DB-20G now on Chirp

[GrouserPad]

I figured I would let everyone know, I updated Chirp tonight and saw the Radioddity DB20G is now on the supported radios list. Which Im sure means the other brands of this same radio likely work with it as well. Consider this a friendly heads up. I think we all prefer Chirp over most all oem software. 

[UncleYoda]

2 minutes ago, RoadApple said:

Interesting to hear, as I've had no issues with it on Windows 10 or 11.

By quirky I meant how it works, such as keys to press (CTRL-BKSP instead of DEL), and that it tries to anticipate what to put in some columns based on what you enter in others, and that it doesn't show RX DCS when tones are same, and so forth.

[WRYS709]

20 minutes ago, RoadApple said:

Interesting to hear, as I've had no issues with it on Windows 10 or 11.  Using it to program 4 different radios. Perhaps I've just been lucky so far...

I have been using Windows 11, 10 and even XP in Parallels for years on my collection of Macs to be able to program my collection of wireless radios that are not Chirp compatible.  At this point, it is about the only reason left that I continue to have to use Windows at all!

[WRYS709]

On 6/6/2025 at 8:03 PM, GrouserPad said:

I think we all prefer Chirp over most all oem software. 

Technically speaking some radios' CPS software is still required to be able to change certain non-Channel oriented settings that are not covered in Chirp and hence in those situations, I prefer the OEM CPS software for sure!

PS: Why did you select this clunky "let's vote on each response" style of dialogue for this issue?!?  I find it distracting, annoying and downright unhelpful for reading a commentary on these issues!

[WRNC421]

On 6/7/2025 at 10:48 AM, UncleYoda said:

Update2: Added another fake channel (.725 simplex on 46) with split DCS (773N, 1N) and this one does generate the error.  And, tried a couple more combinations... doesn't appear to be related to frequency, just DCS split.

Working just fine for me (see attached). Care to share a screen capture of the error? You can also submit a bug report using the Help menu. 

[UncleYoda]

14 minutes ago, WRNC421 said:

Working just fine for me (see attached). Care to share a screen capture of the error? You can also submit a bug report using the Help menu.

OK, but it doesn't work for me!  There's not much to see on a screen capture - the lines are blank except for the channel number higlighted in red.  I looked at Dan's requirements for submitting an issue and I don't agree and will not be doing that.

 

[RoadApple]

53 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

By quirky I meant how it works, such as keys to press (CTRL-BKSP instead of DEL), and that it tries to anticipate what to put in some columns based on what you enter in others, and that it doesn't show RX DCS when tones are same, and so forth.

Got it. Thanks for that clarification of "quirky".  Admittedly, I have not used many of the CTRL key sequence shortcuts so that may be why I've not experienced the same issues.

[GrouserPad]

47 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

Technically speaking some radios' CPS software is still required to be able to change certain non-Channel oriented settings that are not covered in Chirp and hence in those situations, I prefer the OEM CPS software for sure!

PS: Why did you select this clunky "let's vote on each response" style of dialogue for this issue?!?  I find it distracting, annoying and downright unhelpful for reading a commentary on these issues!

Vote on each response? Please explain. I'm not sure I follow. I didn't think I put a voting poll above the thread?  I saw the up down carrot on the left of each post. If that is something I added to this thread it was totally by accident.

[UncleYoda]

2 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

Vote on each response?

Sort by vote is default for Technical Discussion section.  And it resets to that every time you open the topic.

[GrouserPad]

3 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

Sort by vote is default for Technical Discussion section.  And it resets to that every time you open the topic.

Oh interesting, I've been using the forum for awhile and never realized this. Maybe I should have posted this thread somewhere else. My apologies.

[WRYS709]

1 hour ago, GrouserPad said:

Vote on each response? Please explain. I'm not sure I follow. I didn't think I put a voting poll above the thread?  I saw the up down carrot on the left of each post. If that is something I added to this thread it was totally by accident.

