CHIRP

EDIT 3.

Stun values (passwords) are apparently at offset 0x250 - 0x25F.

Justin, I'm not quite following what you're saying here and why you're posting all the images. Are you just downloading the BF-9700 with various different compatible radios in chirp? It's not likely that they really differ at all in that case.

It sounds like a subclass of one of those variants with the stun values just not exposed (initially at least) would be appropriate? Also, it looks to me like this really should have been closed as a dupe of the earlier one. Is there any actual difference?

Dan, the first request to add BF-9700 support to Chirp has been made over 2 years ago, but nothing has happened ever since. :(
I am simply providing all the information that I could gather to somehow move this issue forward. If developers of Chirp don't have access to mentioned radios, I have all of them at hand and will be more than happy to engage.
Digging into inhards of Chirp, drivers, Python and all that stuff is a bit over my head, unfortunately.

Dan, the first request to add BF-9700 support to Chirp has been made over 2 years ago, but nothing has happened ever since. :(

Right, but opening duplicate issues just creates paperwork for us to do, which takes time from writing drivers...

I am simply providing all the information that I could gather to somehow move this issue forward. If developers of Chirp don't have access to mentioned radios, I have all of them at hand and will be more than happy to engage.
Digging into inhards of Chirp, drivers, Python and all that stuff is a bit over my head, unfortunately.

I understand that, I'm trying to determine what you're suggesting. I don't have one of these radios locally, but I'm trying to glean what is necessary from your reports.

What I meant by the above is: I think you're saying that one of the existing models that chirp does support works with the BF-9700, right? Which one is the closest? If it's identical then the best thing to do is just update the supported radios list indicating that users should choose that model if they have a BF-9700. If it's not identical, what is the difference? It sounds like you noted some change in the stun settings? If so, I'm suggesting maybe we add a driver that is exactly like whatever the closest model is (you need to tell me what this is) but with the stun settings removed.

Ok, to summarize.

There are 2(3) radios by Baofeng, that are almost identical:

1. BF-9700 early version. Larger EEPROM, pre-2023 models apparently had FM radio. Later removed.
2. BF-9700 later version. Smaller EEPROM. No FM radio, one side button works differently.
3. BF-S56 / S56 Max. Slightly higher output power, otherwise seems to be identical to first version of BF-9700. Larger EEPROM, pre-2023 models apparently had FM radio. Later removed.

All three models could be controlled by Baofeng software WP970.

All three models could be read in Chirp as BF-1909. (I haven't written anything to them using Chirp yet ).

Additionally, 1 and 3 could be read in Chirp as BF-1901 and BF-1904.

So, the closest model in Chirp would be BF-1909.

There are functions, that could be set in original Baofeng software(s) for BF-9700, BF-S56Max and BF-1901/1904/1909 that can not be set in Chirp. STUN and codes for it is one such example.
During my experiments and comparing the EEPROM dumps before/after I was able to determine locations where these are written to by Baofeng software.

IIRC, there were some others, but I have to fire up the Win machine to verify.

Please, let me know what else do you want to know or need from me.

Cheers,
Justin

Okay, thanks for the summary, that helps.

I had assumed that you were saying that all of those models were totally compatible with the existing driver, but I see that you've only tried reading, not writing. Without that confirmation (and/or a radio to test with) I can't add or annotate the support list with those models, of course. I would also not recommend you trying to upload to them given your information about image size differences. If you take that risk (and it is a risk) and confirm that it works, then fine, but I wouldn't recommend you do that without more understanding of what's going on.

So, I think we're stuck here until a developer has hands on a model (and interest/time to work on it). This issue will stay open until then.

I've closed the older one as a duplicate of this since there's more information here. Please do not open further issues about this to try to gain attention. It really has the opposite effect.

Thanks for your help so far and the info here. I'm sure it will be helpful to someone if/when they pick it up.

Upload to radios, that is, not here. Either using Chirp or that other software.

P.S. I've saved original factory setting files of all three radios in Baofeng's WP970 file format (.dat files). If needed, I can upload those here for anyone willing to have a look. They can be edited in WP970, then saved and then diff compared for changes.
WP970 software is freely available from Baofeng.