Unfortunately, just like with many other "professional" radios, BF-888s aren't programmable without the cable. As you figured out, you can't rely on them being the same across the models, so you'll need to make sure that on both sets of radios, same channels contain same frequencies. The "channel" on the radio is just a memory location, into which a frequency is written. Unfortunately, you fell into one of the traps of the Chinese radios! You can't really assume what frequencies are they programmed with.īasically, the radios are designed to be programmed with a certain set of frequencies, just like so-called "professional" radios of many other manufacturers.
Otherwise, if getting a cable is the only option, is this a standard cable that can be bought in computers/electronics shops? Is their software readily available?
If these radios can actually talk to each other, I would very much prefer to fix them without using a cable (e.g., using keys on the units in a way that allows configuring them), as I don't have one, and getting one would be both expensive and time consuming considering where I am now. I've read somewhere that these BaoFeng radios have a programming cable (that I don't have). How can I make both sets talk to each other? I live in a country where regulation is not an issue (not the US). I bought both sets from Amazon, delivered to a US address. Both radio sets work well among themselves, but the two sets don't communicate with each other.
The new radios don't talk to the old radios, despite being on the same channel. (Same model code, except the "+" at the end, apparently just a restyling). Needing more, I bought another set, this time buying BaoFeng BF-888s radios. I had originally bought a set of BaoFeng BF-888s+ radios that perform very well and perfectly suit my needs.