|
This page explains?How To Use CSV Files to program and update the Ft 60
?
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This is for CHIRP ... and Yaesu does not recommend that we use CHIRP on our HTs.
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
Good Morning, Mr. Bradford;
I have been using CHIRP for many years, even on a new FT-4X. ?What is Yaesu's reasoning for not using CHIRP?
Thank You,?
David J Ziskin AG6E
On Saturday, August 1, 2020, 08:26:48 AM PDT, Clint Bradford via groups.io <clintbradford@...> wrote:
This is for CHIRP ... and Yaesu does not recommend that we use CHIRP on our HTs.
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon.
I, too, have experimented with CHIRP - on a spare FT-60R.
?But from the CHIRP web site ...
“We receive no help from the vendors or manufacturers of the radios, and as such our drivers are developed by reverse-engineering. There is some risk involved in that, but everything carries some amount of risk (like buying the cheapest possible programming cable from questionable eBay vendors to program your expensive radio with). As with anything that is widely deployed and used by regular people, over time urban legends have developed about CHIRP, how it works, and how it is or is not dangerous to use. The internet gives anyone a soap box to stand on, and it places everyone on an equal footing, regardless of their actual level of understanding of the thing they're talking about. CHIRP comes with no warranty (or cost!) and you are always using it at your own risk ... “
Personally and professionally, I recommend RTSystems’ software and cables ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
Apologies in advance, Clint, for using your well-intentioned response as a starting point for this note. Your statement "CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon” doesn’t ring true to me, and doesn’t reflect my own experience.
In fairness, here’s another quote from Dan Smith, developer of CHIRP, source here:?
No, CHIRP will not intentionally let you brick radios and we know of no circumstances where it has done it. There are plenty of urban legends out there about people that think something has happened and been caused by any number of factors. I'm not aware of anyone having approached the chirp team with a bricked radio and a demonstrable process by which it happened.
Yaesu radios are very fragile (they don't fully reset their own memories when you do a factory reset, for example), so there's always a possibility that you could do something that would confuse the radio and not be able to reset it. Even though I've severely confused them while developing for them, I've never had one I couldn't recover. Other brands are far more robust in this regard and are pretty much bulletproof.
There have been issues, beyond CHIRP, with buggy, factory-installed FT-60 firmware but they’re old news, circa 2014.
Using untried cables with any radio you depend on is probably a bad idea. Having acquired a set of reliable interface cables for whatever families of radios you own and program, the advantage to using CHIRP is having one software application and interface for programming across a range of manufacturers' radios.?
In addition, while I understand the economic appeal to RT Systems of a “one radio, one application” business strategy, the net effect to me, as an amateur operator on a budget, is charging me a $25 tax for software for each model of radio I wish to program.?
If you only have one radio to program, with little expectation of expanding your collection, the choice between RT Systems and CHIRP isn’t consequential. As your radio stable becomes larger, it becomes less and less tenable to ignore CHIRP.
If you’re squeamish about cable quality, spend $30 for an RT Systems cable for each radio type you own. (And NB, one cable might serve for multiple radio models from a single manufacturer.)
If you’re finding CHIRP to be frustrating to install or use, find a local elmer to walk you through the process or program the radio for you the first time, and save off a code plug and CSV files for you. (And sorry I don’t have a my starting notes for using CHIRP with an FT-60 in front of me to be able to share them. It *was* frustrating the first time or two I used it, and isn’t as well documented as I might like it to be, but it’s a very useful app, with good support.)
$0.02
Rick
KK6WHJ
***
CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon.
I, too, have experimented with CHIRP - on a spare FT-60R.
?But from the CHIRP web site ...
“We receive no help from the vendors or manufacturers of the radios, and as such our drivers are developed by reverse-engineering. There is some risk involved in that, but everything carries some amount of risk (like buying the cheapest possible programming cable from questionable eBay vendors to program your expensive radio with). As with anything that is widely deployed and used by regular people, over time urban legends have developed about CHIRP, how it works, and how it is or is not dangerous to use. The internet gives anyone a soap box to stand on, and it places everyone on an equal footing, regardless of their actual level of understanding of the thing they're talking about. CHIRP comes with no warranty (or cost!) and you are always using it at your own risk ... “
Personally and professionally, I recommend RTSystems’ software and cables ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//
_._,_._,
|
The fly in the ointment is if Yaesu will help if programming problems occurs. They provide their own cable for a fee to clone but I did not see anything about programming the? radio, just cloning. So if you are programming the radio then a problem occurs with programming or operation following the programming attempt, Yaesu may decide to not honor? any warranty for the radio.?
