[chirp_users] Copying data from one rig to another (of the same model)

Tom Hayward
Tue Mar 18 12:15:07 PDT 2014


On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 11:31 AM, YT9TP - Pedja <yt9tp at uzice.net> wrote:
> First, I want to emphasize that I know that it is recommended not to
> copy image saved from one rig to another.
>
> There is just one thing I would like to clarify.
>
> As I understand, Chirp uses clone function of a rig to copy settings
> from a rig and store them and also restore settings back to that rig.
>
> Clone function is actually meant to be used to directly copy settings
> from one rig to another using direct cloning cable.
>
> If direct cloning is harmless, why copying image from one rig to another
> using Chirp is not advisable? Isn't it the same as direct cloning except
> image is intermediately saved on computer?
>
> YT9TP, Pedja
> http://www.yt9tp.iz.rs

Cloning means different things for different manufacturers. I'll use
the two I am most familiar with as examples:

Yaesu's clone operation does as you suggest: dumps the entire memory
and settings to the other radio, including region codes and anything
else the radio stores. I believe the firmware is designed to reject
the clone if the region code differs. Chirp emulates Yaesu's clone
operation, so between like-model Yaesu's, sharing .img files should be
fine.

Motorola's clone operation is internally very similar to Chirp's
import/export. It takes just the channels and settings of one radio
image and sends them to another radio, not touching the rest of the
radio's flash. It does it this way because Motorola stores
radio-specific data like calibration values and these should not be
copied from one radio to another. What they call "cloning" is more
complex than simply uploading a .img file.

Due to the nature of Chirp, we don't really know what is contained in
the .img file other than channels and settings. All radios in Chirp
have been reverse engineered, not written to a manufacturer's
specification. Some radios we have nearly the whole memory map
decoded, so we are reasonably sure nothing will go wrong when writing
an .img from one radio to another. For other radios, all we know is
where the channels are stored.

When you export/import or copy/paste from one radio to another, you
are copying only channel data. There are no unknowns. We can recommend
this with full confidence. Besides, this is the only way to do it from
differing model radios.

Tom KD7LXL



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