Turn ANY Android Into A REAL VHF Two Way Radio Transceiver

[@TsiolkovskySportingLocks]

Yet another awesome project. The boards arrived on Friday so I spent the weekend putting together the radio portion and it works a total treat.

[@Drewniversed]

This is right up my ally. Dipoles be damned, what a cool project! I can hear my soldering iron calling to me.

[@TTS-TP]

😆 made me chuckle. If my grandfather were still alive, he would tell me I was committing an abomination.

[@PowerScissor]

This would be amazing for all my backcountry trips...but cellphones working with satellites nowadays makes it almost unnecessary...and only needed as a backup. Sending/receiving text messsges in the middle of nowhere is such a great feature for those of us that leave coverage often.

[@MountainParameters]

One thing to keep in mind with respect to the concept of, "but cellphones working with satellites nowadays makes it almost unnecessary." This statement could be true, but a qualifier may be in order. And that qualifier is the ability, or lack thereof, to summon help from an external agency such as Gov't agency or NGO's who may man a local dispatch center via VHF, and how fast of a response may be required to address the nature of the emergency. For example, a real world event may illustrate this best. A party of skiers were descending the Notch near Lake Louise when the lead skier was involved in an avalanche. Broken femur required medi vac. The ACMG guide on scene performed a SPOT activation and called Banff NP dispatch on his VHF radio via the Hector repeater. The joint BNP/LLYK public safety team flew in and were dropped at the victim. The victim was stabilized and packaged on the slope in a Bowman bag and the 'ship' was returning to scene to sling victim out when Atlanta dispatch center for the satellite service called Banff dispatch to report an activation in their jurisdiction. It was of course, the same event that had been reported two different ways. The time difference between the two methods turned out to be about 1 hr. Another thing to keep in mind is there is a general feeling right now that the cellphone to satellite functionality is not ready for prime time yet as opposed to dedicated devices such as SPOT or inReach when it comes to the question of reliability with respect to summoning help for emergencies, but it will get there eventually.

[@hadi77ir]

Wow. Had this idea for months and suddenly this appears in my feed. Great work! Absolutely loved it!

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Glad you liked it!

[@mrgoodman6620]

Morphic resonance! 😉

[@emdxemdx]

What would be nice is a provision on the PCB for a second USB connector which could be used to charge the phone while being used.

[@Vlad-en9ic]

most of phones can't work in dual mode. only "host" or "device".

[@bradley144]

Most phones won't support this, but you might be able to get away with simultaneous wireless charging and USB OTG

[@robertf6523]

why wouldn't it work since there are USB OTG devices that specifically have a power input? Like: plug in your charging USB cord here and I'll send that power on to the phone

[@arsenicjones9125]

You can put solder mask over the pins of the esp32 after you cut them to prevent anything like dirt or moisture from shorting between the pins

[@Wasgehtnab]

Oh, this is really nice. In combination with Meshtastic u get a nice off grid system

[@ho0t0w1]

Exactly

[@3v068]

Darn it Tech Minds, I dont have the money to keep getting radio stuff. Ah hell yes I do.

[@Chuck1855]

That is way cool going to look into this as a club radio project.

[@duncanyu]

Great Project! Would like to buy a complete product soon.

[@KeanueAnakoni-Aukai]

just build it? its so simple and cheaper than what a production product would cost. he even said 3d printed cause can be sourced. I made a makeshift housing until my 3d print comes

[@heitorvrb]

Imagine having this connected to a large antenna on your roof and your phone paired wirelessly with the board (via WI-FI ou Bluetooth). The real Radio Phone!

[@halbihamza5938]

Good project, the last time i made an android text message tranceiver using esp and LoRa Module Greeting from Morocco

[@qinaan]

Dear what is the frequency range and power output of the transceiver?

[@lucase6407]

134-174MHz

[@JoeB1188]

@@lucase6407 and power output?