On August 1, 2020 at 2:13 PM, "Rick Levine" <rick@...> wrote: Apologies in advance, Clint, for using your well-intentioned response as a starting point for this note. Your statement "CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon” doesn’t ring true to me, and doesn’t reflect my own experience.
In fairness, here’s another quote from Dan Smith, developer of CHIRP, source here:?
No, CHIRP will not intentionally let you brick radios and we know of no circumstances where it has done it. There are plenty of urban legends out there about people that think something has happened and been caused by any number of factors. I'm not aware of anyone having approached the chirp team with a bricked radio and a demonstrable process by which it happened.
Yaesu radios are very fragile (they don't fully reset their own memories when you do a factory reset, for example), so there's always a possibility that you could do something that would confuse the radio and not be able to reset it. Even though I've severely confused them while developing for them, I've never had one I couldn't recover. Other brands are far more robust in this regard and are pretty much bulletproof.
There have been issues, beyond CHIRP, with buggy, factory-installed FT-60 firmware but they’re old news, circa 2014.
Using untried cables with any radio you depend on is probably a bad idea. Having acquired a set of reliable interface cables for whatever families of radios you own and program, the advantage to using CHIRP is having one software application and interface for programming across a range of manufacturers' radios.?
In addition, while I understand the economic appeal to RT Systems of a “one radio, one application” business strategy, the net effect to me, as an amateur operator on a budget, is charging me a $25 tax for software for each model of radio I wish to program.?
If you only have one radio to program, with little expectation of expanding your collection, the choice between RT Systems and CHIRP isn’t consequential. As your radio stable becomes larger, it becomes less and less tenable to ignore CHIRP.
If you’re squeamish about cable quality, spend $30 for an RT Systems cable for each radio type you own. (And NB, one cable might serve for multiple radio models from a single manufacturer.)
If you’re finding CHIRP to be frustrating to install or use, find a local elmer to walk you through the process or program the radio for you the first time, and save off a code plug and CSV files for you. (And sorry I don’t have a my starting notes for using CHIRP with an FT-60 in front of me to be able to share them. It *was* frustrating the first time or two I used it, and isn’t as well documented as I might like it to be, but it’s a very useful app, with good support.)
$0.02
Rick
KK6WHJ
*** CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon.
I, too, have experimented with CHIRP - on a spare FT-60R.
?But from the CHIRP web site ...
“We receive no help from the vendors or manufacturers of the radios, and as such our drivers are developed by reverse-engineering. There is some risk involved in that, but everything carries some amount of risk (like buying the cheapest possible programming cable from questionable eBay vendors to program your expensive radio with). As with anything that is widely deployed and used by regular people, over time urban legends have developed about CHIRP, how it works, and how it is or is not dangerous to use. The internet gives anyone a soap box to stand on, and it places everyone on an equal footing, regardless of their actual level of understanding of the thing they're talking about. CHIRP comes with no warranty (or cost!) and you are always using it at your own risk ... “
Personally and professionally, I recommend RTSystems’ software and cables ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http// _._,_._,
|
Thank you. I was not aware of a potential issue with using Chirp.
I've used both Chirp and RT Systems and I prefer RT.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
-------- Original message -------- From: "Clint Bradford via groups.io" <clintbradford@...> Date: 8/1/20 11:05 AM (GMT-06:00) To: Yaesu-FT-60@groups.io Subject: Re: [Yaesu-FT-60] Updating and programming the Ft 60 - How To Use CSV Files
CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon.
I, too, have experimented with CHIRP - on a spare FT-60R.
?But from the CHIRP web site ...
“We receive no help from the vendors or manufacturers of the radios, and as such our drivers are developed by reverse-engineering. There is some risk involved in that, but everything carries some amount of risk (like buying the cheapest possible programming cable from questionable eBay vendors to program your expensive radio with). As with anything that is widely deployed and used by regular people, over time urban legends have developed about CHIRP, how it works, and how it is or is not dangerous to use. The internet gives anyone a soap box to stand on, and it places everyone on an equal footing, regardless of their actual level of understanding of the thing they're talking about. CHIRP comes with no warranty (or cost!) and you are always using it at your own risk ... “
Personally and professionally, I recommend RTSystems’ software and cables ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
I cannot believe I am the only person to have read horror stories about using this software on some Yaesu rigs ... And Yaesu's John Kruk has specifically stated that units bricked with CHIRP are in violation of Yaesu's warranty.
