chirp is an application that allows programming of radios from a number of vendors. Chirp assumes that the appropriate cable is available and connected. Data may be saved to a .csv file for manipulation by other applications, as well as transferred between radios, even radios from different manufacturers.

chirp is started by clicking the chirp icon. This will present a rather uninteresting blank screen.

In most cases, the user will wish to begin by selecting Download from Radio from the Radio menu. This will launch a dialog requesting some basic information such as the desired serial port, radio vendor and model. Note that the selected serial port must permit read/write access. Clicking the OK button will begin reading the radio's memory.

What happens next depends on the radio. For radios that operate in "live" mode, the values will appear in the window, and values at the bottom of the window will show how many memories remain to be read and how many have been read. For radios with multiple bands, the first value will alternate between bands.

For radios that do not operate in "live" mode, a small window containing a progress bar will show the progress of the download. The data will appear after the data has been downloaded.

To change a value, simply click on the field and begin typing. On some radios, data is changed in the radio as soon as it is changed onscreen. For others, it will be necessary to select the Upload to Radio from the Radio menu. A progress bar will be displayed similar to that displayed during data download.

By default, only the first 25 memories are displayed. Near the top of the screen the Memory range controls allow for selecting those memories to be displayed. If a large number of memories are selected, it may take some time to display.

Depending on the radio, there may be quite a few columns to display, so maximizing the window could be helpful.

Individual columns may be removed from the display, making the display more manageable.