH- is already in use, so choose a different one unless you mean to replace what is there. The manual says you can also type the channel number instead of scrolling — if you do, check the screen shows exactly that number before pressing MENU.

Press F then 3 to switch to channel mode and select your new channel. Check the frequency it shows is the repeater's output — if it shows a channel number or name instead, item 23 MDF is set to CH or NAME, and FREQ will show the frequency. The + or − beside it confirms the offset DIRECTION only; to check the amount, press MENU, scroll to item 9 OFFSET, press MENU to see the figure, and hold EXIT without pressing MENU again. If you used a DCS code, open item 6 the same way to check it is still set. If the offset amount is wrong, the manual says the menu modifies a stored channel, so set item 9 again right there on the channel. Then select a different channel, come back to this one, and open item 9 again to confirm it kept the new figure.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL) on a UV-K5

The transmit tone is item 7, and it changes the line the arrow is on. On a stored channel, the manual says the menu modifies that channel, though it does not say outright that the change is kept — so afterward select a different channel, come back, and open the item again to check. In frequency mode it changes only what you are tuned to, and nothing is kept until you save with item 13 MEM-CH.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 7 T_CTCS and press MENU to open it. Scroll to the tone, press MENU to save, and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 7 T_CTCS›MENU›▲▼ your tone›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: T_CTCS and a tone from the list. CT then shows on the main screen.Watch out. If the repeater uses a DCS code rather than a tone, that is item 6 T_DCS instead. Use one or the other, not both — the manual does not say which one wins if both are set.

If you do not know the tone and the repeater sends one, the radio can listen for it. Tune to the repeater, press F then ✱, and keep it there while the repeater is on the air — the manual says the search needs a valid signal. If it shows SCAN CMP, it found one — the manual calls the result the TX CTCSS/DCS — so press MENU to save it to what the manual calls the current channel, then hold EXIT. If it shows SCAN FAIL, it found nothing: hold EXIT, and the tone has to come from a repeater directory. (Holding EXIT to leave the search is the menu's general rule; section 6.10 does not say.) Then open items 7, 6, 5 and 4 to see what was stored — holding EXIT without pressing MENU again — and if you are building a new channel in frequency mode, it still needs saving with item 13 MEM-CH. The radio can only hear the tone the repeater sends back out, which in general practice is usually — not always — the one it wants from you.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the receive tone on a UV-K5

The receive tone is item 5. In general practice it keeps the speaker shut unless the incoming signal carries that tone — useful on a busy frequency, and the reason a radio "goes silent" when it is set wrong.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 5 R_CTCS and press MENU to open it. Scroll to the tone — or to OFF — press MENU to save, and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 5 R_CTCS›MENU›▲▼ your tone or OFF›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: R_CTCS and a tone, or OFF.Watch out. Set this to a tone the repeater does not send and you will hear nothing at all from it, with no error to tell you why. If a channel has gone quiet, this is the first thing to set back to OFF. The DCS version of the same setting is item 4 R_DCS.

Side Key 1 is Monitor from the factory: a short press opens the speaker and ignores the receive tone, so you can tell a quiet channel from a mis-set one.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the offset direction and amount on a UV-K5

Two items: 8 says which direction, 9 says how far, and both change the line the arrow is on. On a stored channel, the manual says the menu modifies that channel, though it does not say outright that the change is kept — so afterward select a different channel, come back, and open the items again to check. In frequency mode they change only what you are tuned to, and nothing is kept until you save with item 13 MEM-CH.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 8 SFT-D and press MENU to open it. Choose ADD or SUB, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 8 SFT-D›MENU›▲▼ ADD or SUB›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: SFT-D, then OFF, ADD or SUB.ADD is a plus offset — you transmit above the frequency you hear. SUB is a minus offset. OFF transmits on the same frequency you hear, which is simplex.
2. Press MENU, scroll to item 9 OFFSET and press MENU to open it. Set it to how far away the repeater listens — in the US that is usually 0.6 MHz on 2 meters and 5 MHz on 70 centimeters (general US practice, not from the manual). Press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 9 OFFSET›MENU›set it to read 0.6 or 5 MHz›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: OFFSET and an amount in megahertz.Watch out. The manual gives this item a range, 0 to 999.9999 MHz, and does not say whether you scroll to the figure or type it — and there is no decimal point key. Whichever you try, do not press MENU until the screen shows six tenths of a megahertz for 2 meters, or five megahertz for 70 centimeters, with however many zeros the radio prints. A slip of one digit here is ten times the offset.

Back on the main screen, + or − beside the frequency confirms the DIRECTION only: + means you transmit above what you hear, − below. To check the amount, press MENU, scroll to item 9 OFFSET, press MENU to see it, and hold EXIT without pressing MENU again.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the squelch on a UV-K5

Squelch is item 1, the first item in the menu, with ten levels from 0 to 9.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 1 SQL and press MENU to open it. Scroll to a level, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 1 SQL›MENU›▲▼ your level›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: SQL and a number from 0 to 9.In general, the higher the number, the stronger a signal has to be before the speaker opens. Too high and weak stations never get through; too low and you hear hiss between transmissions.

To hear what the squelch is hiding, a short press of Side Key 1 turns on Monitor from the factory. It opens the speaker regardless, which is also the quick way to set the volume.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Change the transmit power on a UV-K5

Three levels — high, medium and low — and a shortcut that does not need the menu.

1. Press F then 6 to switch the power level. If the letter that shows is not the level you want, repeat F then 6 until it is.F›6 (H/M/L)The screen should show: H, M or L on the display, for high, medium or low.

