For those of you have gotten UV82-C radios, here is a very short how-to to help you get started.
First, always make sure you have an antenna connected before powering on.
We have programmed the NRG MURS channel as channel 1, labeled NRG.
The UV82-C display displays two channel names when turned on, and a little arrow to the left of the name shows which of the two channels is being monitored – the active channel.
If you wish to transmit on the top channel, you use the top PTT button (the upper of the two top buttons on the left side of the radio).
If you wish to transmit on the bottom channel, you use the bottom PTT button (the lower of the two top buttons on the left side of the radio).
To change anything, the radio must be unlocked. Unlock the radio by holding down the # key for a second or so (bottom right button). You can lock it by holding down the # key again.
To change active channel (the one with the little arrow to the left of the channel in the display), make sure the radio is unlocked, and then use the up or down arrow buttons on the keypad (between the MENU and EXT/AB keys). You can also enter a three-digit channel number, e.g. 001 for NRG.
If you wish to monitor the NRG channel, make sure that NRG appears as either of the two channels in the display and that the little arrow to the left is next to the NRG channel. If it isn’t, swap active channels by pressing the EXT/AB key.
If you wish to transmit on the NRG channel, make sure that the NRG channel appears as either of the two channels in the display. Press one of the two PTT buttons (top or bottom) depending on which of the two displayed channels shows NRG. Wait about 1 second after pressing the appropriate PTT button before you start speaking. Let go of the PTT button when you are done speaking, and the radio will revert to monitoring that channel.
If you wish to scan the programmed channels, hold down the * key (bottom left button) until you start seeing the channels changing. You are now scanning and when a transmission is received, the scanning will pause, allowing you to hear the transmission until it ends, then it will resume scanning. If the * key does NOT start scanning, you may have the radio locked. To unlock, hold the # key down for a second or so (bottom right button) and hold down # to start scanning.
To stop scanning, press the * key again.
The NRG channel name is the MURS channel for NRG Firewise communications. It is on this channel that Susan and others will broadcast emergency information. It is also on this channel that we conduct our monthly tests (3rd Saturday of the month at 9:00).
We recommend locking your radio (# key) with NRG in both displays when you turn it off. That way it is ready to go (no fumbling) if there is an emergency!
Feel free to ask questions by replying to this topic and one of us will answer. – Eric (KC6EJS)
Is there a way to limit the number of channels being scanned when I press the * key? For example, most of the time I want to hear only from CalFire, Central Fire, and NRG. The rest might almost always be background noise to me. One of the reasons I live here is to limit the noise pollution to which I am subjected…
There is no way (as far as I know) to do this from the keyboard, but if you’d like, I can update the programming for you to mark additional channels as “skip” during scanning. Currently, we only have the weather channel set for “skip”. – Eric (KC6EJS)
I think you are locked out of doing anything from the keypad – you’d need some programming software and a cable. I could possible drop by with my laptop sometime and tweak your programming to skip whatever channels you want to have skipped during scanning.
Probably best I stick to one channel, such as Central Fire, just switch to another for additional input. I can leave the MURS on all the time for NRG alerts.
Here is a short, written getting started guide for the UV82-C radios. Feel free to print out this 2-page guide by clicking on each image, opening them up on your computer or mobile device, and then printing to your printer.
Thank you Eric and Tamah for writing up this guide! I’ve printed it out and taped it next to my MURS radio and placed a copy in my trunk. Really grateful!
Eric, your list of programmed channels is helpful…except that it’s a very tiny PNG image that does not benefit much from magnification. I realize this is an unfortunate (I might even say astonishing) limitation of the forum software. Possible to post it as a PDF in Google One or some other link-accessible repository?
I could post it in my Google drive account and make it public and provide the URL to it. But my Google drive account goes away at some point, we’d lose it. Any better ideas? I don’t believe I have a Google One account, nor that it would do any better in making the link permanent.
Interesting. It does for me. And I checked the access control on the google doc and it says “anyone with the link can view”. I wonder if you HAVE to have a google account in order to view it. Do you?
One confusing thing about the UV82C is it has TWO channels showing,
The one with the little triangle next to it is the one you will be listening to (and transmitting if allowed).
IE you are not listening to both when you have two different channels displayed.
