Bug #1507
closedProblem exporting Baofeng UVB6 frequency list to a .csv file. Is this a bug?
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Description
Hello!! I have a Baofeng UVB6 and have a problem with Chirp. My goal is to use Chirp to upload a list of frequencies to my radio, but I am having the problem detailed below (apologies for so much info, but too much detail is probably better than too little!).
To give the full picture, I have no problems (i) loading chirp on my Windows 7 computer, (ii) connecting to the radio through the USB data cable and (iii) downloading and viewing the radio's current frequency list in Chirp (i.e. the pre-installed factory settings) . Chirp shows me 15 columns of options for settings on the radio, including all the columns I would expect to see (frequency, offset, high/lower power, etc).
This seems like a good start. The next step would be to export the pre-installed factory list from Chirp to a csv file, edit it using MS Excel to add the extra frequencies, and then import into Chirp and upload back to the radio. So I choose "File->Export" in chirp, and then select ".csv" mode, and then choose the file location. This is where the first problem arises - Chirp brings up a list of columns to export, but it only lists the first 6 columns (not the 15 I can see in Chirp before opening the export window)!! To make things worse, if I select "all" and then save the file as a csv file, and then re-open it using Excel, the columns in the csv file are now very different from what I see in Chirp!
For example, the "power" column (where I can choose either "high" or "low") is showing in Chirp itself, but is not showing in the CSV file which I have exported from Chirp! And there are plenty of different columns in the csv file which are not in Chirp. I suspect Chirp is somehow messing up the export function, but I cannot work out how to correct this. Can anyone advise?? Thanks!!!
Updated by Tom Hayward about 11 years ago
- Status changed from New to Rejected
This is how Chirp was designed.
CSV is designed to be a generic format for transfer between radios. I use it to keep a master list that I can import into each of my radios. Columns like "power" don't make a whole lot of sense in this context. "High" power on my HTs is less wattage than "Low" power on my mobiles. You'll also find that CSV supports comments while the radios themselves don't (simply a limitation of the radio).
The export preview doesn't show all the columns. Don't let this distract you. All columns supported by CSV will be exported.
I'm a little curious why you want to edit with Excel. This seems like an added complication when you could just edit within Chirp.
Updated by james r about 11 years ago
This seems like an unsatisfactory resolution.
I want to use Excel because it's much better than the native Chirp editor. For example, I can insert 500 frequencies in one second in Excel, and then sort them in all kinds of ways, whereas in Chirp it appears I need to enter them one-by-one.
Secondly, all the columns supported by Chirp are NOT exported to the CSV file, sadly. If they were, I would have no problem.
And thirdly, when I export to CSV and then immediately try to re-import the CSV file, it still gives me an error message.
I will try and take screenshots and upload them so as to be more specific.
Updated by Tom Hayward about 11 years ago
Pardon me for failing to see the problem here. You've spoken very generally and haven't provided specifics. Please see how to report issues.
Updated by Jim Unroe about 11 years ago
MS excel has a bug where it does not save the CSV properly if several of the last fields in a row are blank (,,,). In some of the rows, one or more of the commas will be missing. As this defective CSV file is imported into CHIRP, the data becomes offset by the number of missing commas. This makes the data not valid for the field it is being imported into and hence the error.
One fix is to manually edit the CSV with a text editor to restore any missing commas. This will keep the imported data in sync with the correct fields as CHIRP imports it.
Another fix that I've heard is to use a pair of quotes ("") in the RPT2CALL field of each row where it is empty in the excel spreadsheet. I can't verify this because I use LibreOffice Calc and it (knocking on wood) does not appear to drop commas like excel sometimes does.
CHIRP could probably work around this by jumping ahead to the next channel row when a line feed is encountered and there are still fields left in the current row. But CHIRP shouldn't have to do this since it is clearly a bug in excel.
Jim KC9HI