CHIRP

h1. How to use CSV files

h2. Introduction

It is important to note that CSV stands for "Comma Separated Values" and is a method of _encoding_ and not a strict file format. Any kind of record data can be stored in a CSV file, which is why spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel and LibreOffice Calc support it. If you create a CSV file without a specific format, CHIRP will not be able to extract the needed data from it,

h2. A Clean Start

If you want to get an empty CHIRP-compatible CSV file, the easiest way is to let CHIRP create one for you. Here are the approximate steps for creating an empty file, editing it in an external editor and opening it back up in CHIRP:

1. Start CHIRP

2. Go to *File* > *New* to create an empty CSV file

3. Add a memory to the first row, by entering a frequency such as *146.52*

4. Go to *File* > *Save As* to save the template file to something ending with a *.csv* extension

5. Open the file in your spreadsheet or external application of choice, make edits and save

6. Re-open the file in CHIRP to validate that the format is still correct, by going to *File* > *Open* and choosing your file

7. Optionally use *File* > *Import* to import the contents of your CSV file into another radio image