Adms 2i Ft 8800 Programming Software
Alma Serrell
I had been using CHIRP with my FT-8800, and like others had noticed that the right-side memory banks weren't being programmed properly. I decided to help fix this problem, so I dug into the code and discovered in ft7800.py that both the left and right side radios use the same address for _bankstart, and that this probably is the source of the problem. I tried opening up one of the img files produced by CHIRP to see if I could read them and found that they were just hex files, so I started playing around with CHIRP to create different img files to see where CHIRP saved the data.
It is important to note at this point that I am just running CHIRP and reading image files on my PC, not doing anything with the radio! I have up until now had good success programming an image file of repeaters into my FT-8800 using the normal upload process.
For one of my last tests before trying to change the _bankstart address for the right side radio, I programmed "all" 500 left-side memories (I say "all" because CHIRP only supports the first 500, while the radio actually has 512 regular memories per side). This is the only place where I can think that I have done anything different from before: previously I had only used a few hundred memories, but this time I used all 500. After programming it into the radio I immediately read it back out of the radio.
So, now I have an apparently dead radio and what seems to have killed it was an upload followed by a download by CHIRP. I let the radio sit overnight and it's still dead as of this morning. I have found a couple people reporting similar issues, at least one of them via CHIRP:
-ft-8800-reset.374973/
-ft-8800-not-turn-on-or-off.505892/
Hello Chris, that's pretty scary. I researched this a bit and found that Chirp isn't alone: RT Systems software (which is distributed by Yaesu for this radio!) seems to also cause this sometimes as well, which means there could be a bug in the firmware of the FT-8800.
This USB port programming cable allows you to program your two way radio from your computer.
It connects the two-way radio directly to the PC or laptop computer via the USB port, with no additional adapter / option required.
I have never heard of RT Systems before now. I have used CHIRP several times. I have a Kenwood D7, D72, D710, and UV5R. CHIRP allows me to copy the same programming to all of them. Thats an improvement over Kenwoods software which did not allow that.
I have a Yaesu FT-7900R and a Baofeng UV82. RT Systems program and cable does a nice job with the Yaesu and Chirp does a nice job with the Baofeng (purchased on Amazon with programming cable). Instead of booting my Windows 10 laptop I used my Linux Mint 18.3 tower and Chirp with the RT cable to program the Yaesu. Although it did load the memories and did not hurt the radio, Chirp had no provision to choose frequency or label for the display. If there was a label it automatically displayed it instead of the frequency. Has anyone been able to run the RT Systems software in Linux under Wine? I would definitely prefer to run RT Systems on my Yaesu!
I use chirp. I have never used rt systems so I can not comment on that. I have read many comments here that have mentioned driver issues and wasting time trying to get chirp to work. This is not my experience. My experience is including the first time, run chirp, plug in programming cable, download from radio, make changes, upload to radio, all without errors or problems. I am not saying chirp is better, because I have only used chirp so I have any experience with other programming software to compare, I am saying that in my experience chirp work well so I see no point in paying money for software that would for me be harder to run.
Another area I will speak to briefly is the recommendation to ensure that Ontario's correctional facilities are managed safely and cost-effectively. Our actions to date include directing AIS senior managers to track and report all inmate-on-inmate assaults at their respective institutions; instituting the security threat group of the criminal intelligence unit that I spoke of earlier; and completing a formal analysis of inmate supervision models, including costs and benefits related to successful rehabilitation programming.
Mr. Jay Hope: Absolutely. That's causing us to look at all our decisions, including our programming. The effects of remand are affecting everything from A to Z. Given that that tends to be the face of our corrections population today, we are examining that in every way.
We also have a number of programs that we deal with to help provide people with education, whether it's Alcoholics Anonymous for remanded prisoners, whether it's Narcotics Anonymous, whether it's life skills programming or other things, to help them deal with what their own particular lifestyles are contributing to as far as their own health risks and issues.
The other impact of remand is that our programs are directed to those individuals who have sentences of six months or longer, and given the short stays of those individuals in remand, we are now trying to redirect our programming and refine our programming so that it can impact upon the almost 70% of individuals who are in our institutions.
Mr. Jay Hope: You're absolutely correct, and in fact we're working with the Ministry of Education. We provide programming to assist individuals to get their high school diplomas. We also have programming directed to support individuals in terms of cultural programming. There's aboriginal programming. We're currently going through a process right now where we're trying to make our aboriginal programming and programming for those individuals who are racialized more appropriate, culturally sensitive, so that they can feel better about themselves and understand their culture while they're in our institutions.
Mr. Jay Hope: Some of this is a voluntary thing, in that individuals either have an awakening while they're in institutions or they come with a conscious sense of themselves and what they want in terms of their own spirituality. So they ask for programming. We don't have this programming in all of our institutions. We're moving, though, to ensure that our programs are culturally sensitive, that the communities have had some input into them, and we're going through that process right now.
Mr. Jay Hope: Absolutely. When I first came in, we did an inventory, if you will, of our programming on this front. We have some exciting opportunities coming up even within the next 45 days, where we're going to make sure that our programs are better for racialized and aboriginal communities. We need to, first of all, make sure that they're well grounded, that the community supports them, and these are some of the programs that we're going through.
The grant is an incremental grant. It was created to create more supports for students with special education needs, to help raise the students to really a more level playing field with respect to accessing the provincial curriculum. Learning needs are about creating the conditions and supports for students to actually acquire the knowledge, skills, competencies and outcomes associated with school programming, including the curriculum, and to mitigate the barriers for their engagement in the curriculum and in the program generally, so that they can demonstrate what they have learned.
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