Caution is good. From what I've read, Yaesu seems to be protecting the market share of their "official" vendor, RT Systems, with dire warnings about warranty and radio-bricking (I've had excellent results for years with an FT-60 and CHIRP).
HOWEVER. That doesn't mean there's no risk, especially if your radio is under warranty and/or is a model that doesn't have a long history of trouble-free CHIRP use. So read the scary warnings with caution, but make informed and thoughtful choices. Of course, this would all be easier if remote programming interfaces were designed in a sensible manner. <RANT> The whole programming methodology of "Let's just bung a binary image into the radio memory without any input sanitization" is utter, complete, fundamental codswallop. It's a feature designed without forethought by insufficiently imaginative programmers with managers who were unwilling to provide the resources (development time and flash memory) necessary to do the job in a sensible, sustainable manner. I know how this works from personal experience, having been obliged to design several iterations of a lousy remote programming interface for successive versions of a portable flowmeter. (The entire software requirements spec was, "We want the PC to talk to the flowmeter," and things got worse from there.) Designing and coding a generic protocol and an input parser takes longer the first time around, but yields recurring benefits for every successive iteration, both in ease of development and usability by the customer. I'd definitely pay $10 more for a radio with a far better programming interface. </RANT> Steve On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 9:36 AM Randy Millis via Users < [email protected]> wrote: > > I've reprogrammed my 65 3x with Chirp.... not 1 problem. > > There’s always one in every crowd 😄 — every time someone posts a > manufacturer warning, someone else chimes in with “Well, I’ve done it and > it’s fine.” That’s great if it worked for you! But the manufacturer’s > warning still stands. > > > > My radio is under warranty, and I prefer not to take the risk of voiding > it. > > > > Manufacturer Warning > > > > Use of third-party programming software such as CHIRP is not officially > supported by Yaesu. Any damage caused to the radio or its firmware through > the use of non-Yaesu software may void the manufacturer’s warranty. Yaesu > recommends using only their official programming software and cables for > memory management and firmware updates. > > > This isn’t unique to the FT-66R — Yaesu includes similar language for the > FT-65R and other HTs. In practice, lots of hams still use CHIRP safely, but > it’s smart to keep a backup image from the radio before uploading anything, > just in case. > _______________________________________________ > Users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com > To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] > To report this email as off-topic, please email > [email protected] > List archives: > https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/ -- Steve Hersey N1XNX [email protected] ----- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Clarke's Third Law "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." -- Benford's Corollary "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- Charles Stross, *Dead Lies Dreaming* “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” -- Terry Pratchett _______________________________________________ Users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/postorius/lists/users.lists.chirpmyradio.com To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] To report this email as off-topic, please email [email protected] List archives: https://lists.chirpmyradio.com/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/
