B.B. Link :: iPhone 💛 Kenwood TH-D74 / TH-D75

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Nice choice of music!!

[@k9-ham]

This was a fun build. I have no prior experience working with Arduino or dev boards however this video made it a breeze. Great companion to Radiomail and the D74. Keep up the good work!! Thank you.

[@daledervin3672]

Excellent work. Truly.

[@jimlarson4899]

Nice solution Georges. Thanks for sharing.

[@michael-sauer]

Dope! Worked excellent! Thanks a lot!

[@filipetorchiamiranda]

After a few attempts, woohoo! it works! Keep in mind that you need the D75 set to the B band or it will not work ! Excellent work! Now I have to 3D print the case and get the battery :-) Thank you for all the help !

[@islandmagicco]

B.B. Link actually queries the radio to determine which VFO is to be used for KISS TNC. It will work with either A or B band.

[@filipetorchiamiranda]

@@islandmagicco really? interesting, my TH-D75 is brand new, maybe I need to set something up to allow that? I did several tests, and when the radio is turned on and is on VFO Band A, the BB Link board will not communicate via BT to the radio. If I have the radio on the B band, then all works, the BT connection is done without any hiccups and the correct frequency is set, KISS12 mode automatically engaged and RadioMail checks my email (if I can hit the repeater, hehe)

[@islandmagicco]

There are two things at play here. You can configure which VFO is used for TNC KISS, via the Data Band setting, menu 506. Then there is what VFO is radio is using, single A or B or dual A/B. If the Data Band is set to VFO B, but the radio is in single band on VFO A, then yes, the connection will not go thru. If Data Band is set for VFO B, put the radio in dual band and you'll be able to use VFO A for voice and VFO B will automatically be used for Data.

[@filipetorchiamiranda]

@@islandmagicco Perfect explanation ! Thank you ! 73'

[@ch716]

Wow nice! Maybe I shouldn’t have cancelled my preorder. Thanks for your work on this!

[@RussellThomas]

This is a genius solution! Thanks for sharing the project! -KV4S

[@edcnorcal]

Simply genius! 👏

[@edcnorcal]

One question… how can the battery be recharged if it’s soldered to the TinyPico? 🤔

[@islandmagicco]

The TinyPICO has a charge circuit, simply plug the board in a USB power source and it will charge the battery.

[@davidfogel4578]

Thanks for the video. I have wanted to use my TH-D74 with Radio Mail for awhile but the Bluetooth issue was holding me back. I will have to try this solution. Thanks ! -KE6EX

[@kevinkerns6808]

Brilliant!!!

[@filipetorchiamiranda]

Fantastic !

[@filipetorchiamiranda]

Quick question, is there a way to prevent the TinyPICO from sleeping? I took a different approach where I just power the board from the USB-C, but the issue is, if I keep the board idle, it sleeps. The only way to get around this is unplug and plug the power supply. Thank you

[@islandmagicco]

That should not be the case. When USB power is detected, the adapter should not go to sleep. If this is happening, please open an issue github.com/islandmagic/bb-link/issues

[@thuff3207]

Thank you and I will build this for my D74. I do hope both work with my ipad too.

[@islandmagicco]

Yes, works the same on the iPad

[@thuff3207]

@@islandmagicco Awesome I just ordered the TinyPico USBC TPV3-1 and downloading Arduino on my mac to program the processor.

[@x25ss77]

Ardunio 2.3.2( apple silicon version) does not recognize TinyPico. But Thonny recognizes TinyPico.. So Pls advice.

[@islandmagicco]

Make sure you've installed the drivers for CH9102F UART as instructed on www.tinypico.com

[@x25ss77]

Thank you for your advice. On MAC Silicon, I checked the driver in /dev/. But I got stuck with an error. I changed the environment to Linux and was able to install it on TinyPICO. Done The error on Mac is as follows. Error Message: bash: /Users/akiyama/Library/Arduino15/packages/esp32/tools/esptool_py/4.5.1/esptool: Bad CPU type in executable exit status 126 Compilation error: exit status 126@@islandmagicco

[@islandmagicco]

Looks like perhaps the toolchain for the wrong platform got installed. Maybe try to re-install and make sure you have rosetta installed. Beyond that, that's probably something better answered by searching for Arduino IDE errors.

[@RealOnyxter]

So I’m guessing being that this all works off of the ESP32-Pico, the QTPY ESP32 Pico development board (which uses the ESP32-Pico-V3-02 chip, specifically) would also work? It’s a bit smaller from what I see of the TinyPico, and I just so happen to have a couple laying around. I’ve successfully flashed everything, but run into trouble with HARDWARE_BOARD in adapter.h You’ll have to forgive my ignorance, as I’m very new to arduino (started about a month ago, was previously programming in micropython!). I was wondering is there any easy way to define the board, and define it as having that chip? Or would this not be possible because it’s a different variant of ESP32 Pico? Thank you so much! 🙏

[@islandmagicco]

Super cute board 😃. In Arduino IDE, try selecting ESP32 PICO-D4 as the board type and see if that works.

[@RealOnyxter]

@@islandmagicco I just recompiled for that chip, and sure enough... It works! Thank you so much, this is so incredibly useful!

