Showing posts sorted by relevance for query chirp. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query chirp. Sort by date Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2016

Baofeng Tech UV-50X3 and CHIRP

This is pretty cool when you think about it...

 
MILESTONE: CHIRP's First OEM Partnership
The BTECH UV-50X3 became the very first radio to be exclusively supported by CHIRP programming software. CHIRP is a volunteer based effort to cohesively program radios from all vendors on Windows, Linux and OSX. BaoFengTech.com fully supports CHIRP and the efforts that CHIRP volunteers make to provide you the easiest programming solution between your radios. Download, support, and learn more about CHIRP at:http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Download

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

ARRL CHIRP Webinar

ARRL to Host CHIRP Radio Programming Webinar:
ARRL will host a CHIRP Radio Programming webinar on Wednesday, October 19, at 8 PM ET (0000 UTC on Thursday, October 20, in US time zones). This presentation will offer a brief overview of the free, open-source CHIRP software, which can be used to program most radios. 
Attendees will learn: What CHIRP is, which radios are supported, how to get CHIRP, and how to troubleshoot CHIRP. Presenter James Lee, N1DDK, became active in CHIRP development for the initial TYT9800 driver. He is a hardware development engineer for Qualcomm.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Baofeng Squelch Fix

You may have seen it elsewhere, but CHIRP now has ability to modify the squelch levels for some Baofeng radios. I'm really excited to test this with the BF-F8HP that BaofengTech has provided.

Here is the overview from Miklor of the squelch settings:

UV5R / UV82 / F8HP series

CHIRP Daily Build
20150111 or newer
 

Modifying settings will change the way your
radio performs. Change them at your own risk.

This is not compatible with UVB5/B6 or BF888S models
due to differences in firmware.

The factory squelch settings on these models has long been known to have little or no impact on the actual squelch level. The smallest noise burst would easily pop open the squelch. Until now, it was one of those  little 'quirks' you just needed to tolerate.
 
But no longer...  Through the efforts of Jim KC9HI and the CHIRP development team, this has become a thing of the past.  A new 'Service Settings' tab has been added to CHIRP which allows you to alter the factory level settings, so a weak signal can open level 1, and only a monster signal can open level 9.

At this time we are not aware of any measurements made with actual test equipment that is designed to measure actual squelch sensitivity, but on the air testing confirms that it definitely works.


Compatibility

There are too many Baofeng/Pofung models, variants, and firmware versions to be certain which radios are compatible and which ones aren't.

Testing that has been done indicates the following:
 
The CHIRP Service Settings will adjust the levels on:
-  UV82 series radios (82C / 82X)
-  F8HP series radios
-  UV5R series radios with firmware BFB291 and later.
PowerOn while holding '3' button displays firmware on UV5R.


The Fix

The lowest factory levels were 14 > 22, and the highest were 40 > 48.

Using the settings below spreads the range from 24 > 64 in increments of 5. This is a good starting point, but can fine tune these  to any value or increment desired from 1 to 64. You also have the ability to change the VHF and UHF values independently.

After changing the level values, test the different levels to determine which is the best for your type use.

You can see the defaults I just pulled from the BF-F8HP.


Thursday, April 5, 2012

Baofeng UV-5R: CHIRP Support

Ed (Import Communications) sent a UV-5R to Dan, so that he could add it to the list of radios supported by CHIRP*. That was three days ago and Dan has already added support for the UV-5R in his daily builds!


*"CHIRP is a FREE cross-platform, cross-radio programming tool. It works on Windows and Linux (and MacOSX with a little work). It supports a growing list of radios across several manufacturers and allows transferring of memory contents between them."