THAT IS FROM JOHN - DON'T YELL AT ME! (g)
I have owned several FT-60R HTs since the moment they were available: I worked at HRO-Anaheim when they were released, and ours was the first? HRO to receive them. YES -- as I stated - I have used CHIRP on a FT-60R with success. But it is NOT something I publicly or professionally suggest hams do.?
It was touched upon in an earlier post: What one gains with RTSystems is a solid firm, with tech support waiting for your call or email message. Heck, they were even answering the phones as the moving van was still bringing in furniture during their last physical move (SOURCE: MY phone call on a Saturday recently.) You do not run in to COM PORT error nonsense. You have a solid, proven product. And there are Mac-specific titles (including our FT-60R) available.
SO ... Search the Web for "chirp bricks yaesu radio" - don't ask me for citations, trust your own search results.
Clint
PS I have been "everything" with RTSystems: from a consumer to a beta tester to a dealer for a short-lived project and back to a very satisfied consumer ... always had positive experiences. I musty pwn 15 or 20 titles ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
>> ... is charging me a $25 tax for software for each model of radio I wish to program ...
I have paid $250 each for subscriptions to a couple Motorola commercial HTs I own. That is PLUS their $100 programming cable, and PLUS their RIB interface ...
Having a professional, much-more-features than the Moto software, program and cable for ham HTs for $50 is a true bargain. ESPECIALLY when you consider the support available - if ever needed.
No - I am not wealthy. But my time is worth something. And when I was in Windows, wasting time with cable and COM PORT problems is, in my mind, a total waste of time.
Clint (not rich, really)
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
And THANK YOU to everyone - for keeping this CIVIL.
This is a welcome change from a lot of b.s. happening online now ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
??? Believe that could only apply to
programming issues and reports are that the Chirp people will help
there. No affect on the mechanicals, and I haven't myslef seen
reports of people going to Yaesu for warranty programming issues.
??? Christian KD2LIN
On 8/1/2020 2:39 PM, Chuck Moore via
groups.io wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
The fly in the ointment is if Yaesu will help if programming
problems occurs. They provide their own cable for a fee to
clone but I did not see anything about programming the?
radio, just cloning. So if you are programming the radio then
a problem occurs with programming or operation following
the programming attempt, Yaesu may decide to not honor?
any warranty for the radio.?
On August 1, 2020 at 2:13 PM, "Rick Levine" <rick@...>
wrote:
Apologies in advance, Clint, for using your
well-intentioned response as a starting point for this
note. Your statement "CHIRP has been known to “brick”
several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented
phenomenon” doesn’t ring true to me, and doesn’t reflect
my own experience.
In fairness, here’s another quote from Dan
Smith, developer of CHIRP, source here:?
No, CHIRP will not
intentionally let you brick radios and we know of no
circumstances where it has done it. There are plenty of
urban legends out there about people that think
something has happened and been caused by any number of
factors. I'm not aware of anyone having approached the
chirp team with a bricked radio and a demonstrable
process by which it happened.
Yaesu radios are very fragile (they don't
fully reset their own memories when you do a factory
reset, for example), so there's always a possibility
that you could do something that would confuse the
radio and not be able to reset it. Even though I've
severely confused them while developing for them, I've
never had one I couldn't recover. Other brands are far
more robust in this regard and are pretty much
bulletproof.
There have been issues, beyond CHIRP, with buggy,
factory-installed FT-60 firmware but they’re old news,
circa 2014.
Using untried cables with any radio you depend
on is probably a bad idea. Having acquired a set of
reliable interface cables for whatever families of radios
you own and program, the advantage to using CHIRP is
having one software application and interface for
programming across a range of manufacturers' radios.?
In addition, while I understand the economic
appeal to RT Systems of a “one radio, one application”
business strategy, the net effect to me, as an amateur
operator on a budget, is charging me a $25 tax for
software for each model of radio I wish to program.?
If you only have one radio to program, with
little expectation of expanding your collection, the
choice between RT Systems and CHIRP isn’t consequential.
As your radio stable becomes larger, it becomes less and
less tenable to ignore CHIRP.
If you’re squeamish about cable quality, spend
$30 for an RT Systems cable for each radio type you own.
