[chirp_users] Using CHIRP Without the Mouse

Sun Jun 22 21:28:01 PDT 2014

YAY! :-) Good for you! 

The File menu keyboard commands are (in order):
New = command n
Open = Command o
Recent with submenu of the 8 recently opened files (no keyboard shortcut)
Save = command s
Save As  = no keyboard command. 
Import = alt i
Export = alt e
Close = command c

Command is for Mac, I imagine you'd substitute the Windows key instead of command. 

The rest of the Menus are:

Edit Menu: 
Cut = control x
Copy = control c
Paste = control v
Delete = (no keyboard command)
Move Up = control up arrow
Move Down = control down arrow 
Exchange = control shift X

View Menu: (No keyboard shortcuts)
Columns = (Shows a dialog box to hide or show available columns)
Hide Unused Fields (this command toggles the feature on or off)
Smart Tone Modes (this command toggles the feature on or off)
Change Language (Shows a dialog box to choose the language). Escape will safely close the dialog box. 

Radio Menu:
Download from Radio = alt d
Upload to Radio = alt u
Import from Data Source with submenus of: 
	Radio Reference.com
	Repeater Book
	przemienniki.net
	RFinder

Query Data Source with submenus of:
	Radio Reference.com
	Repeater Book
	przemienniki.net
	RFinder

Channel Defaults
Stop

Help Menu:
Search, with input field
Report Statistics
Enable Developer Functions

That is all of the menus.   

Escape usually closes a dialog box. 

You may have multiple Tabs open at once. Each tab is a radio file. I expect we will not need multiple tabs open. 

One good way to edit your channels & add more to the radio is to:

1. Download from radio into CHIRP. 
2. Export as a CSV file. 
3. Open that CSV file with Excel or your favorite spreadsheet app. 
4. Make your changes there, then save as CSV file and
5. import csv file back into Chirp.
6. Upload to Radio. 

How to Export to csv file:
alt x
name the new file.
press enter or return.
This brings up another dialog box that gives you the opportunity to select itms to include or not include in the saved file. I always save everything. 
press tab 12 times then return to save the file. It will be slightly easier if you do not quit Chirp. Just leave it running right there. 

Then open that csv text file in your favorite spreadsheet app & edit. The first row will have the column titles. Save as csv text file when finished. 

How to import a CSV Text file into Chirp:
alt i
This opens the file selection dialog box, which may default to only showing .chirp files. We want a .csv file. 

Press tab once, to enter the field to select the file types to display.
Press down arrow twice to select the third item which is .csv files.

Press tab 11 times, then right arrow to enter the area to select a file. Now up and down arrow to select a file to import. 
Press Return to select the highlighted file.

This brings up that dialog box where you can choose to omit some records. I always want all of them, so press tab 12 times then press Return to continue. That ought to perform the import. 

With some luck, we now have Chirp displaying all your edited memory locations, using the same window that we downloaded from the radio.  Great! Lets upload all that into the radio. 

How To Upload To Radio: 
Upload To Radio is alt u. That will bring up a dialog box to select the port, radio make & radio model again. It will remember your previous selections. So 6 presses of the Tab key then press Return ought to get you past that upload dialog box. 

OKAY! That might do it!
Please let me know what did or didn't work, or what could use some revision, and any tips you can pass on that might help the next blind Chirp user. 

Good Luck! :-)

