Although ham radio can be an engaging, rewarding hobby, it does have a certain reputation for being popular among those who would fit in well at gated Florida communities where the preferred mode of transportation is the golf cart. For radio manufacturers this can be a boon, as this group tends to have a lot of money and not demand many new features in their technology. But for those of us who skew a bit younger, there are a few radios with custom firmware available that can add a lot of extra capabilities.
The new firmware is developed by [NicSure] for the Tidradio TD-H3 and TD-H8 models and also includes a browser-based utility for flashing it to the radio without having to install any other utilities. Once installed, users of these handheld radios will get extras like an improved S-meter and detection and display of CTCSS tones for repeater usage. There’s also a programmer available that allows the radio’s memory channels to be programmed easily from a computer and a remote terminal of sorts that allows the radio to be operated from the computer.
One of the latest firmware upgrades also includes a feature called Ultra Graph which is a live display of the activity on a selected frequency viewable on a computer screen. With a radio like this and its upgraded firmware, a lot of the capabilities of radios that sell for hundreds of dollars more can be used on a much more inexpensive handheld. All of this is possible thanks to an on-board USB-C interface which is another feature surprisingly resisted by other manufacturers even just for charging the batteries.
“popular among those who would fit in well at gated Florida communities where the preferred mode of transportation is the golf cart”
I moved to Florida recently, and I promise golf carts are an all-age phenomenon. I see kids under 10 driving golf carts on public roads all the time (usually with drunken adults as passengers, sometimes just children)
First, I think that stereotyping older amateur operators as rich and undemanding is inappropriate and ageist and doesn’t belong here.
Second, I would like to point out that some of us hams avoid these cheap and cheerful radios not because we aren’t interested in new features, but because these radios fail to meet required standards for spurious emissions. There’s already too much interference on the ham bands and it’s not in anybody’s interest to add to that interference with sub-par equipment.
But you forgot the most important rule. As long as we’re not breaking any FCC laws, we will use what we want to use. I myself, am in favor of these cheap radios. They have the capabilities needed, and the price needed to get so many more people into ham radio.
For the longest time after I got my license, I struggled, and scrimped, and struggled more just to get my first radio. If these things would have only been this cheap 30 years ago, it would have been a godsend.
“As long as we’re not breaking any FCC laws, we will use what we want to use.”
Err, no?! Some of us have a conscience, which is independent of what regulatory authorities say?
Conscience about what? Multiple reviewers say that these models don’t show the spurs that a few specific cheap radios of the last decade are famous for.
The “all Chinese radios bad” perpetuates the pants-to-your-armpits get-off-my-lawn elitist stereotype of hams and will guarantee you’ll get to turn the lights out when you’re gone.
a) not everyone is US American and tries to make best deal every time.
No really, I mean it. In other cultures, profit isn’t everything.
The saying “more bang for your buck” doesn’t exist in my language.
b) my reply was meant as a general statement, it wasn’t tied to the handheld radio in the HaD article.
c) hams used to be altruistic, though there are some elitists – but not on the FM repeaters. They’re being occupied by the mental. :D
Unless some old men show up on local repeater and brag about their recent shortwave QSO with Down Under. ;)
Anyhow. The real “elite” is doing its own thing without anyone noticing.
It’s doing slow morse, obscure modes (Olivia, MT63), moon bounce or satellites.
And these guys do love amateur radio a lot, considering the efforts they spend on the hobby.
So they’re generally good hearted and totally happy if they hear a new voice once in a while.
d) I think there’s a misunderstanding or “generational” conflict.
Radio amateurs have taken an exam and try to educate others who are new to the hobby.
They do it, because it gives them satisfication and a purpose in life.
They want to share their decade long expertise, their wisdom with others who are interested.
But it’s not meant as elitism, otherwise they wouldn’t share but keep it a secret.
Problem is, I think, that most young people can’t handle authority anymore.
Not even by staying quite/passive and ignoring everything respectfully.
So rather than taking a big breath and just listen (or ask questions), they do brag about everything they know already.
And that’s their mistake. They don’t know when to be quiet.
They don’t realize they are interacting with someone who is taking a teacher’s role.
If the young people or the newcomers would be smart and “play dumb” once in a while and let the oldtimers talk (or even ask questions!), then the situation would be much more relaxed.
Those “grumpy old white men” would suddenly turn into cheerful, chatty people.
This is called diplomacy. And I did this since I was little.
I did CBers and hams let talk and asked them about themselves and the things I already knew about.