Friday, May 11, 2012

Baofeng UV-5R: Extreme Receive Modification


[ Don't have a UV-5R yet? Get one here. ]


Alvin and b1gslacker have been editing the .dat file to expand the receive frequencies of the UV-5R. As usual the results are a big of a mixed bag given the limitation of the hardware and software involved. Steve, WB8GRS, details the limiting factors:
"There are two components (the DSP and MCU chips) in the UV-5R that determine the band limits.
 1. The RDA1846 DSP chip is the chip that generates all the transmit and receive functions and it specifies the band limit as follows.
134 MHz to 174 MHz200 MHz to 260 MHz400 MHz to 500 MHz
This information is provided in the RDA1846 documentation in the file area. Many have reported the UV-5R will operate outside of these band limit on the 134 to 174 and 400 to 500 MHz bands (no one has reported any success using the UV-5R on the 222 MHz band), so my guess is the above band limits are not "hard coded" in the DSP chip, but are just guaranteed band limits and in fact some chips may operate outside these band limits to some degree.
2. The MCU which I believe is a custom version of the EM78P568-44 microprocessor tells the DRA1846 DSP chip what frequency to tune. If the MCU does not send the correct commands to the DSP chip the right frequency will not be received or transmitted. If for example you load in a 222 MHz frequency, the DSP chip is capable of receiving and transmitting on 222 MHz, but only if the MCU provides the correct commands to the DSP chip. If the MCU does not provide the correct commands, the display may should the correct frequency, but the DSP chip is doing nothing. Even if the MCU send the correct commands to the DSP chip, the RF pre-amplifiers and RF amplifiers external to the DSP chip are not designed to operate on the 222 MHz band so even if the DSP chip was commands correctly by the MCU, the power output and receiver sensitivity would likely be very bad."
b1gslacker gives the details of how to make the change here. The usual warnings apply - do this at your own risk.
"For those of you who would like to attempt to destroy your brand new shiny UV-5R, here are the instructions for "slightly modifying" CHIRP to accept frequencies WAY outside of the manufacturers recommended operating boundaries. These instructions are for windows XP only (but will probably work for others also)
1) Download the UV5R.pyc file in the files section.
2) Using your favourite zip utility (I recommend winrar) open the library.zip file located in your C:\Program Files\CHRIP\ directory (location may slightly differ based on your flavour of windows, but you get the idea).3) Delete the UV5R.pyo file from the zip4) Add the UV5R.pyc file5) Save the modified library.zip
I know that your thinking, but if you don't understand the instructions, you should definitely not be trying this, so don't even ask.
Now that you have installed the "ever so slightly enhanced" version of the UV5R CHIRP module you should be able to program frequencies between 10MHz-999MHz in the CHIRP application.
NOTE: Even if the radio accepts the frequency and displays it on the LCD display, this does not mean that the radio will actually work on that frequency (in fact we do know that there are definitely limits)"

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Baojie BJ-218 Software

In the comments on the original Baojie BJ-218 2M/440 Mini Mobile post, some folks were looking the programming software. Someone posted the link to the Baojie downloads page that includes the software.

It also looks like you can use CHIRP:
Yes, the BJ-218 works with the Luiton LT-725UV CHIRP driver as well as the factory software. I have one of each, an LT-725UV and a BJ-218, factory software and files are interchangeable, and I was able to write my LT-725UV CHIRP .img file into the BJ-218 without issue. My only question is when will the LT-725UV driver go from 90% to 100% and leave the Beta stage?

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Baofeng UV-5R: Alphatags 7 Characters via CHIRP

Timing is everything... Last night, I finally got around to updating the 7 Character Hack post with a Google Cache link to the missing instructions. So, what do I read this morning?

CHIRP will now do the heavy lifting for you and update the radio with 7 character alphatags. Daily builds are here.

Friday, May 13, 2016

The Other Chirp

Google's alternative to the Amazon Echo is code-named Chirp. I'm pretty excited for competition in this space. Tools like these should drive some innovation in the integration of all my IoT devices. And, yes, I'm sure everything will be designed with security at a priority.



Monday, June 11, 2012

Baofeng UV-5R: CHIRP Bug

I have been kinda busy the last few days, so I missed a little tempest in a teapot when a new release of CHIRP started bricking UV-5R radios. There was a flurry of messages regarding squelches that would not close, no transmit/receive, no FM, etc. The problem was reported as bug #210 to Dan. The good news is that he was extremely responsive, found the problem, and got a new release out, and posted instructions for fixing the problem are here.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Boafeng Squelch Changes via CHIRP

A follow-up on the Baofeng Squelch fix....

