CHIRP

Hello Jim,
Thank you for the response. Using as some suggested for the DB-25 Vendor : QYT Model: KT8900D , The radio says cloning , the radio clicks and turns off and then turns back on and gives an error message stating the program was unsuccessful. I've been out of the Ham business for quite sometime, as I talked on the radio all day in my former career. Now that I'm retired, I'm pretty much starting over. I was just trying to help some friends with their new radio ; add some extra listening rx and features. I appreciate your time. A Rio W7DGM

Open CHIRP (starts a new debug.log file)
Attempt the download using KT8900D (to cause the error)
Close CHIRP (to close the debug.log file)

Attach the debug.log file to this issue. Maybe I can see what the difference is.

Jim KC9HI

RON RUNYAN wrote:

Jim,

Success!!!

Attached is the .img file.

The only this I noticed missing was the Mic Gain function.

Ron
N6RDR

That is good to see. In the mean time while I am studying this first "image", please attach 2 additional images with the only difference between them being the Mic Gain set to ON on one and the Mic Gain set to OFF on the other.

Jim KC9HI

Jim,

I forgot to add...

My radio supports three power settings L, M, and H. The software from Radioddity only supports two.

Weird!

Ron
N6RDR

RON RUNYAN wrote:

Attached are the two files requested.

Thank you.

Mic Gain is a numeric value between 0 and 127. Thus the two file names.

Yes. I realized my "ON"/"OFF" mistake once I added my reply. I was hoping you would realize the mistake and get me what I needed anyway. You did. Thanks.

Hope this helps.

Yes.

Now I have some questions.

1. The OEM software shows channels 8-14 as being blank. Did you add channels 8-14 yourself or were they already present in the radio when you got it?

2. If channels 8-14 were already present, do they transmit or are they receive only?

3. Do the channels 190-199 (NOAA WX Radio) transmit or are they receive only?

4. Do the channels that you added above 30 transmit or are they receive only?

5. The factory DB25-G software doesn't include a setting for Menu 4 (M-GAIN). It also doesn't include a setting for Menu 57 (PONYEY). Would you include a pair of "images" with this setting set to OFF/ON?

Thanks,
Jim KC9HI

RON RUNYAN wrote:

Jim,

I forgot to add...

My radio supports three power settings L, M, and H. The software from Radioddity only supports two.

Weird!

Ron
N6RDR

Either... add 3 images with the only difference being the TXP setting on a single channel
or... add a single image with 3 adjacent channels that are identical except for the TXP setting.

Thanks,
Jim KC9HI

Jim,

I did some testing with my digital wattmeter into my external antenna with a SWR of about 1.3:1

Low = 7.1 watts
Medium = 12.9 watts
High = 18.4 watts

Yes, if you copy a GMRS frequency to ANY of the other memories, it will TX on that channel. I have done this with several local repeaters on the same frequency but with different tones.

The radio will not TX on anything other than GMRS frequencies. And it will not TX on the low-power GMRS channels 8 thru 14.

I believe Duplex should be set to ON. This is how the radio behaves with most GMRS frequencies. I am using the radio for purposes it was not intended. I need to monitor some frequencies other than GMRS ones. The radio lets me monitor four channels at the same time.

Hope this helps.

Ron
N6RDR

Jim,

Another interesting observation...

On the limited-power GMRS channels 1 thru 7, the radio puts out 7.2 watts regardless of the power settings. All three power settings put out 7.2 watts. This complies with the regulations on power output.

Ron
N6RDR

Jim,

More testing...

I was able to download the radio into CHIRP. I then modified several parameters and channels. I then uploaded from CHIRP to the radio.
The upload was very slow but was successful.

Interestingly, any channel with Power=Low in CHIRP uploaded to the radio as Power=Medium.

Hope some of this helps.

Ron
N6RDR

RON RUNYAN wrote:

I did some testing with my digital wattmeter into my external antenna with a SWR of about 1.3:1

Low = 7.1 watts
Medium = 12.9 watts
High = 18.4 watts

Perfect. Just what I was looking for.

Yes, if you copy a GMRS frequency to ANY of the other memories, it will TX on that channel. I have done this with several local repeaters on the same frequency but with different tones.

Nice.

The radio will not TX on anything other than GMRS frequencies. And it will not TX on the low-power GMRS channels 8 thru 14.

All as it should be.

I believe Duplex should be set to ON. This is how the radio behaves with most GMRS frequencies. I am using the radio for purposes it was not intended. I need to monitor some frequencies other than GMRS ones. The radio lets me monitor four channels at the same time.

Right. Any channel using the same frequencies as channels 1-7 and 15-22 would be Duplex = "(None)" {which in CHIRP means simplex}, any channels using the same frequencies as channels 23-30 would be Duplex = "+" and Offset = "5.000000" {repeaters} and any channels using the same channel 8-14 frequencies and frequencies other than GMRS frequencies would be Duplex = "off" {which in CHIRP means TX disabled}. Nothing about how the radio behaves would be changed. The memory editor would just be updated to have what it displays match the way the radio already behaves.

