The #Quansheng UV-K1(8) does have exactly the same problem with external microphones as the UV-K5(8) - the external PTT does not activate transmit if squelch is OFF (ie you're hearing static or trying to work a very weak station that doesn't break squelch). If squelch is ON, it's fine.

This is with the stock firmware. Will be converting this to the F4HWN 5.2.0 firmware later which will improve the feature set dramatically.