Chirp + Baofeng UV-17R

This is just a set of notes on getting this radio to work with Linux Mint and Chirp. For the most part everything worked but there was a lot of more configuration and miscellaneous troubleshooting needed. It wasn't as easy as installing the Chirp package from APT.

Permissions

First thing is to make sure that your user has access to the /dev/ttyUSB0 device. Do this first:

sudo addgroup <username> dialout

You'll need to logout and log back in for this to take effect.  If this is not set you'll see various permission denied errors when accessing the /dev/ttyUSBx devices.

Remove Conflicting Software

Next, you'll need to remove the brltty package. This is for some braille device but unfortunately interferes with the programming cable from showing up.

sudo apt remove brltty

Build a Recent CHIRP Package

The Chirp that is available from APT is too old to support the UV-17R so you'll need to download and compile a recent version.

Download and Extract the Chirp Source

Go here first: https://chirpmyradio.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Download

Click the link to download the source for chirp-<date>.tar.gz.

Create a temporary directory to hold the build:

mkdir -p ~/tmp/chirp && cd ~/tmp/chirp

tar xf ~/path/to/chirp-<date>.tar.gz

Create a Python Virtual Environment

From the /tmp/chirp directory, create a Python virtual environment. This allows you to customize the Python environment without overwriting your system environment.

sudo apt install virtualenv

virtualenv py_venv

source py_venv/bin/activate

If all went fine your prompt should change to reflect that you are running from the virtual environment.

Build Chirp

Now it's time to build the software:

cd ~/tmp/chirp/chirp-<date>   

pip install -r requirements.txt

python setup.py build

Take a look at the output for errors. If you see errors related to missing packages, you may need to "sudo apt install" those. I had to add libgtk-3-dev.

Get the Right Hardware

This part was frustrating. After doing all the above and slowly making progress, I was greeted with various messages about the radio not sending any data. The cable that worked has a sticker that says "Baofeng Abbree: CH340 Chip". All the cables were around the $12 range . I spent a lot of time troubleshooting various red herring errors until finally switching out the cable. When I did, everything finally worked. 

Run the software

Once you have the cable in place, run the software.  Make sure you're still in the Python virtualenv first:

cd ~/tmp/chirp

source py_venv/bin/activate

chirp

You should see the Chirp window pop up.