Quansheng UV5R+

Technical Performance.

Harmonics are  about -47db on 2m and -43db on 70cm (UHF).  

TX filtering takes care of 136-175Mhz and 400-470Mhz.

RX filtering is for 50 - 600Mhz. That why 28Mhz is *slightly* less sensitive than 50Mhz, and why the 1296MHz 23cm ham band is deaf. There are reports of serious modders rebuilding the filter network to make the rig into a capable 23cm HT ! The Bekon IC is rated for 23cms use. 

Factory set squelch, they need properly setting with the service menu within IJV firmware first to make them useful, but it's easy to do. If you don't set each squelch level then  you end up needing an S9 signal to open the squelch ! See earlier comments.

RX current draw is about 100ma on standby.  With the backlighting off you only save about 2ma, so don't be worried to keep it on it you wish.

Frequency calibration  as factory supplied was better that 1Hz, amazing. Note that all xtals age over time so you might like to check out calibration in about 5 years. These rigs use a 26MHz xtal reference. Once a xtal has aged the change afterwards is pretty minimal, maybe by 100Hz maximum in my experience. You can easily look this stuff up on the internet.

Also - there's a hidden menu in IJV firmware that allows xtal calibration offset. Switch on rig holding the top programmable side button to enable some extra menu's within the full menu set until a reboot. Most firmwares have the hidden menu system, but the options vary. I think only IJV offers the xtal calibration option.

Receiver sensitivity using MDS method (my ear!).

18Mhz = -100dbm (my Alinco DJ7 and Yaesu VX7 are no different on HF)

28Mhz = -114dbm (Same as a typical 11m band Chickenband rig)

50Mhz = -125dbm (As top notch as it gets for an FM receiver)

70Mhz = -125dbm (About 0.15uv)

145Mhz = -125dbm

300Mhz = -125dbm

433Mhz = -125dbm

900MHz = -105dbm

1300Mhz = - 70dbm  (deaf due to the low  pass filter and quite normal - serious modders could rebuld to give a 23cm rig).  The IC at the heart of this rig is fully specced up for 1300MHz operation.

Current draw is 1500ma. A standard battery pack will easily give two hours of solid QSO time (50/50 talk to receive time). The pack on the UV5R Plus is 2200mah, more talk time, about 3 hours but doesn't fit the optional carry case. Of course these figures are for continuous hardcore QSO's, in practice you'll get a day or two of intermittent use.  Battery packs - UV5R Plus pack has small extra lip on the top that prevents it from fitting to a UV K5 variant with the orange display (you need to grind it off). But the other packs will work the other way around and all fit on a UV5R Plus.

As an aside and for an extra education, any HF receiver will be limited by galactic noise levels, which at 28MHz is about -120dbm. Then you have to factor in additional man made noise, could be 20-30db more. So having a Quansheng at around -114dbm is more than adequate.

FM BROADCAST (via the separate dedicated BK1080 FM broadcast IC built into the rig)

Signal generator set to 50Khz deviation and 1Khz tone, signal generator output is for 50 Ohms,

Minimum discernable signal = -120db

Fully quieting signal = - 110dbm (other FM broadcast receivers are typically -80dbm to - 90dbm at best).

This is an excellent result, best I've probably seen.  Note - you can change the FM band range options by using the BAND key. This will give you either the Japaanese broadcast band, the OIRT band used in Russia etc, or the normal 88-108Mhz band.  The sensitivity of this IC means that it works very well with just the dual band 2m/70cm supplied rubber duck. Connecting an external antenna or something like a larger rubber duck etc is pointless and may actually degrade receiver performance.

Please also note that the Bekon 1080 chip used for FM Broadcast reception actually has an input impedance of 3000 KIlo Ohms (very high). This works in our favour, so don't worry. 

The Signal Meter.

For 50-600Mhz the s-meter with -dbm values were the same, and measured levels were generally good with signal levels between -125dbm to -45dbm. were reported correctly.  S9+30db is equal to -43dbm IARU standard). 

