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
Sent from my iPad
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
Hi!
The data cable was supplied with the radio as a package recently by Amazon. It is in a plastic bag labeled ‘RETEVIS’ and has serial number 2310R91291. The bag also has the numberSKU:J9129A.
The box that the radio was in simply says Model RT95 and has the code A9129B.
I have pasted below the debug.log in case that helps.
The version of Chirp I am using is CHIRP next 20230710. When I select either RT95 or RT 95 VOX it warns that this is experimental and when I click OK it reports ’Non Initial response from radio’
Port used is /dev/cu.wlan-debug. I am running OS Sonoma 14.4.1
I hope this is enough detail to identify the problem.
Your help is appreciated .
Regards, Chris
[2024-04-24 20:39:13,713] chirp.logger - DEBUG: CHIRP next-20230710 on Darwin iMac.local 23.4.0 Darwin Kernel Version 23.4.0: Fri Mar 15 00:12:41 PDT 2024; root:xnu-10063.101.17~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64 (Python 3.8.2) [2024-04-24 20:39:15,113] chirp.wxui - DEBUG: Using locale: en_GB (274) [2024-04-24 20:39:15,116] chirp.wxui - DEBUG: Translation loaded=False for CHIRP: en_GB (pl,uk_UA,en_US,pt_BR,el,it,ru,zh_CN,hu,nl,de,fr,es,tr_TR) from /Applications/CHIRP.app/Contents/MacOS/chirp/locale [2024-04-24 20:39:15,118] chirp.wxui - DEBUG: Translation loaded=False for wxstd: en_GB (fa_IR,sl,sk,pl,vi,sq,sv,ms,da,gl_ES,pt_BR,ko_KR,ja,el,lv,co,it,ca,zh_TW,cs,ru,ro,zh_CN,pt,uk,an,ar,hr,hu,nl,ne,af,nb,hi,ka,de,ca@valencia,fi,id,fr,es,lt,eu,ta,tr) [2024-04-24 20:39:15,894] main - INFO: Python/3.8.2 // Darwin/macOS-14.4.1-arm64-arm-64bit // CHIRP/next-20230710 // wx/4.2.0 osx-cocoa (phoenix) wxWidgets 3.2.0 [2024-04-24 20:39:16,666] chirp.wxui.main - INFO: Server reports next-20240419 is latest [2024-04-24 20:39:30,249] chirp.wxui.clone - DEBUG: Selected <class 'chirp.drivers.anytone778uv.RetevisRT95vox'> [2024-04-24 20:39:30,257] chirp.wxui.clone - DEBUG: Showing experimental prompt [2024-04-24 20:39:35,991] chirp.wxui.clone - DEBUG: Setting flag for prompt experimental [2024-04-24 20:39:38,553] chirp.wxui.clone - DEBUG: Using port '/dev/cu.wlan-debug' [2024-04-24 20:39:38,553] chirp.wxui.clone - DEBUG: Selected <class 'chirp.drivers.anytone778uv.RetevisRT95vox'> [2024-04-24 20:39:38,555] chirp.wxui.clone - DEBUG: Serial opened: Serial<id=0x10e1dcac0, open=True>(port='/dev/cu.wlan-debug', baudrate=9600, bytesize=8, parity='N', stopbits=1, timeout=0.25, xonxoff=False, rtscts=False, dsrdtr=False) (rts=True dtr=True) [2024-04-24 20:39:39,056] chirp.wxui.clone - ERROR: Failed to clone: No initial response from radio. Traceback (most recent call last): File "chirp/wxui/clone.py", line 68, in run File "chirp/drivers/anytone778uv.py", line 708, in sync_in File "chirp/drivers/anytone778uv.py", line 506, in do_download File "chirp/drivers/anytone778uv.py", line 475, in do_download File "chirp/drivers/anytone778uv.py", line 425, in enter_program_mode chirp.errors.RadioError: No initial response from radio. [2024-04-24 20:41:01,218] chirp.wxui.clone - WARNING: Stopping clone thread
On 24 Apr 2024, at 20:04, Jim Unroe via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
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.
- 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.
- 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 _______________________________________________ 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/
On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 4:01 PM Chris Hart via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
Hi!
The data cable was supplied with the radio as a package recently by Amazon. It is in a plastic bag labeled ‘RETEVIS’ and has serial number 2310R91291. The bag also has the numberSKU:J9129A.
The box that the radio was in simply says Model RT95 and has the code A9129B.
I dug mine out. It is a Retevis J9129A and has a Prolific PL2303TA chip. That should work unless the driver in macOS has been updated to add the new PL2303GS chip and remove the PL2303TA chip which is now EOL (which is the normal course of action for Prolific and their drivers).
