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Why does my Wouxun lose its programming?
23 December 2013 | by I own a Wouxun KG-UV2D from Import Communications and a KG-UV3D from HRO. They are both great radios and I honestly can’t complain too much about their small annoyances. They are extremely affordable and have proved durable and reliable. They represent a great value and I continue to recommend them.
About a year ago, however, my KG-UV2D developed an annoying habit. Out of the blue, it would lose all of its programming and revert to some kind of factory default. The condition is easy to detect as it starts talking Mandarin on power up. Really handy if you’re in the middle of something important.
At first I attributed the problem to the fact that the radio may have been dropped one too many times, and maybe I’d bent the battery contacts causing the radio to somehow reset itself. I bent the contacts out a little and things seemed to be OK for awhile. After it started happening again, I invested in a second Wouxun, the KG-UV3D, and relegated the KG-UV2D to backup status. It still worked fine, but it I had become concerned about its reliability.
Fast forward a year…. Now my KG-UV3D is exhibiting the same annoying problem. Is it due to user error? Abuse and neglect? Maybe, to some degree. But I find it strange that the same problem has now occured in both radios.
There is very little information online about this problem, but there has been some discussion about it occurring. Some people report that it happens when you let the battery run dead. Others report that it can occur when swapping batteries. Neither of these scenarios describe my situation. My radios were fully charged and I only use the batteries supplied with each radio.
One common factor between both radios is that I use the excellent KC8UNJ KG-UV Commander programming software. I have had great luck with this and recommend it for its ease of use and intuitive memory channel management. Could there be something about the software, how I’m using it (number of memories or settings), or how it programs the radios that is causing the radio not to retain programming in some cases? This really doesn’t make sense as I know MANY people who have used this software without any problem.
Have you experienced similar problems with your Wouxun HT or heard of it happening? If so, have you had any luck tracking down the issue?
Thanks in advance!
13 Responses to “Why does my Wouxun lose its programming?”
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- Matt W1MST, Managing Editor
Hi Matt,
I had this happen to me once only on my Wouxun KG-UVD1P which I had programmed using KG-UV Commander (I use it only for programming). For obvious reasons I will not do what I did again to cause the problem.
I had a habit of turning the radio onto it’s receiving mode, once had I slipped the radio into and switched on the charger. The charger is adjacent to my desktop computer, so it enabled me to keep tuned into my two local UHF & VHF repeaters.
Someone called me and I reached over and pressed the transmit pressel on the Wouxun without removing it from the Li-ion charger. I lost all my programming and it reverted to the factory seettings. Luckily it was a simple matter to reprogram it with the settings I had stored on the computer in the Commander program.
I don’t know if anything you are doing relates to my experience but hopefully it may be of some relevance.
Merry Christmas to you and all your readers,
Ian ZL1TXZ.
Matt,
Merry Christmas, I have a KG-UV2D also. I have heard of what you speak but have not encountered it. S/N J12-54XX probably the same age, 1300 mha battery. Part of my keyboard does not light up but other than that no memory loss in the radio. I have the software you mentioned, I use the stock software. It was easy compared with the Icom software. You could possibly eliminate it if it is glitch related if a super cap was installed in the radio. Food for thought. Maybe in the battery holder if there is room.
After over 2 years of use and on my 2nd battery, the radio continues to operate well. Once in a while, when exiting the menu (ie. “enter”) it will jump into vfo mode, but overall a pretty good radio. Can’t complain for the price.
73 de KL7IBV in Wisconsin
My Wouxun KG-UVD1P has never had that problem, but I have a bunch of Baofeng UV-3R (Mark II) radios, some of which do that kind of thing pretty frequently.
Matt,
I’ve had the same issue with my KG-UVD1P a few weeks back. Happened a couple times in a row and hasn’t since. I’ve been using CHIRP to program all my radios.
Hope someone can find a fix, as this seems to be a common issue.
Cheers,
Dusty
Hi Matt,
I’ve had the KG-UVD1P for about a year and it has started doing the same memory reset thing in the last couple of months. I programmed it using CHIRP since day one but the problem only showed up recently.
It never happens when the battery dies or when swapping batteries. I just turn it off, come back a few hours later turn it on and find I’m greeted by a Chinese voice and a full factory reset. All my programmed frequencies are gone.
I have no idea what causes it. It seems very random. It’s easy enough to restore the programming through my laptop but becomes a major pain when I’m on the road.
Hope someone has an answer to this.
Eric
I was told by one of the jobbers who deals directly with the importer that it’s a low cost chip that gets written to every time the radio powers on, and instead of using a more expensive chip they put one in the radio that can only be written too so many times then it begins to fail.
So save those for changing batteries, and leave the radio on all the time.
Since I have been doing this I have a lot less trouble with my UV6D Wouxun.
hello im HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE ON THE KG-UV950P QUAD BAND RADIO AND THE PROGRAMMMING SOFTWARE HAS MISSING PROGRAMMING I DONT THINK THAT WOUXON IS NOTIFIED ABOUT THIS AND THIS PROGRAM NEEDS TO BE REWRITTEN AND FOR THIS THIS CAUSE MISPROGRAMMMING OF THE RADIO.
Hello Matt, First allow me to confirm what another poster says: the WOUXUN radios have a known issue. the On-Off cycle re-writes to the chip. I have not experienced it-However, From time to time, I will turn my rig on and it will go to a blank screen. I simply power cycle and the screen is fine again. One possible thing to note- a lot of folks are “fiddling” with the radio programming WAY WAY WAAAAAY too much! Program the rig and leave it alone. I learned to “manually” program a frequency if I do come across something from time to time. then once every few months I’ll read it to the CHiRP or Linux OWX program.and in spite of some complaints around the internet it isn’t any harder than my HTX 202 was to learn to do. All in all, If the HT is being used for its intended use- It should give you a long time of service.
I have three of these radios. Very often on power down/up cycling I loose some of the programmed features. It starts speeking Chineese and defaulting to other features. Once reprogrammed via computer or manually it is fine again untill powered down. This does not always happen but at least three out of five times cycled.
Sir I just bought it fews days ago I got software for kg-uvd1p what was happend I went to program click read fro radio enstead write to radio I accident hit write to radio and send all 2 meters and 440 and this is why my radio lock it up. Now my radio has crash it to malfuction it power up no lightdisplay no beeper no sound at all.
There is hidden menu I cannot find it
to unlock I have 2 meter and 220 ht i’m out of business this radio.
Any one has information to unlock the radio. Please help.
my KG-UV3D display failed recently. Everything works fine apart that there is a blank screen all the time. I am guided by the “voice” to let me know which pre-programmed channel I am on. I am just learning to get on with it and to ignore the loss of screen information. I just keep a backup of the channels on my computer in case…..
I posted a detailed how to on fixing Wouxun Flash Chips.
Article and Video at:
http://www.shaneburrell.com/?p=1082
Hope this helps some of you and keeps those out of the trash can.