If you lose or upgrade your radio, boom, it’s easy to reprogram. You can share the same configuration file across everyone in your prepper group so they’re on the same page. You can easily create backups on your computer, cloud storage, or USB drives. That’s a core use-case you will use in an emergency.ĬHIRP isn’t just for saving your address book. Just hit the scan button and the radio will continually cycle through your list of saved channels until it finds something with activity. Saving your preferred frequencies in channels also makes it easy to scan on your radio.
So instead of remembering that NBC was on 187.25, people just needed to remember NBC = channel 4. The word is used for the same reason as television channels, which, back in the day, were each associated to a frequency. But instead of remembering 155.415 and who it matches to, you can simply give it a friendly saved name like “Fire Dept”.Įach entry is saved in a channel. common walkie-talkies)Įach specific thing you want to contact has a frequency. FRS and GMRS frequencies, so you can talk with people on those style of radios (eg.Local first responders, such as police, fire, and EMS.Weather stations, like the always-on NOAA weather alerts.Local repeaters, which are special ham stations that rebroadcast messages over wider areas.Direct contacts like family members, friends, coworkers, or your prepper group.The goal: channels and settings, what to save, and backupsĬommon types of contacts you want to have saved in your radio: We use common BaoFeng radios, but the steps are basically the same for any model and across computer operating systems. This guide walks you through setting up and using CHIRP for common prep tasks like saving your personal contacts and importing local repeater, weather, and first responder stations. New to Ham? Check out the beginner’s guide to amateur radio and best handheld ham radios The full list is on their website.Īll you need is an FTDI cable that works with your radio and a little bit of patience - it’s wonderful that CHIRP exists, especially as free open-source software, but it’s outdated and frustrating to use for people who want Ham in their preps but don’t want to “be a Ham.”
It’s open source and works with the three major desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS, and Linux), but if you have a choice, use Windows because it avoids some minor frustrations.ĬHIRP works with most common radios.
But they’re about as user-friendly as a 1990’s VCR - it’s a big pain to manually program the settings via the keys on the radio.ĬHIRP is free Ham radio programming software that manages the radio’s address book by plugging the radio into your computer. Most radios, including models popular in prepping such as the BaoFeng UV5R and BF-F8, have a built-in digital address book.
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