Two questions

[WJSU491]

Hello all, WSJU491. Used comms professionally for over 30 years but brand new to GMRS. Just bought two radios for myself and my gf for overlanding and I'm having a bit of trouble connecting them to chirp to be able to program some things internally that you can't do on the keypad. Baofeng GM21 for gmrs and UV32 gps model for ham. Most of the iphone apps I've found on YouTube and online don't recognize one or both models and the chirp software won't connect through the 341 cable that came with the radio from Baofeng. Anybody able to walk me through how to do it? Next question is we're taking a trip tomorrow and I'd like someone to walk me through how to connect to repeaters and use them along the 2 hour road trip.  Thanks!

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WJSU491 said:

Hello all, WSJU491. Used comms professionally for over 30 years but brand new to GMRS. Just bought two radios for myself and my gf for overlanding and I'm having a bit of trouble connecting them to chirp to be able to program some things internally that you can't do on the keypad. Baofeng GM21 for gmrs and UV32 gps model for ham. Most of the iphone apps I've found on YouTube and online don't recognize one or both models and the chirp software won't connect through the 341 cable that came with the radio from Baofeng. Anybody able to walk me through how to do it? Next question is we're taking a trip tomorrow and I'd like someone to walk me through how to connect to repeaters and use them along the 2 hour road trip.  Thanks!

First, what errors do you receive when trying to connect through Chirp?  Are both of these models listed as supported by Chirp?

Then start going through the steps:

1. Does the cable require a driver to be installed before it’s plugged in?  
2. Do you see comm ports created in Device Manager when you plug in the cable?

All GMRS repeaters receive on the 467 main channels (channels 23-30 or possibly RP15-RP22)

All GMRS repeaters transmit at a frequency that’s 5.000 MHz lower: which are known as the 462 MHz main channels.  On a certified radio the split or offset in frequency is automatically handled when you choose one of the preconfigured repeater channels: (channels 23-30 or possibly RP15-RP22). 
Look on either the map (which I find easiest) or in the repeater database associated with this site (the one you’re on right now, MyGMRS) to see what repeaters are along your way and program them into your radio.

Welcome to the forum!

[WRTC928]

IME,you'll save yourself a lot of hassle by buying a programming cable with the FTDI chip. There are no driver issues.

[WRYZ926]

Cables with the FTDI chip are pretty much guaranteed to work with Linux, Mac OS and Windows 10/11 without any issues. One should always install the correct drivers before plugging the cable into your computer, especially Windows. The reason is that some operating systems will install a generic driver that may or may not work correctly.

I have a couple of cheap Amazon cables with the Prolific chip in them. I had to manually install the correct drivers to get them to work with Windows. I never could get those cables to work with my 2018 Mac mini or my Mac mini M4. 

[WRUU653]

Question - what platform are you using so we can better address what’s happening.