CHIRP

Also I have tried switching com ports in the CHIRP software to no avail.

Try UV-5R as the model selection. I helped someone yesterday that supposedly had a BF-F8HP and it was actually a UV-5R mislabeled at the factory as a BF-F8HP.

Jim KC9HI

Jim,

I tried UV-5R before replying, and that did not work. Per latest test report, BF-F8HP appears no where in this report; I suspect it wasn't tested against the latest build

http://trac.chirp.danplanet.com/chirp_daily/LATEST/Test_Report.html

Excerpts from the log (attached to my previous post) points to errors in a few modules. I've owned this radio over a years, and had no problems until upgrading to daily build 8/14/15 (still trying to find an older build to install and validate against; can you point me to a url with older builds?):

[2015-08-27 23:52:19,818] chirp.drivers.uv5r - DEBUG: '\x00'
[2015-08-27 23:52:19,818] chirp.drivers.uv5r - ERROR: Radio did not respond
[2015-08-27 23:52:21,821] chirp.ui.reporting - DEBUG: Reporting exception
[2015-08-27 23:52:21,821] chirp.ui.common - ERROR: -- Exception: --
[2015-08-27 23:52:21,821] chirp.ui.common - ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "chirp\ui\clone.pyo", line 238, in run
File "chirp\drivers\uv5r.pyo", line 701, in sync_in
File "chirp\drivers\uv5r.pyo", line 504, in _do_download
File "chirp\drivers\uv5r.pyo", line 499, in _ident_radio
RadioError: Radio did not respond

"radio did not respond" is usually caused by the programming cable not having a compatible driver installed in the operating system or the 2-pin plug of the programming cable is not fully connected to the radio.

The reason that I mentioned the UV-5R part was because someone is selling what they are calling a BF-F8HP on eBay that is nothing more than a miss-labeled UV-5R. If you did not get your BF-F8HP directly from Baofeng Tech, then there is a chance that is it not a BF-F8HP.

Jim KC9HI

Joshua,

Which VIP version are you using?

Jim KC9HI

Jim,
I am using VIP version 12.07.25. In order to get CHIRP to work with my radio, I have to let the "Radio did not respond" error happen once, then remove the USB programming cable, turn off the radio, plug the USB programming cable back into the PC, then turn the radio on to full volume, then try again to upload or download. any deviation from this order of steps results in Radio not responding again. The Cable must be unplugged and plugged back in with the CHIRP software running or it will continue to give an error. If I close chirp and reopen I have to reseat the programming cable again or it does the same thing. I had no issues before installing daily build 20150814 and still have no issues with the VIP software other than disliking the UI.

Joshua,
If you think is has to do with the latest daily build, then fall back to an earlier build. But I can tell you the the most recent Baofeng related change was made on August 8 and all it did was move the BF-A58 radio from a "basetype" for radios with 2 power levels to a "basetype" for radios with 3 power levels. That shouldn't have had any affect on the BF-F8HP. It sure hasn't affected mine. The next change before that happened in June where there were 6 different updates. From there you have to go back to April.
Jim KC9HI

Hi Jim,

You mentioned that there were Baofeng changes in April, June and August of this year. Is there a change log file where I can read about CHIRP changes/fixes/improvements before updating the daily build?

I do not see such a file in the typical locations, such as on the website and/or contained in the daily archive.

The reason I ask is because IF there are no significant changes to CHIRP that directly affect my BF-F8HP radio, frequently updating the daily to make sure I always have the latest becomes a waste of time and bandwidth. As of this writing, chirp-daily-20151126 appears to work flawlessly with my BF-F8HP radio.

Unless there are GUI improvements, am I completely wrong about skipping further daily updates?

Pat,

See miklor.com CHIRP FAQ 1.3: "How often should I update CHIRP":http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_CHIRP.php#Getting%20Started

Ask your question in the CHIRP mailing list and I will be happy to discuss more about finding out what has changed.

Jim KC9HI