CHIRP

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

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

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

Jim KC9HI

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

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

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!

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.

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