[@IanSebryk]

absolutely fabulous! thank you so much. this is going into my build list for the new year!

[@jamesmahoney6009]

A few years back bought a vhf/uhf radio from China it was also a mobile phone which accepted 2 sim cards came with 2 antennas one for vhf/uhf one for the phone....can't remember the name ..cost about 35 quid

[@Francois_Dupont]

if you ever found the name for similar model please tell us. this build here in this video cost almost 50$.

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

The ones I saw, were Motorola knock offs. They use them on construction sites, then toss them, cos the next job hands out new units on a new freq, etc.

[@TTS-TP]

Believe it or not, Samsung even made a short band radio capable Galaxy S3. It was a China Telecom a special release. It was designed to pick up Digital television with a telescoping antenna that even has a swivel and pivot. Someone got a colonel functioning with full control. One of the coolest devices that was sad to see finally reach EOL. I want to say it was the power management side that failed, but I'm still so glad I bought that off of a Chinese student going to the local College, trying to buy a phone while they were in the US. One of the many Oddball perks of being in cellular repair

[@udhi_gn3893]

Maybe you mean a hybrid POC radio

[@exxzz13]

Runbo

[@kuldeepsankpal6443]

What is the frequency range? And can I listen and transmit signal to RT like on aircraft radio. Which is VHF.

[@3DJapan]

I remember one of my older Android phones had a radio function, you just had to correct wired headphones. The wire functioned as the antenna.

[@keithroberts5946]

My old Sony Ericson phone had an broadcast FM radio receiver - it used the wired headphone as the antenna. That was some years ago now

[@gus473]

An FM radio receiver was built into the Motorola g4 Play, and my wife gave me a Verizon no-contract version which cost less than US$50 around 2016. Good reception for wx and news when we were in cellular dead zones, before SpaceX Starlink!

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

Question for me is why not use mini-circuits'monolithic SMT LPFs? (LFCN-) I think you can get them from both mouser and DigiKey...

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Put forward your idea to the project, I’m sure it would be very well received from them.

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

@TechMindsOfficial I may also submit the idea of using an SR_FRS-W2US radio module as it's 2w UHF, but has been hacked before to operate 146-222-440 MHz with the Arduino handie talkie project, as well as having a switchable LPF with the LFCN's

[@Fred_Klingon]

Maybe this radio is already made to be interfaced with a microcontroller and be digitally controlled, instead of having some external hardware. The audio should also be routed into the esp32 to be sent via USB!

[@KA4UPW]

Is that cable always needed? What is the TX power output? Show more videos on the APRS features 😅

[@jsandfort]

@@KA4UPW Yes. It’s the data cable the UI on the phone uses.

[@tratzum]

@@KA4UPW i read somewhere it's 1 w output

[@keithroberts5946]

@@tratzum those modules on high power setting have a typical output of 29.5dBm (about 0.9W) - max is 32dBm (about 1.25W) on low power mode its 27dBm (about 0.5w) Not exactly high power output

[@tratzum]

@@keithroberts5946 dam rules of 3's and 10's. Tx

[@medienmond]

Hey, do you have 2 spare PCB of the new version for me? I really would love to build a com set for myself.

[@oidpolar6302]

Backplane attached is missing connection over NFC of course. A separate battery will be much better using phone shared one (not every phone allow that

[@viennois0123]

I totally love this! How can I get into this? I am a total newbie. Any starting points are most welcome. Thanks in advance!

[@TechMindsOfficial]

If you are interested in Ham Radio, then try and find your local radio club. Talk with them about learning and obtaining a license so you can transmit. normally, clubs are very friendly. Alternatively, you can get yourself an SDR receiver, and start listening to the world of radio. Lots to discover! :-)

[@viennois0123]

@TechMindsOfficial thank you!

[@m1geo]

I ordered a set of 30 for a club. Bought all the bits. Then the ESP32 module didn't fit the boards. Apparently a known issue. The project has gone from V1.6 to V1.9 in the past few days! Shame, as I'm now stuck with a load of parts that won't fit!

