Quansheng V3 Dondji FW

I recently took the plunge and purchased a version 3 Quansheng HT in the UV-K5 style body as shown below. The radio cost approx $30 delivered and came pre-loaded with F4HWN Fusion firmware instead of the Quansheng stock firmware.

But one thing bugged me, and is something that appears to be being adopted by other recent firmwares, and that is the usage of IARU VHF S-Meter values.

The VHF and upwards standard attempts to address the need for S Unit reporting down to lower noise thresholds. At VHF etc we are not limited by high amounts of galactic noise, and so S1 can typically be at about -140dbm for a good SSB receiver. This now makes a problem for a  typical FM rig, because we're already limited to sensitivity of about -125dbm.  Therefore an S-Meter is starting at about S4 according to the IARU VHF UHF standard.  It's annoying to see this on a FM rig, as you get the impression of having a high noise floor !

Personally I prefer to see the S-Meter start at S1, that means a weak and noisy sgnal, S5 should be a fair signal maybe with some smooth noise, and S9 being strong and noise free. The IARU VHF standard is too optimistic for when you want to give out a fairer signal report to someone. As luck would have it, I discovered a bit of an outsider in the world of firmware that nicely gets around this, and it's called Dondji (Chinese developed). 

Below - K5 style rig and third party carry pouch.

Dondji has a very uncluttered user interface and makes use of menu groups rather than just a very long list of menu settings like other firmwares do.  It also takes care of the power output and squelch levels properly, so that there is no requirement for the user to set them up, unlike some older V1 models / firmware.

Based on F4HWN v5.3.1; current Dondji release v5.2.2 (UV-K1 / UV-K5·K6 V3, PY32F071 CPU)

🎨 Motorola R7-style UI (branch: motorola_r7) + classic phone-style icon menu

📡 Dual VFO / MAIN ONLY UI redesign (UV-KX-inspired)

🔒 Lock screen / keypad-lock UI redesign

🌏 Chinese / English UI with runtime language switch

🧭 Menu restructuring & UI refactor

📝 Full GB2312 font in SPI Flash (6766 chars) + T9 pinyin channel naming

🌐 Browser web flash: firmware, font, calibration, config, writefreq, boot logo

📶 Spectrum (F+5): Simple / Professional + waterfall

🧰 Toolbox (F+7): electronic wooden fish + CW practice

📡 MDC1200 Roger / unit ID (TX + RX popup)

📖 Built-in ZH/EN help manual

📻 Common Fusion extras: dedicated FM radio screen, custom boot logo / boot sound, RX/TX timer, etc.

Now back to the S-meter usage. You have two ways to experience the signal meters, or is it three ?  Let me explain, when using dual VFO mode the S Meter is a simple 0-9 bargraph using the more useful HF power levels and extends this with a small text by a few dB as an indicator that the signal is very strong. S0 starts about -123dbm But if you change to single VFO mode you will see both a simple 5 Bar cellphone style display (top left)  and a -dbm value on the main screen.  Hint - these modes settings are in the DISPLAY section.

Below - FM broadcast screen and menu grouping pages example (there are five menu groupings). Please note that some settings are hidden (like auto power off timer). To reveal a few extras you need to switch the rig on while holding the PTT and Upper side key, that's immediately below the PTT.

Below is a view of the DAB band using the spectrum scope. The spectrum scope in my opinion is best use in the SIMPLE mode. You'll need to familiarise yourself with the key functions that set up the dynamic range, squelch thresholds, frequency steps and number of steps to scan (max 128) in order to get the best results. If you encounter any unwanted signals that prevent operation then you can lock them out until reboot using the upper side key. You can also see how the s-meter indicates a stronger tha S9 signal by adding a small text, but only an extension of 5db.

How do we get this firmware ?

Download from either my repository (the .bin file) and save to your hard disk or direct from the developers site.

Use the F4HWN V3 flasher tool or anything that can flash V3 files.

Connect the USB to K-Type speaker-mic cable to the PC first.

Switch on the Quansheng to firmware receiving mode by holding in the PTT (LED will illuminate).

Now connect the programming cable to the radio.

Direct the flashing tool to the .bin file and press flash, wait about 40 seconds until it's finished.

If you are flashing this firmware over the top of F4HWN v5.7.0 firmware you will keep your settings and memories but be aware that development changes rapidly and cannot be future guaranteed. Flashing any firmware is always at your own risk. This firmware works on the V3 models and the K1 / Mini Kong known to be sold mid 2026.

New user menu checklist.

Set the navigation keys behaviour (up/down).

Ensure that the mic gain is set to at least 15db or so, in order to have loud enough audio.

Use the RX audio profiles to be FLAT for best audio quality.

Set up the transmit time out timer.

Set up LCD backlight to be always on - DISPLAY > BLTIME = ON.

Also turn on rig holding PTT and upper side key to access a few other options too (battery calibration etc).

Memory Programming.

I don't know what Python module is used on CHIRP but it might be one of the F4HWN ones - sorry. All I know is that I started on CHIRP with the F4HWN Fusion module and used that to write my memories to the rig. When I then flashed Dondji firmware over the top the memories were left alone and so were the various menu settings too. I did note that it is important to enable in the rig the setting that scans ALL memory lists and in CHIRP you need to highlight all the memories entries and then right click on the selected block and enable them to be recognised as the ALL list.

Technical Performance.

These V3 rigs are the same as the V1/2's so see my other Quansheng page for RF performance. 

Warning.

As always it is up to you to ensure that you have identified your radio version properly, that you use athe tools and files before flashing any new firmware. Incorrect files that are flashed to the wrong rig version will result in you bricking your radio.