Firstof all .CSV is NOT a microsoft format, end of story. In fact, it hardly justifies being called a format when the only thing that makes it different from any old text is a lot of commas. The .DOC format is not microsoft either, I believe they stole it from WordStar in the same way that they stole the name PageMaker, mangled RS232 hardware handshaking, and failed completely to wire a DIN plug properly on their early keyboards.

Thanks to Brandon Clark, P? P?, and others for their support re: This just kills me...

Trevor Holyoak - I feel that you have given me an unjustified low score on technical aptitude, please allow me to correct that impression. I have worked as an Electronics Design Engineer for most of my working life. As a hobbyist, I have built radios from scratch, I have worked with valves ranging in size from Nuvistors to 4CX250B's and all sorts of transistors. I have modified the Trio 2300G, the Liner 2, and a wartime VHF Tx/Rx of uncertain origin that tuned the IF using a variable capacitor in each IF stage to select stations. I once put together a rats'-nest PLL using a popular chip of the early 80's and then wrote a program on the BBC Micro to prove that it would decode packet radio signals. I put the extra 'dot' on the frequency display of the Icom IC211E and modified the fast/slow tuning button to make it push on/push off. There were many many more such modifications and experiments back then. I also made a strobe light using the Xenon tube out of an old camera flash gun. It wouldn't work with the trigger voltage provided inside the flash gun, but hooking it up to a handy motorcycle ignition coil solved that little problem! The only thing was that when I touched the metal shaft of the speed control pot I got a bit of a tingle up my arm. This made the strobe light difficult to use - a leather glove helped but was not ideal. I used a PIC microcontroller to enable me to plug an analogue joystick into a mouse port, so I could then fly the virtual Sopwith Camel properly! I wrote the program for that little device, it worked a treat! The hardware just fitted into the really small size of die-cast aluminium box, the long thin one, complete with a 9-way 'D' connector at each end. Powered by the computer mouse port, it needed no batteries.

The point is, all of those modifications provided IMPROVEMENTS to existing equipment and the experiments provided USEFUL RESULTS which could either be expanded, or would suggest that the whole idea should be abandoned. Neither the modifications nor the experiments were required because the brand-new paid-for equipment did not work straight out of the box. I did not need to scratch around searching for third-party software because the supplied software was no good, all in Chinese, or both. None of the modifications or experiments were a waste of my time, time which should never have been required in the first place. And this is where the difference is between all those things and the Chinese radios that sparked this discussion. The radios waste my time unnecessarily, it is time that has to be used in order to make the radios work properly. No improvements are made, and no useful results are obtained. I also repair motorcycle electrical systems and restore vintage reel-to-reel tape recorders amongst many other practical activities. Life isn't all about electronics! Now I see that you have to use an old version of Python to run Chirp on some computers! Don't get me wrong, I think Chirp is great. But I have to feel sorry for Dan at times... 73 all, Chris

________________________________ From: chirp_users-bounces@intrepid.danplanet.com chirp_users-bounces@intrepid.danplanet.com on behalf of chirp_users-request@intrepid.danplanet.com chirp_users-request@intrepid.danplanet.com Sent: 23 March 2018 19:00 To: chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com Subject: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 15

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Today's Topics:

1. This just kills me.... (P? P?) 2. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Brandon Clark) 3. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Trevor Holyoak) 4. iso usb problems (Phil) 5. Re: iso usb problems (Chuck Hast) 6. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Nigel A. Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF) 7. Re: iso usb problems (Nigel A. Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF) 8. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Aubrey Turner) 9. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (John Kemker) 10. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Al Jones) 11. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Nigel A. Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF) 12. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Aubrey Turner) 13. Re: iso usb problems (Jim Unroe) 14. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Dan Brown) 15. Re: Chirp wont launch in MacOS (Neil Harrington) 16. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Nigel A. Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF) 17. Re: iso usb problems (Glenn At Home) 18. Re: chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 14 (Tom Henderson)

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Message: 1 Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2018 13:32:43 -0700 From: P? P? lr60@yahoo.com Subject: [chirp_users] This just kills me.... To: "chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com" chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com Message-ID: 20180322203246.E2C7324F60@intrepid.danplanet.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

The problem with programming the radios has nothing to do with the radios or the software. It is because of WAR!!! If you look at the start end of your radio programming CABLE, you will see a bulbous end which contains a small USB-TTL converter. The Manufacturers of those ?chips? also wrote software to handle the conversion process. Along comes ANOTHER Chinese Manufacturer who reverse engineers the chips (without paying for R+D) and puts them out for even cheaper. The original chip maker then puts out software that will identify the fake chips and fail to operate, thus creating the problems for hams. Even the radio manufacturers have jumped on the cheap bandwagon and incorporated the fake chips in their own cables. So, WAR has broken out, back and forth. (I converted most of mine to FTDI chips as they have the fewest driver issues.)

There is a trend in even more recent radio makers to provide a straight thru cable with NO USB-TTL chip in the cable. All that is done in the radio and the makers have full control over that in their OWN software. So far I have seen this in the Radioddity?s GD-77 and RD-5R. Unfortunately, (HINT, HINT, HINT) CHIRP won?t work with these DMR radios (YET???!!!)

So, the moral of this story is WAR is BAD! (Or CHIRP, please rid me of the quirks of Chinese software.)

NH6BF

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