Date: Fri, 23 May 2025 05:25:14 +0000 From: Massimo Nespolo massimo.nespolo@orange.fr Subject: [users] Re: Baofeng K67 Pro
On 23 May 2025 05:37:15 (+02:00), Terri Kennedy via Users wrote:
If the radio is similar to the 5RH Pro, you might not want it even
if
you could program it with CHIRP. My 1-sentence review of the 5RH Pro
was
"Straight into the parts bin".
I dare to disagree. I have or have had 5RH, 5RH Pro (before it became "GPS") and 5RH Pro Max and I'm pretty satisfied. I am not an advanced user, but for my purpose there radios are perfect - if you forgive a slightly bigger size.
The modern UV-5RH (internal designation 5RHL) and UV-5RM (internal designation 5RHBK) are good, basic radios in line with other recent full-color-screen Baofeng models, with the 5RH not having air band or 350-390, while the 5RM does. The related UV-5G Plus (also internal designation 5RHL) is a 5RH that is locked to Tx only on the GMRS channels.
My dislike is for the 5RH Pro (internal designation 5RH- 501-NRF). In addition to the usability problems with the radio (with firmware 2.0.9 when the keypad backlight comes on, the screen goes off, not to mention the many APRS issues), the one big show-stopper is:
All of the software for the 5RH Pro is absolutely infested with viruses / malware. A representative sampling:
5RH_Font_tool.exe - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/2ed67337eddb0d23dd7edcda00654c75f4f634d2... 5RH_V1_19_CPS.exe - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/3fc1efe231e026d96e8277343a29dd01c7ea49f0... 501_Update_115200_v1_2.exe - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/8d247719a1ccc2e9381ee5bd0a8b3eb3a50f81b7... BF501_Update 240118(1).exe - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/459880c46ebecd7ab1ea0f1c845283e81efc2fdc...
This isn't just me - you can read about other user's ex- periences with viruses on the radio's Amazon page reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKNHG7DF
"Moreover, the software update aspect is negative, with customers noting that CHIRP software is unavailable and the software is infected with viruses."
If you download the programming software from TIDRADIO, the "5RH Pro programming software.zip" file contains a file named "1.------READ IT FIRST------.txt" which says (as its only contents):
"Noteļ¼If the software is installed on drive C, please run it as an administrator.
!!! Please close the anti-virus program first to avoid the program being deleted. Please don't worry. The program is safe."
It has been infested with various viruses/malware since at least the 1.0.56 release, with different payloads all the way up to the current 2.0.9 release.
Both the firmware updating software and the CPS obfuscate what they're doing in order to hide their true purpose. As this has been going on since these radios first went on sale (I have serial #111), Baofeng is either oblivious to the fact that they're shipping malware, or an active participant.
This is the only analog Baofeng that I've seen this issue on (although I certainly haven't tried every model). The usual Baofeng CPS is rather poorly written, uses a pirated copy of a discontinued library from a company that went out of business, and suffers from a bunch of annoyances (crashing on radio read or write, not allowing the entry of air band frequencies, etc.) but nothing that I would categorize as intentionally bad.