CHIRP Properties Settings

[michaeld57]

Hi everybody,

I am new to GMRS and CHIRP. I have, what I hope, is an easy question for you folks. I am using a Baofeng UV-9G. In CHIRP, looking at channel 1, the following. If a category is not listed it's because it is blank.

Frequency 462.5625

Name GMRS 1

Tone Mode None

Duplex None

Mode FM

Power High

When you click Memory Properties, here is what I have.

Frequency 462.5625

Name GMRS 1

Tone 88.5

Tone Sql 88.5

Cross Mode Tone-Tone

DTCS Code 23

RX DTCS Code 23

DTCS Pol NN

Offset 0.000000

Mode FM

Power High

 

This is how all of the property settings appear. I also have a Baofeng BF-F8HP. Working on getting licensed, but for now listen only. Anyway, the Memory Properties are the same as the UV-9G. If anyone could take a look and tell me if this is right I would appreciate it. these settings are how my radio is from the factory.

Thanks,

Michaeld57

[Sshannon]

There’s really not a right or wrong. If that’s how you want your radio that’s fine. 
Did something seem incorrect to you?

[wayoverthere]

If I'm remembering chirp's settings right, the fact that the main screen shows Tone Mode as none means it will ignore whatever is in the Tone fields.

[michaeld57]

Steve and wayoverthere , thanks for the reply. I hope that I am replying correctly, it has been years since I've posted on a forum. If either of you could tell me the correct way to reply, or point me to a FAQ about it, great!

Anyway, what I'm confused about is  the Memory Properties settings in CHIRP. No matter if I programmed in a frequency or not, the Memory Properties all have the following already there. This is for any Baofeng radio that I have.

Tone 88.5

Tone Sql 88.5

DTCS Code 23

RX DTCS Code 23

DTCS Pol NN

Mode FM

Power High

Are these settings supposed to be there? I tried to find answers online, but no luck.

There is a repeater near me for Brunswick, Ohio. When I print out the settings, this is what's listed.

Downlink 462.625

Uplink 462.625

Uplink Tone131.8

Downlink Tone 131.8

County Medina

Owner WRKT687

Use Open

For this repeater, what should be in the Memory Properties? Sorry to be going on here, but once I know what's what I'll be OK. Thanks for any help!

Michaeld57

 

[wayoverthere]

32 minutes ago, michaeld57 said:

Steve and wayoverthere , thanks for the reply. I hope that I am replying correctly, it has been years since I've posted on a forum. If either of you could tell me the correct way to reply, or point me to a FAQ about it, great!

Anyway, what I'm confused about is  the Memory Properties settings in CHIRP. No matter if I programmed in a frequency or not, the Memory Properties all have the following already there. This is for any Baofeng radio that I have.

Tone 88.5

Tone Sql 88.5

DTCS Code 23

RX DTCS Code 23

DTCS Pol NN

Mode FM

Power High

Are these settings supposed to be there? I tried to find answers online, but no luck.

There is a repeater near me for Brunswick, Ohio. When I print out the settings, this is what's listed.

Downlink 462.625

Uplink 462.625

Uplink Tone131.8

Downlink Tone 131.8

County Medina

Owner WRKT687

Use Open

For this repeater, what should be in the Memory Properties? Sorry to be going on here, but once I know what's what I'll be OK. Thanks for any help!

Michaeld57

 

On replying, you're doing fine  The only extra I'd mention is that you can highlight a portion of someone's post if you want to quote just that part, or you can click the little + next to the Quote button under posts to quote multiple posts.

I can't speak to the CHIRP devs choices on why they display that way, but mine shows the same, even in the empty rows, and it's never been an issue; the columns for the tones don't have an option to leave them blank, CHIRP instead just picks up from the tone settings whether to pay attention to those columns or not.  I've found this page to be the clearest reference on the various columns of CHIRP: https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/MemoryEditorColumns

On your specific repeater

Frequency: put the downlink here; this is where you receive from the repeater (462.625, for your Brunswick repeater)

Names: can be whatever you want within the display limit of the radio (it seems to vary)

Tone Mode: depends on your preference; you can have it transmit the tone (necessary to open the repeater) with open receive, which is setting "Tone", or, since the repeater also uses an output tone, you can filter what you receive so you only hear signals with that Tone.  For the latter, choose "TSQL".

Tone and ToneSql are your Transmit and Receive tones; for Brunswick, use 131.8

Duplex: should be hard coded on most GMRS radios; if not, the convention for GMRS is +5.0mhz, and nearly all follow convention; this should be set to + unless you find that ONE that's bucking the trend.

Offset: this tells the radio how far from the receive frequency you want it to transmit; again, convention is +5.0, so unless you found the oddball, this will be 5.0

Skip: defines whether the channel is skipped when scanning.  Nice for out of area stuff when you aren't travelling.

Cross mode: should be Tone, as you're using the same tone in both fields.  May use "Cross" when programming a repeater with split tones.

 

I would say start out with the Tone Mode to Tone, and confirm operation first; once you've confirmed you're able to use the repeater, you can then go back into the settings (either via CHIRP or on the radio) and add a receive tone if you choose.

     Hope this helps clarify.

 

[michaeld57]

wayoverthere,

Thank you very much! That cleans a lot of things up. Thanks also for the CHIRP link. With your info and what I get from the link, this will definitely get me going.

Thanks again, Michael

[Sshannon]

I couldn’t say it better than wayoverthere. Set the right tone frequency for xmit and turn tone on. 
I would not turn on the receive tone (tone sql) until you are certain your transmissions are activating the repeater.