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Reviews For: Icom CS-208 programming software for the IC-208H

Category: Ham Software/Apps - Other than logging

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Review Summary For : Icom CS-208 programming software for the IC-208H
Reviews: 8MSRP: 39.95
Description:
Programming software for PC use to program the IC-208H.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/default.asp
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0081.8
DZRTRAM Rating: 2008-09-15
The Worst Ever Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have two Yaesu HTs, one 8800, one 8900, and a Kenwood 271, as well as this Icom 208H. The 208H is by far the worst of the bunch to program. I have the program on two different computers and it works differently on both computers. I have no idea what other product is available. If someone knows of a better way to program this brute, please let me know.
KI6FLL Rating: 2008-06-06
Agreed - new version is better Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I agree with KR6FK - the new version from RT Systems is much improved. You can select multiple rows of data and copy/paste these into other rows in the memory programming spreadsheet. But you cannot paste this data into an Excel spreadsheet, and you cannot paste the data into another radio programming application. The sad state of affairs we're in is that there appears to be no interoperability between the different software applications that are out there. Thus if you use program X for your Icom mobile radio and program Y for your Yaesu handheld and program Z for your Kenwood base unit, there's no easy way to move data from one program/radio to another. (If someone knows of a way, please post up instructions here!) I don't know enough about the underlying programming "widgets" provided in Microsoft developer's library to know who's to blame for this lack of interoperability, but it's a major pain in the a$$ for users like me. The workaround is to save all memory data into a comma-separated value (.csv) file, edit the file with a text editor to keep only the data you want, then load this resulting .csv file into the other program. What's really needed is either one program that works with all radios, or some standard that allows the common data (freq, offset, tone, etc) from one program to be easily exchanged with a different program.

Oh yes, there was a typo in KR6FK post. The new version number is V3.70.08.
KR6FK Rating: 2008-04-08
New v3.07.08 MUCH better Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Older versions of CS-208 were woefully inadequate. Just downloaded the latest version off RT site for $25. MUCH BETTER! (Download process overly complex) It has almost everything that was missing. Can now import a variety of sources, including .tpe files from ARRL TravelPlus v11 Repeater CD (which requires online upgrade to get .tpe export). Can cut/paste/move multiple entries. Only minor glitch is that doesn't fill in offset frequency column when importing .tpe file. Have to paste those in by hand. Overall a HUGE improvement. Make sure you get latest v3.07.08.
VK3LOL Rating: 2007-12-08
If you pay a dollar you paid too much Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm new to ham radio, and have unfortunately learned not to expect much from the manufacturers in the way of radio interfaces and programming.

Alas, the CS-208 software is a new low in it's field.

So much could have been done to make the program usable, yet wasn't.

No bulk configuration, no import feature.
Better than programming the radio by hand, but only just.

What a waste.
KE5BRE Rating: 2007-03-05
CS-208 software is great.!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hello Team:

I got the IC-208H last weekend at the local Ham Fest, manually programming this radio is a pain and very time consuming..!! This software is a "must have" and ICOM should include it for free, They are not in the Software Developing business so why they charge for it...???
Thanks to Google I found the software for free. I downloaded the ZIP file and it never ask me about burning to a CD ROM, the installation is very straightforward and the main screen and functions are very friendly. Much more easy and faster to enter all the freqs. and settings in a spreadsheet format interface than in the radio itself. Also you can have several files with different freqs. I like a lot the scanning capabilities of the radio and I'm planing to use the "banks" function for the scanning. I was planning to build the cable (OPC-478) myself, but my soldering skills suck big time, so I'm buying the cable.
WD0FIA Rating: 2007-01-11
Well it does program Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I can't believe I actually paid good money for this!

It is barely a step above a DOS program. The only nice thing I can say is it will let you enter a frequency. Very slow going, time consuming.
W5EJ Rating: 2006-11-22
Beware! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Site gives an option when purchasing to download an electronic version of the software instead of waiting for a cd-rom. Cool right no wait download and install and use.

WRONG! The site fails to tell you that even if you do download the software you will still need to burn the files to a cdrom (dedicated to their two files) and that you will only be given a serial number from their 1990's antiquated serial number generating program if you run the setup program from the CDROM.

Come on RT Systems get with the times and at least stop assuming that every computer in the world has a cdrom or cdrom burner. Such assumptions are a sign of a company not in touch with consumer reality. I would not be leaving negative feedback if not for the fact that they failed to mention the need for the cdrom/burner anywhere in the purchase process.
K1ESL Rating: 2004-05-16
OK, it works Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Yes, it will read and write to the radio. If you like to point, click, type, point, click, repeat you'll love this stuff.

Another dreadful software package, written in the dark ages. It's amazing how the spreadsheet concept is lost to nearly all radio software programmers!

Hello Icom, RT Systems and others - all you have to do to make these things totally usable is to allow copy and paste of entire lines so that one can use Excel or other spreadsheets to pre-manipulate the data.