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Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

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Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#41

Post by transcriptase »

runjake wrote: post #27
cactacea wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own one of these, easily the worst radio I have. Fine for receive but please don't hit that transmit button.

Only N=2 but mine have worked great for the 2 meter and FRS/GMRS bands, which is what one is probably going to use while in the back country. Definitely don't try 27 MHZ, or perhaps outside of the above bands at all. Are these Yaesu, Motorola, or Icom quality? No, but they're $25.

Yeah I have 4 that are great 2m/70cm, which is what the included antennas are optimized for. Even better with a cheap Nagoya antenna and non-stock firmware.

Unfortunately people don’t realize that even if you install a firmware that allows down to 11m, even connected to a $1200 base antenna the power output will be in the milliwatt range while throwing off on harmonics.

There’s also the case of hardware inconsistency and fakes. When I hook up 4 of the included antennas to my VNA there’s pretty big variance, and I recently tested a fake Nagoya that was clearly tuned for air band and not 70cm/2m as advertised.

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#42

Post by threemux »

userbinator wrote: post #38
agiacalone wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, the ham bands as a whole cannot be used for profit-motives or any financial gain. People often forget this rule. Not to mention the (kind of absurd, IMO) rule against any form of encryption.

However, I don't believe there's a rule against steganography.

In the US, there certainly is. The rule doesn't mention encryption specifically, it just prohibits "encoding for the purpose of obscuring meaning". The intent is what matters not the method.

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#43

Post by sciencesama »

RenThraysk wrote: post #12
lormayna wrote: post #4

I always ask myself why no any cellphone producer is making a phone with 2m/70cm capabilities.

Sim card radios exist. eg https://www.wouxun.com/radios/two_way_radio_kg-v98.aspx

Do they need a simcard with an active plan or aNy simcard just works !!??

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#44

Post by PaulHoule »

cactacea wrote: post #23
rmason wrote: post #18

Long time ham. Never been that interested in 2 meters but I am ready to buy it! Such a clever idea, wonder why no one has ever thought of it before.

http://www.mobilinkd.com/ is probably the closest pre-existing thing that is similar. I don't think this was lack of imagination, modules like the DRA818V make building a fully integrated unit a lot easier these days

I had so much fun operating APRS through the space station with a car 2 meter radio and a moderate mast antenna in a terribly hilly spot but be able to see stations in the South Atlantic and Midwest states. Also the time I was on a 2 meter HT walking in the woods and heard the astronauts talking to hams. And the time the computer told me it was just about to be visible and went outdoors and the ISS was huge and bright, more an airliner than an asterism.

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#45

Post by londons_explore »

> The radio simply plugs into the USB C port on your Android smartphone and transforms it into a fully-fledged handheld radio transceiver.

When I saw the headline I was hoping someone had hacked the qualcomm modem and turned it into a software defined radio.

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#46

Post by transcriptase »

kanbankaren wrote: post #39
agiacalone wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one too, and it gives off tons of spurious emissions (RF interference). I pretty much only use it for experimentation and receive.

Did you actually see the spurious emissions on a spectrum analyser? The old Baofengs had that problem, not Quansheng which are actually clean and the harmonics are within FCC specs.

Another issue is people were “testing” them using an RTLSDR which very easily gets overloaded and shows harmonics where there are none. Even my local FM station shows up on my SDR at frequencies I know they’re not actually transmitting on.

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#47

Post by [deleted] »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #19
jpm_sd wrote: post #5

Very neat project. How are you dealing with FCC certification?

As long as the end user assembles 51% of it, you don't need it. You self-attest that the device is in compliance. You also have to perform an "RF study" but there is no requirement for documentation on that.

[deleted]

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#48

Post by PaulHoule »

capitainenemo wrote: post #8
RobCodeSlayer wrote: post #3

This would be amazing for backcountry communication - e.g when backpacking with a large group. Is there any way to enable this for iOS?

I wonder how good the range would be. I was thinking that even if I didn't have the appropriate license, having something like this in a pocket on my backpack would at least give me one more signaling option in an emergency. I could deal with the fines later.

See https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/23/tape-measure-yagi/ for a upgrade to a 2 meter HT that will make it into a repeater 100 miles away under ordinary conditions and could go 300 miles under extraordinary conditions.

You need to know the squelch keys for repeaters and get some practice, it never hurts to get to know the people who run the repeaters, check in on the nightly net, know who is listening. So it is worth getting the technician license, there is no Morse code, just a multiple choice test run by friendly hams.

One rainy night I was talking to an amateur storm chaser who was reporting on conditions close to the inlet and asking why the repeater wasn’t so busy during storms like back in the day there were lots of storm chasers and I told him that NOAA advises people not to drive into flooding prone regions so most of us don’t do that because we don’t want to become part of the emergency.

Other times in the rain the air is silent but you know there is at least one ham monitoring who will call 911.

Re: Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver

#50

Post by DoctorOetker »

threemux wrote: post #42
userbinator wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, I don't believe there's a rule against steganography.

In the US, there certainly is. The rule doesn't mention encryption specifically, it just prohibits "encoding for the purpose of obscuring meaning". The intent is what matters not the method.

would oblivious transfer qualify as OK? if the sender provably doesn't know what's transmitted, will the law rule it a form of obscuring meaning?
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