[@aticonn]

So I downloaded the most recent Arduino IDE (2.3.0) for windows and when I try to install , when I go to perform the step of installing the additional board manager URLs, there is no window in the Preferences-> Settings labeled “Additional board Manager URLs”. I uninstalled 2.3.0 and found 2.2.1 which appears to be the same version you are using and same issue. Is there some other setting that makes this option available or? I just got my device today so am anxious to try it. Thanks.

[@islandmagicco]

Should be right there, last line in Preferences > Settings. There is a little blue icon that opens the windows where you can paste multiple urls.

[@aticonn]

@@islandmagicco ok that’s weird, the window is now there, I swear it was not after I first installed it…

[@aticonn]

@@islandmagiccoI got everything working, tested with radiomail and my Kenwood TH-D75 works as advertised. Thanks.

[@islandmagicco]

Congrats!

[@GeertRSan]

Newbie @ Arduino. When I com to the connection part, I can see USB-Enhanced-serial CH9102 on COM7. I can't see the wchb1.. as you say? On the board type I have UM TinyPICO, the reel one, and next COM7 Serial Port (USB)

[@islandmagicco]

Things probably look different on Windows. Try selecting COM7 and see how it goes.

[@GeertRSan]

Succes in programming, first test with paper clip OK. Now assembly time.

[@joeyoung6908]

Excellent/73

[@stephenprovost1348]

Really great project!!! I am confused on what board to order on the UM website, can you reply what board to order? thanks

[@islandmagicco]

The TinyPICO unexpectedmaker.com/shop.html#!/TinyPICO/p/577111313/category=154494282

[@full_metal2452]

22:13 When I try to find a station and connect to one it won’t do the same thing for me. I can see stations but can’t select one to connect to. Any idea what I’m missing?

[@islandmagicco]

You need to make sure the station is added to your favorite first. Go to directory, favorite the station. Then it's available in the connect screen.

[@full_metal2452]

@@islandmagicco and I assume you’d have to be within range of said station or it wouldn’t let you connect?

[@islandmagicco]

RadioMail will let you initiate a connection regardless of where the station is, but the connection will likely timeout if you're not in RF range.

[@full_metal2452]

@@islandmagicco within RF range of the BB link or repeater tower?

[@islandmagicco]

I assume by "repeater tower" you are referring to the Winlink station you're connecting to. Visualize this as a series of links: "iPhone" "B.B. Link" "TH-D75" "Winlink station". Connection #1 is via Bluetooth Low Energy and connection #2 is via Bluetooth Classic-both are short-range technologies that work best when devices are within a few feet of each other. Connection #3 uses your VHF or UHF radio signal, which typically requires line of sight to function effectively, within range of 5-50 miles. If any of these links are out of range or the corresponding device is not available, the session will timeout.

[@RLKD8DNS]

I’ve been using this solution for a while now on my d74. I would have bought a d75 but the lack of BLE was a dealbreaker.

[@GeertRSan]

trying to connect,switch on touch battery and cable on pin4, orange led, nearby adapters B.B. Link RSSI: -32 in the app, connect OK, TH-D74 in BT pairing mode, click paired radio, blue led on B.B. Link, ...often Lost BLE Connection. I kept trying and eventally succeeded in connecting. Now on exploration in RadioMail.☺

[@GeertRSan]

Notting goes automatic for the moment. No connection to the radio TH-D74 possible.

[@kevinkerns6808]

How much would you charge for this devise? Would you make and sell one?

[@islandmagicco]

I just released a new model that's plug-and-play. Check out getbblink.com

[@CDTsuiPo]

bravo

[@N4EJM]

Too bad I’ll probably never own that radio(price). I wonder how it would work with the Yaesu FT-3.

[@islandmagicco]

AFAIK the FT-3 does not expose a KISS TNC, so unlikely.

[@N4EJM]

@@islandmagicco Oh yeah that’s right.

[@ManuelPinner]

I have the D75A,

[@dehartman]

Is this the correct TPV3-01 model ?

[@islandmagicco]

Yes, that would denote the TinyPico V3

[@dehartman]

What is the expected range of this if it is unattached?

[@islandmagicco]

I just conducted a test and managed to establish a connection with the board positioned approximately 30 feet (9 meters) away from both the phone and the radio, maintaining line of sight. The range seems to be limited by the antenna on the TinyPICO. For extended range, there is a variant of the board that allows for the attachment of an external antenna.

[@dehartman]

@@islandmagicco I ordered one of each . So we will see if the extra dollar and a half is worth it .Thanks so much for your work and sharing it .

[@WalterBoring]

dang. UM wants $23 shipping on the tinypico. That's more than the cost of the tinypico itself!!!

[@islandmagicco]

Try other channels. Looks like Tindie has some in stock.

[@KD0SPY]

Will this work with the Kenwood D72

[@islandmagicco]

AFAIK, the D72 does not have Bluetooth, so very unlikely.

[@Adam-ws5fq]

It has a usb port. With a couple extra lines of code to bring in the wired serial uart this could open up the d72 to be RadioMail compatible as well.

[@islandmagicco]

It would require either device to support USB host mode, which I don't think they do. But that's why the code is out there, so that anyone can experiment.

[@bruehlt]

Crazy that Apple has such a bad, crappy design that you need to result to this. Louis Rossmann would love this.

[@collodionpositive554]

No, it's very much by design.