I found this thread on mygmrs forum about the AR-152 and the effect CHIRP allegedly has on it. It's quite a good thread. I didn't get any hits on RadioReference when I just searched.
In a nutshell, it says that once you run CHIRP on your Baofeng AR-152. your power settings are permanently altered such that you no longer have low power or full power anymore.
This post is from May and has been relatively quiet since. I wonder if it's still a risk?
I have two 152s on the bench right now to program so I saw this post just in time to stop. Both have the firmware rev A152V01 indicated as problematic. I'm surprised the issue hasn't been discussed here.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/7377-calling-all-ar-152-owners/
I found this thread on mygmrs forum about the AR-152 and the effect CHIRP allegedly has on it. It's quite a good thread. I didn't get any hits on RadioReference when I just searched.
I hadn't read this thread until you posted, nor have I heard any complaints about this issue. However, for context here on the list, people say the RT Systems software appears to have the same effect, which likely means this isn't actually a CHIRP-specific problem.
In a nutshell, it says that once you run CHIRP on your Baofeng AR-152. your power settings are permanently altered such that you no longer have low power or full power anymore.
This post is from May and has been relatively quiet since. I wonder if it's still a risk?
For what it's worth, what is being described there doesn't make any sense to me. Although a common misconception, CHIRP doesn't tell the radio "this memory should be 8W and this other one should be 2W". All it says (and all it can say) is "this memory should be power level 3, and this memory should be power level 1". Those are just instructions to the radio about which numbered power level to use, and the radio determines what that output power would actually be. On some radios, there are calibration settings stored (in a different part of memory) that could influence those numbers. However, a download and subsequent upload with CHIRP by definition will upload the exact bits into the exact locations and as such, it would be very unlikely that simply doing that would cause the radio trouble like is being described.
There's not really enough information in that thread to begin to comment about why that may have happened. I'd have lots of questions to ask someone making such a claim, including lots of details they seem to be glossing over which are quite relevant. I also feel like if this was very widespread we'd have seen at least one report of it in our bug tracker, but I find none. The author of that post seems to think that it's a hardware issue (which seems unlikely, but supported by the fact that the RT Systems software also does it), so perhaps that's why. Also, testing with a power meter isn't really enough to say anything about whether the radio is outputting a lower power because it has been detuned, or if it's just driving lower, etc.
I have two 152s on the bench right now to program so I saw this post just in time to stop. Both have the firmware rev A152V01 indicated as problematic. I'm surprised the issue hasn't been discussed here.
Yeah, if you're concerned about it, then it's probably best not to risk it. I'll also say that I believe the UV5R-derived Baofeng radios basically lie about their firmware versions after a certain point starting many years ago, so I'm not sure you can really say much about that firmware version.
--Dan
I just programmed one with CHIRP for a friend a few days ago. I will get his HT on a dummy load and watt meter to see if his power levels match mine. I did not program those two on my bench.
Stay tuned ...
Reno K7CRL
On Tue, Oct 22, 2024 at 10:49 PM Dan Smith via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
I found this thread on mygmrs forum about the AR-152 and the effect CHIRP allegedly has on it. It's quite a good thread. I didn't get any hits on RadioReference when I just searched.
I hadn't read this thread until you posted, nor have I heard any complaints about this issue. However, for context here on the list, people say the RT Systems software appears to have the same effect, which likely means this isn't actually a CHIRP-specific problem.
In a nutshell, it says that once you run CHIRP on your Baofeng AR-152. your power settings are permanently altered such that you no longer have low power or full power anymore.
This post is from May and has been relatively quiet since. I wonder if it's still a risk?
For what it's worth, what is being described there doesn't make any sense to me. Although a common misconception, CHIRP doesn't tell the radio "this memory should be 8W and this other one should be 2W". All it says (and all it can say) is "this memory should be power level 3, and this memory should be power level 1". Those are just instructions to the radio about which numbered power level to use, and the radio determines what that output power would actually be. On some radios, there are calibration settings stored (in a different part of memory) that could influence those numbers. However, a download and subsequent upload with CHIRP by definition will upload the exact bits into the exact locations and as such, it would be very unlikely that simply doing that would cause the radio trouble like is being described.
There's not really enough information in that thread to begin to comment about why that may have happened. I'd have lots of questions to ask someone making such a claim, including lots of details they seem to be glossing over which are quite relevant. I also feel like if this was very widespread we'd have seen at least one report of it in our bug tracker, but I find none. The author of that post seems to think that it's a hardware issue (which seems unlikely, but supported by the fact that the RT Systems software also does it), so perhaps that's why. Also, testing with a power meter isn't really enough to say anything about whether the radio is outputting a lower power because it has been detuned, or if it's just driving lower, etc.
I have two 152s on the bench right now to program so I saw this post just in time to stop. Both have the firmware rev A152V01 indicated as problematic. I'm surprised the issue hasn't been discussed here.
