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Radio Programming: CHIRP vs. RT Systems
July 4th, 2015 | 
Author: 
Two of the big names in radio programming are CHIRP and RT Systems. But which one should you choose?
CHIRP is free, open source software that’s used with a third-party programming cable. RT Systems makes commercial programming kits which include both software and a radio-specific cable.
CHIRP supports a large number of radios including:
- Anytone
AT-5888UV - Baofeng/Pofung
F-11, UV-3R, UV-5R and variants, UV-6, UV-82/82L/82X, GT-5, UV-82C, UV-B5/B6, BF-666S/777S/888S, GT-1, BF-F8HP - Icom
IC-80AD, IC-2820H, ID-800H, ID-880H, IC-208H, IC-2200H, IC-91/92AD, IC-V/U82, ID-RPx000V/RP2x, IC-2100H, IC-2720H, IC-T70, IC-T7H, IC-T8A, IC-Q7A, IC-W32A, IC-746, IC-7200, IC-7000, ID-31A, ID-51A - Kenwood
TH-D7A/G, TH-D72, TH-F6A, TH-F7E, TH-G71A, TH-K2, TK-7102/8102/7108/8108, TM-271A, TM-281A, TM-D700, TM-D710, TM-G707, TM-V7A, TM-V71A - Yaesu
FT-1D, FT-60R, FT-90R, FT-817/ND, FT-857/D, FT-897, FT-1802M, FT-2800M, FT-1900R/2900M, FT-7800R/7900R, FT-8800R, FT-8900R, FTM-350R, VX-170, VX-2R, VX-3R, VX-5R, VX-6R, VX-7R, VX-8R - Wouxun
KG-UVD1P, KG-UV2D, KG-UV3D, KG-UV6D, KG-UV6X, KG-UV8D
The RT Systems software supports a much larger array of radios:
- Alinco
DJ-A10, DJ-A40, DJ-100, DJ-175, DJ-G7, DJ-G29, DJ-V17, DJ-V27, DJ-V47, DJ-V57, DR-03, DR-06, DR-135, DR-138, DR-235, DR-435, DR-635, DR-638, DX-SR8 - Anytone
AT-398, AT-518UV, AT-588, AT-3208, AT-3318UV-A, AT-3318UV-C, AT-3318UV-D, AT-3318UV-E, AT-5189, AT-5888UV, ANILE-8R, NSTIG-8R, OBLTR-8R, TERMN-8R - Baofeng/Pofung
997-S, BF-F8, BF-F9, BF-388A, BF-530, BF-888, GT-1, GT-3, GT-5, UV-B5/B6, UV-5R, UV-E5, UV-8HX, UV-F11, UV-66, UV-82, UV-89, UV-920, UV-TEN4 - Icom
IC-R2, IC-T2, IC-R6, IC-Q7, IC-T7, IC-T8, IC-V8, IC-R10, IC-R20, IC-W32, IC-T70, IC-80, IC-V80, IC-T81, IC-U82, IC-V82, IC-V85, IC-T90, IC-91, IC-92, IC-208, IC-746, IC-756 PRO, IC-2100, IC-2200, IC-2300, IC-2720, IC-2730, IC-2820, IC-7000, IC-7100, IC-7200, IC-7410, IC-V8000, IC-9100, ID-31, ID-51, ID-51+, ID-800, ID-880, ID-5100 - Kenwood
TH-K2, TH-F6/F7, TH-D7G, TH-K20, TH-D72, TM-V7A, TM-V71, TM-271/281, TM-471, TM-D700, TM-G707, TM-D710, TM-D710G, TS-480, TS-590, TS-590G, TS-2000 - TYT
TH-UVF1, TH-UV3R, TH-UV6R, TH-UV8R, TH-UVF9, TH-UVF9D, TH-UVF8000D, TH-9000, TH-9800 - Wouxun
KG-UV23, KG-UV1DP, KG-UV5D, KG-UV6, KG-UV8D, KG-UV899, KG-UV920P, KG-UV950P - Yaesu
FT-1D, FT-50, FT-60, FT-90, FT-250, FT-270, FT-277, FT-450, FT-817/D, FT-847, FT-857/897/D, FT-950, FT-991, FT-1500, FT-1802, FT-1807, FT-1900, FT-1907, FT-2600, FT-2800, FT-2900, FT-3000, FT-7100, FT-7800, FT-7900, FT-8000, FT-8100, FT-8500, FT-8800, FT-8900, FT-DX3000, FT-DX1200, FTM-350, FTM-400, VR-160, VR-500, VX-1, VX-2, VX-3, VX-5, VX-6, VX-7, VX-8/D, VX-8G, VX-110/150, VX-120/170, VX-127/177
Both CHIRP and RT Systems support several other less popular radios not listed above.
