CHIRP

After receiving the radio I was able to program it on linux (using the daily build) with no problem.
I tried to disable the TX on the radio ('settings/Other Settings') and changed the VHF limit to 30-300MHZ and UHF to 300-1000.
After uploading the data to the radio, I was able to enter frequencies in the these ranges on the radio (although it did not seem like it actually was receiving any signal), and it looks like the radio was still transmitting (I tested it on the FRS channel 7 (462.7125MHZ) on low power).

MY radio version is: BFB293 (120915N/B5R0001 when power+6)

Solution:
After starting CHIRP on the command line, I noticed the following

Ident:
000: aa 01 00 03 00 10 00 dd ........

Vendor is '\x01\x00\x03' (OK)
Version is '\x00\x10\x00' (OK)
Image is ' Ver BFB293 '
Radio is ' Ver BFB293 '
Clone thread ended

Is looks like the vendor is 01/00/03 but in the uv5r.py code line 176 (http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/repository/entry/chirp/uv5r.py#L176) its looking for a \x04 in the vendor. No problem, I changed the \x04 to \x03. Restarted CHIRP and everything works fine now. The TX checkbox still does not seem to work (I can TX).

I am not sure why the radio seemed to be sending the correct vendor before but now it wont, but it does seem to be working now with no problems (I can upload/download and change settings all day long).

Hope this helps.

Lior.