Tag: programming

  • How to Use AI to Program Your Ham Radio (With a Free CHIRP File)

    I gave an AI assistant one plain-English prompt and got back a CHIRP-ready CSV with my local repeaters, calling frequencies, weather channels, and more. Here is the prompt, the file, and what you have to verify.

  • Getting Started with JS8Call: Setup and Your First Contacts

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. JS8Call takes the weak-signal decoding strength that made FT8 popular and points it at a completely different goal: real keyboard-to-keyboard conversation over HF, not just a quick exchange of signal reports. How It Differs From FT8 FT8 is built around a rigid, automated exchange format, callsigns, grid…

  • Taming the FT-857D’s Menu: A Practical Cheat Sheet

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. Why This Radio’s Menu Fights You The 857D packs a genuinely deep set of features into a single-line display and a numbered menu tree, which was a reasonable design in its day and hasn’t aged gracefully. Settings are grouped by number rather than by plain-language category,…

  • RadioID.net and DMR ID Registration: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Before you can transmit on DMR, whether through a hotspot or a repeater, you need a DMR ID. This trips up a lot of new hams because unlike a callsign, it is not something the FCC assigns you automatically. It is a separate registration you have to…

  • Handheld Radios (HTs): The Complete Guide

    A handheld is how most people start in this hobby, and for a lot of us it never really stops being the radio we reach for first. But “HT” covers a huge range of gear, from a $25 Baofeng to a $500 GPS-tagging DMR radio, and picking the right one (then actually programming and accessorizing…

  • Radio Field Cards: Quick-Reference Programming Guides

    Part of our Handheld Radios (HTs) guide. I keep pulling up the same four questions on every new radio that lands on the bench: how do I program a repeater, how do I get into VFO mode, how do I adjust power, and how do I scan. Every radio buries these in a different menu…

  • Programming Cables Compared: Which One Actually Works Reliably

    Part of our Handheld Radios (HTs) guide. A programming cable should be a boring, reliable piece of gear. In practice, cheap ones are a genuinely common source of frustration, driver problems, connection failures partway through a write, and radios that seem to accept a program but come out wrong. The chipset inside the cable matters…

  • RT Systems Programming Software: What It’s Good For (and Where I Skip It)

    RT Systems is the programming software I reach for on most of my radios, but not all of them. Here is where it earns its keep and where I switch to manufacturer software instead.

  • Programming and Organizing Memory Channels on the FTX-1

    How I organize memory channels on the FTX-1 by band and purpose, and the fastest way to load them without fighting the touchscreen.

  • Updating FTX-1 Firmware: Why and How

    How I approach FTX-1 firmware updates, from checking release notes to the backup step I never skip.

  • Backing Up and Cloning FTX-1 Settings Between Radios

    Why I back up my FTX-1 configuration regularly, and how to clone settings between a Field Head and a second unit without starting from scratch.

  • CHIRP: Free Programming Software for Your Handheld Radio

    Programming a handheld one channel at a time on its tiny keypad is genuinely miserable. CHIRP is the free tool nearly everyone switches to instead, and it works across a huge range of radios.

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