This page is about getting your radio “programmed” with frequencies and their associated labels, offsets, tones and such. Every two years (odd years) Kent Powlowski (N7KPN), polls the various counties and other groups and subsequently issues an updated Regional Template in early July. Some hams have their experts get the new frequencies into CHIRP and ready to load into their group’s various radios all in one evening.
Introduction
1. You can program your radio by hand. It is a good skill to learn for the field but it is tedious and prone to errors.
2. You can obtain manufacturer’s proprietary program (some free, many not).
3. You can obtain a very excellent free program “Chirp”. CHIRP is a free, open-source tool for programming your radio. It supports a large number of manufacturers and models, as well as provides a way to interface with multiple data sources and formats. If you use Baofeng this is your go to program.
a. Read about “CHIRP Next” from Chirp home.
b. Chirp Download page
c. Direct download Chirp-Next
If this does work on your older ham radio, then try “Chirp Legacy”.
4. Some radios are using SD (TF) cards for easier programming.
5. Kenwood radios have free manufacturer programs. Sometimes Yaesu has programs.
6. Some people buy the RT Systems software and proper proprietary cable. The cable may not work for digital modes such as Winlink. It does make it easy to program all your radios if you have more than one radio.
7. Many manfacturers such as Retevis use a simple USB C cable for charging and programing.
AFAIK, most programs for modern radios are Windows based.
Installing Program
1. Install program.
2. Buy and attach the proper cable from radio to computer.
* 3. Transfer a copy of the current radio memory to your computer. Save it and a copy. DO NOT EVER use a copy from someone else’s radio until you have a copy from your radio’s current memory. Even if they same model, made the same month, it may differ ever so slightly. See definition of “bricking a radio.” You MAY follow manufacturer’s directions to “CLONE” using “radio to cable to same model radio”. Read the friendly manual (RTFM).
4. Use the program to modify your copy. You can do it manually. You can also use your friend’s copy (see below files) to import into the program which will properly overwrite the old file.
5. Then transfer the new file into your radio.
Free programs include Kenwood and CHIRP
2023 Oregon Regional Ham Template – RTsystems FT-7900.FT7900
2023 Oregon Regional Ham Template – .csv
2023 Oregon Regional Ham Template.FT5D – .csv
2023 OR Regional Template for Chirp by C. Stone – .csv
Right Click on the above file then Save Link As
FT5DR SD Card Image with Instructions
2023 Oregon Regional Ham Template – fillable PDF form
Yaesu Template files from N9PP
FT70DR-20Jul2023.FT70D
FTM-400D_9Jul2022.FTM400D
FTM-400D_9Jul2022.csv
FTM-400D_9Jul2022_A.csv
FTM-400D_9Jul2022_B.csv
ICOM Template Files
IC-2820 Zip File for RT Systems
IC-2200H Zip File for RT Systems
Boafeng UV-5R by KG7DP
Old Template NOT updated
You may be able to use CHIRP available HERE
Links
Radio Mail: Portable Vara FM Hotspot
Baofeng UV-5R Programming Sheet (shared by AE7TM)
Wouxun Programming Sheet (shared by AE7TM)
From Larry, AE7TM (with light editing due to Spell Check)
Yesterday [August 10, 2024, editor] I had 2 different Winlink setups. The one you are asking about was using a mobile VAR FM Hotspot and Radio MAil. This is documented in some videos and posts by the Author of Radio Mail, WH6AZ. The VARA FM hotspot could be used by other applications but I do not have the expertise to recreate his method of remote switching the VARA FH /VARA HF settings to use different radios. He wrote a custom program “varanny’ to make this happen.
https://radiomail.app/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bOmWUk1XhM&t=1137s
https://www.youtube.com/@islandmagicco
https://github.com/islandmagic/varanny/wiki/VARA-HotSpot-Windows-Setup-Guide
The computer used was a Beelink T4 Pro Mini PC. Where I had purchased it at Amazon, it is no longer available. Any 12vdc Windows 10 or 11 computer should work. 12VDC is nice since I can power it from one of my battery boxes. It came with an OS but I had some old W10 licenses, and I used one for this. It did require some software work to auto login on Windows and establish a WiFi hotspot that my phone could join and auto start Vara FM. I’ll be honest, it took a few tries and some troubleshooting to get everything to work. Definitely not for the computer timid.
I typically use it with a standard Digirig and Digirig cable for my Wouxun KG-UVD1P HT. This is an old Chinese radio but it works well and unlike some has shown to be compliant when tested on a spectrum analyzer.
My other setup was pretty standard using a USB connection to my Icom IC-705 and standard installation of Winlink Express on Windows 11. While the Icom IC-705 is somewhat low power compared to other rigs, it has some advantages for Winlink work:
Capable of VHF/UHF as well as HF
Very good internal sound card
Nice waterfall display to show spectrum
GPS signal that can be routed out of the USB connection (second comm Port) to provide GPS position to Winlink
There are some good web resources for setting up the IC-705 and Winlink for this connection. It was a little tricky to get the Baud rates set correctly but that only took a little troubleshooting that probably could have been avoided if I had read All of the instructions. It uses CAT control for Radio control so it is very convenient.
https://www.ad9cr.com/posts/2024-03-23-ic-705-vara-fm-setup/
https://oh8stn.org/blog/2021/02/02/icom-ic-705-winlink-express-setup/
https://m0iax.com/2021/03/09/winlink-vara-hf-settings-ic-705-and-icom-remote-software/
At home I use DRA sound card boards for VHF/UHF and for HF a direct connection to my IC-7300. I also have used a Mobilinkd TNC4 (Bluetooth TNC_ to do HT Winlink using Packet with WoAD. The TNC4 works well and is very portable but it is a little finicky and only uses Packet. It still might be a good CERT Field option but needs to be able to connect to a station with PAcket capability.
I also had a discussion with Bill regarding possibly reposting my previously written manual HT programming guides to the ARES Website. These are tailored for the Wouxun KG-UVD1P (also good for the KG-UVD3P) and the Baofeng UV-5R series. These even include manual steps to program the HTs to use with a cross band repeater.
Larry
AE7TM