Sometimes, this diplomacy “game” turned out as a win-win situation, because I had learned a few interesting things I didn’t know before.
e) I think the whole “gatekeeping” concept is a made up term that’s pretty unique to the US.
It’s same nonsense as with “passive aggression”, I think,
which is not only a contradiction but also an instrument to reverse the perpetrator/victim role in a sneaky way.
With the levels of spurious emissions one does break FCC rules (don’t even think about connecting it to a real antenna!)
If not: HAM spirit (!) doesn’t allow to use these devices as they may cause interference on frequencies we are not allowed (nor willing) to transmit on.
I know a great many ham radio operators that would Absolutly fit in this category and can’t think of one who would be offended by the article. It’s a hacking related website and it’s full of snarky posts and comments of if your easily offended, maybe go elsewhere for your non-snarky hacking news.
I tried to get into ham radio as a young college student and this equipment elitism is what turned me off from the hobby. Folks want to get on the air and see what the community is like before they spend time building a good radio or spend money buying one.
It also seemed like almost everyone in that particular area was a prepper. They took the emergency preparedness stuff super seriously, forgetting that even their designated emergency repeaters are supposed to be open for casual conversation when an emergency isn’t happening.
I might have a go at CB; I heard truckers are pretty friendly.
Then start as SWL? Like normal people do? 🤷♂️
An FM scanner (Uniden etc) or shortwave radio is quite affordable.
If not, use an RTL SDR dongle or use WebSDR receiver.
Learning to listen is much more of a lesson than just starting to babble.
Amateur radio is a community and the roots of amateur radio lie in experimentation.
This also includes a sense of responsibility (see ham spirit).
The real reason why hams have to pass an exam is to prove that they are responsible, knowledgeable and care about other frequency users.
Therefore, they are allowed to operate their own equipment.
Being a selfish individual doesn’t fit the bill, it never has.
Amateur radio is also a service to society (that’s why society tolerates amateurs and gives them so many bands) and not just a playing field.
Alas, the contesters seem to forget about this every weekend, though.
I mean, there are other frequencies such as CB radio and GMRS that can be easily ruined just fine. They’re ISM and scrap yard bands.
There, everyone can also work with encryption to his/her heart’s content.
Seriously, many people keep asking “what can ham radio do for me?”
But it apparently never crosses their minds to ask themselves “what can I do contribute to ham radio?”
Get up on 11M with a modded President?
They are approved by the FCC so….
The import of Baofeng UV-5R had been forbidden in my country due to spurious emissions. That was 3 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gQwsF_A0CU
Thanks! I’m in the USA and have one I’ve never used. There’s no local traffic. So nothing to hear. I just got licensed and getting ready to give it a try. Real interest is QRP CW on HF.
However, I’ll see what my 8560A has to say about emissions. It may need some RF HW hacking to be proper -50 dB or better.
I love the QRPlabs QMX series radios, built two now, they work great on JS8 and FT8 as well as CW. Very affordable and fun to build.
Get off my lawn!
It is in my interest.
I can’t think of anyone who cares about spurious emissions.
Absolutely, well said. These cheaper devices break all of the radio rules and bleed over with interference across the board. We should not be seen to uplift their value and increase and take up of these devices.
No, actually this firmware does not. I downloaded and followed all instructions and it crippled my H3. After installing it, I couldn’t reach repeaters I used to be able to. I couldn’t use chirp to upload my list of channels and settings so I had to manually go back through and reset everything. It defaults all channels to the LOWEST TX power and even when I turned it all the way up, I was only transmitting at 4.4 watts, not the full 5 I used to. So save yourself trouble and DON’T install this firmware!
You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, but the fact that you even tried to use chirp with it indicates that you didn’t read the documentation or any of the accompanying Facebook posts regarding it. I also suspect that you never followed the procedure after installing the firmware to enable the correct power levels. It’s well documented. There is a significant community that are now using this firmware as their daily driver very successfully. If you don’t like it, you’re more than welcome to go back to the stock firmware, and the process for this is documented as well.
yah dude RTFFP!
Yep lol
Reading is a fundamental skill that some have yet to master. This firmware is great and the work and dedication he has put in to making it what it is is remarkable. If you tried Chirp you didn’t read the instructions.
I see the folks assuming that you meant that you tried chirp, rather than bothering to pay enough attention to what you wrote to realize your point that the lack of chirp support made it hard to transfer (potentially many) existing frequencies from your stock radio to your modded radio. I recognized that in flashing NicFW I was (temporarily) giving up the convenience of using chirp.
