Import a CSV into CHIRP
CHIRP imports its own CSV layout. Drop any channel file here — a CHIRP export, RT Systems, or a spreadsheet with RX and TX columns — and save it in that layout; then follow the steps below.
1. Make the file
Save the list from this page as CHIRP (.csv). It has CHIRP’s 21 columns — Location, Name, Frequency, Duplex, Offset, Tone, rToneFreq, cToneFreq, DtcsCode, DtcsPolarity, RxDtcsCode, CrossMode, Mode, TStep, Skip, Power, Comment and the D-STAR ones — in UTF-8.
2. Open the radio in CHIRP
Connect the cable and choose Radio › Download from radio, so CHIRP has your radio’s current memory in a tab.
3. Bring the channels in
Choose Radio › Import from file and pick the CSV, or open it with File › Open and copy rows across with Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V. CHIRP fits each channel to the radio — the same thing the radio check here shows in advance.
4. Upload
Radio › Upload to radio. Keep the downloaded image first — it is your backup.
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 shows errors after importing my spreadsheet.
- Open the spreadsheet here instead: it reads Excel’s quirks (dropped columns, scientific notation, semicolons) and saves a file CHIRP takes line for line — see fixing a CHIRP CSV.
- Can CHIRP read an Excel file directly?
- No, only CSV. Drop the .xlsx here and save as CHIRP.