Quansheng UV5R Plus harmonic tests. 

Test set up was the rig usng a fully charged battery, output power measured at 5w on each band. A 10w 40db attenuator was placed at the TX end, followed by a 2w 30db attenuator and then the signal fed into a TinySA spectrum analyzer. This gave a safe input signal of about -30dbm, well within the safe limits of the Tiny SA, but at just about the correct level to ensure that the TinySA des not produce it's own internal harmonics etc and thus give erronious results. The internal LNA of the Tiny SA spectrum Analyzer is switched OFF.  Do not use it.  Oh and just for some fun I set up my Yaesu VX7R on RX for the 2nd harmonic of the 2m band and left it on by the window with a clear path for a walking route, and had an audio recording device placed next to it. Then went for a walk with the Quansheng on 2m with it's stock rubber duck. I made my first test transmission at 50 metres away, then approx 200m, then 500m.  The 2m band harmonic was never heard on the home receiver. No it's not an ISO9000 quality test but it does give us a good reference to start with.

The rig in use - based upon EGZUMER firmware.

Actually it's very good. It's my daily driver. It's a 2m / 70cm rig with all the usual CTCSS and a very fast memory scan (far better than  a Baofeng). The spectrum analyzer finds signals fast, and then "releases" the received audio on the weak signal, great for finding local activity.  Written with the UK 2m operator in mind here's a simple tip. Put VFO to 145.000 MHz. Used Func + 5 to activate spectrum analyzer. Using the keys 1/4/7 you can change the parameters so you can use 12.5Khz steps x 128 so that you cover 144.200 - 145.800 MHz, perfect, well at least for UK and EU band planning.  Use the * and # keys to change the squelch levels (the horizontal line will move). If you come across an annoying signal then use the upper programmable side key to block it out. until the rig is rebooted.  While in spectrum analyzer mode there's a hidden menu too. Hit the PTT and you'll see options to change all the receiver's gain chain, there's three amplifiers and the DSP IF bandwidth. The broadcast FM radio is sensitive. Battery life is huge.  My 2200ma pack supplied has only lost one bar on the indicator after three weeks.

With EGZUMER, there is a battery calibration option. You boot up the rig while holding the PTT + upper function key (the one below the PTT). After some months of use I ended up deciding that it's better to display battery voltage rather than percentage (avoids having to set up cell battery capacity in another menu option). Also I discovered that if you set the rig to display percentage mode then there is an oddity where the percentage appears to fall rapidly, but not according to battery voltage being dropped. Weird. Displaying voltage appears to a better indication of battery health.  Read the docs about calibrating the display to show the correct voltage. If you set up the display according to voltage then when you go to display percentage then it will read low. You need to increase the calibration voltage by 0.27v for it to be reasonably accurate. But once again, I prefer to display voltage as a better indicator of battery health. Using EGZUMER, calibrate the battery voltage with the hidden menu setting and then you can relate quite easily to how well your battery health is. 8.2v is typical for a fully charged battery pack and coming down to 7.6v is probably about 50%. Remember there are TWO Li-Ion cells in a pack so remember to double the voltage when comparing volts vs capacity charts.

Customised Spectrum Analyzer Frequency Span.

Assuming EGZUMER 0.22 firmware, firstly set the SCAN RANGE by using the dual VFO's.  Whilst in frequency  or VFO mode, set the lower frequency on VFO A, and the higher frequency on VFO B. Press and hold the Number 5 key (usually marked as NOAA).  ScnRng will show on the display.

Now you have two options, if you simply hold down the SCAN key then the radio will simply scan between these two frequencies at what ever your chosen step rate is.

But if you now want to use the spectrum analyzer function in the same range then press Function key (that is  labled as F/*/key symbol) for one second and then briefly press the numerical 5 key (also marked as NOAA).

To exit customized the spectrum analyzer scan range, you can press the numerical 2 A/B key so that you now display both VFO's and return to normal operation.

KD8CEC firmware.