Here are my questions:
Have you used CHIRP or RT Systems programming software? What are your thoughts?
If you’ve used both, is it worth spending $49 on the RT Systems programming kit if your radio is supported by CHIRP?
Leave your answer as a comment!
The Spectrum Monitor — July, 2015
Radio Memories
By Lawrence E. DeMilner W1TA
The benefits of amateur radio would eventually pay lifelong dividends for a 12 year-old boy, sitting for his Novice license exam 62 years ago. After being interviewed on the Today Show as a Boy Scout, he would later spend seven months as an American ham in the USSR at the height of the Cold War. Later still, he would spend three years as one of the scarcest DX calls in the world. It was all because of amateur radio.
XER – King of the Mexican Border Blasters
By John Schneider W9FGH
From its inception, radio has attracted more than its share of schemers and outright con artists. The story of John Brinkley and his questionable medical services, which allowed him to mass a personal fortune, is the story of one man dodging lawsuits and legislation designed to bring him down. But, before that could happen, he had built the most powerful radio station in the Western Hemisphere and turned it into a cash-generating machine.
When Our Vintage Radios Fought in the Air War
By Richard Fisher KI6SN
From post-war radio frenzies, created by a massive military-surplus market, grew a thirst among shortwave listeners and radio amateurs to acquire the gear that served so admirably in the skies—especially during World War II. Most of these receivers, transmitters and their accessories were top performers, and yet they were quite inexpensive on the surplus market. They were golden back then, just as they are today. Richard charts the history of radio and aviation.
Watts Up? Line Voltage for Vintage Radios
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Recently, Rich Post measured the AC voltage in his home electric circuits: 123.5 volts. According to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), that is well within the accepted service range of 114 to 126 volts for line voltage, which is nominally 120 plus or minus 5%; a range hasn’t changed since the original ANSI standard was published in 1954. He asks, “My refrigerator and microwave oven might be happy at 123.5 or even 126 volts, but what about my vintage radios?” Rich shows us how to safely reduce the voltage that our vintage sets work best at.
Multiple Satellite Reception from a Single Ku-Band Dish (Part 1)
By Mike Kohl
Direct Broadcast Satellites, such as DirecTV and DISH Network, are positioned close enough in the Clark Belt to allow several LNBFs mounted on a single dish to receive the satellites that make up their programming lineup of hundreds of channels. But, Free-to-Air satellites are spaced considerably further apart and transmit at considerably less power. Can FTA hobbyists employ this same technique? Mike has been experimenting with this for years and has achieved some pretty amazing results. He tells us how it’s done.
Scanning America By Dan Veenaman
EDACS, Talkgroups and RF Explorer
Federal Wavelengths By Chris Parris
FBI Aircraft in the News
Utility Planet By Hugh Stegman NV6H
U.S. Navy-Marine Corps MARS Closes
Digital HF: Intercept and Analyze
By Mike Chace-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU
Swiss Diplomatic Network undergoes Changes
HF Utility Logs
By Mike Chace-Ortiz and Hugh Stegman
Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Six Meters: A New Twist on the Old Magic
Radio 101 By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
The Wi-Fi Scanner, SWL Option
Radio Propagation By Tomas Hood NW7US
The 10.7-cm Radio Flux
The World of Shortwave Listening By Keith Perron
Community-based Radio helps Nepal Recover after Earthquake
The Shortwave Listener By Fred Waterer
Sputnik Radio, BBC and the VOA
Maritime Monitoring By Ron Walsh VE3GO
Maritime Station Consolidation
The Longwave Zone By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
BBB-4 Wrap-Up
Adventures in Radio Restoration By Rich Post KB8TAD
Powering the Zenith 5K037 “Farm” Set with AC and Forming a Dial Cover
The Broadcast Tower By Doug Smith W9WI
License? I don’t need no stinking license!
