As cmdrwill implied you have to load the information you want into a copy of the file you download from your radio. You should make a copy of that file so you always have the original downloaded file. This file has a .img extension.
Data from the .csv files you import from data sources must be copied to an image (.img) file for upload to your radio.
I wrote these basic CHIRP instructions for first time users based on my own experience from just a few days ago, and I hope they are helpful. I am certainly not an expert, so please don't critique me too roughly.
CHIRP for first time users:
1. Open CHIRP.
2. Connect USB cable to computer then to radio. Turn Radio on and select a frequency/channel that is not in use.
3. In CHIRP, click Radio, Download From Radio
4. Select a Port, Vendor and Model. Answer questions or click OK after reading any pop-up windows. Wait for Cloning to complete.
5. Select File, Save. This will create the original image (.img) file for your radio. Enter a name for your file or use the provided default filename. I like to use the default filename and add "_original" to the end so I can clearly see this is my original image file. Select a folder or use the option to Create Folder, then click the Save button. CHIRP automatically adds a .img extension to the end of the filename.
6. Make a copy of the image file you just created using Windows File Manager (maybe Windows Explorer depending on which version of Microsoft Windows you have) or Finder (if you have a Mac). This copy is the file you will use to make changes to upload to your radio.
7. In CHIRP, close the tab you just created with your newly downloaded image file. Click the X on the right of the tab or click File, Close.
8. Click File, Open. Select the copy of your image file (in my case, that's the file that ends with "_original.img". Click Open. This is the file you will upload to your radio after making changes to it. Note that you can select the Memories and Settings in the left navigation bar of the image tab in CHIRP. It is probably obvious, but the Settings page lets you change all the options that are available in the menu of your radio. This is much easier than clicking through the menu option in your radio.
9. You have multiple options for editing the image file you will upload to your radio. Here are some examples...
- You can manually edit the image file by typing frequencies and related data in the fields for each memory location you want to load.
- You can click Radio, Query data source to open data in a new tab in CHIRP. You can copy and paste rows from this tab to your image tab. You can also click File, Export to save this as a .csv file for later use.
- You can click Radio, Import from data source to import information directly into the image file you have open.
- You can click Radio, Import from stock config to import information directly into the image file you have open.
- You can click File, Open to open a previously saved img or csv file.
10. Once you have edited the image file with the data you want to upload to your radio, save it with whatever name you want.
11. If you have multiple tabs open, select the tab containing the image file you want to upload. Click Radio, Upload to radio. Select Port, Vendor and Model. If your radio is still connected, these will already be selected from the download you did earlier. Click OK and respond to any popup windows.
12. Congratulations! You just loaded the data from your image file into your radio.
13. Turn your radio off, then disconnect the USB cable from your radio and computer.
This is what I learned the first time I used CHIRP, and it is intended to be a quick primer on using CHIRP. I will probably come back later and edit these instructions because I'm sure they need improvement - and I expect I mistyped some things too. Please feel free to offer suggestions or just copy and paste these making your own changes.
Jim - KC0MDV