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I bought a Quansheng UV-K5(8), and I am impressed by the audio quality, there appears to be a better ratio of signal to noise out of the speaker on listening, and it's a nice little radio, though with some quirks.

I also bought a Baofeng programming cable that is promised will work with the Quansheng UV-K5, which is in every sense the same as my Quansheng UV-K5(8). This is a Kenwood style programming cable, not to be confused with the USB-C cable which only charges the radio.

However, while the cable works with my Baofeng UV-13 Pro perfectly, I cannot get it to programme the Quansheng UV-K5(8), the software will not connect to the radio.

I have tried both MacOS Montery and Windows 10. The Baofeng UV-13 Pro works with its proprietary software on Windows 10 so the cable works.

On both systems, plugging in the cable finds the USB-to-Serial chip and creates the serial port, but there is no possibility of connecting to the Quansheng, I tried for hours on both systems, trying Chirp, generic drivers, hideous Quansheng USB drivers that only work if you set your Windows display language to Simplified Chinese, Quansheng provided firmware flash tool (Just to try to get something to connect) but it is impossible to connect the Quansheng radio on either system.

I'm almost certain it's the right cable, I'm very certain it works, the radio works in every other way, so I'm thinking something like:

  1. The cable works with Baufeng UV-13 Pro, and is advertised to work with Quansheng UV-K5 but doesn't work with Quansheng UV-K5(8), I think this very unlikely;

  2. The radio is broken in some way;

  3. The Quansheng-provided driver for Windows 10 and the generic driver for the USB to Serial on both Windows and MacOS somehow don't work;

  4. The serial port settings (Buad, parity, stop bit, etc) are different for the Baofeng that works and the Quansheng that doesn't, but nobody on the internet seems to have documented this, so it's unlikely.

I can't find a more suitable cable online, Please I need any help or ideas!

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you very match for your tip, this solved my connection problem with my "quansheng uv-5r", so i pushed the connector very super hard fully inside the holes and then the communication with SW is OK ! $\endgroup$
    – LYCAON68
    Commented Dec 1, 2023 at 17:57
  • $\begingroup$ On my radio it does not communicate via the com port. Try several times to push the socket hard into the radio, but no succes. Check the connections from the pmug to the radio. They all get contact witj the hardware. I have no electric schema of this radio. Who can help me to get one mail to [email protected] thanks for reading this post $\endgroup$
    – Michel Van Damme
    Commented Jan 20 at 9:52
  • $\begingroup$ @MichelVanDamme So do you actually GET a new COM port when you connect the radio? If a new comport appears on connecting the cable then that just means the cable is communicating with the computer. Only if it's the right cable and fully inserted will the communication over the port actually happen. Check you're using the correct com port, the one that appears on plugging in the cable. IIRC you should get a blue light on the radio, then turn it on, so make sure you're following the correct sequence. If all that fails and the cable is correct try different software like Chirp with correct radio. $\endgroup$
    – spl
    Commented Feb 24 at 12:58

2 Answers 2

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Solved: You have to push the Kenwood programming cable plug end into the UV-K5(8) super hard it almost feels like it will break, blue light, turn on radio, 2 minute fix after hours of pain.

Note this is the kenwood style programming cable, not the USB-C charging cable whis is unrelated to this issue.

Works beautifully on Mac with Chirp and no dubious manufacturer / 3rd party drivers!

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  • $\begingroup$ Glad you found the solution! Please mark your answer as accepted by clicking on the checkmark. Sorry that you won't get any points for that, but then the bot won't keep pushing this to the top as an unanswered question. :-) $\endgroup$
    – Mike Waters
    Commented Jul 27, 2023 at 20:17
  • $\begingroup$ This answer just stopped me from returning mine. I couldn't get it to program in anything, but it read enough data to convince me it was a software problem, not hardware. Turns out I just wasn't using unreasonable force. $\endgroup$
    – GDorn
    Commented Oct 1 at 1:20
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I wish I had stumbled upon this thread sooner. I spent almost 2 days struggling with my radio and cable, but I finally figured that the cable was not inserted properly. I gripped the cable as hard as I could against the side of the case, it took several tries, the best I could do was 76%. Then it finally worked! I completely believed I had bricked the radio for 2 days and I was elated when it finally worked. I ordered 2 new cables and once they are verified I will gladly toss the bad cable. 73 to all.

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  • $\begingroup$ I found that the problem went away after the cable was used a few times, it seems to be the first insertion that is most difficult. I didn't have to replace the cable or radio :) $\endgroup$
    – spl
    Commented Dec 2, 2023 at 16:19

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