Antenna Connections By Dan Farber AC0LW
Round and Round, Part II: Jolly Green Delta Loop
Radio Horizons
Channel Master DVR+ Adds Streaming to OTA-TV
The Spectrum Monitor is available in PDF format which can be read on any desktop, laptop, iPad®, Kindle® Fire, or other device capable of opening a PDF file. Annual subscription (12 issues, beginning with the January 2015 issue) is $24. Individual monthly issues are available for $3 each.
Hard reset time
As part of my recovery I usually do a short 5 minute walk morning and night. When out this evening I did a “hard” reset of my 10m and 6m WSPR stations. All power was removed, the PC (used with the FT817 on 6m) was turned off for the duration of the walk. Now home again both the 6m and 10m WSPR kits were turned on again and the whole lot sync’d to Internet time.
I hope to stay on both bands overnight, although, so far, I have not managed to catch any transatlantic Es openings. I remain hopeful. Because of the high thunder risk later in the week I may have to go QRT though, which will be a pity. Hopefully this will be a short break only.
Amateur Radio Weekly – Field Day Issue
2015 Field Day locator
Field Day is June 27-28, 2015. This page is intended to show public Field Day sites that members of the public and media can visit.
ARRL
How do you choose where to go for Field Day?
The “get on the air” station is designed to get new hams and members of the general public on the air and let them make contacts.
KB6NU
Good operating habits on Field Day
Give a listen and notice how K5PO keeps the contacts short and to the point, clearly communicating using phonetics.
K0NR
Significant solar event may impact Field Day
SWPC has issued a Moderate (G2) geomagnetic storm watch for June 27 and 28. This is significantly weaker than the storm that peaked at Severe (G4) levels earlier this week.
Indiana Section ARES / NOAA
W1AW Field Day Bulletin schedule
All classes of Field Day stations can earn 100 bonus points for copying the special Field Day bulletin transmitted by W1AW.
ARRL
MF demonstration for ARRL Field Day 2015
Many of us that are active Part 5 stations on 630 meters are planning on repeating the Field day greeting event during ARRL Field Day.
NJDTechnologies
Field Day publicity
Club members attempting to tell what’s happening at their Field Day site need to avoid ham radio jargon. “Be ‘less hammy’ about it.”
ARRL
ISS voice contacts for Field Day 2015?
Possibly no FM voice contacts like we enjoyed last year for Field Day, but program Region 1 and Region 2/3, Packet, and SSTV and be ready–just in case!
Southgate
Camping and talking this weekend during Field Day
Hams, who set up radio stations outdoors and run them on generators, will try to contact as many stations as possible during a 24-hour period.
The Advertiser
Video
2014 Field Day
Contacts were of a secondary concern this year, as we all focused on experimentation with radios, power, and antennas.
KF7IJZ
Field Day from space
Astronaut Reid Wiseman (KF5LKT) describes his experience working Field Day from space.
AMSAT UK
2014 Field Day ISS contact
Surrey Amateur Radio Club makes contact with ISS during last year’s Field Day event.
YouTube
Pofung UV-6R Dual Band Handheld
Pofung UV-6R 136-174MHz & UHF:400-470MHz Dual Band Handheld FM Professional Two-way Radio
Lots of radio in a small package. Built well and performs well.
http://www.radioddity.com/skin/frontend/default/lanting/download/UV-6R%20User%20Manual
Brilliant Easy to read display
The first thing that impressed me aside from the size and quality was the brilliant and easy to read display of this radio. The two line display and the choice of display color make this radio easy to use and navigate through the menu system. The various option for screen color lighting also make the radio easy to read. The fact that the display lighting can be changed to suit the operator is a nice feature.
Superb audio quality
I have to say that after owning a few of the big 3 brand of radios I was thrown back by the outstanding and loud audio this radio has. I was not sure what to expect at first with such a small radio but the audio is outstanding, sounds great and no distortion even at full volume.
