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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

#161

Post by bigfishrunning »

esrauch wrote: post #142
0xEF wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I think a relevant gap you may be underestimating is "if you finish your solder job and it just doesn't work, what now"? Just getting some melted metal onto a thing is really ~none of the skill cap that makes it "scary", when it inevitably doesn't work, the skill involved in debugging it, fixing the issue (desoldering), identifying if you fried other small cheap components that may need to be replaced, that's really…

All of those knowledgeable people were beginners once, made those mistakes, and came out the other side as knowledgeable people. You'll never do anything if you don't start somewhere. This is a fairly simple electronics project, with relatively easy soldering.

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

#162

Post by 0xEF »

esrauch wrote: post #142
0xEF wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I think a relevant gap you may be underestimating is "if you finish your solder job and it just doesn't work, what now"? Just getting some melted metal onto a thing is really ~none of the skill cap that makes it "scary", when it inevitably doesn't work, the skill involved in debugging it, fixing the issue (desoldering), identifying if you fried other small cheap components that may need to be replaced, that's really…

I am not sure what gap you mean, since troubleshooting is part of the learning process. If someone expects to always get it right the first time, they are a bad student. Problem solving is relevant to all learning.

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

#163

Post by itomato »

tastyfreeze wrote: post #25
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?

Decent walkie-talkies are cheap. Cheap enough that I bought some for my kids to play with instead of a single channel garbage radio like I had as a kid. If you really want a cheap programmable radio Yaesu and BaoFeng are the brands most people go with.

Decent Walkies are FRS blister pack radios now.

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

#164

Post by myself248 »

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…

You can learn all these things at your local makerspace, and teach whatever your skills are to give back to the community.

If learning some DIY skills isn't your jam, then maybe a DIY ham project isn't for you.

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

#165

Post by myself248 »

jpm_sd wrote: post #5

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

It's a ham project, you self-certify. Part 97 allows you to build your own equipment.

Now, in doing so, you're also taking responsibility for your emissions, and you're expected to be diligent about making sure everything is within the rules. But there's no paperwork or anything unless you want there to be. (Taking notes about your spectral purity testing is probably a good idea, you'll probably never need them, but if someone complains it'll be nice to have.)

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

#166

Post by WorldWideWebb »

dekhn wrote: post #63

how the turntables. Back in the 80s my grandfather (N4MDB RIP) had a ham radio in his car and used something called an "autopatch" which could dial phone numbers. He'd call my grandma and say we were going shopping or whatever. Everybody from the shack could listen in with their radios. He tried to get me interested in ham radio but at the time I was exploring the internet and ham seemed... boring? Overly fussy with…

My dad (W6FP RIP) did the same. I thought that was pretty neat but not enough that I ever got into ham radio.

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

#167

Post by tastyfreeze »

quite wrote: post #131
tastyfreeze wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decent walkie-talkies are cheap. Cheap enough that I bought some for my kids to play with instead of a single channel garbage radio like I had as a kid. If you really want a cheap programmable radio Yaesu and BaoFeng are the brands most people go with.

Could you point me at such decent walkie-talkie?

Midland Xtra Talk are the ones I got my kids.

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

#168

Post by bronco21016 »

quite wrote: post #131
tastyfreeze wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decent walkie-talkies are cheap. Cheap enough that I bought some for my kids to play with instead of a single channel garbage radio like I had as a kid. If you really want a cheap programmable radio Yaesu and BaoFeng are the brands most people go with.

Could you point me at such decent walkie-talkie?

I bought these[1] for my daughter. We use them while camping. Range is around 1-1.5 miles in hilly, wooded terrain.

[1] https://a.co/d/64LVWel

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

#169

Post by gh02t »

lormayna wrote: post #30
RenThraysk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yes, but think about having a mobile that has native integration with APRS or can make voice/packet radio or even DMR. It would be perfect for hiking or adventures. Even better with LORA. Probably the main issue is RF compatibility.

They do exist, I've seen several but as an example a DMR UHF Android phone: https://www.unihertz.com/products/atom-xl and the older https://www.anyradios.com/product/runbo-e81-dual-band-4g-dmr...

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

#170

Post by ssl-3 »

caseyy wrote: post #139
0xEF wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

It’s not necessarily about how hard it is, but what’s the ROI on learning a skill. If soldering was something I did at work or if I often repaired my own electronics, then it could even be worth learning it if it took a month of evenings. But as I’d not have many of the tools and schematics to do component level repair on today’s electronics and I almost never need to solder anything at my software engineering job, s…

Learning how to solder (and to solder very well) is much easier than learning to play the piano or the violin.

It's also tool-using skill that changes the way one thinks about stuff; it opens doors.

These days I'm fairly comfortable and confident with ordering custom PCBs to support various hardware and software projects. This lets me build stuff that I would not have imagined without the ability to solder.

I don't do component level repair at work or at home if it goes beyond changing out an obviously-bad electrolytic capacitor or something, but I have rescued many things quickly and inexpensively by swapping things like obviously-bad electrolytic caps. That saves me money, and by extension it also saves me time.

I wouldn't have ever considered any of that if I didn't know how to solder.

Bonuses: Unlike learning piano, it doesn't take six months to learn soldering. And unlike the piano itself, the soldering kit is inexpensive, portable, and low-maintenance.

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