[chirp_users] Programming guide for beginners

[Mike Agner]

I think the wiki that already exists could be quite a resource for a 
programming guide for beginners. It would take some effort of each of 
the members that has a particular radio, but it could - and likely 
should - be done

Looking through YouTube is all fine and good but if you do a search like 
was suggested recently (such as 'program uv-5r chirp') you're going to 
come up with a lot of non-related stuff - even stuff that doesn't have 
anything to do with the uv-5r or the chirp software

If we had a single page for each radio that listed the various YouTube 
videos and other tricks, it would go a VERY long way to making such a guide.

Some questions that could be asked might include;

- What is the SKU of the OEM cable for this radio (put another way, what 
is the correct model number of the original manufacturer's cable)
- What do you need to do to put the radio into a programming mode (as I 
understand it, some radios you have to go through a menu to do this. It 
would be helpful if this were documented)
- Known issues from importing data and how to fix them
- Any known programming issues unique to this radio, and how to fix them

That's just scratching the surface. No doubt there are other such 
questions that people have had that have come up over and over again and 
should be documented in a single spot

The real power becomes evident if each model number that's found in the 
front page becomes a link to that radio's page.  Those of you familiar 
with the RadioReference wiki know how easy it then becomes to look up a 
particular model.

Anything that's common to all radios could simply point to that page - 
for example the model support page could be a 'common' page for each 
radio so that someone can quickly look up what
features for that radio could be programmed.

I'm unfamiliar with Redmine, but if I could build the listings (by 
radio) then someone can change the listing to Redmine's language, and 
we'd be on our way.  I know some of you are RadioReference
members, so you know the amount of work I did in the early years of 
building the wiki there - it started with barely 100 pages, and grew to 
over 4000 when I resigned the admin status.  You may
also know that, along with the author of the software, I wrote the 
FreeScan user guide, so I have some experience in writing software 
guides of this type

I don't think it would be too tough to gather this stuff together - if 
the membership is willing to contribute to the effort. I could be point 
for this, but someone would need to do the Redmine code once enough 
information was accum'ed. With Xmas coming (and maybe folks getting new 
radios) this project is timely as well as informative. This would, 
obviously, be subject to whomever is the sysop/admin of the web page, 
but to me, it's well worth considering. I don't doubt that we have a lot 
of newcomers out there (myself included, at least insofar as the 
software is concerned) so whatever we can gather in a single spot is 
worthwhile.

Comments?    Mike

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