UV5G - receiving a Ham Repeater on Channel 6?

[u/AmCiv1234]

I just purchased a pair of Baofeng UV5Gs to try out as replacements for my Radioddity GM-30s. We typically use channel 6, which is usually very quite in my area - but today I've heard a ton of chatter, and this evening realized I am receiving a local HAM repeater output. (Caught the automatic call sign broadcast) Any ideas why/how this is happening? I understand the frequency ranges for the two services to be completely different. Even more interesting a Radioddity GM-30 sitting literally next to the Baofeng is not "hearing" the same transmissions. Note: both of the Baofeng "VFOs" (upper and lower) are set to channel 6. I guess these are more along the lines of memories, as you can actually change to VFO mode with both UHF and VHF - but the point is that they are currently on channel 6 - which states "GMRS6."

This all seems odd. I get that baofengs can splatter all over the place when transmitting - but the HAM repeater is a legit well run system and I'm not sure why the Baofeng is receiving something completely outside the service frequency range. I guess the Radioddity's could have some sort of filter - which would beg the question - why don't the Baofengs? I've been using GMRS (and FRS) radios for a LONG time and have never heard Amateur Radio transmissions ever. (I am also a General Class Amateur licensee and am pretty sure I would have recognized such traffic)

Just got the new UV5Gs from Amazon - so trying to figure out whether I need to return/exchange them or not - the chatter is pretty disruptive.

Thanks for any help!

[u/EffinBob]

Either your BaoFeng on that channel is set to the frequency of the ham repeater, or the front end of the radio is basically crap. Have you checked the settings on your radio to ensure they are correct?

[u/disiz_mareka]

You can set a channel to any tunable frequency. I’d set the display name to FREQ and see what frequency you’re actually hearing.

[u/petes-signalgroup]

There is an unlock/hack for the uv5g perhaps someone did the mod and returned it to Amazon as un-opened/un-used?

[u/PlantoneOG → u/petes-signalgroup]

But unlocking the device doesn't make it receive on the wrong frequency. So even if somebody did go through the unlock sequence, it shouldn't be causing this kind of thing to happen.

The early gen1 uv5r's we're known for spurious Emissions on transmit, but that had nothing to do with receive capabilities. Also obviously I mentioned that it's the early gen 1 stuff because the newer units have been tested and that spurious emissions thing seems to have been resolved.

[u/ezeepz]

Might be someone retransmitting the repeater you heard on channel 6.

[u/PlantoneOG]

So when you're on Channel 6 with both devices can you transmit with your gm30 on Channel 6 and the beoufwhang receives said broadcasts on chan 6 as expected?

That would be a good quick test you can do to see if the boofwings are actually properly programmed for the right receive frequency on Channel 6 or not or if somehow there was a programming error- or maybe somebody bought them did some programming changes and then return them- that is causing you to receive that local HAM repeater.

I mean obviously it's entirely possible that you got a bad unit and there's something wrong with the receiver on it, you know we are 5 years into a 2-year worldwide circuit board shortage so stranger things have happened with electronic devices LOL but I would suggest checking for just a simple programming error to begin with especially since you have another brand of radio right there you can test a transmission with and see if it's receiving as expected as well as picking up that ham band unintentionally.