Ther's a tiny PCB available that adds another RX chip to give extended HF receive range down to 100Khz, and requires the correct desoldering tools for SMD parts. Here  is the offical KD8CEC repository.   I have also included the KD8CEC firmwares in my Google Drive repository.  Interesting to note that that the IC does RDS  / radio text. Maybe one day one of Quansheng firmware writers might use it ? 

KD8CEC firmware varsion 0.3 that will run on a stock Quansheng.  A stock Quansheng is one without the additional HF RX PCB. KD8CEC will do CW TX and RX and with narrow and wide filters with sidetone. You can use a straight key or paddle plugged into the mic input, or the speaker mic PTT. There are some funny settings in the menu to get the key to work properly marked as ADC1-4. Setting around 5000 seem to work well for basic straight key use.  These setting need experimenting with so that individual setups work correctly, you have been warned. Symptoms of these settings being incorrect is a lack of TX when the key is pressed, or a sticky key, no TX at all etc. How to wire a Morse Key is here.  KD8CEC firmware has a very nice broadcast FM user interface too. The S-meter reads dB/microvolts and dbm.  Once again remember that the Bekon 1080 FM Broadcast RX IC has an input impedance of 3000 Kilo Ohms,  Bear this in mind when converting dB/uV levels to dbm values and normal S Units.  The KD8CEC firmware does actually convert the dB/microvolts figure to normal s-meter units correctly. . It has a more basic spectrum analyzer compared to EGZUMER.

Do not use higher versions of KD8CEC firmware on a stock Quansheng. Versions 4 and 5 are for hardware modified radios. For example if you use a higher version and try to use the broadcast FM radio then you will end up with WAIT message on th screen and the rig will lock up.

IJV Firmware.

Two branches of IJV exist. One for un-modified hardware and another if you decide to install a $10 PCB for a second RX chip. CW and DSB on the IJV firmware. CW works, but as no sidetone. It's quite a serious rig for CW use ! You can use an external Morse Key or the PTT to send Morse. DSB needs some explanation. Experienced users will know that you can demodulate FM when the deviation is kept low when you use an SSB receiver. The IJV firmware transmits a low deviation FM signal so that an SSB receiver can demodulate the transmission,  It's NOT real SSB, but it's a way of giving something to enable psuedo SSB QSO's. It's a useful trick,  but be aware of what you are really transmitting. This is a hardware limitation. The hardware can never produce real AM or SSB / DSB transmissions. The IJV firmware also includes a basic Morse beacon. You can set it up to send a CW ID. Use it for fox hunting, one man range tests or for letting your friends know that you're active on a channel. It includes the ability to set power levels properly, see above, calibrate the 26Mhz reference xtal and squelch levels if required. If you install EGZUMER firmware then all these settings are saved - great.  There are reports of IJV firmware users that are using the rig to succesfully send and receieve WSPR and FT8 transmissions using the DSB mode, and VK3YE (check Youtube vids) to make 2m/70cm SSB style QSO's with it. CW does actually work properly. It's a pure carrier, and the RX bandwidth can be selected too to reduce noise. 

F4HWN Firmware.

Many firmwares appear to have stopped development, but F4HWN appears to be still developing an EGZUMER fork as of July 2025. It also appears to give the options to correctly set the power levels via menu, thus negating the requirement to go through the IJV to EGZUMER path as previously described.  But I think the squelch settings still need to be set properly either via IJV firmware first or an external software. F4HWN firmwares come in up to five different versions, each with different options, including a simple game !

HOT TIPS.

(1) Use VFO A for your normal VHF/UHF operations, and VFO B set to SSB with say 0.5Khz steps for HF operations to save you messing about with modes / step settings.

(2) If you want to flash firmware OFFLINE in the future then try this. For example, the UVMODS link listed below and others always point to an online repository for a given firmware. If you want to furure proof yourself then save the full UVMODS page as an HTML file. Then change the line that points to the online resource to YOUR offline local disk resource. For example you'll see in the webpage HTML source a line that says - <meta property="og:url" content=https://whosmatt.github.io/uvmod /> on line 10. Change it to point to where you have SAVED  the webpage and use the same directory for the .bin file.  For backup, if any of the original flashing sites disappear then check for a copy here.

