Bought this UV5R (UV5R7W) at the Hamvention this past May.  So, aside from this HT having a receiver front end that’s susceptible to harmonics from DC to Daylight (yes have played with the squelch, wish it had a harmonic elimination button…hi hi), programming with Chirp is relatively easy.  However, the Chirp programmer only seems to support a High or Low power level setting but this radio has three, High (7w or 8w depending on what document your looking at), Mid (4w or 5w), and Low (1w).  In researching the UV5R I find this radio is steeped in a hodge-podge of variations, many un-documented, that seem to make it impossible to determine what I have.  So, what I know is this is a UV5R7W, the 7w (or is it 8 ??) with three power levels High, Mid, Low.  The firmware (holding #3 while powering on) is BFB298, Chirp Daily in “Other Settings” is returning for Firmware Msg 1, HN5RV01, and 1 for Firmware Msg 2.  Don’t understand why the two firmware numbers but makes me question which witch is which, especially when I search and find different spec’s and documentation for each.

So, is the UV5R model in Chirp the one to use ??  I think there is a VP programmer on the CD that came with the radio, is that a better choice, although there are a bunch of programs on that CD that appear to me to have nothing to do with this particular model….again a mystery with the lack of any supporting documentation, not even a readme.

Any advice or sharing of knowledge would be appreciated !!  Started searching the archives but thought since this radio was relatively new (I assume anyways) that someone else may have already been down this path.  I know you get what you pay for, just want to give this a fair shot before repurposing this to be a service band and NWS monitor.

Thanks,

73 de Brad, N8GLS