Turn your Android phone into a modern ham radio transceiver • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by pbmonster » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 7:50 AM UTC

radicality wrote: post #72

lormayna wrote: post #4

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

I recently dug up my old iPod Nano 5th gen (small square one) from 2010 and charged it up, and still works fine. What I forgot, and it totally surprised me, is that it has FM radio! I selected some stations and it worked great. And that Nano was tiny, would be cool to have this feature back in current iPhones / Apple Watches. I know it’s not the same as having full tx/rx on the 2m/70cm bands, but still, even just jus…

> And that Nano was tiny, would be cool to have this feature back in current iPhones / Apple Watches.

That iPod used its headphone cables as the radio antenna. There's no easy way around that for a SmartWatch, and most people wouldn't be happy to carry a USB-C antenna dongle around with them for their iPhone.

You can of course start doing black RF magic with more compact antenna designs, but that's much more complex and still has a much larger footprint on the board than the FM receiver in that iPod nano has.

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

#112

Post by wkat4242 » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 7:56 AM UTC

Nice, but it would be a lot nicer if it could do digital modes like DMR, Fusion etc.

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

#113

Post by wkat4242 » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 8:00 AM UTC

drmpeg wrote: post #73

This is a wacky idea, but the "modern" thing to do would be to repurpose seldom used 2-meter repeaters and make them 5G gNBs in the 3300 to 3450 MHz ham band (which overlaps NR band 78). Then you could directly use your cell phone (with a different SIM card) as your ham radio. Network gaming servers to the gNBs and every kid in the US will want a ham license. https://github.com/srsran/srsran_project

I would love to set up a real managed digital network for hams, with stuff like roaming and the like.

But I'd be more interested in technologies that are one to many rather than the one to one calls on mobile phones. Open public channels keeps the ham community connected.

Something like DMR Tier 3 or Tetra would be great.

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

#114

Post by wkat4242 » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 8:01 AM UTC

drmpeg wrote: post #76

anyfoo wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you "repurpose" a 2m repeater for that?

Swap out all the RF hardware. It's the high level site that matters.

But why swap it out then? Just install the new hardware alongside.

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

#115

Post by amelius » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 8:46 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #45

> 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.

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

If anybody could do that, that would be a nightmare I suppose.

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

#116

Post by stefanv » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 9:00 AM UTC

Or you can just use something like https://shop.sharkrf.com/shop/srf-ose-pro-openspot4-pro-digi... with any mobile phone (Android or iOS) to do talk with any ham operator over the internet (I know, different use case)

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

#117

Post by caseyy » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 9:14 AM UTC

I wish this was for sale assembled. I know probably about 50% about printing PCBs compared to what I’d need to know, don’t have a 3D printer, and I expect that the firmware and apps probably have at least one or two quirks to take into account. All together, this makes it a big difference in accessibility between being able to buy an assembled item and tinkering oneself. I know tinkering is fun for many people, but having a mobile ham is fun for many more.

P.S. Upon second glance, it looks like I’d need soldering skills, too. These things really add to the price. The price of components may be $35, but the cost of learning all these things (time) and mistakes along the way may be in the thousands if we take the hourly rate of a tech worker. Flawed comparison, I know, but you get the point.

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

#118

Post by stavros » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 9:35 AM UTC

RachelF wrote: post #107

stavros wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? What happens?

The Qansheng's that I've tested have been fine, first harmonic down 44dB, which is OK for the FCC. However, if you hack the firmware and transmit outside the bands the radio's RF is designed to transmit on, then you will probably see all sorts of spectral weirdness.

Sure, of course, that's to be expected.

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

#119

Post by thanksgiving » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 9:36 AM UTC

drewnick wrote: post #94

dfc wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this battery free?

It uses the phone's battery, which is assumed to be something that is already managed.

Maybe it is too early in the morning or I am just an idiot but how do battery powered cars avoid the "spicy pillow" problem where batteries swell up?

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

#120

Post by 0xEF » Tue, Oct 15, 2024, 9:39 AM UTC

caseyy wrote: post #117

I wish this was for sale assembled. I know probably about 50% about printing PCBs compared to what I’d need to know, don’t have a 3D printer, and I expect that the firmware and apps probably have at least one or two quirks to take into account. All together, this makes it a big difference in accessibility between being able to buy an assembled item and tinkering oneself. I know tinkering is fun for many people, but h…

> soldering skills

It's...not that hard. Unless we're dealing with SMDs, soldering takes about a weekend to learn correctly. Most DIY kits involve through-hole components that you can master after you take a cheap iron to a couple dozen header pins or something equally banal. SMDs, on the other hand, take a bit more finesse, but can be achieved with a wee bit of time and patience.

I work in industrial controls and it blows my mind how many people in the field are terrified of soldering, even something as simple as tinning wires so the crimps fit a bit better, let alone the amount of "DIYers" I meet that don't even own an iron. Y'all are holding yourself back by not learning this easy-to-grasp skill.