Yeah: it is from the format you chose to use for your original post. I suspected it was inadvertent!

its a true PITA!

I avoid most of the threads that use this style, but I am committed to following up on DB20-G support.

[UncleYoda]

I reset ch 22 and 38 to TONE and TSQL and that worked.  And then set to fake DCS values, which worked.  And then put the original DCS values back and it's still reading correctly.  So, it's OK for now but I can't be sure it won't reoccur because it did occur on new channels I added for testing.

[TrikeRadio]

It is interesting to me that it took more time to get the DB-20 on CHIRP when the DB-25G has been on it a while. And yes there are a few quirky things to figure out using CHIRP. I have to do a few things different when I use it on various radios but since my background is programming I guess it does not bother me much to have to experiment and get it working after a bit of trial and error. It's what I do. 

[WRYS709]

2 minutes ago, TrikeRadio said:

It is interesting to me that it took more time to get the DB-20 on CHIRP when the DB-25G has been on it a while. And yes there are a few quirky things to figure out using CHIRP. I have to do a few things different when I use it on various radios but since my background is programming I guess it does not bother me much to have to experiment and get it working after a bit of trial and error. It's what I do. 

The DB20-G and the DB25-G are two completely different radios.

[amaff]

8 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

The DB20-G and the DB25-G are two completely different radios.

Of course, but anecdotally at least, it seems like there's a whole lot more DB20-G / AT779UV / RA-25s out there than DB25-Gs, which would *seem* to have made it a better candidate. But I really have zero visibility into whatever logic they use to choose what radios to develop drivers for.

 

[WRYS709]

5 hours ago, amaff said:

Of course, but anecdotally at least, it seems like there's a whole lot more DB20-G / AT779UV / RA-25s out there than DB25-Gs, which would *seem* to have made it a better candidate. But I really have zero visibility into whatever logic they use to choose what radios to develop drivers for.

 

Now that Chirp supports the DB20-G it is literally the best choice analog GMRS/Ham Radio dual bander for the price!

[WRUU653]

20 hours ago, TrikeRadio said:

It is interesting to me that it took more time to get the DB-20 on CHIRP when the DB-25G has been on it a while. And yes there are a few quirky things to figure out using CHIRP. I have to do a few things different when I use it on various radios but since my background is programming I guess it does not bother me much to have to experiment and get it working after a bit of trial and error. It's what I do. 

It wasn’t that they didn’t try. The code wasn’t like other radios. The programmers hit a wall, multiple tickets had been opened but progress stalled. A few months back RT Systems cracked it and came out with a Windows version on their site. I suspect this enabled the Chirp team to finally move forward..

[WRTC928]

21 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

The DB20-G and the DB25-G are two completely different radios.

I have the QYT KT-7900D which is a tri-band (140/220/440) rebranded version of the DB25 and the BTech UV-25X4 and it's fully supported by CHIRP. It's not a bad radio for the price, but it has some behaviors I don't like. If you're monitoring more than one channel, whenever any monitored channel breaks squelch, the radio goes to that channel and there's no way to leave it until the squelch closes. I don't care much for that. Also, it scans very slowly; so slowly that it's nearly useless. I ended up programming only channels in the 1.25 meter band and using it as a dedicated 1.25m radio. In that role, it works just fine, since only monitoring channels in one band means I get less unwanted traffic "trapping" me on a channel. As a dedicated GMRS radio, it should also work just fine. You'll probably want to only monitor no more than two channels at a time, though; the quad-watch can get overwhelming. If I were using it for GMRS (which may happen), I'd monitor a couple of my favorite repeaters and leave the other two channels set to something I might want to switch to but not continuously monitor.

It does output the advertised 25 watts, which is refreshing. The receive audio isn't the best, and I have to turn the volume pretty high to understand it. Transmit audio seems to be just fine, though. It receives about as well as my other radios. Overall, it's a decent radio for the price. For $90, I really can't complain. Interestingly, it's $11 cheaper than the DB25-G, at least on Amazon, although Radioddity offers some bundles which are less expensive than buying the QYT and accessories separately.

