A merge between https://github.com/OneOfEleven/uv-k5-firmware-custom and https://github.com/fagci/uv-k5-firmware-fagci-mod
APACHE-2.0 License
This repository is a merge of OneOfEleven custom firmware with fagci spectrum analizer plus my few changes. All is a cloned and customized version of DualTachyon's open firmware found here ... a cool achievement !
[!TIP] There is a work done by others on forks of this repository. I encourage you to take a look at those too. SEE HERE
[!WARNING] Use this firmware at your own risk (entirely). There is absolutely no guarantee that it will work in any way shape or form on your radio(s), it may even brick your radio(s), in which case, you'd need to buy another radio. Anyway, have fun.
5 NOAA
)* Scan
while scanning)* SCAN
while in RX DCS/CTCSS menu item)Up to date manual is available in the Wiki section
Please note that the Quansheng UV-Kx radios are not professional quality transceivers, their performance is strictly limited. The RX front end has no track-tuned band pass filtering at all, and so are wide band/wide open to any and all signals over a large frequency range.
Using the radio in high intensity RF environments will most likely make reception anything but easy (AM mode will suffer far more than FM ever will), the receiver simply doesn't have a great dynamic range, which results in distorted AM audio with stronger RX'ed signals. There is nothing more anyone can do in firmware/software to improve that, once the RX gain adjustment I do (AM fix) reaches the hardwares limit, your AM RX audio will be all but non-existent (just like Quansheng's firmware). On the other hand, FM RX audio will/should be fine.
But, they are nice toys for the price, fun to play with.
You can customize the firmware by enabling/disabling various compile options, this allows us to remove certain firmware features in order to make room in the flash for others. You'll find the options at the top of "Makefile" ('0' = disable, '1' = enable) ..
Build option | Description |
---|---|
STOCK QUANSHENG FEATURES | |
ENABLE_UART | without this you can't configure radio via PC ! |
ENABLE_AIRCOPY | easier to just enter frequency with butts |
ENABLE_FMRADIO | WBFM VHF broadcast band receiver |
ENABLE_NOAA | everything NOAA (only of any use in the USA) |
ENABLE_VOICE | want to hear voices ? |
ENABLE_VOX | |
ENABLE_ALARM | TX alarms |
ENABLE_TX1750 | side key 1750Hz TX tone (older style repeater access) |
ENABLE_PWRON_PASSWORD | power-on password stuff |
ENABLE_DTMF_CALLING | DTMF calling fuctionality, sending calls, receiving calls, group calls, contacts list etc. |
ENABLE_FLASHLIGHT | enable top flashlight LED (on, blink, SOS) |
CUSTOM MODS | |
ENABLE_BIG_FREQ | big font frequencies (like original QS firmware) |
ENABLE_SMALL_BOLD | bold channel name/no. (when name + freq channel display mode) |
ENABLE_CUSTOM_MENU_LAYOUT | changes how the menu looks like |
ENABLE_KEEP_MEM_NAME | maintain channel name when (re)saving memory channel |
ENABLE_WIDE_RX | full 18MHz to 1300MHz RX (though front-end/PA not designed for full range) |
ENABLE_TX_WHEN_AM | allow TX (always FM) when RX is set to AM |
ENABLE_F_CAL_MENU | enable the radios hidden frequency calibration menu |
ENABLE_CTCSS_TAIL_PHASE_SHIFT | standard CTCSS tail phase shift rather than QS's own 55Hz tone method |
ENABLE_BOOT_BEEPS | gives user audio feedback on volume knob position at boot-up |
ENABLE_SHOW_CHARGE_LEVEL | show the charge level when the radio is on charge |
ENABLE_REVERSE_BAT_SYMBOL | mirror the battery symbol on the status bar (+ pole on the right) |
ENABLE_NO_CODE_SCAN_TIMEOUT | disable 32-sec CTCSS/DCS scan timeout (press exit butt instead of time-out to end scan) |
ENABLE_AM_FIX | dynamically adjust the front end gains when in AM mode to help prevent AM demodulator saturation, ignore the on-screen RSSI level (for now) |
