CHIRP causing hair loss

[phottomatt]

I am having real issues with CHIRP, I tried to search the issue but can't find anything. I'm trying to program repeater frequencies and got 15 of them done then POOF! their all gone. I was even saving as I go and they're all gone. Also, if I change an existing frequency and hit enter it changes, can't seem to get anything to stick.

[MozartMan]

More information would be helpful, like:

What radio are you trying to program?

On what channels are you trying to program repeater frequencies?

[phottomatt]

Baofeng GT-5R, Channels 1-15, I've gotten some to stick but I have to delete the line and start over for each line and input the numbers manually. I found that if I try to paste them in it usually ends up switching the Tx frequency to match the Rx frequency. BUT, after saving and reloading into CHIRP all the Tx frequencies (in the offset column) are gone. As per the instruction you set the duplex to "switch" then enter the Tx frequency in the offset column and Rx frequency in the Frequency column. After reloading the file all the duplex settings return to off, if I turn it back on it populates the field with the frequency from the frequency column.

[phottomatt]

I just had a thought, and feel a little foolish, I won't be transmitting on anything with this radio until I get my Amateur radio license so there's no need to input the Tx frequencies. I actually disabled the Tx button through CHIRP.

[MichaelLAX]

Will it transmit on MURS?

I think this is the "new and legal" version of the UV-5R that will only transmit on the two Ham bands: 2 meters and 70 cms.

Radioddity webpage for GT-5R

Their Part 95 certified radio for GMRS is the UV-5X(G)

[phottomatt]

1 hour ago, MichaelLAX said:

Will it transmit on MURS?

I think this is the "new and legal" version of the UV-5R that will only transmit on the two Ham bands: 2 meters and 70 cms.

Radioddity webpage for GT-5R

Their Part 95 certified radio for GMRS is the UV-5X(G)

That's correct, it's legal, not sure about MURS though, they also got rid of the "bleed over" (not sure what the correct term is). I watched a video on YouTube by David Casler. 

[phottomatt]

David Casler

[n4gix]

The term is "harmonics" and the original UV-5R has always been plagued with their crappy filtering. 

[MichaelLAX]

Did you do a "READ" from your GT-5R right out of the box, and save it as a "default" setting?

Then you save the default file to a new name, add your changes and then upload that to the radio.

If not, that might be your problem.

[phottomatt]

1 hour ago, MichaelLAX said:

Did you do a "READ" from your GT-5R right out of the box, and save it as a "default" setting?

Then you save the default file to a new name, add your changes and then upload that to the radio.

If not, that might be your problem.

Yes I did all that. 

[MichaelLAX]

Send me your chirp file

Email is …

[phottomatt]

5 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Send me your chirp file

Sent, disregard the note about it being a .odp file LOL

[WyoJoe]

16 hours ago, phottomatt said:

I am having real issues with CHIRP, I tried to search the issue but can't find anything. I'm trying to program repeater frequencies and got 15 of them done then POOF! their all gone. I was even saving as I go and they're all gone. Also, if I change an existing frequency and hit enter it changes, can't seem to get anything to stick.

I'm not sure what the issue is for sure, but perhaps the frequencies you're trying to add are outside of the radio's permitted frequency range. If so, the radio could be rejecting the programming you're trying to add.

[MichaelLAX]

1 hour ago, WyoJoe said:

I'm not sure what the issue is for sure, but perhaps the frequencies you're trying to add are outside of the radio's permitted frequency range. If so, the radio could be rejecting the programming you're trying to add.

Yes, it appears that Matt has been programming in Public Safety channels, some above 500 MHz) and not Ham repeaters.

The Second example shows some 2 meter and 70 cm Ham repeaters used here in Los Angeles and I will email it back to you to try out in your Baofeng and see if it remembers the frequency shifts for repeaters:

[phottomatt]

7 hours ago, WyoJoe said:

I'm not sure what the issue is for sure, but perhaps the frequencies you're trying to add are outside of the radio's permitted frequency range. If so, the radio could be rejecting the programming you're trying to add.

I had thought of that but the problem is with chirp, I'm not having any issues once I upload to the radio. Does chyirp know what radio I'm using before I upload?

6 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Yes, it appears that Matt has been programming in Public Safety channels, some above 500 MHz) and not Ham repeaters.

The Second example shows some 2 meter and 70 cm Ham repeaters used here in Los Angeles and I will email it back to you to try out in your Baofeng and see if it remembers the frequency shifts for repeaters:

 

Yes, I'm using it as a scanner until I get my license so I thought there would be more traffic on these freq.s and help me to learn my way around the radio and chirp.

The code plug worked, It loaded in to chirp and the radio.

[phottomatt]

I think I discovered where I may have confused you guys. On some of the frequencies I wanted to monitor there is an input frequency (receive from repeater) and an output frequency (transmit to repeater), I was trying to load the output frequency in the offset column and changing the duplex setting to switch as per the instruction from chirp. I had mentioned this in my second post but it was confusing.

[phottomatt]

I think I have the hang of this now, there is definitely a learning curve here. You have to do things in a very specific way, right click-paste-select next line. I've got the basics down now thank you all for the help.

[MichaelLAX]

Yes, while some codeplug software has separate entries for the transmit and receive frequencies, CHIRP uses the receive frequency and the you input the OFFSET: usually 0.600 MHz on 2 Meters and 5.000 MHz on both 70 cms and GMRS.

Then you tell the radio which direction to go with the transmit frequency:

On GMRS it is always + so that it receives on 462.abc and transmits on 467.abc;

On 2 meters and 70 cms you must look at the information about the repeater as published to determine if the OFFSET is + or -

I think CHIRP has a "how to" guide somewhere...

GOOD LUCK!

[MichaelLAX]

4 hours ago, phottomatt said:

Does chyirp know what radio I'm using before I upload?

If you do an initial READ of your new radio and save this as its default file, then CHIRP knows what radio you are using, from that point on.

[WyoJoe]

14 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

If you do an initial READ of your new radio and save this as its default file, then CHIRP knows what radio you are using, from that point on.

This is a widely recommended practice with any new radio that you want to program with Chirp. Once you initially read from the radio, you should save the resulting file immediately and name it something meaningful to you like "GT-5R_Original." Then save it again with another name like "GT-5R_20211117" or something like that (in this case it's Radio_YYYYMMDD). You can then edit that second file, save it again, then write it back to the radio in order to load the updated file information into the radio.