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New Model #4011

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Klein electronics Blackbox+ series

Added by Charles Price over 7 years ago. Updated over 1 year ago.

Status:
Feedback
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
-
Category:
-
Target version:
Start date:
09/10/2016
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:
Equipment Loan/Gift Offered:
Yes
I read the instructions above:

Related issues

Related to New Model #1285: Blackbox plus radios?Closed12/04/2013

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Actions #1

Updated by Charles Price over 7 years ago

I will loan a blackbox+ UHF version, just let me know when/where to send it.

Actions #2

Updated by Jim Unroe over 7 years ago

  • Status changed from New to Feedback

Charles,

This radio looks suspiciously like a Baofeng BF-888s (except with a Motorola speaker/mic socket). After getting the software to run, I was able to determine that the "magic" string that is sent to the radio to initiate cloning is the same as for a BF-888s. I would suggest that you try to read the radio using BF-888 and see what happens.

Jim KC9HI

Actions #3

Updated by Charles Price over 7 years ago

Hi Jim,

I tried accessing the Blackbox+ using the baofeng 888 settings as you suggested. CHIRP gave me an error of 'no response from radio'. I plugged in my 888 to make sure it wasn't a cable error and it parsed just fine. That doesn't completely rule out a cable issue, though, as the BB+ uses a motorola 2 pin so I had to switch to the k2 cable to test to the connection. I'm up for more suggestions, and will happily send you a BB+ if all else fails. Also, I can snap photos of the two radios side by side to show the little differences if it'd help.

Thanks for your time,

Charles KA3IFL

Actions #4

Updated by Jim Unroe over 7 years ago

Does the Klein radio work with the OEM software? That would rule out the cable being a problem.

Jim KC9HI

Actions #5

Updated by Charles Price over 7 years ago

It does. I did note that the driver versions are different between the 888 and the BB+. v3.2000 is used on the baofengs, the driver for the BB* is 3.6.2.357. I swapped the drivers and tried using the 888 protocol with the same result.

Charles

Actions #6

Updated by Bernhard Hailer about 4 years ago

  • Subject changed from Klein electronics Balckbox+ series to Klein electronics Blackbox+ series
  • Target version changed from 0.4.1 to chirp-legacy

It might be helpful to see a debug log (obtain as described in How To Report Issues).

Actions #7

Updated by Bernhard Hailer almost 4 years ago

  • Equipment Loan/Gift Offered changed from No to Yes
Actions #8

Updated by Jeff Coronado almost 3 years ago

Has there been any progress in adding the ability to program the Blackbox+U model?

Actions #9

Updated by Bernhard Hailer almost 3 years ago

The radio is not yet on the list of Supported Radios; however, the suggestion has been made to try the radio with the Selection "Baofeng BF-888" in Chirp. We didn't get the feedback we need - we require a debug log as described in the Wiki "How To Report Issues". -
The driver Charles Sprague Price mentions appear to be the one for the Prolific chip in the cable, not for the radio.
Also, the Motorola style connector on these radios are known to not always provide good electrical contact, so this is another thing to check (these plugs often need to be altered to properly fit).
So, try the radio the OEM software, then try with the same cable and with Chirp, selecting the BF-888. Collect debug log!

Actions #10

Updated by S Michael Smith over 1 year ago

Has there been any further action on this issue? I'm investigating purchase of the Blackbox Go! series, and the cables seem to be the same Motorola-type as used for Baofeng, but I'm not certain. Blackbox otherwise only seem to support Windows O/S.

Actions #11

Updated by Jim Unroe over 1 year ago

S Michael Smith wrote:

Has there been any further action on this issue? I'm investigating purchase of the Blackbox Go! series, and the cables seem to be the same Motorola-type as used for Baofeng, but I'm not certain. Blackbox otherwise only seem to support Windows O/S.

CHIRP typically does not support digital (DMR) radios like the Blackbox Go! The way they store their channel and settings data is very different from how analog radios do it. Since CHIRP was written to work with analog radios, this makes digital radios incompatible with how CHIRP works. My understanding is that CHIRP would require a from-the-ground-up rewrite to support digital radio data structures.

Also, the Blackbox Go! does appear to use a Motorola "M1" style 2-pin programming cable. Baofeng radios use the Kenwood "K1" style 2-pin programming cable. They are not interchangeable. The position of the 2.5mm and 3.5mm pins are swapped and the spacing between the pins is not the same (8mm for the M1 and 11.5mm for the K1).

And in addition to that, digital radios tend to have the USB-to-Serial chip built into the radio. The programming cable is straight through with no chip. The analog (only) radios have the USB-to-Serial chip built into the USB end of the programming cable. So even if they look to be physically the same externally, they are not electronically the same on the inside.

Jim KC9HI

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