Example in Linux <meta property="og:url" content="~/home/computername/Downloads/">

In Windows try <meta property="og:url" content="c:\myfiles\quangshengstuff">

(3) Rig storage. Thankfully these Quanshengs do not use the "soft" on / off power key system, which always drrains the a small amount of the battery even when not in use. But it's still easy to accidentally place the rig in storage (as with any item) and accidentally hit the ON/OFF/VOLUME knob and power up the rig. Result is that you come back to use the rig at a later date and the battery is dead and probably unrecoverable due to deep discharge. I recomment slipping a small piece of paper between the battery pack and the radio body where the contacts meet.

You are strongly advised to check out my collection of firmwares in the link first further resources link below which leads to my Google Drive. Plenty of interesting stuff there to try too, but read the saved docs to work out what features are added or taken away.

USB charging, variants, well that depends. I'm not keen on these mini connectors, they become a bit unreliable after maybe a hundred insertions. You can't use the rig to transmit purely via USB, not enough current supplied. But useful for background charging.  For future proofing your Quansheng there are DC convertors available (12v input etc) through the usual outlets such as Amazon / Ebay / Aliexpress.

As previously mentioned, the supplied rubber duck is actually quite good. At about 7 inches it performs well on both 2m/70cm and has great convenience factor, just like a Nagoya 701. 

The "Jack Light" function, (see above photo of the top of the rig)  as the Chinese call it,  it is a useful feature in a lot of Chinese rigs. You'll be surprised at how useful that little single white LED can be. 

For USA readers, the rig cannot be used on the 220Mhz band. You get less than 100mw output with harmonics at worst about -30db.

Further thoughts.

This an an interesting rig. I've had fun making simplex QSO's on the 70cm band with ease (25 miles), and the receiver coped easily with a local [0.3 Mile PMR relay] without any issues. I'd like to see some spare parts available like the rubber keypad for when it gets worn, and spare rubber dust covers for the speaker mic connections. As an HT, stick to the supplied rubber duck, unlike the old days many HT's now come with some good ones and at 7 inches long it's very convenient. The rig when using some spot frequencies mostly between 18-30Mhz can sometimes exhibit some FM broadcast breakthough. (Don't connect large antennas, use a bandstop filter if you intend to take the rig on to another level). But mostly it's just a few spot frequencies, no deal breaker. The option for narrow and wide FM is good. It not only changes the TX deviation but also alters the IF bandwidth. So not only do you gain another 3db of RX performance, but it also ensures that your TX bandwidth is good for 12.5Khz channel spacing too.

Screwed up your calibration settings ?

I did that, I think it was caused by MATOZ firmware overwriting the memory area of the EEPROM that holds the settings for squelch and power output.  You end up with a rig that appears to work OK, but then you find a frequency that's just above the -125dbm level and the squelch settings are screwed up. You don't need K5PROG etc to get them back. Just install IJV firmware that offers you the option to control what each squelch setting is a the secret menu (switch on rig holding PTT and upper programmable side button). You MUST disable the DUAL WATCH function in order to be able to write your new -dbm settings to memory.  There's two strange squelch options in the secret menu. Check that the settings are as follows:-

MENU 65 - SqlGli = 14

MENU 66 -SqlNoi =75

After reboot this extra menu options will no longer be shown, but the settings remain. Perform the power level setting. Then if you wish, upload EGZUMER or F4HWN if that's your preference etc and the calibration settings do not get overwritten, same with your memory channels.

The UV5 K6 variant.

I recently got one of those.  Looks a bit nicer with it's orange display and comes with USB charging, unlike the UV5R Plus. But it comes with a smaller battery pack, 1600mah vs 2200mah, 

Carry cases.

They appear to exist, but not widely sold yet.  I found two sources of carry cases on both Ebay and Amazon. About the same price of the rig. They will fit all models and variants, but not with the larger 2200ma battery pack. Useful for protecting the rubber keypad from wear.

