By Paul, WB5ANX
Have you recently passed your tech license and bought an HT that you don’t know how to program? You are not alone. Field Day 2022 debuted a radio programming opportunity and about half dozen new hams show up with their radio to be programmed. There was even one couple studying to take their ex-am that bought an HT and did not know how to pro-gram it. Steve Childers, KF5VCQ, built a small list of 53 repeater and simplex frequencies that comprise a good starter list. I put that list into Chirp, free programming software, to enable an easy and standardized way to get started. And that is what I used at Field Day to help get people started. I also was able to show each ham how the software works so that they can make their own edits over time.
If you would like to do this for yourself, you can find the standardized lists (on the W5IAS web-site; member corner > divisions > radio programming). There is a generic .csv file you can import into most radio programming software. There is also a file for the Boefeng UV5R that should work with Chirp. If your particular radio is not represented please let me know by sending me an email at WB5ANX@arrl.net so we can determine the best way to help you get on the air. That’s the objective…help you get radio active!