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by gh02t 647 days ago
Those are really good radios for the money, have fun. I have nicer radios but still use my UVK5 just because it's easy to use and works well. Plus all the firmware mods are fun to play with.

FYI if you're not aware... not to be the no fun police, but you do need a license to transmit with one. And it's technically not legal to use them on FRS/GMRS/MURS frequencies even with a license, though that's probably the least enforced rule on the FCC books. Assuming you're in the US at least.
1 comments
jasonjayr 647 days ago
I found the UVMOD website that lets you make a patched Firmware to enable all sorts of hacks.

Since I don't have a license yet, the next time I'm playing with it, I am going to enable the TX block on all bands, so as to prevent any accidents.

Of course, much to the FCC's annoyance, in the "dangerous mods" list, you can also choose to disable the TX block on all bands. You really shouldn't do that, though. The folks that run this project are trying to do the right thing and warn anyone that goes down that path ...

https://whosmatt.github.io/uvmod/

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gh02t 647 days ago
I actually did install the frequency block disable mod. Mine lives in my car as an emergency radio, so I figured might as well have the ability in an emergency (which is allowed) and just stick to frequencies covered by my amateur license normally. Granted the mod isn't really very useful since the radio performs very poorly out of band and sprays out interference, so I should probably just take it back off.

I don't think the FCC cares too much about mods like that on hardware that's meant for licensed amateurs. Amateur license covers all sorts of radio modifications, you're supposed to police yourself and manage what you have the right to do. It's actually using the mod to transmit out of band they would fine you for (theoretically... you're unlikely to get caught), not just having the ability. The thing that they get pissed off about is when people without a license can buy hardware meant for amateurs and easily use it out of band without really needing to do anything. That's what they've cracked down on in the past, especially shady importers on Amazon marketing unlocked amateur radios for bands like FRS.

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