Fix a CHIRP CSV that will not import
Drop the .csv and the page lists, line by line, what CHIRP would refuse and why — the same rules CHIRP itself uses. What is clear gets fixed on the spot; what needs a decision is shown with the line it is on. Save, and CHIRP takes every channel.
What usually breaks a CHIRP file
Almost always a spreadsheet. Excel writes 146.52 as 1.4652E+02 or an offset as 0.59999999999999, drops empty columns at the end of a row (CHIRP then reports “Column number mismatch”), saves with semicolons in Europe, or in the old Western character set instead of UTF-8. Hand-edited files bring empty rToneFreq or DtcsCode cells, Skip set to N, Power written as High, or a tone mode in lower case — each of which makes CHIRP skip the whole line.
What is fixed, and what is not
A value that can only mean one thing is read that way: an empty tone on a channel that does not use one becomes 88.5, as CHIRP writes it; Skip N becomes scanned; 0.59999999 becomes 0.6; High becomes the radio’s highest power. A channel whose tone mode needs a tone the file does not give, or a frequency that cannot be read, is left for you — click it, set it, and save.
Two channels on the same Location
CHIRP keeps only the last line with a given Location and drops the rest without a word. Here the second one is moved to a free number, so both survive.
Files from other programs
An RT Systems export, a Commander KG-UV file or any spreadsheet with RX and TX frequency columns opens too, and saves as a CHIRP file. See also checking a list against your radio.
Before you load it into a radio
The file is for CHIRP, the free programming software — not for the radio itself. CHIRP is what writes the channels to the radio, and CHIRP and the radio decide what they accept; we cannot check that without your radio. Before uploading, download the radio’s current memories in CHIRP and save them as a backup, then look through the channels. Transmitting on some frequencies needs a licence or an approved radio — check the rules where you are. You use the file and program your radio at your own risk.
Questions
- CHIRP says “Unknown file format” — why?
- CHIRP opens a .csv only if it is UTF-8 text. A file saved by Excel as “CSV” in a Western code page, or as “Unicode Text” (UTF-16), fails with a decoding error. Open it here and save as CHIRP — the result is UTF-8.
- Does CHIRP need the columns in a fixed order?
- No — it finds them by name, so Location does not have to come first. But the names must be exact: “frequency” in lower case is a column CHIRP ignores, and then every channel reads as empty.
- Is my file uploaded?
- No. It is read by the page, in your browser.