John (http://www.miklor.com) comments:
"The newest release of CHIRP 
http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_CHIRP.php 
Allows settings to go as high as 123, but a max of 64 seems to be the most preferable range."
And Hans has some measurements that quantify the changes. Looks good.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Baofeng UV-5R: UV-5RAX 2M + 220

"It works, with a few small issues. The radio was marked with a decal in the battery compartment as a 2m/440 radio. A call to Radio-Mart told me to check the antenna markings and power up, sure enough the little rubber attenuator is marked 2m/220 and using a charged battery from my 440 unit the display shows 220. When using the latest VIP programming it will allow me to place the 222 freqs in but chirp will not allow it (the chirp is a one month old nightly) 
Power on with holding the #3 key says BFB-296. Talked last night on the net with no issues. All the accessories such as the extended battery and car adaptor are also fine. Only distinguishing cosmetic is the front labelling with some reflective type as a dual band If you needed an extra battery for your 2/70 uv-5ra then this is only 35 bucks more for another radio with a 220 band. It was shipped rather quickly also. So far so good." 
"Need to get a sma to pl adaptor to check actual power."

Monday, May 21, 2012

Quansheng TG-UV2: CHIRP Support

Looks like CHIRP support for the TG-UV2 may not happen in the immediate future:
"Dan replied to my inquiry with the following: " It depends on the radio, of course, but if it is going to happen, it would take less than a week of development time. "

He didn't venture when that week might occur. And that tiny word "if" looms large.

Ian"
I didn't see a way to vote/show support for a particular radio on Dan's site. He's doing this for free, so whatever he decides to do next is clearly up to him. As a quick data point, the relative Yahoo Group memberships are:

TG-UV2 - 431
UV-5R - 1,126
UV-3R - 3,118

[Updated June 29, 2012 - I meant Quansheng not TYT.]

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Universal Radio Programming Software - CHIRP

Instead of having a program to update the UV-3R and a program (or two!) to update the KG-UVD1P, how about a "one size fits most" application for programming radios. CHIRP will update, as of this writing, three Alinco, seventeen Icom, one Jetstream, seven Kenwood, nine Yaesu, and three Wouxun models. It will not do everything the radio specific software will do, but will update the basic memories for your favorite frequencies. You will still need the appropriate cable for your radio.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Baofeng UV-3R: CHIRP Now Available for Testing

You've got to love software with frequent builds...
Support is added in today's build:

http://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/daily-07262011/

This is a first stab and only represents a couple hours of work, but it
seems to work for me. Feedback is appreciated, although I'd prefer it go
to the chirp_users list if possible. Future fixes and enhancement
announcements go to that list.


Thanks!

--
Dan Smith
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS
Via the UV-3R Yahoo Group

Friday, July 12, 2013

Baofeng UV-82: CHIRP Support

John (K3NXU - http://www.miklor.com and http://www.miklor.com/UV82) let us know that the UV-82 now has CHIRP support. I don't see it in the list, but I suspect it is in the latest builds.

Monday, April 6, 2015

CHIRP: TERMN-8R and OBLTR-8R Support

Per the AnyTone Tech web page, CHIRP now has basic channel editing support for both the TERMN-8R and OBLTR-8R. I'm sure there will be more to come.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Baofeng UV-3R: CHIRP

Now that the UV-3R is Type 90 Accepted, it has been added to the queue to get support in the CHIRP software.
#127: Add support for Baofeng UV-3R
-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------
Reporter: tsr@… | Owner: kk7ds
Type: Feature | Status: accepted
Priority: Would be nice | Milestone:
Component: Memory Editor | Version:
Resolution: | Keywords:
Platform: Windows |
-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------
Changes (by kk7ds):

* owner: => kk7ds
* status: new => accepted
Via the UV-3R Yahoo Group.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Baofeng Tech Mobiles: CHIRP Support

The latest version of CHIRP now supports the Baofeng Tech mobiles (UV-2501+220UV-2501, and UV-5001). I got to try out a beta version and had no problems with the basic functions.


