October 15, 2018

Program a Baofeng by Hand

I have always avoided learning how to program my Baofeng handi-talkies by hand because it was just too easy to plug them into a laptop and use the CHIRP programming application to program them with.

But, if you don’t have a laptop handy or you can’t find your programming cable, these directions should walk you through the steps to program a Repeater’s Frequencies into your handi-talkie. There are a lot of different versions of the Baofeng radios out there so your’s menu numbers may be a bit different. You will just have to give it a try and see.

Remember, the basic keystrokes for changing menu items is:
 [MENU] [Use Arrow buttons to chose menu item] [MENU] [Use Arrow buttons to chose value] [MENU] [EXIT]

Baofeng Programming:

  • Switch to Frequency Mode:
  • In top line, press the numbers on the keypad to set the repeater’s X-mit Freq.
  • Menu 13: Select the CTCSS tone to transmit
  • Menu 25: Select Offset Shift, + or -
  • Menu 26: Set Offset, 000.6000 for VHF, (005.000) for UHF
  • Press PTT to test  (Freq. should shift by 600 KHz, in the correct direction)
  • Menu 27: Store programming into Memory Channel Number
  • Press *  (Reverse Freq. will be displayed)
  • Menu 27: Store in Memory Channel Number (Same as above)
  • Switch to Channel Mode:
  • Tune to programmed Channel Number


  • Test programming by pressing PTT


  • NOTE: Menu 28: Will delete programming in Channel Number if you made a mistake and need to start over. It's a good idea to delete a menu BEFORE trying to write to it, just in case it was already assigned once before.

Give it a try. If it works you can copy and past these steps into your NOTES application on your iPhone or iPad. Android probably has a similar application where you could store the notes for later use.


Keith
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