Battery eliminators.

Here on Ebay

Here on Amazon

Here on Aliexpress

I've not found any empty cell cases yet but I'm still looking. I have seen poor quality 3D printed versions.

Spare antennas.

Here on Banggood.

Update.

As of October 2024 there's some Baofeng and XHDATA branded variants (E100) that appear to be like the original Quanshengs, but so far they do NOT accept the facility to upload modified hardware, be warned. Do your research, look on Youtube for reviews etc. These non upgradeable firmware models are pretty much useless. No decent AM airband, no spectrum scopes, no multimode RX etc. There is also an upgrade model (green front) that has a bigger EEPROM. This will allow more memories and the option for larger future firmware updates to me made.

A note about SSB reception.

To reiterate, this webpage is about the firmware modified rigs. All the known modded firmwares offer SSB on RX, but it's actually operating as a direct conversion receiver. That means that depending upon how you tune it, you can receive both upper and lower sideband. Now then what of you are trying to listen to an FSK CW beacon ? That depends upon which way the FSK is done, e.g which way the carrier is shifted to give either a mark or a space. If you hear garbage tones then you'll need to tune either slightly above or below the carrier frequency. I often use the HT to monitor the GB3UHF beacon on 432.430Mhz. In order to receive the correct FSKCW ID or the JT65 tones then I tune 400Hz lower than the carrier, so I set the rig to 432.429.600Mhz. Perfect. And here's a short video of the Quansheng on 28Mhz, using just a 144Mhz quarter wave whip.

A 23cms Version ?

The Bekon IC is fully specified to 1300Mhz. The onboard LPF are not designed to allow 23cm band through. If you are up to converting the rig to 23cm (mono band) then you'll need to reconfigure the output network from the Bekon IC to the antenna connector. Others have done it, and produced 1.3 Watts output. There's a custom 23cm firmware available but you can still use any firmware that allow TX in the 1300Mhz range (IJV / EGZUMER / F4HWN etc). Some food for thought is here. I think the output impedance of the RD02 PA is only about 1 Ohm at 23cm .

Resources-

All the firmwares and info at  FTD's Public Google Drive  

Web browser based firmware flasher - https://egzumer.github.io/uvtools/

CH340/341 Windows serial driver - https://www.wch-ic.com/downloads/CH341SER_EXE.html

For the latest news on EGZUMER firmware - EGZUMER FIRMWARE

F4HWN firmware an EGZUMER fork - https://github.com/armel/uv-k5-firmware-custom/releases

For IJV firmware news - https://www.universirius.com/en_gb/preppers/quansheng-uv-k5-manuale-del-firmware-ijv/

Useful video guide on using the spectrum analyzer M7FRS with the EGZUMER firmware

Official Quansheng website - http://qsfj.com/products/3002

G0FTD's back up of Quansheng stuff and more QSL.NET G0FTD's QSL NET Files Area

Taking apart a UV5R Plus - Video from  VK7HH

Quansheng Wiki, lots of info ! - Github based Wiki

More IJV notes - https://alfaexploit.com/en/posts/hamradio4/

More EGZUMER notes - https://alfaexploit.com/en/posts/hamradio3/

G0FTD listening to the International Space Station cross band repeater - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG9o2JqVtx4

The Bottom Line.

You buy a rig for $20, it's a bit crappy as supplied. You install some decent firmware of your choice and bang ! You now got an amazing rig for for next to nothing. Brilliant. You get a respectable receiver for the 10/6/4m bands as an extra, a spectrum scope that works, multimode RX, and a full 5w dual band handie just for the sake of new firmware.  Note, most firmware development tends to be EU based, so stuff like NOAA gets dropped, we don't have that here. But then again for US readers just program some  memory channels to include it. Please read (lots), digest and be prepared to experiment a lot when playing with the rigs. This webpage is a long term work in progress, now and again I'll add things, or change bits as I discover more.