ENABLE_AM_FIX_SHOW_DATA | show debug data for the AM fix |
ENABLE_SQUELCH_MORE_SENSITIVE | make squelch levels a little bit more sensitive - I plan to let user adjust the values themselves |
ENABLE_FASTER_CHANNEL_SCAN | increases the channel scan speed, but the squelch is also made more twitchy |
ENABLE_RSSI_BAR | enable a dBm/Sn RSSI bar graph level in place of the little antenna symbols |
ENABLE_AUDIO_BAR | experimental, display an audio bar level when TX'ing |
ENABLE_COPY_CHAN_TO_VFO | copy current channel settings into frequency mode. Long press 1 BAND when in channel mode |
ENABLE_SPECTRUM | fagci spectrum analyzer, activated with F + 5 NOAA
|
ENABLE_REDUCE_LOW_MID_TX_POWER | makes medium and low power settings even lower |
ENABLE_BYP_RAW_DEMODULATORS | additional BYP (bypass?) and RAW demodulation options, proved not to be very useful, but it is there if you want to experiment |
ENABLE_BLMIN_TMP_OFF | additional function for configurable buttons that toggles BLMin on and off wihout saving it to the EEPROM |
ENABLE_SCAN_RANGES | scan range mode for frequency scanning, see wiki for instructions (radio operation -> frequency scanning) |
DEBUGGING | |
ENABLE_AM_FIX_SHOW_DATA | displays settings used by AM-fix when AM transmission is received |
ENABLE_AGC_SHOW_DATA | displays AGC settings |
ENABLE_UART_RW_BK_REGS | adds 2 extra commands that allow to read and write BK4819 registers |
COMPILER/LINKER OPTIONS | |
ENABLE_CLANG | **experimental, builds with clang instead of gcc (LTO will be disabled if you enable this) |
ENABLE_SWD | only needed if using CPU's SWD port (debugging/programming) |
ENABLE_OVERLAY | cpu FLASH stuff, not needed |
ENABLE_LTO | reduces size of compiled firmware but might break EEPROM reads (OVERLAY will be disabled if you enable this) |
arm-none-eabi GCC version 10.3.1 is recommended, which is the current version on Ubuntu 22.04.03 LTS. Other versions may generate a flash file that is too big. You can get an appropriate version from: https://developer.arm.com/downloads/-/gnu-rm
clang may be used but isn't fully supported. Resulting binaries may also be bigger. You can get it from: https://releases.llvm.org/download.html
This is the least demanding option as you don't have to install enything on your computer. All you need is Github account.
Code
buttonLocal
to Codespace
Create codespace on main
buttonMakefile
Makefile
changes./compile-with-docker.sh
in terminal windowcompiled-firmware
firmware.packed.bin
Download
, now you should have a firmware on your computer that you can proceed to flash on your radio. You can use online flasher
If you have docker installed you can use compile-with-docker.bat (Windows) or compile-with-docker.sh (Linux/Mac), the output files are created in compiled-firmware
folder. This method gives significantly smaller binaries, I've seen differences up to 1kb, so it can fit more functionalities this way. The challenge can be (or not) installing docker itself.
winget install -e -h git.git Python.Python.3.8 GnuWin32.Make
winget install -e -h Arm.GnuArmEmbeddedToolchain -v "10 2021.10"
pip install --user --upgrade pip
pip install crcmod
mkdir c:\projects & cd /D c:/projects
git clone https://github.com/egzumer/uv-k5-firmware-custom.git
c:\projects\uv-k5-firmware-custom
and running win_make.bat
or by running a command line:
cd /D c:\projects\uv-k5-firmware-custom
win_make.bat
cd /D c:\projects\uv-k5-firmware-custom
git reset --hard & git clean -fd & git pull
I've left some notes in the win_make.bat file to maybe help with stuff.
Many thanks to various people on Telegram for putting up with me during this effort and helping:
ludwich66 - Quansheng UV-K5 Wiki amnemonic - tools and sources of information
Copyright 2023 Dual Tachyon https://github.com/DualTachyon
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
Video showing the AM fix working ..