Because nicsure has provided excellent documentation of the eeprom layout, chirp support should be no big deal, just a matter of some development time. If no one else does it, I’m likely to do so because I’m quite happy with NicFW and run Linux, and have previously contributed to the chirp support for the stock FW. https://chirpmyradio.com/issues/11632
(By contrast, Tidradio hasn’t bothered to even answer my support request for access to new firmware to help me continue to contribute to chirp support for the stock firmware, so I guess someone else can do that work in the long run…)
I am curious how you determined the 4.4W limit. Were you using an external power meter?
Not HAM related, but as to updating firmware on walkies, I have a pair of Baofeng’s that we use. They were so bad that being even 15 feet away they were just static. Some research led me to CHIRP to update the squelch levels on them. Now they are golden. Don’t throw ’em away, see if you can reconfigure them. (Maybe not news to regular readers, but you never know who it’ll help.)
How is it not ham related if you’re using Baofeng.
Most Baofengs ARE “ham” radios, But Baofeng also makes GMRS only radios. So one can have Baofengs and not be a “ham” operator.
This. Exactly.
More details or link how to do that ?
Pretty sure it was this video that got me there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r3kw8oY62o
Old guys in golf carts muttering about spurious emissions…
Compared to Egzumer firmware on the Quansheng K5/6/8, I find the current nicsure firmware on the H3 kind of limited and the buttons almost too small. But for $30 it’s a fun experiment and the radio sounds great. And development is only a few months old.
Isn’t Quansheng the cheaptastic brand of Baofeng?
I heard rumors that both companies are related, but that’s all I know.
Quansheng UV-K5 with the ezgumer firmware has been great to me…great.
As to your question I THINK baofeng is the innovator and quansheng the cloner but I could have it backwares whatever the case they’re both great low cost options. Although I do know my Quansheng needs a baofeng programming cable. If that helps any lol
A significant difference between this and the Egzumer firmware is that this is a complete redevelopment from the ground up, with no manufacturer leaked firmware source, or proprietary code embedded in it. The other major factor is that it was written by the developer, for the developer, and the rest of us are just benefiting from his incredible efforts.
Unless you’re him you don’t know this as there is no source, until then it’s speculation he wrote this purely by reverse engineering.
I’m in regular contact with the developer.
Is this firmware open source? Can’t find any git repo, just links to binaries.
No, not yet. For legal reasons, related to the need for some serious reverse engineering.
Just once I would love to see a HaD article that proclaims “How to make your chinesium piece of crap meet FCC requirments with the addition of a filter.” Now that would get get my attention. No, all we get are how to make your chinesium crap do MORE. As a licensed operator the goal is to reduce QRM not throw out more of it. My first radio purchased the day I got my license was a Radio Shack htx-202. Fantastic radio that met FCC requirements and bought used for $20 USD. I modded the firmware by holding down two buttons while powering on which gave me the MARS frequnecies. My next radio was a Icom ic-2300h also FCC approved and was quickly modded by removing a diode from the proccesor to open up trasmit and recieve frequencies. The cost new of that radio was about $200.00 USD. The radio after that was a Radioi Shack htx-420. It was also firmware modded by holding down two buttons while powering on to open up MARS. And brand new in the box it was $120.00 USD. I don’t understand the love with enriching comunist regimes. Do yourself a favor and buy a real radio. It doesn’t cost that much more and is something to be proud of.
It’s the same as with the ESP8266. There were wifi-enabled microcontrollers from TI before that, but they were expensive. So for the low low price of “throwing out one’s principles if they existed in the first place, and shifting manufacturing to a place with no OSHA and no EPA”, everyone got cheaper IoT junk. Yay?
Of course pretty soon we won’t have those things either, so I guess they won? Hey, happy 2025!
That’s a grossly inaccurate generalization from someone who clearly doesn’t have any firsthand knowledge. I worked for a U.S. semiconductor company that manufactured some products in China and I guarantee that the quality control and adherence to safety protocols rivaled anything done here domestically. We manufactured in China to be able to serve Asian markets better (they have their own “buy locally” initiatives as well), and because the manufacturing knowledge and culture there exceeded anything we could get here.
“Making the cheap Chinese radios do more” forces the bar up for the entire industry.
It shows that openness and customization– obviously a huge part of the ham mindset– can make a product significantly more valuable, and are good for business. How many more units did TIDRadio sell because of this article? I can say at least one.