Features and Specifications:
- Dual Band Transceiver
- Brilliant L.C.D. Display
- D.C.S. and C.T.C.S.S. encoding
- VOX function
- Flashlight/Alarm feature
- FM radio band receive
- 128 memory channels
- Dual watch
- Menu driven programming
- Software available for programming (cable sold separately)
- Drop in Li-On charger
- 7.4v 1800mah Li-On battery
- High (5w) and Low (1w) power settings
- Accessory ports for adding speaker microphone (sold separately)
- Belt clip ( Soft case also sold separately)
- Selectable frequency steps
- Selectable repeater offsets
- Adjustable squelch via menu
- Adjustable TOT (Transmission Timer)
- Cross band receive/transmit
- Dual VFO
- Narrow and Wide FM selectable
And much more to even include in features.
The radio itself is great little performer. Battery life on receive is fantastic, battery life on transmit has yet to be determined. Looks rugged and fits nicely in the hand.
For the price of this radio (under $50.00 with free shipping to Canada and U.S.A.) you cannot go wrong for a radio to throw in your shirt pocket or your backpack as a take along radio to listen to N.O.A.A. weather stations, FM stations and monitor local repeaters. Accessories are all about one third each of the cost of the radio, which makes the low price of this radio even more impressive. The small antenna with SMA connector though lacks in receive performance of course, but other antennas can be purchased and used with this radio to get out of those fringe areas.
The Pofung UV-6R is a great introduction to the increasing line of radios on the market. It makes it affordable for the first time user and easy to operate; it also performs well and gets great audio reports into the repeaters. It’s light weight and long battery life make a great emergency radio for that go-kit or to have on hand when needed for that last minute hike.
Fred Lesnick
VE3FAL
**** (4 out of 5)
Using the RTL-SDR as a transmitter
OK, this is very low power but it shows you what can be done. A QRPP transmitter or signal generator anywhere between 500MHz and 1.5GHz.
Please note the image below is not on my blog (it is linked as shown) and will be immediately removed if this is a problem.
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| http://rtlsdrblog.rtlsdrblog.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/transmit_hack_rtlsdr-500×375.jpg |
See http://www.rtl-sdr.com/using-the-rtl-sdr-as-a-transmitter/
Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 65
FCC announce agreement to scale back field office shutdowns
Offices already slated to remain open are New York City; Columbia, Maryland — the site of the Bureau’s HF Direction-Finding Center; Chicago; Atlanta; Miami; Dallas; Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
ARRL
Old VHS recorders could cause long delay echoes
Over the next few weeks, Tommy heard several LDEs, some with separations as much as 3 or 4 days and during this time made several recordings of the events.
VE7SL
A look inside the NR5M super-station
The sun was just setting and I’m sure I had a stupid look on my face as I saw the towers rise over the horizon. What a sight to behold.
W0EA
Another June VHF Contest In the Bag
6m had sporadic-e openings very late both evenings, about the time I was ready to give up. Fortunately, I stuck with it and made quite a few contacts late into the evening.
K0NR
The MS Bike Tour on APRS
Each of the mobiles that were assigned to the various checkpoints with an APRS tracker on board had their APRS trackers programed with a tactical callsign that appeared on the screen of my netbook running APRSIS32 with open-street-maps.
VE6AB
Texas Ham Com – A nice fest that should be the country’s biggest
Look at Hara and then tell someone: “It’s an exciting hobby, just look at this, our biggest event of the year!”
K5PO
When all else fails
The chaos that would ensue would be mind boggling. Not a happy thought.
W2LJ
Baofeng battery test results
The tests were conducted to determine the best long life back-up AA battery solution for the Baofeng HT.
Fo Time! The Other Ham Radio Podcast
Letters to Congress offer biggest boost to Amateur Radio Parity Act
The most useful action radio amateurs can take is to contact their members of Congress, urging them to sign on as a bill cosponsor.
ARRL
Ham Radio can bring Morse Code back to the high seas
Recently, the FCC granted amateurs access to a portion of the historic maritime radio band where most Morse code communication took place. This grant means that people will once again communicate regularly using Morse code around maritime channels at 472, 476, and 478 kHz.
KC4LMD
How to
APRS configuration and testing for a balloon project
We have developed a Pi add-on board and software that together add APRS capability to the Pi In The Sky telemetry board.
Pi in the Sky
Video
Amongst the kilowatts: 14 MHz SSB QRP DX with a delta loop
Have we stumbled across one of the great low-cost antennas for over water portable QRP DXing?
VK3YE