Via Miklor on the BAOFENG AMATEUR RADIO NETWORK (B.A.R.N.) Facebook page

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Baofeng UV-3R: Guest Post/Review at AmateurRadio.com

Matt, over at AmateurRadio.com, asked me to do a guest post at his site. The following UV-3R review first appeared there on September 2, 2011. AmateurRadio.com has been a great resource for me - leading me to the likes of Julian and others - check it out.

Baofeng UV-3R Review

Following the success of the Wouxun radios, we have a new Chinese handheld transceiver that has many hams excited – the Baofeng UV-3R. The UV-3R is a dual band (UHF/VHF) 2W “micro” transceiver manufactured by Vero Global Telecom and sold by Baofeng. While the Baofeng brand is the most popular, the radio is also sold as the Comtex UV-3R, the Magiksu UV-3R, and the Zastone ZT-UV3R. (Baofeng also sells the UV-100 and UV-200 models that share common internals with the UV-3R, but have some cosmetic differences. Also, on ebay.com you can find speaker mics for these models that are unavailable for the UV-3R.) One reason the UV-3R is so popular is its relatively low price – less than $50 via ebay and slightly more from the US suppliers. At this price and small form factor, it makes a great back-up radio to keep in a truck glove box or a laptop bag.

Cosmetically, the UV-3R is very similar to the Yaesu VX-3R.   
The dimensions are the same, but the UV-3R is missing a few buttons on the front panel and the functions of the duplicate buttons are not the same as the VX-3R.  The UV-3R, in the fine tradition of Chinese radios, adds an LED flashlight. The radio also is available in red, yellow, blue, and camouflage in addition to the standard black. When holding both the Yaesu and Baofeng in my hand, it is easy to see and feel the superior quality of the Japanese radio.
A quick review of the technical specifications reveals that this radio is dramatically different from the VX-3R. The UV-3R is a 2M/440 MHz transceiver and FM broadcast receiver. An abbreviated list of its features/functions/specs is below. (A full list can be found here.) The radio is built by levering the power of the RDA1846 by RDA Microelectronics. This single transceiver chip provides most of the radio functionality - essentially making it a SDR.


Functions and Features
- 50 CTCSS, 104 CDCSS
- Time-out Timer (Off/30/60/90/120/150/180 secs)
- Shift Frequency
- VOX (Off/1-9 Levels)
- Call Tone (1750 KHz)
- Squelch Set (1-9 Levels)
- Electronic Volume Adjusting (8 Levels)
- Keypad Lock - Backlight (On/Off/Key)
- Tail Tone Elimination
- Battery Save
- Restore to Factory Default
- PC Programming
- FM Radio Channel Storage


Technical Specification - General
Frequency Range | 136-174/400-470 MHz
Channel Capacity | 99
Channel Spacing | 5/6.25/12.5/25 KHz
Operated Voltage | 3.8V
Standard Battery | 1500 mAh
Battery Life | 10 hours
Dimensions | 1.9" x 3.2" X .9" (Approximate)
Weight | 140g

Technical Specification - Transmitter
RF Power Output | 2W

Early adopters were “treated” to a version that appeared to be rushed to market – the units only had twelve menu options, the s-meter was worthless, and it came in a rather plain box. The subsequent version added six more menu options, improved the signal meter, and now comes in a more polished box.





The menu options are:

Menu #
Name Description Options
1 RXCODE Receive Tone Off, CTCSS, DCS
2 TXCODE Transmit Tone Off, CTCSS, DCS
3 SQL Squelch 0-9
4 LIGHT LCD Illumination Off, On, Key
5 K TONE Keypad Beep Off, On
6 VOX VOX/Handsfree Off, 1-9
7 POWER RF Output Power High, Low
8 DW Dual Watch/UHF & VHF Off, On
9 STEP Freq Size Step 12.5/25KHz
10 OFFSET Repeater Offset 0-37.995, 0-69.995M
11 SHIFT Repeater Shift 0,+,-
12 STE Squelch Tone Elimination Off, On
13 W/N Wide/Narrow Receive Wide/Narrow
14 SAVE Battery Save Off, On
15 TOT Timeout Timer Off, 30, 60, etc.
16 SCANM Scan Memory TO Time based – time out/ CO Carrier (present) based – carrier out
17 RELAYM Relay Message
18 BCLO Busy Channel Lock Off/On (No Tx when receiving)

In addition to the cost and size, hams give the UV-3R favorable reports for both transmitted and received audio. On July 20, 2011, the UV-3R became Type 90 accepted by the FCC. The FCC documents can be found here.