It also raises competitive pressure for “legit” brands. The Icoms and Yaesus of the world can say “we offer better build quality or cleaner signal”, but it’s really hard for them to continue to gate better display and UI features to deluxe models, when we’re seeing them in $40 Chinese radios with custom firmware.
There’s also opportunities for outside-the-box thinking. Getting new people look at the user interface might produce better designs, or ones that are more usable for specific audiences.
Issues about filters and spurious emissions are an entirely different discussion. Some of that might be hardware design or 5-cent components that should be fitted at the factory, but that’s a completely different angle from “neat software upgrade to a device that already exists.”
Hi, I think a lot of hams are happy about such modifications.
Hacking hardware was a thing for ages (see mods.dk site).
However, there’s also a reason why some hams prefer other types of radios than cheap Chinese radios.
Either because they care about spurious emissions or because they have different needs. Or higher standards if we will, hi! ;)
I for one like vintage gear because it’s built like a tank, full of discreet electronics.
I do like the physical experience. Metal. Knobs, VFO wheels, flipp switches.
It makes for a nice change for using SDRs all day long.
As an addition, I do have cheap modern handheld radios as play things, too, of course.
Because of curiosity. Everyone can afford them, so it’s no big deal.
But I am using them? Barely. I do own them so I can participate discussions with others who use them.
In order to not to be an outsider, so to say.
If I need a sophisticated equipment for, say, APRS on the go then I’m better off with a super slim 486 notebook from the 90s running UI-View.
The keyboard and mouse (or built-in trackball) are much more comfy to use than the tiny rubber buttons on a walkie talkie.
As TNC I would either use an classic PK-232 or an Raspberry Pi with newest DireWolf (has FX.25 support).
All in all, I think it’s like being a Linux/Mac OS user and having a Windows 10 VM in storage, so you can “participate” anytime what others do experience.
Many of the “big brand” radios are also made in China. I’m not particularly happy about the fact that almost all businesses in China have links with the CCP. Opening up normal trade relations with China, sadly has not soften/weakened the regime in power as it was sold to the public. Best realistic hope is to see other nations that aren’t run by totalitarian regimes offering a more competitive alternative. I don’t see a big return to the US for most electronic device manufacturing.
I think there’s some truth within, the dependence from China is worrying.
On other hand, I’m unsure if I want to see a “big return to the US for most electronic device manufacturing” instead. They could be worse.
No offense, it’s not about the people but big US tech companies.
Apple, Google, Microsoft.. Just to name a few. They’re dangerous, too.
It’s naive to think that they won’t make products with intentional breaking points or spyware (also in regards to the three letter agencies).
And they try to force the US moral standards and hard business practices on other countries, which isn’t always in our interests over here.
YT comes to mind, which censors anything just remotely nude.
So do US websites like mobygames (big game database) which flags a silly pixel art game such as Leisure Suit Larry (80s parody) as “nsfw” (in red letters).
To us living in, say, France or Germany that’s like a step backwards, I think.
Because international companies originating from US do apply US rules/morals to everything, which has an effect on products, children TV, websites and internet services etc all over world.
Ironically, even the US itself had been more progressive in the 60s, 70s and 80s perhaps.
If you imagine how much had been allowed in, say, the hippie era, for example.
Considerations of longevity and built quality still existed in these decades, money did rule a lot but not everything yet.
There had been gentlemen, still and people who took pride on their work and company.
Not just cost-efficiency calculations and hard money thinking.
(I could be wrong, but I notice this focus on money/best-deal-thinking in English forums, here on HaD and on YT comments.)
You maybe could say that certain European values still had been alive.
The positive ones, at least.
In the current state, though, it’s perhaps better if the country/nation manages its social problems first and then learns to be dependable to its international partners. Or at least stops to push them down and leaves them alone.
Or learns how to be independent again and how to re-build what went lost in the past decades (car industry, steel industry etc).
China is perhaps not much better (as a business partner), but it acts in a more responsible, more clever way.
It also has clean streets, clean public spaces and something like a public healthcare system.
A lot is just show, likely, but China does at least know how to play the game of diplomacy.:
When I think of the new alpha animal from over big pond, it gives me shivers.
But that’s just me. It’s just a point of view of someone who doesn’t live in the US.
So the analysis might be wrong, altogether, not sure.
I would like to clarify that the work done by the developer and group is incredible! Alot of research has gone into this project and I do appreciate that. Reading through the threads I found an awesome amount of information related to the various changes and versions of FW. An impressive project. I just wish it were with better hardware.
The problem with Cheap Chinese Radios (CCR) is not spurious transmit. Its crappy. Wide open receive.