Date: Fri, 23 May 2025 05:25:14 +0000
From: Massimo Nespolo <[email protected]>
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/2ed67337eddb0d23dd7edcda00654c75f4f634d2878a268bac9e5ca8d5bcbbcf
5RH_V1_19_CPS.exe -
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/3fc1efe231e026d96e8277343a29dd01c7ea49f0bc468ab01e8376ebcbda4c09
501_Update_115200_v1_2.exe -
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/8d247719a1ccc2e9381ee5bd0a8b3eb3a50f81b77e7cf35c63cb8a7a4c8980ad
BF501_Update 240118(1).exe -
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/459880c46ebecd7ab1ea0f1c845283e81efc2fdc0f2250f60d855e1c51b0d5c9
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.
_______________________________________________
Users mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com
To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected]
To report this email as off-topic, please email
[email protected]
List archives:
https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/
