CHIRP

Forgot to mention, Equip Loan avaolable. Dion

The BF-X3plus kind of reminds me of my Baofeng BF-A58S (basically a UV-82 in a different case with only a single PTT button and 3 bands). I would give that model selection a try.

Jim KC9HI

Bernhard, Jim,
Boy, thx for the quick reply. Here is what I have found. I've only downloaded the radio, haven't tried to upload yet.
Using the Baofeng BF-F8HP as Bernhard suggested I was able to downloaded the radio.
Also found that both the BF-A58S, as Jim suggested, and the GT-3WP downloaded however both of these are Beta Releases not sure if this makes a difference.
Hope this helps others out.
Dion, KK6TMF

DION SALFEN wrote:

Bernhard, Jim,
Boy, thx for the quick reply. Here is what I have found. I've only downloaded the radio, haven't tried to upload yet.
Using the Baofeng BF-F8HP as Bernhard suggested I was able to downloaded the radio.
Also found that both the BF-A58S, as Jim suggested, and the GT-3WP downloaded however both of these are Beta Releases not sure if this makes a difference.
Hope this helps others out.
Dion, KK6TMF

Unfortunately Baofeng has been getting away from providing differing "magic" strings and responses that CHIRP has used in the past in order to be able to keep the model variations separate. So it is becoming less possible for CHIRP to narrow the choices down to a single correct radio and more important for the user to understand and choose the most correct model for their radio.

The reason I mention that this is a UV-82 like radio is because of the keypad layout. The 0 key of this radio is in the bottom row like a telephone (as it is on the keypad of a UV-82). The 0 key of a UV-5R like radio is in the right keypad column. If you choose the wrong model, CHIRP will display settings that your radio doesn't support, and worse, your radio will have settings that CHIRP won't provide and support for. A quick way to determine which model type that you should be using with your radio is the number of menu choices that your radio has. If it has 40 menu choices, you should be selecting a UV-5R like radio model. If your radio has 41 menu choices, you should be selecting a UV-82 like radio model. Some examples for variations and their appropriate choices are shown below.

Baofeng like radios with 40 menu choices.
2 TX power levels, 2 bands: Baofeng UV-5R
3 TX power levels, 2 bands: Baofeng BF-F8HP
2 TX power levels, 3 bands: Radioddity UV-5RX3

Baofeng like radios with 41 menus choices.
2 TX power levels, 2 bands: Baofeng UV-82
3 TX power levels, 2 bands: Baofeng UV-82HP
2 TX power levels, 3 bands: Baofeng BF-A58S

So...

• if your radio has 40 menus and you choose UV-82 or UV-82HP, you won't have access to any UV-5R specific settings.
• if your radio has 41 menus and you choose UV-5R or BF-F8HP, you won't have access to any UV-82 specific settings.
• if your radio has 2 TX power levels and you choose BF-F8HP or UV-82HP, CHIRP will offer setting 3 TX power levels but won't program the TX power levels of your radio properly.
• if your radio has 3 TX power levels and you choose UV-5R or UV-82, CHIRP will only offer settings for 2 TX power levels.
• if your radio has 3 bands an you don't choose Radioddity UV-5RX3 or Baofeng BF-A58S, CHIRP won't support programming frequencies in the 220 MHz band.

The beta notice is just something that was added back in 2012 when support for the UV-5R was first added to CHIRP. Since many radios models share the same driver, this notice is shared among many radio models. The drivers for the Baofeng UV-5R like and UV-82 like models are probably the most tested and used drivers in CHIRP. Like most notices like these, it is rare that someone bothers to go back later to create a patch for the sole purpose of removing these "beta" notices. Always save the first successful download, unedited, to a CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) file to be kept in a safe place as a backup.

Jim KC9HI

I just ordered one of these BF-X3 plus radios although I probably should have looked around before doing so as the only place I can find information on them is the places that are selling them. No user manual, it isn't even listed on the US baofeng website. But either way, when I get it in, I wouldn't mind helping in getting chirp going on it or trying various methods to see if the current version could be "made" to work.

Here is a little update. Tried all UV-82 Chirp variants, only UV-82WP worked. Tried all UV-5R variants, only UV-5XP worked.
Remember, this is only basic radio download. Have not checked upload or all functionalities.
BTW, need to have volume control set to 100% for it to work.
Dion, KK6TMF
P.S. only bought this radio as my other Baofeng is not accessible until late summer.

curious if you, Dion, or anyone else might of tried the BF-A58S as that has the same frequency band ranges and similar other features on paper. There was a guy on youtube in the comments of the only video I could find in regards to the BF-3X plus that did say he got UV-5XP to work for him on download and upload of configuration. Although I can't try until the one I ordered today gets here.

Jody, Here is a link to a manual identical to the BX-X3 but w/o the 200-260-MHz capability (page 23). The web link says it is for the UV-9R which is incorrect. https://srvks.hr/manuals/Baofeng_UV-9R_users-manual.pdf

That helps, much appreciated Dion.

Jody, the BF-A58S also worked for download. Haven't had time to check any uploads yet.

In this video this man is using the BF-X3 plus to monitor brazilian pirate satcoms and claims it is programmable as a UV-82x3. I added a comment and asked for clarification.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzpGtBtYqeY

might work but the UV-82x3 is not in the Chirp dropdown menu.

You are right Dion. And that is why I've asked the gentleman that posted the video for clarification. Don't know if I'll get an answer back, but one never knows.

And it could be that he said UV-82III instead of x3 as well

DION SALFEN wrote:

might work but the UV-82x3 is not in the Chirp dropdown menu.

The UV-82X3 is a Radioddity model.

Jody Bryant wrote:

And it could be that he said UV-82III instead of x3 as well

The UV-82III is an alias of the BF-A58S, which is the model I recommend based on the similarity of the case design (as seen "here":https://www.baofengradio.com/products/catalog-bf-a58s on the Baofeng (the radio manufacturer in China) website).

Jim KC9HI

Does everybody agree that the BF-A58S is the best selection for the BF-X3+? If so, let's add the radio to the list of Supported Radios.

Tried the BF-A58S, GT-3WP and BF-F8HP all downloaded to fresh radio, haven't had time to upload and ring out.

DION SALFEN wrote:

Tried the BF-A58S, GT-3WP and BF-F8HP all downloaded to fresh radio, haven't had time to upload and ring out.

No need to bother with GT-3WP or BF-F8HP, neither support the 220 MHz band.

Jim KC9HI

The BF-X3 Plus I ordered isn't supposed to be delivered to me until Thursday so I won't be able to test until then. I'm thinking at this point the UV-82III/BFA585S will be the best candidate at this point and that is just based on the research I've done. Nothing that I can confirm or deny at this point though.

I received my Baofeng BF-X3 Plus today via UPS a few days early. I was able to make an img of the radio with chirp with the BF-A58S profile, take out the frequencies that I wouldn't be using and put in my own along with some in the 220 mhz range, NOAA frequencies and a few others just to test with and uploaded them to the radio with success. The radio performs as expected. All menu items remained the same. Although it isn't at the advertised 18W tx power, LOL. Standard baofeng fair on the TX power of close to 5W. Battery is listed as 9500 mAh too, but I would dare say not, but I don't have a way to measure that at the moment. Long story short, I believe the BF-A58S is a good alias for the BF-X3 Plus.

Jody Bryant wrote:

I believe the BF-A58S is a good alias for the BF-X3 Plus.

Added to the "Supported Radio Models":https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Supported_Radios list as such. Thanks.

Jim KC9HI