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Reviews For: CHIRP

Category: Ham Software/Apps - Other than logging

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Review Summary For : CHIRP
Reviews: 51MSRP: free
Description:
CHIRP is a FREE, open-source, cross-platform, radio programming tool. It works on Windows and Linux (and MacOSX with a little work). It supports a growing list of radios across several manufacturers and allows transferring of memory contents between them.
Product is in production
More Info: http://chirp.danplanet.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00513.8
VE7VJ Rating: 2017-04-01
works Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've been using CHIRP for about two years now. Works just fine once you get the correct cable and spend some time learning the program. Certainly easier than key punching everything in.

Does it have some quirks? well yes, everything has quirks and it could always have a few more features but as it is free I cannot complain. I certainly appreciate all the work the developers are putting into it.

If you are having problems check out the documentation on the webpage, read through the FAQ, join the mailing group or ask around.

K8DXX Rating: 2017-04-01
Works for me, even on oddball radios Time Owned: more than 12 months.
One thing we all need to remember, Chirp is free!

I've had great success in turning some cheap Chinese radios from almost useless bricks into usable communications devices. In my case, both Baofeng UV 5R and QYT 8900D software wouldn't work on my cheap Windows 10 laptop. Chirp helped me program and better understand the memory functions and radio specific features. It provides useful/helpful defaults when the radio did not.

As a retired IT professional, I can't help but comment that if you insist on using a somewhat non-mainstream product like Apple OS/X, you may encounter some hurdles that Windows people don't. I've managed Mac/Windows comparability labs so I can say without emotion, it just happens.

Hard off to the people at Chirp.
W9OD Rating: 2017-04-01
POS Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I didn't look to review this product. First, I purchased a Chinese made HT. It was very difficult to program. I read Chirp was an easy way to do the job. I have to admit, programming that radio was a lot less painful then using Chirp which NEVER worked. I use a MacBook Pro. Going back to the big three for HTs.
KO4AB Rating: 2017-04-01
Pure Frustration Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am attempting to use the OS X version of Chirp to program an ICOM ID880H with a BlueMax49ers FTDI USB serial cable. I can program a limited number of memories without a reset of the radio. When I do get the radio to program then the repeater offset is WRONG. 1.44MHz instead of 600KHz on 2 meters. A very frustrating experience.
W9MT Rating: 2016-11-19
Good shareware effort Time Owned: more than 12 months.
For programming frequency channel sets into my Baofeng and TYT handhelds, Chirp works fine. To get the extra conifguration and personalization stuff configured in these radios often takes a "second round" of programmimg with the more cryptic manufacturer's software.

That's not Chirp's fault. It does the frequency info programming better than anything else out there...(but here's the rub) FOR THE LIST OF RADIOS IT SUPPORTS.

I have owned the popular Yaesu FT-2600M for years. It's a wonderful, bulletproof 2m FM radio. I bought ADMS-2E from Yaesu long ago to program it. The deficiencies of this floppy based software are well documented elsewhere here on eHam. Add the fact that computers and OS's have evolved greatly since Y2K (e.g.: going from 32 bit to 64), and it's hard to find an old computer that's still compatible with this old code.

The complaints others have documented with cabling are really a Windows datacomm setup issue or a counterfeit USB communications chip issue, and not Chirp induced problems.

Since Chirp can program many of its sibling radios, including the FT-90R whose disk is also included in the ADMS-2E kit, it would be a simple job to adjust Chirp for the data packet size of the '2600.

Multiple tickets have been opened with the Chirp people requesting this. All have been rejected...some with hostility.

I wish they would reconsider. There are a lot of '2600M's still out there in faithful daily service. That's why 4 stars for what is truly a 5 star program.

I also really don't care to spend another $45 with RT for updated software to get their CD and proprietary USB cable ONLY for my '2600's rare reprogramming needs. Chirp has blazed a "better path". I'd pay them the $45 instead !!!
WB4M Rating: 2016-10-15
Works for me Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used CHIRP to program the memories in my FT-817ND and it worked just fine. You must use the correct cable and com ports or things just aren't going to happen.
Although CHIRP works perfectly well with the FT-817ND, I prefer the memory management section in FT-817 Commander by Simon Brown, the former author of Ham Radio Deluxe.
N1API Rating: 2016-01-25
Destroyed my 857-D! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've been having some memory issues with my Yaesu 857-D. I reloaded the memories again using the CHIRP software. The more I re-uploaded the memories the worst the problem got. The memories seemed to upload but as I rotated the select knob all the memories showed as 7.000 LSB. There were even some new memory channels that I've never seen before they were not numbers but a combination of Alpha-numeric characters.

After an email from Yaesu Tech support I was told that Yaesu does not recommend the use of CHIRP "because we have experience corrupted CPUs in some of our radios that have used that software."
This is an exact quote from Yaesu Tech support.

Unfortunately I now have an expensive repair to look forward to! Others need to be aware of this.
KI6WDZ Rating: 2015-10-03
Intuitive and it works! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I hadn't used my VX-7R in the past 5-7 years and had forgotten pretty much everything about it. Having recently moved to Utah, I decided to try and program in the local repeaters and was quickly overcome with what a tedious experience it was to do manually. Having used Commander in the past, I downloaded a new copy, dug out my old TTL2USB cable and hooked it up. After several tries, I couldn't get a good file set in either direction. I went looking on the web for alternatives and read about Chirp. I'm delighted to say that it worked the first time. I've only spent a few minutes playing with it, but have successfully input my new stations, organized the memories (somewhat) and have the radio working again for me. It's not a "pretty" program with lots of color, but it does the job pretty darn well. I'm sure it has capabilities I've not yet discovered, but it's allowed me to get my radio back on the air. Two thumbs up from this happy user.
AE5YJ Rating: 2015-05-10
works for me Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I find CHIRP to be extremely versatile. Not everything works all the time, but I have not run into a radio that I have expected to work with it and had any issues. Authors/devteam are upfront about it's limitations.

It can be a clunky interface at times, but it becomes second nature after awhile. If I have not used it in a couple months, it doesn't take me that long to get back into the swing of operation. The data queries are also very helpful.

I appreciate this piece of software and it gives even more value to the chicom radios. If one craps out, just upload your template to a new radio and you are back in business. I highly recommend CHIRP to anyone who asks.
KA1VF Rating: 2015-05-10
CHIRP gets my vote Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've only been CHIRPing since 05/02/15, but after
working 34 years in the Computer Industry, I can
recognize good code when I use it, and CHIRP is
definitely good code.