The UV-3R is easy to use in spite of a somewhat confusing manual. ZL2GVA mitigated that short-coming by releasing an easy to use cheat-sheet.  While most folks find it easy to program the memories from the radio itself, the UV-3R can be programmed from a computer using a USB cable and software from Baofeng. In addition to the factory software, the UV-3R is also supported by the CHIRP cross radio programming application. (CHRIP may not program all features for all radios; it is intended to allow hams to transfer memories from one device to another with little effort.)

In addition to the USB programming cable, the radio has several accessories. It comes with the manual, charger, a charger adaptor (if needed), a charging stand, wrist strap, an UHF antenna, a VHF antenna, an ear bud/mic combo, and a belt clip. The shorter antenna (with a red ring) is for UHF. The longer antenna is for VHF. The UV-3R requires an antenna with a SMA-M connector. The antennas perform well, but many folks have wished for a dual band antenna. The Nagoya NA-701 and Nagoya NA-666 both seem to be popular choices. The antenna connector is fairly close to the LED, so some trimming may have to be done to get a good fit.

Car chargers, cases, and the USB programming cable are available as options or sometimes included as a bundle with the radio. The battery is a common NP-60 (FUJI compatible), so picking up an extra one is easy to do. Also, with a slight modification to account for the belt clip mount, the AA battery pack (FBA-37) for the Yaesu VX-3R can be used to run the UV-3R. For me, the car charger and the AA battery pack are the must have accessories for the UV-3R in its role as a backup radio.

The radio is not without some minor problems and quirks. For example, one oddity is that it uses the less common negative tip for the power plug. As for the problems, hams have reported issues with fit and finish – specifically plugs/sockets that result in loose connections. If pushing the plug with all your might doesn’t work, then try backing it out a little. Also, hams have found spurious emissions on harmonic frequencies.  There was a lot of debate about the severity of this issue on the UV-3R Yahoo group – bench vs. real world, letter vs. spirit of the FCC regulations, Type 90 Acceptance impact, etc. Whatever the severity of the emissions, it did not prevent the UV-3R from meeting the requirements of the FCC. Another common complaint was with the loud receive volume. Even at the lowest setting, the radio is quite loud. For that reason, I don’t like using it where it will bother others.

One of the advantages of an inexpensive radio is that you don’t risk much when trying to modify it. Disassembly mostly involves removing screws, but you will have to unsolder the antenna connector. Two mods seem to be the most common as they address some of the issues mentioned above. The first adds a capacitor to reduce spurious emissions on the harmonics.  The second also involves adding a resistor to reduce the loud receive volume issue.  More frivolous mods include turning the LCD blue – but then you can have a blue radio with a blue screen.

For me, this little radio has provided a great learning experience as well as a good value for my money. It may not be the best radio ever, but the price, size, and overall good performance make it a good choice for backup radio or even one for a new ham to get on the air. It also has been interesting to see:
  • the debates that sprung up around the severity of the spurious emissions,
  • the wisdom (or not) of using a dual band antenna,
  • the variety of applications from simple transceiver to APRS and tracking satellites
Credit goes to a lot of the guys on the UV-3R Yahoo group  – I don’t have the knowledge, tools, or time to do a lot of the research/testing/playing that they have done. I highly recommend the Yahoo group – although it has now reached a point where a lot of the same questions are being asked.


Editor's note: I personally follow Brick's blog and find it very worthwhile. While not all content is Amateur Radio related, I encourage you to check it out. -Matt W1MST Brick O'Lore wrote this guest post and blogs regularly about a variety of topics at http://www.brickolore.com. Contact him at brickolore@gmail.com.