[WRYS709]

On 6/11/2025 at 8:03 AM, WRTC928 said:

I have the QYT KT-7900D which is a tri-band (140/220/440) rebranded version of the DB25...

I have no experience with the DB25-G, but many here complaint about it.

There is also the strangely confusingly branded DB25-D DMR mini-mobile that also has DMR capabilities in a mini-mobile with cigarette lighter plug functionality at a budget price.

[TrikeRadio]

3 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

I have no experience with the DB25-G, but many here complaint about it.

I have a DB-25-G... it is good, but it really works best using it on one channel at a time instead of trying to monitor all 4 that it can at a time. (sort of)... I don't like how it auto jumps to last channel it got activity on (even if it is signal that is squelched out because of the tones you have on that frequency/channel). It's interface is annoying if you are monitoring more than one channel because that. it can switch the channel you transmit on right before you reply and that is really stinks. and switching from multi channel monitoring would be better if you had a single keypress to do it... but you haev to do about 3 or four things in a specific order to do that so... yeah. Mostly menu / interface software that I don't like on it. 

[WRYS709]

On 6/7/2025 at 4:11 PM, UncleYoda said:

I mentioned one thing, regarding ch. 8-14, that might be different (don't know yet).  

Chirp has been instrumental in helping “unlock” certain GMRS radios that come from the factory locked down to satisfy FCC requirements. The Baofeng UV-5X(G) comes to mind. 

Since the DB20-G has an easy procedure from day one to “open” it using its keypad, using Chirp to enable transmission on Channels 8-14 is superfluous. 

[UncleYoda]

1 hour ago, WRYS709 said:

using Chirp to enable transmission on Channels 8-14 is superfluous. 

No it ain't!  (if it works)  You can keep all your other GMRS channels and (maybe) use those for something else, including the standard GMRS channels.

[WRYS709]

21 hours ago, UncleYoda said:

Only in your mind.

And in the mind of the developer of the DB20-G driver for Chirp, too!

(thank you @WRNC421 for your confirmation testing!)

15 hours ago, WRNC421 said:

I just tested this to confirm, with the radio in GMRS mode, it doesn't matter what you do in Chirp to channels 8-14. I turned off TX disable. I changed power level, also tried changing the TX frequency to that of Chan 1 (462.5625). The radio refuses to TX on those channel numbers. It's locked in firmware and Chirp doesn't allow you to bypass it. ofc if you change the radio mode out of GMRS then you can do what you want. 

  

21 hours ago, UncleYoda said:

Fully opening makes it a non-compliant radio.  Just putting in other GMRS frequencies at the appropriate power level does not.   But you can't seem to grasp the difference so I'm done with this.

 

And if the Queen had balls, she'd be KING! 

[UncleYoda]

29 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

It is not clear to me what point of mine you are disagreeing with here.

The part I quoted. (that should have been obvious)

[UncleYoda]

1 hour ago, WRYS709 said:

It was not obvious because my statement is factually correct and yours is, at best, irrelevant!

Only in your mind.

Quote

Your making a statement about “features” of the DB20-G in Chirp that you admit you have not even tested!

I was commenting on the setting being available in the software.  It's there, that's it.  I will test it when I feel confident again in Chirp not messing the radio up.

Quote

transmission on Channels 8-14 has been available on the “opened” DB20-G since Day One!

You still don't understand that this is different than fully open.  Fully opening makes it a non-compliant radio.  Just putting in other GMRS frequencies at the appropriate power level does not.   But you can't seem to grasp the difference so I'm done with this.

 

[tcp2525]

10 hours ago, UncleYoda said:

Chirp is quirky for DOS/Windows users.  Be sure to read the online help page.

It's definitely worth exactly what you paid for it. Why would anyone complain about free software?