I have pasted below the debug.log in case that helps.
Yes. It indicates that, as I expected, there are no communications happening between computer and the radio.
The version of Chirp I am using is CHIRP next 20230710. When I select either RT95 or RT 95 VOX it warns that this is experimental and when I click OK it reports ’Non Initial response from radio’
Port used is /dev/cu.wlan-debug. I am running OS Sonoma 14.4.1
I could be wrong, but this doesn't seem like the correct port. How did you come about picking this port? Was it just one in the list? If that was the case, I would suggest that you choose "Help Me..." at the bottom of the port list and let the CHIRP-next helper walk you through the process of choosing the port to use.
I hope this is enough detail to identify the problem.
Your help is appreciated .
Regards, Chris
Jim KC9HI
On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 2:11 PM Jim Unroe via Users < users@lists.chirpmyradio.com> wrote:
On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 4:01 PM Chris Hart via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
Port used is /dev/cu.wlan-debug. I am running OS Sonoma 14.4.1
I could be wrong, but this doesn't seem like the correct port.
Jim is right, this is not the correct port. The correct port should look something like /dev/tty.usbserial-0001 instead. If you open a Terminal window and type 'ls /dev/tty*', a line like this should appear near the top of the list.
Also, in a Terminal window, if you type 'ioreg -p IOUSB' (without the quotes), you should see a line corresponding to your cable. If you don't see it, type that with the cable unplugged, then type it again with the cable plugged in, and the cable should appear.
If you're not seeing your cable with either of these, Jim's may be correct about the right driver not being available.
Martin. KD6YAM
Chris
Jim KC9HI
Thanks Jim. I am based in Wales UK and had gone to bed by the time your mail arrived (along with several others that followed)
Armed with the clues you gave me, long story short, I have found through Apple support an app provided by Prolific which gets the port working. Having installed the app the Chirp ‘help me’ function told me that the radio was the VOX version and on switching to that a port was found and I have downloaded the radio’s settings.
The link for the app is https://apps.apple.com/tw/app/pl2303-serial/id1624835354?l=en&mt=12
Thanks to every one for your help. Looking forward to getting familiar with the radio and starting my Amateur Radio qualification quest.
Regards, Chris
On 24 Apr 2024, at 22:11, Jim Unroe via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 4:01 PM Chris Hart via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
Hi!
The data cable was supplied with the radio as a package recently by Amazon. It is in a plastic bag labeled ‘RETEVIS’ and has serial number 2310R91291. The bag also has the numberSKU:J9129A.
The box that the radio was in simply says Model RT95 and has the code A9129B.
I dug mine out. It is a Retevis J9129A and has a Prolific PL2303TA chip. That should work unless the driver in macOS has been updated to add the new PL2303GS chip and remove the PL2303TA chip which is now EOL (which is the normal course of action for Prolific and their drivers).
I have pasted below the debug.log in case that helps.
Yes. It indicates that, as I expected, there are no communications happening between computer and the radio.
The version of Chirp I am using is CHIRP next 20230710. When I select either RT95 or RT 95 VOX it warns that this is experimental and when I click OK it reports ’Non Initial response from radio’
Port used is /dev/cu.wlan-debug. I am running OS Sonoma 14.4.1
I could be wrong, but this doesn't seem like the correct port. How did you come about picking this port? Was it just one in the list? If that was the case, I would suggest that you choose "Help Me..." at the bottom of the port list and let the CHIRP-next helper walk you through the process of choosing the port to use.
I hope this is enough detail to identify the problem.
Your help is appreciated .
Regards, Chris
Jim KC9HI _______________________________________________ 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/
On Thu, Apr 25, 2024 at 2:40 AM Chris Hart via Users users@lists.chirpmyradio.com wrote:
Thanks Jim. I am based in Wales UK and had gone to bed by the time your mail arrived (along with several others that followed)
Armed with the clues you gave me, long story short, I have found through Apple support an app provided by Prolific which gets the port working. Having installed the app the Chirp ‘help me’ function told me that the radio was the VOX version and on switching to that a port was found and I have downloaded the radio’s settings.
The link for the app is https://apps.apple.com/tw/app/pl2303-serial/id1624835354?l=en&mt=12
Thanks to every one for your help. Looking forward to getting familiar with the radio and starting my Amateur Radio qualification quest.
Regards, Chris
Hi Chris, Thanks for the follow up. It was good to see this morning. Have fun with your radio and good luck with earning your license.
Jim KC9HI
participants (3)
-
Chris Hart -
Jim Unroe -
Martin Cooper