Channel Forge - Browser-Based Radio Programmer

ChannelForge

The browser-based radio programmer • a Ohm Hut tool

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CHANNELFORGE

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● Quick Start ▶ tap to open the ready-made channel packs

Tap the packs you want (tap again to unselect), then press Add selected to channels — every channel arrives with the settings that make it work right away. Channels already in your list are skipped, so packs never create duplicates.

Packs are ordered lowest to highest transmit power, with listen-only packs last — and they land in your table the same way, so talk channels take the low, easy-to-reach slots. Offsets, tones, power, and bandwidth come pre-filled with the most common settings. The badge on each card: + Select, amber Selected, amber n of N (partly in your list), or a green check (all in your list). GMRS already includes all 22 FRS frequencies (same channels, different power and licensing rules), so selecting GMRS covers FRS and the FRS card grays out. Added a pack by mistake? Undo removes it.

● Program Your Radio ▶ tap to open — find your radio and get channels onto it

● Step 1 — Find your radio

Search any brand or model and ChannelForge tells you the exact way to program it — and opens the right section below for you, already set up.

● How support levels work

LIVE program right here over the cable • FILE full import/export through a supported file format • VIA CSV round-trip through your desktop or vendor programming software

Rebadged clones are cross-referenced automatically: search the name on your radio and the card tells you which radio it really is. Dozens of "different" handhelds are UV-5R, BF-F8HP, UV-82, or BF-888 boards inside — and all of those program live, below. Radio not listed? If your desktop or vendor software exports CSV, it imports below — Generic CSV is the universal route.

Start by finding your radio above. Only the options that apply to your exact model appear here — no guesswork, nothing that will not work for it. Already know exactly what you need? Show cable programming • Show Import / Export

● Step 2 — Program over the cable

Connect your radio with its USB programming cable and ChannelForge reads and writes it right from this page — nothing to install. Works in Chrome and Edge on a desktop or laptop.

Cable programming supports the Baofeng UV-5R family, the Quansheng UV-K5 family, and the BF-888S / H777 16-channel family — plus 70+ rebadged models sold under other names, matched automatically in Step 1. ChannelForge speaks each radio's own factory programming protocol, and UV-K5 writes are limited to known-safe firmware versions to protect the radio.

Find your radio in Step 1 above and it is set up here automatically — only what applies to your radio is shown.

UV-5R / UV-5R+ / UV-5RA / GT-3 + clones BF-F8HP / GT-3TP / tri-power clones UV-82 / UV-82HP + clones UV-K5 / UV-K5(8) / UV-K6 + rebadges BF-888S / Retevis H777 family change

ChannelForge programming log Ready. Turn the radio on at mid volume, plug the cable in fully, then click 1. Read radio.

● The safe order, every time

Your radio is protected at every step. The numbered buttons enforce the safe order: Write stays locked until you Read, and you are reminded to save a backup first.

Writing changes only the channel and name memory, using the copy just read from your own radio — nothing else is touched, and you review exactly what will change before anything is written. If a cable comes loose mid-write, the backup .img file restores the radio exactly as it was; that is why the backup step comes before writing. Keep the cable still and the radio on until the write finishes.

1

Plug the programming cable into the radio firmly, then turn the radio on. Push the 2-pin plug in harder than feels polite — a half-seated plug is the #1 cause of failed reads. Not in menu mode, volume at mid.

2

Click 1. Read radio and pick your cable from the list that pops up. It usually shows as CH340, CP210x, or Prolific. Reading is completely safe — it only copies what is in the radio. Already built a channel list? It is protected: you choose whether to keep it or load the radio's channels.

3

Click 2. Save backup .img. Ten seconds now means you can always put the radio back exactly how it was.

4

Edit your channels, then click 3. Write radio. You see exactly what will change before anything is written — no blind overwrites, and you are warned about empty lists, channels that will not fit, and rows with red-edge problems. Keep the cable still until it finishes.

5

Set up the radio itself. After the write, the console tells you exactly which buttons and menus put your radio in channel mode and show channel names — so it works like a pro set it up.

Radio not live-supported? Use Import / Export below instead — every radio that desktop programming software supports can round-trip through Generic CSV.

● Import

Drop a file here or click to browse
CSV • HMK • ITM • TPE • EVE • IMG • ICF • DAT • VX5/VX7 • more

Append to current list instead of replacing

● Export

Every option below explains what it makes and when to pick it. Not sure? Use one of the two recommended ones.

Recommended — start here

Vendor & programmer formats — match your software

Backup, reference & radio image

0 selected

	Ch	Name	Frequency	Duplex	Offset	Tone Mode	Tone	ToneSql	DTCS	Pol	Mode	Power	Skip	Comment

No channels yet. Click + Add, pick a Quick Start pack above, or open Program Your Radio below to import a file or read your radio.

Tip: click a channel number to load it on the VFO display. Names longer than 7 characters are flagged because most Baofeng-family radios truncate them. Autosaves to your browser.

Share this codeplug

Anyone who opens this link gets your exact channel list, ready to review and write.

● What is ChannelForge?

ChannelForge is a free, browser-based radio programmer from Ohm Hut. Build and edit channel lists in a spreadsheet-style editor, import and export the file formats used by mainstream desktop, RT Systems, and vendor programmers, and — on Chrome or Edge desktop — read and write Baofeng UV-5R-family radios directly over the programming cable with nothing to install - open Program Your Radio on the Channels tab, find your model, and it walks you through it step by step. Your data never leaves your browser: there is no server, no upload, no account.

