Why isn't my Baofeng FM radio working?
I know there is a lot of controversy in the HAM community about Baofeng and similar "cheap Chinese" radios that are available on various web sites, but nevertheless they are still cheap ways to do some experimentation.
Note, here I am referring to "FM Radio" as the feature that lets you tune broadcast FM radio (65-108MHz) when you press the CALL button on the side of the radio.
I originally had a pre-COVID UVS9-Plus and I wanted to add a UV-5R-Pro to try something out. So I went onto AliExpress and bought the cheapest one I could find. It arrived and worked fine except oddly the FM radio component didn't work. I raised this as an issue with the seller and got an interesting response.
I also had the same issue with a 'new' clone UVS9-Pro.
Basically you can press the CALL button and it takes you into the FM Radio mode, and you can tune those frequencies between 65-108Mhz, but it can't demodulate them and you hear nothing.
Turns out this is actually an issue with the Baofeng clones related to the "chip shortage" - full article here from the genuine manufacturer of Baofengs: https://baofengtech.com/blog-why-isnt-my-baofeng-fm-radio-working/.
Posted: 13-Aug-2022
