New Browser Based CPS For OpenGD77

First off, I think its a great idea. Makes things much easier in many ways. Yes, there is a new browser based CPS for OpenGD77. I happened to stumble across it and thought I'd give it a go. I used it with my Baofeng DM-1701 DMR [using the STM32 option]. It also works the Baofeng 1801 [select the MK22 option]. And while it did work just about well enough [it did not brick the radio], do be aware that it is very much in its early to middle stages of development. BETA as things like this are usually called. Read my experience below on the good and bad with this new CPS. If you don't want to read and just want to go and check it out you can find it here: https://grid.radio/opengd77/

Didn't work "out-the-box" for me [using Windows 10 - 64-bit]. I needed to install USB drivers - the WinUSB driver and software called Zadig. Once installed it did work with the Baofeng 1701. This radio needs the STM32 option selected [dropdown box at the top]. I added repeaters, zones and edited channels with no issues. But problems did start to arise.

Messed up my genuine OpenGD77 CPS

Although fast forward to when I'd finished using this software from grid.radio and fired up my original CPS software. It quickly became apparent that the original CPS would not work properly anymore. It now had a problem. There was a driver / software conflict. This took quite a long time to sort out. I had to uninstall and re-install drivers, restart my computer etc. In the end I got my original CPS working, but that experience has made me very hesitant to use this browser based CPS again out of fear that it will do the same again. And, based on this experience, I'd rather have the original CPS working than this one. Read more below for more reasons why.

Can't install GTM themes

One good thing about this software is that it does come with a theme editor, and that theme editor has a nice selection of GTM theme files available to import / export / add straight to the radio etc. Many of the themes look very similar to what I've found online at the OpenGD77 forum that could not be downloaded anymore. I've talked about that here not too long ago. Problem is, when trying to install straight to the radio, it asks for 3 separate theme files.

Upon adding theme files to each upload box and trying to write the theme to the radio, it crashes half way through. The radio says its writing to the radio, but just hangs forever. I really thought I'd bricked my radio at one point, but I turned it off and back on and it was OK. My old theme was still installed as if nothing had happened. Needless to say, I didn't want to try that again. But I did, and ended up with the same result. But at least the radio was OK once turned off and back on.

The best way to install the themes was to export them, save them to your device, then use the original OpenGD77 CPS to import and install them. The original CPS installed the themes with no problem at all. But yeah, the process was quite long winded and annoying.

Can't mass delete channels, contacts and repeaters

Be very careful when adding channels, contacts and repeaters. I was like a kid in a candy shop. I seen how many contacts, channels and repeaters could be added using a few clicks of the mouse, from the UK and worldwide and thought yeah, I'll add them all, this is exciting. Only to realise after that I didn't really want or need that many, and after about 20 minutes wanted to remove most of them.

My radio felt so cluttered with contacts and channels that I had no use for. I wanted them removed. So I tried to mass delete them all using the grid.radio CPS, only to discover that there was no option to delete them all. No "select all" box, nothing. So I started deleting them one by one. Then I thought, forget this, it's going to take weeks. So I fired up the original CPS and mass deleted them all there no problem. Other than the USB driver issue talked about above which broke the original CPS' ability to work, this was the most annoying problem with this browser based CPS.

The last issue was the constant need to press "connect" again every time I wanted to change something. It was like pairing was instantly lost or something. And there was a few times when trying to read / write to and from the radio that I never realised that it needed to "connect" again, like 5 seconds after the last time I pressed "connect". This was a constant issue. But I got used to it after a while.

I'm sure the developers will sort these bugs out sooner or later and add the mass edit / delete option etc. And will probably iron out the other issues mentioned here. But in the meantime I think I'll stick to the original CPS. It's not perfect, but it is less buggy and easier to live with than this one is at this stage of its development. A good attempt though. And it could be great in the future. If you're feeling brave give it a go. https://grid.radio/opengd77/