Ok, this post is a bit off what I normally talk about, but I wanted to add it so I’d have a spot to point people back to, and more importantly be able to refer back to it myself.Chirp.app is unsigned. Pne How cheerfully do these little birds chirp , and sing. A name given by Blainville to the second ghirp , chirp ' - n. (Green highlight, bottom of list.) Once downloaded, you’ll unzip the file, then drag and drop the CHIRP application to your /Applications/ folder.Cf. CHIRP offers both legacy and unified packages for macOS but recommends the unified package. In testing, we found that CHIRP seems most at home on Windows.There are a variety of hand held radios on the market. As I’m also a “techie” I’m often asked to help people program their radios using the computer. However, running CHIRP using Homebrew is obsolete.Some of you may know I am an amateur “ham” radio operator, my call sign is N4IXT. Homebrew users can install Chirp without the KK7DS runtime by running brew install tdsmith/ham/chirp and then running chirp from the terminal.
Chirp Software Most PeopleThe software most people use is called CHIRP, available from. Installing Software and DriversThe first thing you’ll need is the programming software itself. Mac not enough local storage.This post describes not only the steps to program, but to also install the software you’ll need to program these radios and others. Another popular maker along these lines is Wouxun.Thought the chirp noise was from injectors or something but when the car is in N or P, it does NOT generate the same noise. On Windows 10 just go to the Cortona search area (next to the Start menu) and type in Device Manager. Which is where the problems start.Prolific was naturally a tad upset that someone had stolen their design, and who can blame them? So they started adding a special code to their newer chips, as well as an update to the drives so that if the chip isn’t an authentic chip from Prolific, the driver won’t work.You can verify this for yourself. These Chinese companies cloned the chips and their code, indeed the cables even report to Windows that they are from Prolific.Thus when you plug in the cable, it tells Windows “Hey I’m a Prolific cable”, and Windows goes out and downloads and installs the latest Prolific drives. The company who originally created these chips was called Prolific. Now if you were like me, and installed CHIRP, plugged in the cable, and hooked it to your radio, you probably got a lot of error messages.Inside the programming cable are some chips that help the computer talk to the radio. Sometimes the cable comes with the radio, other times you’ll need to purchase it separately. In addition, they have a tiny program you can download and install that will uninstall the nonfunctional version of the Prolific driver, and install the last version that actually worked.Even more important, their app will prevent Windows from automatically updating the driver in the future. Fortunately someone has made that very easy to do.Head over to iFamilySoftware at and they have a detailed article describing the issue (which I’ve just briefly recapped here). The solution then is to install the most recent version that works. While rather cryptic, what this really translates into is “Hey, we’re trying to use the Prolific driver, but it’s telling us this isn’t a Prolific device.”This puts us in a bind, as we need to use the driver, but the latest version doesn’t work. Note that it has a big yellow exclamation mark.Right click on the Prolific driver and pick Properties.Right in the middle under Device Status we see the problem: This device cannot start. Vhdl editor for macOpen up CHIRP, then plug in your cable, and (with the radio off) plug it into your radio, and then turn the radio on.CHIRP opens up with a big blank screen. Running ChirpOK, so now you have CHIRP installed, and the correct version of Prolific, it’s time to load up your radio with frequencies. Right clicking and picking properties should now display “The device is working properly”. Your Prolific driver should now appear without the exclamation mark, indicating it is now working. Just download and run, reboot, then return to Device Manager. If you look back to the original image from the Device Manager you’ll note it read COM4 at the end. I’m using two computers to write this article, one in which the Prolific drivers didn’t work, the second where it did. At the very end of the driver name is the COM port it’s using, in parenthesis.The first time you use CHIRP you’ll probably have to key in the COM port, just type COM3, COM4, or whatever it was.I also want to add a quick note for eagle eyed viewers. If you aren’t sure of the COM port, go back to Device Manager using the previous instructions, and expand the Ports. This let’s CHIRP get a correct image of the radio type and what its current settings are.Click on the Radio in the menus, then from the dropdown pick Radio, Download From Radio.Next it wants to know what COM port the cable is using, who made the radio, and what model. Once done just click OK.Basically it’s CHIRP’s way of saying “Use at your own risk”. My radio is actually a UV-5RA, but the UV-5R settings work for it too. Here, I’ve picked the UV-5R. The radio I’m plugging in here is a Baofeng.Once you pick the vendor, the Model drop down will now be populated with a list of all the models CHIRP supports for that Vendor. Again you can use device manager, like I did, to determine what the correct COM port is for your computer, and if you use multiple computers your COM port may be different on each.So once you’ve entered the correct COM port, you’ll see a drop down list for the Vendor, and CHIRP supports a LOT of radio companies. ![]() After that I put the date I created the file. In this example it’s for Shelby County AL. I generally use the radio vendor, then model, then the area where the frequencies are for. This will save it as an IMG file. (Click on the image below, or any of the images in this article, to open up a bigger version).The first thing you should do is save what is there by using the File, Save menu option. There is a list of multiple sites you can import from, each will let you search on a variety of things like your state, county, or zip code to find frequencies near you. In the Radio menu is an option “Import from data source”. Radio Reference ( ) is a good site to look things up, but there are many you can pick from.Even easier though is to use CHIRPs built in functionality. You could also look up the frequencies online and cut/paste into CHIRP. You can of course do it manually, typing each row supplying the data. This lets me track changes over time, or go back to an older version if I need to.Now you are ready to start entering frequencies. ![]() Your choices are Name, Frequency, and Channel. This indicates what is shown on the display. Do note these are for the Baofeng, what you see on the Settings tab will change with each radio type.On the Basic settings you’ll see Display Mode A and B. However there are a few you may wish to look at. Nintendo switch emulator mac osBut more on uploading in a moment.The other thing on for this radio you might want to look at is the background color for the display, this Baofeng can have three different background colors, and you can set the Standby, Receive (RX) and Transmit (TX) colors independently. You can make a change, upload, then if you don’t like it make another change and just upload again. Note that you don’t have to import from the radio before you upload back to the radio every time. I don’t find Channel very useful, but feel free to experiment and pick what you like.As you will see it’s not big deal to make a change and re-upload to the radio.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMichael ArchivesCategories |