E21: Baofeng UV-5R MARS Mod 

From the factory, some of them (not all, this seems to be for the newer ones) are programmed to transmit the 2-meter band (144-148 MHz), and on the 70 Centimeter band (420-450 MHz). I say not all, because on the older radios, many came from the factory unlocked, and were capable of transmitting from 136-174 MHz, as well as from 400-520 MHz. The manual factory reset seems to be hit or miss (as in sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't), and people have also reported that when attempting the factory reset, they get the message on the display; however, the reset doesn't change anything.

Interestingly, it does not appear to work on all of them. I think it may be due to which firmware a given radio has installed. Some people report that the factory reset works, and others say it doesn't.

@@PartisanCommsGroup hey thanks for the feed back. Been reading comments and all I see is it worked,was thinking that’s a bit weird how it hasn’t worked on mine. Well least I know thank you.

The UV-5R isn't capable of receiving or transmitting on CB frequencies.

thankyou.@@PartisanCommsGroup

The purpose is to expand the radio's transmit capabilities. A use case might be for people who are, or intend to join the MARS / CAP programs. However, I've heard this doesn't work on certain radios which may be due to the firmware a given radio has. That is to say, it's hit or miss.

It's interesting how it works on some and not others (assuming it's not the GMRS version).

@@PartisanCommsGroup- I purchased the UV-5R 8w, November 2023, did the 3 button hack and it worked perfectly, I haven’t made any contacts however the radio did transmit.

That is interesting. I've heard for some radios the mod doesn't always work, and I wonder if that has to do with the firmware version a given radio has?

There seems to be mixed results with these radios depending on which firmware a given radio is on. So the factory reset may or may not work.