[chirp_users] Rs: setting up a uv-5ra via Chirp

[Jim Unroe]

Hi Steve,

On Tue, Oct 15, 2019 at 3:59 AM Steve <kc7byp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi chirp_users. I am having trouble understanding Chirp. I have no problem programming my  Baofeng UV-5RA HT direct from the ht's onboard keyboard.

That is a good skill to have. I was afraid that it would be hard to do
so it took me a while to finally decide to do it. I was surprised to
find out, contrary to popular belief, that it is not a had thing to
do.

> I don't understand some of the columns on the Chirp display after uploading the ht's memory.

There are some CHIRP guides here that should help you out.
http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_CHIRP.php#guides

> The memory in the ht should be clean after the factory reset.

Not so. First, menu 40 (RESET) is not a "factory" reset, . it is a
"firmware" reset. Its use resets the radio to the default settings
stored in the firmware which are different from how the radio was
configured and received from the factory. For example, one of many
menu settings that is obviously different after a RESET is menu 14
(VOICE). From the factory it is set to ENG (English). After a RESET it
is set to CHI (Chinese). If you want English after a RESET, you will
have to manually change it back.

The memories of these UV-5R style radios are not permitted to be
"clean". The fewest number of programmed channels you can have is (1)
one. You will never have more than 127 empty memories. Once the final
programmed memory is erased, the radio reboots and programs channel 0
and channel 127 with the firmware default frequencies and settings. So
when a menu 14 (RESET) is performed, the 128 memories are cleared as
expected but then, the radio not allowing this will reboot and
reprogram channels 0 and 127 back to their firmware defaults.

Try it. Reset the radio with menu 40. Then program a 3rd memory. Now
erase memory 0 and memory 127 (in any order). And finally erase the
memory that was manually programmed. Once you erase the last memory,
the radio will reboot and memories 0 and 127 will be programmed again.

The only way to "factory" reset these radios is to have captured a
CHIRP image from the radio immediately after attaching the battery and
turning the radio on for the first time and then saving that tab,
unedited, to a CHIRP Radio Images (*.img) file. Loading this saved
image back to your radio is its "factory" reset.

> In the attached picture memory channels 1 to 10 are the way all of the memory channels are after the memory up load to Chirp after the ht factory reset.

Except for memories 0 and 127. Since the "reset" erased all 128 of the
radios memories, the radio reboots and programs channels 0 and 127
with the firmware default frequencies and settings.

> Now to the collumns,  I know the column (tone) is for the tx ctcs and I assume that the (tonesql) is the rx ctcs.

Not always. What a column does and when it is used depends on the Tone
Mode and Cross Mode settings.

For example if Tone Mode is set to Tone, then the value in the Tone
column _is_ used to set the TX CTCSS tone of the radio. The value in
the ToneSql column is unused and ignored by CHIRP.

If Tone Mode is set to TSQL, then the value in the ToneSql column is
used to set both the TX CTCSS tone and the RX CTCSS tone. The value in
the Tone column is unused and ignored by CHIRP.

If Tone Mode is set to (None) or DTCS, the Tone and ToneSql fields are
not used and the values in them are unused and ignored by CHIRP.

If Tone Mode is set to Cross, whether the Tone and ToneSql fields are
used would depend on the value selected for Cross Mode.

> Why do the ctcs columns have 88.5hz in both columns.

Because many of the fields of the CHIRP spreadsheet style memory
editor will be populated with default values when they are not being
used. The default values for the Tone and ToneSql fields happens to be
88.5.

> Those columns should be empty or 00.0 like in ch 11 in the attached picture.

It doesn't matter if there are values in them. Theese memories are not
programmed so the fields in those memory rows are not currently being
used.

Normally the "Hide Unused Fields" setting under "View" in the menu bar
would be enabled (it is the default for new CHIRP installations). With
this setting enabled, fields that are unused based on how other fields
are configured, would be blanked out. It would appear that you have
inadvertently disabled this setting.

Regardless, if tone mode is set to (None) or TSQL, the value in the
Tone field is ignored no matter if it is hidden or not.

> And what are the columns DTCS code,DTCS rx code DTCS pol.

The are the fields that are used to configure Digital Tone Coded
Squelch when the Tone Mode (and sometimes Cross Mode) settings are
configured to use them. These would be the T-DCS and R-DCS settings
for your radio.

Once again, look at the column guides.
http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_CHIRP.php#guides

> Why is there numbers and letters in the DTCS columns?

They are the default values (023, 023 and NN respectively). They are
currently unused and are being ignored by CHIRP. They are only being
displayed because the "Hide Unused Fileds" setting has been disabled.

> Cross Mode I know,

Based on the above, I respectfully don't think you do.

> Duplex I know, offset I know, mode and power I know.

Probably not fully. If you set Duplex to "split", then the Offset
field is set to the exact TX frequency. It makes it much easier to
program a cross-band memory.

> Somewhere in Chirp is the setup to program the displays MDF (A) and MDF (B).  I have seen a lot of chats saying it is there but no direct info to find it. I could use some help please.

Settings -> Basic Settings -> Display Mode (A): (Channel | Name | Frequency)
Settings -> Basic Settings -> Display Mode (B): (Channel | Name | Frequency)

>
>
> The listing of the attachments is as following:
>   (1) ht at factory reset.jpg (139.7 K)
>
> Steve,  kc7byp at gmail.com
> From the desk of the radio station KC7BYP
> 10/14/2019

You might also be interested in the detailed menu reference for your radio.
http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_MenuDef.php

Good luck.
Jim KC9HI