You're going to want to look into CHIRP: https://chirpmyradio.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

Those are really good radios for the money, have fun. I have nicer radios but still use my UVK5 just because it's easy to use and works well. Plus all the firmware mods are fun to play with.

FYI if you're not aware... not to be the no fun police, but you do need a license to transmit with one. And it's technically not legal to use them on FRS/GMRS/MURS frequencies even with a license, though that's probably the least enforced rule on the FCC books. Assuming you're in the US at least.

I found the UVMOD website that lets you make a patched Firmware to enable all sorts of hacks.

Since I don't have a license yet, the next time I'm playing with it, I am going to enable the TX block on all bands, so as to prevent any accidents.

Of course, much to the FCC's annoyance, in the "dangerous mods" list, you can also choose to disable the TX block on all bands. You really shouldn't do that, though. The folks that run this project are trying to do the right thing and warn anyone that goes down that path ...

https://whosmatt.github.io/uvmod/

I actually did install the frequency block disable mod. Mine lives in my car as an emergency radio, so I figured might as well have the ability in an emergency (which is allowed) and just stick to frequencies covered by my amateur license normally. Granted the mod isn't really very useful since the radio performs very poorly out of band and sprays out interference, so I should probably just take it back off.

I don't think the FCC cares too much about mods like that on hardware that's meant for licensed amateurs. Amateur license covers all sorts of radio modifications, you're supposed to police yourself and manage what you have the right to do. It's actually using the mod to transmit out of band they would fine you for (theoretically... you're unlikely to get caught), not just having the ability. The thing that they get pissed off about is when people without a license can buy hardware meant for amateurs and easily use it out of band without really needing to do anything. That's what they've cracked down on in the past, especially shady importers on Amazon marketing unlocked amateur radios for bands like FRS.

And they keep improving - I think the latest revisions come with expanded flash for custom firmware.

I've got a few UV-K5(99)s right now, and I end up giving them away to friends (even if I replace the duckies and keep the tri-bands) when new models release. With the custom bandpass and filter mods, they're reignited a very old interest of mine.

The new UV-5RM have a much better display and cool features like one-key frequency copy and USB-C charging.

Can you link me? The only 5RM I am pulling up is a Baofeng.

Is the 5RM as hackable as these?

The Baofeng is what the parent you're replying to is talking about. I own it as well and it does have a nice display and one button copy. But I prefer the TIDRADIO TD-H3. Not as cool as the Quansheng in terms of hackable - but a phenomenal radio for the money. I bought more radios in the last year than I've bought in the last decade. I've got both Ham and GMRS licensing in the US.

Thats TIDRADIO TD-H3 is pretty cool looking.

Yeah we live in an interesting time where you can get powerful HAM handhelds for a fraction of what they used to cost.

Very interesting! Where did you get them?

Apologies if this has some sort of referral in it. I copied straight from the Amazon app.

https://a.co/d/gEGW5gr

wow, that's dirt cheap! Definitely a impulse purchase territory lol. Is this the best cheap one to plug into PC?

Caveat: I'm a ham, but not an expert.

The answer depends on what you want to do or explore. You have many different options, including RTL-SDR type USB dongles for use with software like SDR# and gqrx.