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Quansheng UV-K5(8) firmware modding

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nealix:
I just received my new radio and have a related question on firmware backup, if someone knows for sure;

When Chirp saves an ".img" file with your choice of memory channels and frequencies, is that file portable
to other Quansheng UV-K5(8) radios, or just your specific one?

For example, when I flashed the IJV ver 2.9r5  3rd party Firmware, their instructions first had me use the K5prog.exe
to make a backup of the specific radio calibration data and config data.  After flashing the 3rd party firmware,
nothing in the instructions had me restore the calibration and config data.   The radio works great.
Should I assume that programs like Chirp are only writing/flashing frequencies and settings into channel memory,
and that their ".img" file does not over-write Radio Calibration and Factory Config data (like the ones we backed up)?
If that is true, then my Chirp .img file can be used for a friends UV-K5(8) with a different serial#, correct?

Thanks for any guidance, education, assistance,

Neal

radiolistener:

--- Quote from: nealix on June 10, 2024, 10:42:53 pm ---When Chirp saves an ".img" file with your choice of memory channels and frequencies, is that file portable
to other Quansheng UV-K5(8) radios, or just your specific one?
--- End quote ---

it depends on plugin implementation. As I discovered there is often used dirty coding with mistakes.

Also note that custom firmware may overwrite some calibration data, so take calibration backup before flashing some firmware. The calibration is unique for device and if you copy it from another UV-K5 it will not be compatible and may lead to some issues, for example squelch issues, battery indicator, etc.


--- Quote from: nealix on June 10, 2024, 10:42:53 pm ---Should I assume that programs like Chirp are only writing/flashing frequencies and settings into channel memory,
and that their ".img" file does not over-write Radio Calibration and Factory Config data (like the ones we backed up)?
If that is true, then my Chirp .img file can be used for a friends UV-K5(8) with a different serial#, correct?

--- End quote ---

You can read calibration data with command:

--- Code: ---./k5tool -rdee 0x1E00 0x0200 eeprom-calib.raw
--- End code ---

it will consists calibration data only with no user settings.


then just compare these files before and after Chirp edit.
If it changed, then some calibration data was changed by Chipm.
You can convert raw calibration data file to text hex file:

--- Code: ---xxd -c 16 -g 1 eeprom-calib.raw eeprom-calib.hex

--- End code ---

and then use meld to compare changes before and after Chirp edit.
In that way you can find which data exactly was changed

ftg:

--- Quote from: nealix on June 10, 2024, 10:42:53 pm ---...
When Chirp saves an ".img" file with your choice of memory channels and frequencies, is that file portable
to other Quansheng UV-K5(8) radios, or just your specific one?
...

Should I assume that programs like Chirp are only writing/flashing frequencies and settings into channel memory,
and that their ".img" file does not over-write Radio Calibration and Factory Config data (like the ones we backed up)?
If that is true, then my Chirp .img file can be used for a friends UV-K5(8) with a different serial#, correct?

--- End quote ---

One can usually assume that CHIRP is only for channels.
Thus the CHIRP .csv channel file works for other K5's.

As for what firmwares are compatible with CHIRP and all that is firmware specific.
There are now separate CHIRP drivers for some alternative firmwares as those use different memory maps.

Additionally some firmwares support swapping the original 24C64 channel EEPROM to a larger one to get more channels.
Naturally that also needs support from CHIRP, if CHIRP is to be used with them.

I'm unsure what I'd do with 999 or more channels, but some folks seem to like it.

I'm mostly in it to see how much power and sensitivity I can get from the thing on 1297MHz.

radiolistener:
just updated K5TOOL to version 1.4: https://github.com/qrp73/K5TOOL/releases/tag/v1.4

- fixed bash script to run it on linux from any folder
- some minor fixes
- extended max flash address to a tested value 0xf000 to support egzumer/ 1o11_fagci_spectrum_v0.6_packed.bin firmware (size=0xeff4 bytes)
- improved UV-K5 bootloader simulator, now it uses proper crc checks, better update-complete event detection

Now it supports firmware size up to 0xf000 bytes. Tested, works ok :)


You can simulate UV-K5 bootloader with this command:

--- Code: ---$ ./k5tool -port /dev/ttyUSB1 -simula

--- End code ---

where "/dev/ttyUSB1" is a port name which is used as device simulator.

You can use it for testing different firmware updater software. Just put two USB-serial dongles and wire it for loopback (TX-RX, RX-TX, GND-GND). Then start k5tool -simula on one port and run firmware uptate software on second port.


PS: during testing K5TOOL I also tested web updaters whosmatt/uvmod and it's fork egzumer/uvtools and found that these updaters sending incorrect frame size to the radio during firmware update process. So, be careful when using web updaters, it may upload corrupted firmware to the radio. K5TOOL and k5prog don't have this issue, they sending correct frame size, the same as original firmware updater.



 

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