I recently acquired an AnyTone AT-D878UV DMR radio which is unfortunately not supported by chirp, my usual go-to free software package for programming amateur radios.

Instead, I had to setup a Windows 10 virtual machine so that I could setup the radio using the manufacturer's computer programming software (CPS).

Install VirtualBox

Install VirtualBox:

apt install virtualbox virtualbox-guest-additions-iso

and add your user account to the vboxusers group:

adduser francois vboxusers

to make filesharing before the host and the guest work.

Finally, reboot to ensure that group membership and kernel modules are all set.

Create a Windows 10 virtual machine

Create a new Windows 10 virtual machine within VirtualBox. Then, download Windows 10 from Microsoft then start the virtual machine mounting the .iso file as an optical drive.

Follow the instructions to install Windows 10, paying attention to the various privacy options you will be offered.

Once Windows is installed, mount the host's /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso as a virtual optical drive and install the VirtualBox guest additions.

Installing the CPS

With Windows fully setup, it's time to download the latest version of the computer programming software.

Unpack the downloaded file and then install it as Admin (right-click on the .exe).

Do NOT install the GD driver update or the USB driver, they do not appear to be necessary.

Program the radio

First, you'll want to download from the radio to get a starting configuration that you can change.

To do this:

  1. Turn the radio on and wait until it has finished booting.
  2. Plug the USB programming cable onto the computer and the radio.
  3. From the CPS menu choose "Set COM port".
  4. From the CPS menu choose "Read from radio".

Save this original codeplug to a file as a backup in case you need to easily reset back to the factory settings.

To program the radio, follow this handy third-party guide since it's much better than the official manual.

You should be able to use the "Write to radio" menu option without any problems once you're done creating your codeplug.