Best,
Dave Nathanson
KG6ZJO

On Jun 22, 2014, at 4:47 PM, Catherine Getchell <cgtrumpet at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Dave,
> 
> The keyboard shortcuts worked great!  I was able to download my
> existing channels onto the computer.  What I'm not sure how to do
> using the keyboard is add more channels to the radio.  Are there other
> keyboard shortcuts?  Like what about for the file menu?  Thanks so
> much for the help!
> Catherine
> 
> On 6/21/14, Dave Nathanson <KG6ZJO at nathanson.org> wrote:
>> Hi Catherine,
>> 
>> Bad news and maybe good news. First the bad news.
>> 
>>> From the CHIRP documentation Wiki:
>> http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/FAQ
>> "I'm a blind ham. Can I use CHIRP with a screen reader?
>> 
>> CHIRP uses a graphical toolkit called GTK. This lets it run on all platforms
>> unchanged. Since GTK is native on Linux, screen reading software for Linux
>> will work with CHIRP without any trouble. On MacOS and Windows, GTK is not
>> native and thus screen readers on these platforms will see CHIRP as a blank
>> window. This cannot and will not be changed, as it would mean writing CHIRP
>> three times, once for each platform, or dropping support for MacOS and
>> Windows entirely."
>> 
>> 
>> Ok, here is some slightly better news. CHIRP does have keyboard support for
>> all or most menu commands, even if they may not be not exactly what you
>> expect.
>> 
>> Generally the first command is to "Download From Radio" (menu title is
>> Radio). Or from the keyboard press alt d at the same time. On a Macintosh,
>> you might expect that to be command d, but it is really option d. Oh, it
>> looks like JAWS is a Windows, app, so you are probably using Windows. I'm on
>> Macintosh, but I expect it will be exactly the same.
>> 
>> After reading your message, and remarking to myself about the courage it
>> must take to approach daily life without sight, I spent some time more or
>> less discovering the following keyboard sequences, please let us know if
>> they work for you, and how to improve these tips for you, and people in your
>> situation. If we do OK, maybe I will make an addition to the CHIRP
>> documentation. On the other hand, if your screen reader can't see anything
>> in CHIRP, the following may not be so useful.
>> 
>> I'm going to assume you have already installed CHIRP and the necessary other
>> files, including the correct driver your your USB to Serial cable. Be sure
>> that the cable is firmly plugged into the radio and all that.
>> 
>> After connecting your radio cable & launching CHIRP.
>> 
>> Pressing alt d will bring up a dialog box titled "Radio" that asks you to
>> choose the port to use (or USB driver to use), the radio make & the radio
>> model.
>> When this dialog box comes up, you can press tab once to select the first
>> pop up menu to select the port or USB driver. Use the up or down arrows to
>> select the driver you need. The driver will not be named bluetooth, but it
>> might say cu.usb serial or similar.
>> 
>> Then press tab twice to get to the second choice, the radio make. use up &
>> down arrows to select.
>> 
>> Then press tab once to get to the 3rd field, the radio model. This will only
>> include model numbers that match the radio make. Again, use the up & down
>> arrows.
>> Then press tab twice to pass over the cancel button & land on the OK button,
>> where enter or return will be the same as pressing OK.
>> 
>> This ought to initiate a download from the radio. For some radios CHIRP will
>> display a dialog box with helpful tips on how to successfully connect to
>> that particular radio.
>> 
>> After the Download From Radio is completed successfully, you may make
>> changes to that info on screen, save, and upload back to the radio.
>> 
>> The radio data will be displayed much like a spreadsheet. There are 2 tabs,
>> named Memories and Settings. We want Memories.
>> There is also several fields across the top of the windows which we probably
>> do not need to change right now.
>> Press tab 6 times, then down arrow to get into the spreadsheet rows. Press
>> down arrow many times to get to the memory row you want to edit.
>> 
>> Up and down arrows will select a row. Each memory location is a row. While
>> you are in a row, the return key will select the current data field, so you
>> can edit it, then press return again to deselect. Right arrow will move to
>> next data field in the same row, press enter to edit.
>> 
>> Column titles depend on which radio you are using. I believe the column
>> titles for any of the BaoFeng UV-5R series of radios are:
>> Memory Location number, Name, Frequency, Duplex, Offset, Tone Mode, Tone TX,
>> Tone Squelch RX, DTCS code, DTCS Rx code, Cross Mode, Mode, Power, Skip.
>> It is possible to drag the columns to a different sequence.
>> 
>> Upload To Radio is alt u. That will bring up that dialog box to select the
>> port, radio make & radio model again. It will remember your previous
>> selections.
>> 
>> Those are the most important CHIRP commands.
>> 
>> I hope this helps, please let us know.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Dave Nathanson
>> KG6ZJO
>> 
>> 
>> On Jun 20, 2014, at 8:59 PM, Catherine Getchell <cgtrumpet at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi everyone,
>>> I'm new to the list.  I downloaded CHIRP to use with my BaoFeng UV5
>>> because programming it is a beast using the radio itself.  I am
>>> totally blind and use a screen reader called JAWS that verbalizes
>>> what's on the screen.  I use the keyboard, not the mouse, for all
>>> computer operations because the mouse is totally a visual interface.
>>> 
>>> When I tried to use CHIRP, I discovered that there seems to be no way
>>> to access any of the menus or menu commands via keyboard.  Does anyone
>>> have any suggestions, tips, etc for how to do this?  It may not be
>>> possible, but before I abandon it totally, I thought I'd send a query
>>> to see what's out there.  Thanks.
>>> 
>>> Catherine KE4LAM
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> chirp_users mailing list
>>> chirp_users at intrepid.danplanet.com
>>> http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_users
>> 
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