(And NB, one cable might serve for multiple radio models
from a single manufacturer.)
If you’re finding CHIRP to be frustrating to
install or use, find a local elmer to walk you through the
process or program the radio for you the first time, and
save off a code plug and CSV files for you. (And sorry I
don’t have a my starting notes for using CHIRP with an
FT-60 in front of me to be able to share them. It *was*
frustrating the first time or two I used it, and isn’t as
well documented as I might like it to be, but it’s a very
useful app, with good support.)
$0.02
Rick
KK6WHJ
***
CHIRP has been known to “brick” several
models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented
phenomenon.
I, too, have experimented with CHIRP - on a spare
FT-60R.
?But from the CHIRP web site ...
“We receive no help from the vendors or
manufacturers of the radios, and as such our
drivers are developed by reverse-engineering.
There is some risk involved in that, but
everything carries some amount of risk (like
buying the cheapest possible programming cable
from questionable eBay vendors to program your
expensive radio with). As with anything that is
widely deployed and used by regular people, over
time urban legends have developed about CHIRP,
how it works, and how it is or is not dangerous
to use. The internet gives anyone a soap box to
stand on, and it places everyone on an equal
footing, regardless of their actual level of
understanding of the thing they're talking
about. CHIRP comes with no warranty (or cost!)
and you are always using it at your own risk ...
“
Personally and professionally, I recommend
RTSystems’ software and cables ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//
_._,_._,
|
Hello Clint
I tried your search string. Copied it right from the message and inserted into the search field of Google. Dozens of pages came back. After sifting through the first five pages of results I found no material on Chirp bricking Yaesu or any other radios. Not sure why I get NADA but my results might explain why you are feeling like the Lone Ranger.
Regards
Chuck WD4HXG
On August 1, 2020 at 3:56 PM, "Clint Bradford via groups.io" <clintbradford@...> wrote: I cannot believe I am the only person to have read horror stories about using this software on some Yaesu rigs ... And Yaesu's John Kruk has specifically stated that units bricked with CHIRP are in violation of Yaesu's warranty. THAT IS FROM JOHN - DON'T YELL AT ME! (g) I have owned several FT-60R HTs since the moment they were available: I worked at HRO-Anaheim when they were released, and ours was the first? HRO to receive them. YES -- as I stated - I have used CHIRP on a FT-60R with success. But it is NOT something I publicly or professionally suggest hams do.? It was touched upon in an earlier post: What one gains with RTSystems is a solid firm, with tech support waiting for your call or email message. Heck, they were even answering the phones as the moving van was still bringing in furniture during their last physical move (SOURCE: MY phone call on a Saturday recently.) You do not run in to COM PORT error nonsense. You have a solid, proven product. And there are Mac-specific titles (including our FT-60R) available. SO ... Search the Web for "chirp bricks yaesu radio" - don't ask me for citations, trust your own search results. Clint PS I have been "everything" with RTSystems: from a consumer to a beta tester to a dealer for a short-lived project and back to a very satisfied consumer ... always had positive experiences. I musty pwn 15 or 20 titles ... -- Clint Bradford K6LCS http//
|
Any idea why Yaesu doesn’t like CHIRP? Jerry NV7GS? +++++ Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they?won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.
~Unknown
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Aug 1, 2020, at 11:12, Rick Levine <rick@...> wrote:
?
Apologies in advance, Clint, for using your well-intentioned response as a starting point for this note. Your statement "CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon” doesn’t ring true to me, and doesn’t reflect my own experience.
In fairness, here’s another quote from Dan Smith, developer of CHIRP, source here:?
No, CHIRP will not intentionally let you brick radios and we know of no circumstances where it has done it. There are plenty of urban legends out there about people that think something has happened and been caused by any number of factors. I'm not aware of anyone having approached the chirp team with a bricked radio and a demonstrable process by which it happened.
Yaesu radios are very fragile (they don't fully reset their own memories when you do a factory reset, for example), so there's always a possibility that you could do something that would confuse the radio and not be able to reset it. Even though I've severely confused them while developing for them, I've never had one I couldn't recover. Other brands are far more robust in this regard and are pretty much bulletproof.
There have been issues, beyond CHIRP, with buggy, factory-installed FT-60 firmware but they’re old news, circa 2014.
