How to program a HAM / GMRS radio with CHIRP for almost free

rasband

rasband

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If you're just getting into radios you may be finding that programming your radio is a bit of a pain by hand. Fortunately there is a nearly free way to do it with the free and open source program CHIRP on any operating system.

What do I need?​

  • A radio
    • In case you don't have one, consider getting the dirt cheap Baofeng UV-5R. It's a radio that can do both HAM and GMRS, just note if you get a new one you may need to "unlock" it to work with GMRS.
  • A programming cable that matches your radio
  • CHIRP downloaded and installed

How do I do it?​

  1. Plug in your radio and turn it on
  2. Start Chirp
    • 1644013640421.png
  3. Click "Radio" > "Download From Radio" (or Alt-D as the keyboard shortcut)
    • 1644013740792.png
  4. Now you get to choose which Radio and Model you have, which is the easy part. The harder part is determining which Port your device is connected to. For Linux/MacOS/OSX you should see something like mine (/dev/tty*), on Windows you should see COM followed by a digit. To avoid going too technical, just try a couple - if your radio is on one it should connect within the first few tries.

    Once it connects, you'll see it "cloning", followed by the channel listing (and for many radios, a settings tab).
    • 1644013929202.png
    • Note that this screen may look different if you have a different radio.
      1644013944606.png
  5. If this is your first time cloning the radio settings, I would recommend you save these off somewhere in case you want to return your radio to factory settings. Doing so is like most other applications: "File" > "Save As".
  6. From here you simply put in the settings you want for your channels. You can even name them, which makes later recollection easier (at least for people like me that use radios as a tool, not so much as a hobby where I think about frequencies and such).

    Here's some examples from TJ Fest 2021 that I will be running again this year.
    • Channel Programming
      1644014500725.png
    • Settings Programming
      1644014656016.png
  7. Upload your changes with "Radio" > "Upload to Radio" (or Alt-U if you like keyboard shortcuts)

Tips and Tricks​

  • If you are unlicensed but want to monitor channels you can disable TX. In the above you would set the "Duplex" column to OFF
  • Automatic Key Lock is your friend
  • In the Settings Programming you can choose the "Display Mode", I set one to "Frequency" and the other to "Name" so I can know by name what channel I am on.
If anyone has tips, tricks, or other things to expand on please let me know so I can keep this post up-to-date.
 
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So you set up custom named channels to use GMRS frequencies in your example? Can you listen in on a custom channel using the same GMRS frequency. I think TJFest and GMRS24 are the same above.

I have a group that wants to use these, but I don't want to skirt any laws since they are HAM radios.
 
InOmaha said:
So you set up custom named channels to use GMRS frequencies in your example? Can you listen in on a custom channel using the same GMRS frequency. I think TJFest and GMRS24 are the same above.

I have a group that wants to use these, but I don't want to skirt any laws since they are HAM radios.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have two different settings for my GMRS channels. One usage is just the GMRS channels by number - so I can monitor a channel. In the screenshot later with my TJ Fest setup I have them customized to use a privacy code (these go by a few different names, just as an FYI). That doesn't mean no one can hear me when I transmit, but my radio will tune out any traffic on that channel that isn't also using that same code when they transmit.

So in short, yes - you can monitor the whole channel with all codes on the main GMRS channel. If you want to, you could turn on dual band monitoring on these radios (and many others) where you'd hear all traffic from the main channel without a privacy code but transmit on one with the code.

I don't know the details of what makes a radio GMRS legal or not beyond being aware of FCC Part 90 and comments that the UV-5R is really spurious in its emissions. I believe they now have a specific radio that is FCC Certified (UV-5G and UV-5X), which should work nearly identical to the UV-5R - but with a fixed antenna and only working on GMRS frequencies (from the factory).
 
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The group I'm heading out with said just buy a UV-5r Pro. They switched from GMRS because these transmit better. It makes me think they use them right out of the box and may be stepping into Ham radio without knowing. Or using them as GMRS or VHF without knowing either.

I'll see if they do custom setups like what you do before I buy one.
 
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Unless you are just monitoring channels, it's against the rules, (not laws) to transmit on GMRS channels with a UV-5R, as I understand it. It is a Ham radio, and unless you have a Ham license you can't transmit on ham frequencies or GMRS frequencies. Even if you have a GMRS license, you still can't transmit on GMRS frequencies with that radio. Now, I'm not the Ham police, and folks do it all the time, so to each their own. Most, if not all, GMRS radios are Part 95e radios, which is a legal GMRS radio. I believe the UV-5R is a part 90 radio. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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rasband said:
If you're just getting into radios you may be finding that programming your radio is a bit of a pain by hand. Fortunately there is a nearly free way to do it with the free and open source program CHIRP on any operating system.

What do I need?​

  • A radio
    • In case you don't have one, consider getting the dirt cheap Baofeng UV-5R. It's a radio that can do both HAM and GMRS, just note if you get a new one you may need to "unlock" it to work with GMRS.
  • A programming cable that matches your radio
  • CHIRP downloaded and installed

How do I do it?​

  1. Plug in your radio and turn it on
  2. Start Chirp
  3. Click "Radio" > "Download From Radio" (or Alt-D as the keyboard shortcut)
  4. Now you get to choose which Radio and Model you have, which is the easy part. The harder part is determining which Port your device is connected to. For Linux/MacOS/OSX you should see something like mine (/dev/tty*), on Windows you should see COM followed by a digit. To avoid going too technical, just try a couple - if your radio is on one it should connect within the first few tries.

    Once it connects, you'll see it "cloning", followed by the channel listing (and for many radios, a settings tab).
  5. If this is your first time cloning the radio settings, I would recommend you save these off somewhere in case you want to return your radio to factory settings. Doing so is like most other applications: "File" > "Save As".
  6. From here you simply put in the settings you want for your channels. You can even name them, which makes later recollection easier (at least for people like me that use radios as a tool, not so much as a hobby where I think about frequencies and such).

    Here's some examples from TJ Fest 2021 that I will be running again this year.
  7. Upload your changes with "Radio" > "Upload to Radio" (or Alt-U if you like keyboard shortcuts)

Tips and Tricks​

  • If you are unlicensed but want to monitor channels you can disable TX. In the above you would set the "Duplex" column to OFF
  • Automatic Key Lock is your friend
  • In the Settings Programming you can choose the "Display Mode", I set one to "Frequency" and the other to "Name" so I can know by name what channel I am on.
If anyone has tips, tricks, or other things to expand on please let me know so I can keep this post up-to-date.
Click to expand...
Thanks for putting this together. It's been awhile for me so it was a good refresher.
 
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