The same setting lives in the menu as item 3 TXP, with LOW, MID and HIGH, if you would rather set it there. The manual's specification is up to 5 watts; it does not say what M and L work out to.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Listen on the repeater's input on a UV-K5

The manual says reverse swaps the receive and transmit frequencies. In general practice that means on a repeater channel you hear the repeater's input — the other station directly. It is one shortcut.

1. Press F then 8.F›8 (R)The screen should show: R on the display while reverse is on.Watch out. While R shows, you also TRANSMIT on the repeater's output. Turn it off again before you key up to talk through the repeater.

Press F then 8 again to turn reverse off, and check that the R has gone. As general practice, if you can hear the other station clearly with R on, the two of you can move to a simplex frequency and free up the repeater.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Delete a memory channel on a UV-K5

Item 50, and the radio asks you to confirm. The factory reset sits right next to it at 51, so this page shows you how to tell them apart before the last press.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 50 DEL_CH and press MENU. Pick the channel with the arrows and press MENU. At SURE?, press MENU again to delete it, then hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 50 DEL_CH›MENU›▲▼ the channel›MENU›SURE?›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: DEL_CH, then channel numbers — CH-015 style for channels in use — then SURE?.Watch out. Before the second MENU press, check that the screen says DEL_CH. After it you should be looking at channel numbers; if you see VFO or ALL instead, you are inside item 51 RESET, not 50 — hold EXIT and do not press MENU. The manual says you can also type the channel number instead of scrolling — if you do, check the screen shows exactly that number before pressing MENU.

There is no undo. Once it is gone, the number shows bare again — no CH- in front of it — the next time you pick a channel to save into.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off the roger beep on a UV-K5

The tone at the end of your transmission is item 46 ROGER, and it has three settings.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 46 ROGER and press MENU to open it. Choose OFF, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 46 ROGER›MENU›▲▼ OFF›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: ROGER, then OFF, ROGER or MDC.ROGER is the plain end-of-transmission tone. MDC is the one Quansheng calls the frog sound tail tone. OFF is neither.Watch out. Item 19 BEEP sounds like the right one and is not — it is the beep when you press a key.

Items 27 STE and 28 RP-STE, tail tone elimination, are a different thing: in general practice that means the squelch tail, the burst of noise when a signal drops, rather than adding or removing a tone.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off the voice announcements on a UV-K5

Item 21. It has two languages — CHI is Chinese, ENG is English — plus OFF.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 21 VOICE and press MENU to open it. Choose OFF, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 21 VOICE›MENU›▲▼ OFF›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: VOICE, then OFF, CHI or ENG.Watch out. If your radio is talking to you in Chinese, it is set to CHI — choose ENG for English or OFF for silence.

The display shows a voice prompt symbol while announcements are on, so it should disappear once this is OFF.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off dual watch on a UV-K5

Dual watch is item 17 TDR and shows DW on the screen. The item right below it, 18 WX, is cross-band and shows WX — and the manual's cross-band section says it shows DW as well — so if either symbol will not go away, check both items.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 17 TDR and press MENU to open it. Choose OFF, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 17 TDR›MENU›▲▼ OFF›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: TDR, then OFF, CHAN_A or CHAN_B. DW leaves the main screen.CHAN_A and CHAN_B both turn dual watch on — they only decide which line you transmit on by default.
2. If DW or WX is still on the screen, press MENU, scroll to item 18 WX and press MENU to open it. Choose OFF, press MENU to save and hold EXIT.MENU›▲▼ 18 WX›MENU›▲▼ OFF›MENU›hold EXITThe screen should show: WX, then OFF, CHAN_A or CHAN_B.Watch out. Despite the name, WX is not the weather radio — it is cross-band receive and transmit. The NOAA weather receiver is F then 5.

With both OFF, DW and WX leave the screen and you transmit on the line the solid arrow points at. Press F then 2 to move the arrow to the other line.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Lock the keypad on a UV-K5

Hold the F key — bottom right of the keypad, printed with a small # and a padlock beside the F.

1. Press and hold the F key until the lock comes on.hold FThe screen should show: The keypad lock symbol on the display.Watch out. The manual's Keypad Locking section calls this the # key and its key description calls it the F key. Same key — it carries both labels.

Hold F again to unlock. The manual says the side keys still work while the keypad is locked. Item 24 AUTOLK turns on automatic locking if you want it to lock itself.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Factory reset on a UV-K5

Item 51, the last one in the menu. It has two strengths, and only one of them keeps your channels.

1. Press MENU, scroll to item 51 RESET and press MENU. Choose VFO or ALL, press MENU, and press MENU again at SURE?. The radio restarts on its own.MENU›▲▼ 51 RESET›MENU›▲▼ VFO or ALL›MENU›SURE?›MENUThe screen should show: RESET, then VFO or ALL, then SURE?. The radio then restarts.VFO puts the settings back to factory and keeps every stored channel. ALL wipes the settings AND the channels.Watch out. ALL cannot be undone. General advice: if your channels came from programming software, read the radio into the software and save the file first.

Try VFO first — in general practice it fixes most "something is wrong and I do not know what I changed" problems, and it costs you none of your channels. Either reset puts the menu settings back to factory, so items such as 21 VOICE and 46 ROGER need setting again if you had changed them. In general a reset does not change the firmware: a radio running community firmware stays on it.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Not covered yet on this radio

Name a memory channel

These are honestly missing rather than hidden. Nothing goes on this page until it has been walked on the radio itself, or two independent sources agree on it, or it comes straight out of the manufacturer’s own manual for this model — and guessing at a keystroke is exactly the failure these pages exist to avoid.