Using untried cables with any radio you depend on is probably a bad idea. Having acquired a set of reliable interface cables for whatever families of radios you own and program, the advantage to using CHIRP is having one software application and interface for programming across a range of manufacturers' radios.?
In addition, while I understand the economic appeal to RT Systems of a “one radio, one application” business strategy, the net effect to me, as an amateur operator on a budget, is charging me a $25 tax for software for each model of radio I wish to program.?
If you only have one radio to program, with little expectation of expanding your collection, the choice between RT Systems and CHIRP isn’t consequential. As your radio stable becomes larger, it becomes less and less tenable to ignore CHIRP.
If you’re squeamish about cable quality, spend $30 for an RT Systems cable for each radio type you own. (And NB, one cable might serve for multiple radio models from a single manufacturer.)
If you’re finding CHIRP to be frustrating to install or use, find a local elmer to walk you through the process or program the radio for you the first time, and save off a code plug and CSV files for you. (And sorry I don’t have a my starting notes for using CHIRP with an FT-60 in front of me to be able to share them. It *was* frustrating the first time or two I used it, and isn’t as well documented as I might like it to be, but it’s a very useful app, with good support.)
$0.02
Rick
KK6WHJ
***
CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon.
I, too, have experimented with CHIRP - on a spare FT-60R.
?But from the CHIRP web site ...
“We receive no help from the vendors or manufacturers of the radios, and as such our drivers are developed by reverse-engineering. There is some risk involved in that, but everything carries some amount of risk (like buying the cheapest possible programming cable from questionable eBay vendors to program your expensive radio with). As with anything that is widely deployed and used by regular people, over time urban legends have developed about CHIRP, how it works, and how it is or is not dangerous to use. The internet gives anyone a soap box to stand on, and it places everyone on an equal footing, regardless of their actual level of understanding of the thing they're talking about. CHIRP comes with no warranty (or cost!) and you are always using it at your own risk ... “
Personally and professionally, I recommend RTSystems’ software and cables ...
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//
_._,_._,
|
>>... Any idea why Yaesu doesn’t like CHIRP?
Probably because they are tired of receiving reports like this ...
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.
The eHam.net reviews: CHIRP is either 5-star loved or 1-start? unreliable - to the point of "bricking" radios.
I am not taking that chance. But to deny the existence of problems ignores reports of fellow hams.?
Heck, I offer a CHIRP datafile for the UV-5R v2 for some amateur satellites on my DOCS page at ...
... and have publicly endorsed it for some radios.
Clint K6LCS
?
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
I have been using chirp with my ft-60r for 6 years with no problems other than the cumbersome FT-60r menu protocols. Just follow the directions to the letter and use the correct com port number. Flawless!
GL and 73,
|
I’m also grateful that everyone here is willing to volunteer and help people with FT-60 questions and problems. Thanks to all for the civility and continued engagement!
I’m not surprised that Yaesu isn’t open to alternative tools and interfaces for working with their radios. It’s not about CHIRP. They’re in the hardware business, and all profit is driven by hardware sales. Support and software are cost centers; the more they can reduce support costs, the better their business. Given we’re hams, and are already inclined to hacking and experimentation, the only way they can limit their support and warranty cost exposure is to lock down the interfaces, and not send any money solving customer problems caused by tools they don’t control. (And that’s not a universal perspective, but is typical of proprietary hardware companies. Companies with more progressive views on customer retention may do things differently.)
Clint, you’re spot on about relative costs for software and hardware vs time and effort. If I were in a business using commercial gear, the costs for software and support h/w are minuscule compared to the cost of supporting Moto or other land radios. My bias is from the perspective of getting more people into amateur radio; an FT-60 is already the high-priced option for many new hams. While it’s fine to say it takes a certain minimum investment to get into the hobby, if we can reduce costs, we can make the tent bigger. (Your own work getting hams to put together inexpensive satellite rigs is a perfect example. I’d much rather see someone put $25 into an antenna rather than buying programming software. I’d rather help them get running, and program their H/T, than tell them to buy software and cables.)
My experience with CHIRP is biased, as I run on a Mac or on linux boxes. I’m not sure I’d be as enthusiastic running on windows. My systems are a lot more stable wrt com ports and connections, and it’s easier for me to debug and troubleshoot than it would if I were on a windows box.
