CHIRP

I really think that setting the VFO state in radios is a totally useless feature, so I'd rather just remove this than fix it.

Are you reporting this (thanks by the way) because it's wrong, or because you really have some compelling reason to control this from software and need it fixed?

The existing behavior is pretty misleading/unexpected (setting "High" power in CHIRP produces the "Low" power behavior in the radio, assuming that the menu display and the actual power output are in sync). I would call that "wrong", and would generally subscribe to a principal of "if it's there, it should work".

As to what constitutes a "compelling reason" to set this, I'm not sure I have a killer argument. If the radio supports the setting, it would be nice to allow it / make it work in a predictable way. Clearly you could make the same setting from the front panel, but by that line of logic I don't need software to program the radio at all? I suppose one might automate controlling a radio entirely from the software/programming interface, and want to set this parameter. Maybe in a case where you wanted to set something temporarily without changing or adding memory channels. But I'm not actually suggesting that that's a common or sensible idea. Perhaps more realistic, one might want to set radios to well-known state before giving them to new users, or using for training/demonstration, etc.

So I guess the answer is "I reported it because it's wrong", and with the perhaps hopeful view that it seems likely to be straightforward to fix, given that the similar setting/options are correctly supported in the channel memories on this radio. That said I know nothing about CHIRP's code or the complexities of interfacing with these radios, in particular.

Then again, I'm a software product manager by trade, so presuming that bugs are easy to fix may be an occupational hazard ;-).

Updated to latest CHIRP-next (-20240807). Downloaded module from this issue.
Set radio to VFO A "High", VFO B "Low", downloaded config to CHIRP, looks correct in the corresponding TX Power fields.
Changed config on computer side to A "Low", B "High". The "Mid" power option no longer appears in the CHIRP UI. Uploaded config to radio, and observed updated values on the radio.

Brief test, but it appears to me that it works on both download and upload, on my radio.

For clarity, I don't have the equipment at hand to test the actual power output, but assuming that the radio's on-screen menu reflects the actual setting then this looks good!

Thanks Dan!

Yep, as long as the radio thinks it's in Low or High mode, that's all we can do. CHIRP tells the radio only symbolically which power level to use, not anything absolute. So, thanks I'll include this for the next build.

Just to expound on my "not useful" comment.. The VFO state is basically a "scratch pad" by which you dial to a new/temporary frequency arrangement and either operate there briefly, or use that as input to store a memory channel. So it's very useful on the radio itself, but setting up the scratch pad from the computer is sort of a non-feature, IMHO. It's ephemeral state, so kinda meh.

Yeah I understand the context of your comment, no worries. Thanks for looking at the issue quickly and getting to a fix! Not sure it's a big deal - but in my case the radio I received is acting a bit strange in some other power-level-related ways, and any apparent issue in how CHIRP was working made me suspicious that the programming process could be at fault rather than the specific unit.

To be clear - I believe your fix works, and my radio may have a separate issue about generating full power.

Thanks again!