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Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

kv4p.com

31–40 of 86 posts

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#31
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone complained, they send someone to check and triangulate, verify that the operator doesn't have the license, then issue a warning or fine.

I wonder how close they can triangulate? I'd guess they are SOL if I am in an apartment building with 200 other units.

I mean, if you're deliberately being a dick about it, they will ask for a warrant and have the LEO accompanying them while triangulating, they can easily figure out which unit and even room you're in by walking around in the building with directional receiver.

But in general, yeah, unless you do it regularly, living near sensitive facilities (airport, military base, hospital, factories, research labs etc) or deliberately transmitting at/near emergency frequencies (police, paramedic etc) at most you'll get yelled by a pissed off operator (at that point, stop, they could be already coordinating with someone else to triangulate you)

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#32
post #15
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those cheap baofeng's are illegal to use where I live on most of the spectrum they can operate on. Illegal to press the talk button anyway. So maybe the 1w is also a regulatory issue.

How does the FCC enforce this sort of thing? Are they listening in to certain frequencies nationally with the ability to triangulate a handheld down to actually identifying someone?

Unless you're going out of your way to force them to react, they do not.

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#33
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see it as clickbait since the realities of the Android ecosystem is a shared context. Most people know that just about every Android phone has a restricted hardware design, not an expandable one. So, "turn your phone into X" is bound to automatically evoke images of another device that plugs into the phone via common connectors like USB or the audio jack and an app on the phone to control that device. That's…

"Turn your phone into a nuclear reactor (by plugging it into a wall outlet served by a nuclear power plant)"

Why do some people get so hung up about minor things in life. The OP has done a fantastic job, not just building it, but both the delivery and mechanics.

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#34
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Turn your phone into a nuclear reactor (by plugging it into a wall outlet served by a nuclear power plant)"

Why do some people get so hung up about minor things in life. The OP has done a fantastic job, not just building it, but both the delivery and mechanics.

I agree, it is a fantastic job!

The title is still misleading to me. Not terribly so – hence my not quite serious reply – but I was expecting something like https://timestation.pages.dev/, which actually transmits using included hardware only.

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#35
post #15
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those cheap baofeng's are illegal to use where I live on most of the spectrum they can operate on. Illegal to press the talk button anyway. So maybe the 1w is also a regulatory issue.

How does the FCC enforce this sort of thing? Are they listening in to certain frequencies nationally with the ability to triangulate a handheld down to actually identifying someone?

They mostly don't. They send scary letters and maybe eventually fine someone. They have a handful of triangulation vans for the entire US. The barely respond to complaints that are revenue impacting and generally don't respond to complaints from hams that a non ham is using their equipment. Once a quarter they make an example of someone so that it appears they enforce things. The people they make examples of are usually trying really hard to troll them or doing something highly disruptive and these will end up on a few websites and magazines.

People tinkering and staying away from ham bands will generally be fine and for the cheap ham gear that made easy by design usually by doing a factory reset or worst case having to clip a diode to widen their frequency ranges. Most ham gear is designed to be highly hackable.

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#37
post #10

Is it so difficult to have schematics and pcb exported as PDF so that people do not need to fire up KiCAD to view the stuff?

I encounter this problem as well when looking at projects on Github on a near daily basis it seems.

It just led me to finding this:

https://kicanvas.org/

worth a bookmark.

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#38
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see it as clickbait since the realities of the Android ecosystem is a shared context. Most people know that just about every Android phone has a restricted hardware design, not an expandable one. So, "turn your phone into X" is bound to automatically evoke images of another device that plugs into the phone via common connectors like USB or the audio jack and an app on the phone to control that device. That's…

"Turn your phone into a nuclear reactor (by plugging it into a wall outlet served by a nuclear power plant)"

Very funny.

However, your analogy is not equivalent to, nor an example for, what I said. There's a difference between a phone's own USB/audiojack interfaces and a wall outlet.

Re: Kv4p HT – A homebrew 1W radio (VHF or UHF) that plugs into an Android phone

#39
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A compact CB transceiver would be fun.

Fun, but short range. A quarter wave CB antenna is about 2.7 meters long. Without that, you're making more heat than radio.

wspr is known to work at 7mhz band with just cloth hanger as antenna. i think its totally possible to use headphones as shitty longwave antenna too
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