As far as searching for CHIRP and bricks, I’ve been using the software for 6 or 7 years. The scary stories were what I heard when I started, but when I tried chasing them down, I found problems being blamed on CHIRP (builds, installation, port and cable questions, I-want-it-to-do-X-why-can’t-it-do-X, etc) but not much in the way of real problems. I also found a robust bug-fix forum and people who responded to the substantive issues, and ported the interfaces to new radios very soon after they got their hands on them. And those new interfaces were offered as beta or unstable, and the community helped debug them. The joys of open source s/w!
Neither RT nor Yaesu have any reason to welcome CHIRP, RT because CHIRP competes with their core business, and Yaesu because people failing in their use of CHIRP (for whatever reason) will knock on Yaesu’s door in their efforts to solve the problem.
While "we have experience corrupted CPUs in some of our radios” sounds bad, it’s anecdotal, and without knowing more about the circumstances, is just one more scary anecdote. I wouldn’t risk mission critical equipment on untried software and tools - we agree strongly about that. However, I spend money where it’s needed, given my resources and needs. Having taken the time and energy to learn the tools I have, I’m satisfied with CHIRP, and would much rather put the money I save into other things.
Rick
KK6WJH
***
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Aug 1, 2020, at 2:14 PM, Gerald Stein < nv7gs1@...> wrote:
Any idea why Yaesu doesn’t like CHIRP? Jerry NV7GS? +++++ Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they?won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.
~Unknown On Aug 1, 2020, at 11:12, Rick Levine <rick@...> wrote:
?
Apologies in advance, Clint, for using your well-intentioned response as a starting point for this note. Your statement "CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon” doesn’t ring true to me, and doesn’t reflect my own experience.
In fairness, here’s another quote from Dan Smith, developer of CHIRP, source here:?
No, CHIRP will not intentionally let you brick radios and we know of no circumstances where it has done it. There are plenty of urban legends out there about people that think something has happened and been caused by any number of factors. I'm not aware of anyone having approached the chirp team with a bricked radio and a demonstrable process by which it happened.
Yaesu radios are very fragile (they don't fully reset their own memories when you do a factory reset, for example), so there's always a possibility that you could do something that would confuse the radio and not be able to reset it. Even though I've severely confused them while developing for them, I've never had one I couldn't recover. Other brands are far more robust in this regard and are pretty much bulletproof.
There have been issues, beyond CHIRP, with buggy, factory-installed FT-60 firmware but they’re old news, circa 2014.
Using untried cables with any radio you depend on is probably a bad idea. Having acquired a set of reliable interface cables for whatever families of radios you own and program, the advantage to using CHIRP is having one software application and interface for programming across a range of manufacturers' radios.?
In addition, while I understand the economic appeal to RT Systems of a “one radio, one application” business strategy, the net effect to me, as an amateur operator on a budget, is charging me a $25 tax for software for each model of radio I wish to program.?
If you only have one radio to program, with little expectation of expanding your collection, the choice between RT Systems and CHIRP isn’t consequential. As your radio stable becomes larger, it becomes less and less tenable to ignore CHIRP.
If you’re squeamish about cable quality, spend $30 for an RT Systems cable for each radio type you own. (And NB, one cable might serve for multiple radio models from a single manufacturer.)
If you’re finding CHIRP to be frustrating to install or use, find a local elmer to walk you through the process or program the radio for you the first time, and save off a code plug and CSV files for you. (And sorry I don’t have a my starting notes for using CHIRP with an FT-60 in front of me to be able to share them. It *was* frustrating the first time or two I used it, and isn’t as well documented as I might like it to be, but it’s a very useful app, with good support.)
$0.02
Rick
KK6WHJ
***
CHIRP has been known to “brick” several models of Yaesu radios - a well-documented phenomenon.
I, too, have experimented with CHIRP - on a spare FT-60R.
?But from the CHIRP web site ...
“We receive no help from the vendors or manufacturers of the radios, and as such our drivers are developed by reverse-engineering. There is some risk involved in that, but everything carries some amount of risk (like buying the cheapest possible programming cable from questionable eBay vendors to program your expensive radio with). As with anything that is widely deployed and used by regular people, over time urban legends have developed about CHIRP, how it works, and how it is or is not dangerous to use. The internet gives anyone a soap box to stand on, and it places everyone on an equal footing, regardless of their actual level of understanding of the thing they're talking about. CHIRP comes with no warranty (or cost!) and you are always using it at your own risk ... “
Personally and professionally, I recommend RTSystems’ software and cables ...
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Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//
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Dora Tamilta
Clint Bradford
Rick Levine