Yeah, if you're concerned about it, then it's probably best not to risk it. I'll also say that I believe the UV5R-derived Baofeng radios basically lie about their firmware versions after a certain point starting many years ago, so I'm not sure you can really say much about that firmware version.
--Dan _______________________________________________ Users mailing list users@lists.chirpmyradio.com https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com To unsubscribe, send an email to users-leave@lists.chirpmyradio.com To report this email as off-topic, please email users-owner@lists.chirpmyradio.com List archives: https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/hyperkitty/list/users@lists.chirpmyradio.com/
I just programmed one with CHIRP for a friend a few days ago. I will get his HT on a dummy load and watt meter to see if his power levels match mine. I did not program those two on my bench.
Thanks, but I think to be scientific, you really need to test a radio before and after programming. If you see a difference between those two, *and* have both the original and modified images then that's definitely worth looking at. And again, just saying the power output is different doesn't tell us whether or not it's drive, alignment, etc that is off.
A hardware problem is much more likely to be the kind of thing that is caused by something else, and we humans think "you know, I programmed this with software, so that must be the problem."
--Dan
Sorry that this is sort of noise on this thread, but can I just thank Dan for giving a really good, informed and balanced response that doesn't immediately 'dis' a claim that there might be a problem, but instead provides good advice in the same kind of way that a knowledgeable friend would.
Cheers, Dan!
-----Original Message----- From: Dan Smith via Users <users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com> Reply to: CHIRP users list <users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com> Date: Wednesday 23 October 2024 at 05:34 To: CHIRP users list <users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com> Cc: Dan Smith <dsmith@danplanet.com mailto:dsmith@danplanet.com> Subject: [users] Re: Baofeng AR-152 power levels damaged by CHIRP?
I just programmed one with CHIRP for a friend a few days ago. I will get his HT on a dummy load and watt meter to see if his power levels match mine. I did not program those two on my bench.
Thanks, but I think to be scientific, you really need to test a radio before and after programming. If you see a difference between those two, *and* have both the original and modified images then that's definitely worth looking at. And again, just saying the power output is different doesn't tell us whether or not it's drive, alignment, etc that is off.
A hardware problem is much more likely to be the kind of thing that is caused by something else, and we humans think "you know, I programmed this with software, so that must be the problem."
--Dan _______________________________________________ Users mailing list users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com To unsubscribe, send an email to users-leave@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users-leave@lists.chirpmyradio.com To report this email as off-topic, please email users-owner@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users-owner@lists.chirpmyradio.com List archives: https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/hyperkitty/list/users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com/
I have run CHIRP now on three new Baofeng AR-152 rigs, measuring power output before and after CHIRP. In all cases, power output respected L, M, H levels both before and after running CHIRP. No change was observed. I used a Surecom Power/SWR meter and an HRO dummy load. Baofeng claims 10w but the best I saw was 8.7w on High, 460Mhz, btw.
So I think we can put this issue to bed now. That guy on the GMRS forum with bad power levels may have merely had a defective HT.
On Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 8:34 AM Roger Jane via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
Sorry that this is sort of noise on this thread, but can I just thank Dan for giving a really good, informed and balanced response that doesn't immediately 'dis' a claim that there might be a problem, but instead provides good advice in the same kind of way that a knowledgeable friend would.
Cheers, Dan!
-----Original Message----- From: Dan Smith via Users <users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com> Reply to: CHIRP users list <users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com> Date: Wednesday 23 October 2024 at 05:34 To: CHIRP users list <users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com> Cc: Dan Smith <dsmith@danplanet.com mailto:dsmith@danplanet.com> Subject: [users] Re: Baofeng AR-152 power levels damaged by CHIRP?
I just programmed one with CHIRP for a friend a few days ago. I will get his HT on a dummy load and watt meter to see if his power levels match mine. I did not program those two on my bench.
Thanks, but I think to be scientific, you really need to test a radio before and after programming. If you see a difference between those two, *and* have both the original and modified images then that's definitely worth looking at. And again, just saying the power output is different doesn't tell us whether or not it's drive, alignment, etc that is off.
A hardware problem is much more likely to be the kind of thing that is caused by something else, and we humans think "you know, I programmed this with software, so that must be the problem."
--Dan _______________________________________________ Users mailing list users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com To unsubscribe, send an email to users-leave@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users-leave@lists.chirpmyradio.com To report this email as off-topic, please email users-owner@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users-owner@lists.chirpmyradio.com List archives: https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/hyperkitty/list/users@lists.chirpmyradio.com mailto:users@lists.chirpmyradio.com/
Users mailing list users@lists.chirpmyradio.com https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com To unsubscribe, send an email to users-leave@lists.chirpmyradio.com To report this email as off-topic, please email users-owner@lists.chirpmyradio.com List archives: https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/hyperkitty/list/users@lists.chirpmyradio.com/
participants (3)
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Ceferino Lamb -
Dan Smith -
Roger Jane