On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 2:34 PM Chris Hart via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
Hi!
I am a 75 year old newbie to the world of Amateur Radio and would appreciate some help. I have a Retevis RT95 Radio and want to program it with a number of frequencies I already have in a file from a Baufeng Radio.
I only have Mac OS computers. I have used Chirp on my Mac with the Baufeng without problem being able to upload and download files.
The Retevis seems to connect to Chirp but when I try to download the data in the radio Chirp reports an error that it is unable to connect.
Is Chirp, on a Mac OS device, compatible with the Retevis RT 95? If it is, should I be looking for some setting in the radio which is, somehow, blocking Chirp having access.
Any help would be appreciated!
Regards,
Chris
The RT95 is supported by CHIRP. It would help to see your debug.log file, however, there are 2 common problems.
1. The RT95 used a different programming cable. The programming cable likely has a different USB-to-Serial chip than the one used for the "Baofeng" radio. The chip is likely a Prolific type chip. There are various versions of the Prolific chip. The P2303HXA which was deemed EOL (end-of-life) by Prolific a little over a decade ago (but is common in programming cables). The PL2303TA which recently went EOL (and only recently has been showing up in programming cables). And finally the new PL2303GS (rare to see in programming cables). The last I checked, only the PL2303TA chip was supported by the Prolific driver in macOS. The PL2303HXA and PL2303GS chips were not supported and will not work. If your chip is not supported, then the chip and driver cannot create the virtual communications port that is necessary for CHIRP (or any other programming software) to connect to the radio. If this is the case, you will have to get a programming cable with a different chip or switch to a computer/OS that has a compatible driver available for the chip in the programming cable.
2. Many new owners of the RT95 have the new model with VOX. That requires that the user selects "RT95 VOX" (not "RT95 which is for the older version without VOX).
The first is most likely your problem because in the case of making the wrong RT95 model selection, CHIRP would have provided a prompt that let you know that your radio appears to be one that needs the "RT95 VOX" selection. You didn't get that far.
Jim KC9HI