● Quick start

1

Start on the Channels tab. Open Quick Start at the top of the page, tap the packs you want, and press Add selected to channels - channels you already have are skipped, never duplicated. Or add rows by hand, or import an existing file.

2

Enter a frequency and ChannelForge fills the rest. Standard repeater offsets (2m ±600 kHz, 70cm +5 MHz, GMRS +5 MHz) are suggested automatically when you set Duplex.

3

Set tones from the pick lists. All 50 CTCSS tones and 104 DCS codes are built in.

4

Validate. Rows with problems get a red edge — hover the frequency to see why. Out-of-band and duplicate frequencies are flagged.

4b

Sanity-check before you key up. Before any cable write, ChannelForge shows exactly what will change on the radio compared to the last read — no blind overwrites.

4a

Let it fill in the boring parts. Type a repeater output frequency and ChannelForge auto-fills the standard offset direction and size from the North American band plan (2m ±0.6, 70cm ±5, GMRS +5, and more) — clear Duplex if you meant simplex. Check several rows and a bulk bar appears to set tone, power, mode, or scan-skip on all of them at once. The Filter box narrows a long list instantly without deleting anything.

4c

About Program Your Radio. ChannelForge speaks each radio family's own factory programming protocol — the same one the vendor software uses. Write is disabled until you successfully read that radio family at least once, so the wrong image can never be written to a radio.

5

Get it into the radio. UV-5R, UV-K5, and BF-888/H777 families: open Program Your Radio on the Channels tab and search your radio there - it walks you through it. Everything else: export a file your programmer understands — Generic CSV works nearly everywhere.

Keyboard: Tab / Shift+Tab move across cells, Enter moves down a row, Esc reverts a cell. Everything autosaves to this browser and survives a page refresh.

● The honest guide to radio file formats

Text formats can be read and written perfectly. Proprietary binary formats are radio memory dumps that normally require each radio's reverse-engineered driver; ChannelForge decodes the ones it has a codec for and gives you a guided CSV route for the rest — it will never write a binary format it cannot verify, because a bad file can lock up a programmer or a radio.

Format	Ext	Import	Export	Notes
Generic CSV	.csv	FULL	FULL	The universal exchange format. Round-trips with desktop programmers for 500+ radios.
RT Systems CSV	.csv	FULL	FULL	Header-mapped both directions for RT Systems programmers.
Commander KG-UV CSV	.csv	FULL	FULL	For KG-UV Commander (Wouxun).
Kenwood HMK	.hmk	FULL	FULL	MCP text export (TH/TM series).
Kenwood ITM	.itm	BEST-EFFORT	—	Text records parsed heuristically.
ARRL TravelPlus	.tpe	FULL	FULL	TravelPlus export tables.
EVE for Yaesu VX-5	.eve	FULL	FULL	EVE text format.
Radio memory image, UV-5R / UV-K5 / BF-888 families	.img	FULL	FULL	Full read and write for all three cable-programmable families — the same decoding Program Your Radio uses.
Radio memory image, other radios	.img	BEST-EFFORT	—	Names/frequencies salvaged where possible; open in your desktop programmer and export CSV for a perfect copy.
Icom Data File	.icf	BEST-EFFORT	—	Structure parsed, channels salvaged heuristically; CS-software or Generic CSV export is the faithful route.
Kenwood KPG-44D/49D/74D/89D/99D	.dat	VIA CSV	—	Opaque binary. Export CSV from KPG software, import here.
Kenwood MCP-D74 / MCP4A	.d74 .mc4	VIA CSV	—	Export HMK or CSV from MCP, import here.
Yaesu ADMS (FT-70D, FT1D, FT2D, FT3D)	.ft70d .ft1d .ft2d .ft3d	VIA CSV	—	ADMS exports CSV natively; that CSV imports here fully.
VX5 / VX7 Commander	.vx5 .vx7	BEST-EFFORT	—	Names salvaged; Commander CSV export is the faithful route.
TIDRADIO TD-M11	.mdt	VIA CSV	—	Use the TIDRADIO app CSV export.
JSON backup	.json	FULL	FULL	ChannelForge's own lossless backup.

● Troubleshooting the cable

Symptom	Fix
Nothing appears in the cable picker	Install the driver for your cable chip (CH340 or CP210x are the common ones), or try a different USB port. Genuine-FTDI cables just work.
Radio did not respond	Push the plug in harder than feels polite — the 2-pin connector must seat fully. Confirm the radio is on and volume is up.
Ident failed / wrong model	Pick the exact family in the model dropdown. A UV-82 will not answer UV-5R magic bytes.
Write finished but channels look wrong	Restore your backup .img (import it, then Write), and report the model on the blog so support can improve.
Browser says cable programming is unavailable	Use Chrome or Edge on a desktop or laptop. Other browsers cannot connect to programming cables yet.

● Legal and band notes

Transmitting on GMRS requires an FCC GMRS license (one covers your whole family). Ham bands require the appropriate amateur license class. FRS is license-free but limited to type-accepted radios. MURS is license-free at 2 W. NOAA weather channels are receive-only. ChannelForge flags obvious out-of-band entries, but the operator is always responsible for legal transmission. Use Share codeplug under Program Your Radio to hand your whole channel list to family, club, or convoy members as a link or QR code — they open it in any browser, review it, and write it to their own radio. No files, no software, no version mismatches. ChannelForge is an independent Ohm Hut project and interoperates with the file formats that mainstream desktop and vendor programmers use, so nothing here locks you in.