Hope this helps.

Very much so.

Thank you,
Jim KC9HI

RON RUNYAN wrote:

Jim,

Another interesting observation...

On the limited-power GMRS channels 1 thru 7, the radio puts out 7.2 watts regardless of the power settings. All three power settings put out 7.2 watts. This complies with the regulations on power output.

Ron
N6RDR

This is very good observation. Thanks.

Jim KC9HI

RON RUNYAN wrote:

I was able to download the radio into CHIRP. I then modified several parameters and channels. I then uploaded from CHIRP to the radio.
The upload was very slow but was successful.

Unfortunately this is how this driver behaves.

Interestingly, any channel with Power=Low in CHIRP uploaded to the radio as Power=Medium.

Yes. Until I can come up with updated code it is...

High in radio is High in CHIRP
Medium in radio is Low in CHIRP
Low in radio is unavailable in CHIRP

This will be the next thing I try to figure out.

Hope some of this helps.

Yes. It all does. Thanks!

Jim KC9HI

Jim,

Both of these updates seem to work just fine. I did experience one glitch where the power settings for memory 190-199 were written to memory 50-59. It was a one time thing that I can not get to repeat.

I am impressed at how well the software works. And it uploaded to the radio faster today than yesterday. You are my hero.

I will let you know if I run across anything else.

Ron
N6RDR

I'm watching this case and have great interest in this. Where can I get the latest update that has this functionality for the DB25-G in it? I have a friend that just ordered this device and will be helping him configure it. I see the IMG files and the PY files, I loaded the IMG file in the current version of CHIRP to poke around in the config but not sure what radio profile to use to get it to upload. I have several other radios that I'm currently using with CHIRP.

Jerry Angelo wrote:

Where can I get the latest update that has this functionality for the DB25-G in it?

There is no CHIRP daily build with this functionality. This is a work in process. Nothing has been submitted for inclusion to CHIRP yet.

I see the IMG files and the PY files, I loaded the IMG file in the current version of CHIRP to poke around in the config but not sure what radio profile to use to get it to upload.

You don't choose a "radio profile" when uploading. The radio Vendor/Model that was used when the "image" was created is embedded into the image's metadata. When uploading, these parameters are automatically selected and cannot be changed.

Also, none of the Radioddity DB25-G images attached to this issue will load into the "current version of CHIRP" without first loading one of the test driver modules (@#3-#6@). At this point you should be using db25-g_test_#5.py or db25-g_test_#6.py and images beginning with "Radioddity_DB25-G" for testing.

Instructions for how to do this is in comment @#5@ above (just substitute the current test driver module for "db25-g_test_#1.py" in the instructions.

Jim KC9HI

Jim Unroe wrote:

Jerry Angelo wrote:

Where can I get the latest update that has this functionality for the DB25-G in it?

There is no CHIRP daily build with this functionality. This is a work in process. Nothing has been submitted for inclusion to CHIRP yet.

I see the IMG files and the PY files, I loaded the IMG file in the current version of CHIRP to poke around in the config but not sure what radio profile to use to get it to upload.

You don't choose a "radio profile" when uploading. The radio Vendor/Model that was used when the "image" was created is embedded into the image's metadata. When uploading, these parameters are automatically selected and cannot be changed.

Also, none of the Radioddity DB25-G images attached to this issue will load into the "current version of CHIRP" without first loading one of the test driver modules (@#3-#6@). At this point you should be using db25-g_test_#5.py or db25-g_test_#6.py and images beginning with "Radioddity_DB25-G" for testing.

Instructions for how to do this is in comment @#5@ above (just substitute the current test driver module for "db25-g_test_#1.py" in the instructions.

Jim KC9HI

Thanks for the helpful information. I'll give this a try when the equipment is available to test.

I'm fine with the latter test file suggested, but I'm probably not the best judge of this YET. I plan to fully test when the equipment is made available to me.

Jim,

Why can't we get a file with both the #5 and #6 versions combined?

Ron R.

Jim, thanks for working on this. Much appreciated.

I plan on trying out #6 today. Anything you want me to check/confirm?

James Smith wrote:

Jim, thanks for working on this. Much appreciated.

I plan on trying out #6 today. Anything you want me to check/confirm?

If you have any BTech, QYT or other supported variants, make sure I didn't break anything adding the DB25-G support. Otherwise, just let me know if anything doesn't work as expected. I don't have a DB25-G so I have had to work solely from downloaded "images" and very helpful feedback from users.

Jim KC9HI

Jim,

Sorry, I do not have any of those other radios so I can not confirm if those were affected.

Just tried it out. Was able to download from the radio, make changes and upload to the radio.

Power level setting shows low, mid and high.

Repeaters have duplex at "+" and offset is "5.00000".

So far, so good. It does take a few minutes to upload to the radio. Not sure if that's normal with this family of radios but uploading is faster with the programning software from Radioddity.

If there's anything else you want me to check, let me know.