[@TechMindsOfficial]

There is a WIP 1.8 but I don't see a 1.9. 1.7b is the latest release version of the board.

[@stormrider8236]

Interested to know exactly what the RF output of this unit - looks like a great project for Foundation/Intermediate continuation activities.

[@philipdk1]

hi, this looks great but you forgot to tell many things, what is the frequency range and what is the transmission power, i can buy a small transceiver 10W for about $66 australian with a range of 16MHZ to 600MHZ with FM radio and air plane frequencys removed from transmission but receiving but i dont know any info for this project

[@TechMindsOfficial]

The follow up video that I made on this contains the information you need :-) The module specs are available online, depending which one you get. 134 to 174MHz roughly.

[@Mughal-e-Aazam]

esp 32 can transmit on vhf band using the dra818 module but where to find ….and what is the maximum range of tx/rx

[@rubyh.4460]

It would be cool to see a built-in Bluetooth feature on a future version of the PCB. That USB interface is kind of clunky

[@brylozketrzyn]

ESP32 has Bluetooth

[@vestale4]

Over the USB also power is provided to the bo ard.

[@BrettDalton]

That. The USB is powering the device. Without it you need to add a battery and weight and complexity

[@chriscjjones8182]

And Bluetooth comes with the headache of requiring licenses and certificates

[@yv6eda]

Amazing project... and cheap! Thanks !

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Glad you like it!

[@rasheedali2587]

Can the application be developed to receive digital radio waves and add a special encryption box. So that it can be received and sent with Hytera radio devices?

[@wimbraber944]

Does it support the airband. (108 - 137 Mhz) both Rx an Tx?

[@larryroop5924]

I wonder if this can do UHF or better still for me the 220 MHz band?

[@jsandfort]

What’s the power output?

[@m1geo]

DRA818V is 1W.

[@Soupie62]

According to the Aliexpress page, the SA818S is 0.5 - 3W. 134 - 174 MHz. So in theory, you could pick up NOAA Satellites at 136.1 MHz.

[@lampshadesneeded]

@@Soupie62 pity theres no good decoder for android

[@forerunner75]

Interesting. Could It work for Airbands, and Can you disable Tx on certains fréquences to avoir any mistake or unwanted transmission ? ?

[@jacquesb5248]

brilliant! whats the range of it?

[@AME_BUCK]

Could this work for listening in on air band frequencys ? From the 108-137 MHz range ?

[@adcraziness1501]

Does the application work with an Android-compatible hardware PTT button? They make Bluetooth speaker/mics that would be awesome with this.

[@TechMindsOfficial]

That's a really neat idea! I would recommend to suggestion this as an enhancement on the Github page. It might already work, but I have not tested that as of yet.

[@raughboy188]

Amazing! If would be nice if pi pico could be used in place of smartphone to act as dedicated vhf radio for comunication. I asume there is something like android avaliable for raspbery pi and the app here should be on fdroid too.

[@0xKruzr]

going to try one of these with my Boox Tab Mini C. does anyone have thoughts about how to get your transmit power up to 5W or so?

[@TemptationsEnd]

You theoretically could wire a button to the board itself to give it PTT controls and could always code the app to have a response spoken out to you if the device is not currently in use by the holder like those old walkie talkies. lol Though unfortunately my skills aren't up to the task (hopefully I will be taking coding classes soon.) and then you could have your own bespoke android or linux based PTT VHF smartphone. (:

[@MCJ65]

I recently found your project. I think it's amazing and I'm going to create it! Reading your project I see that the main board is a 500mW-1W SA818-V radio module. Is there an alternative with more power?

[@Mike-Denver]

This is so cool! Well done and thank you. Among other way to design this set up I would offer a Bluetooth connect with the phone and so the readio will need it own power supply but won't have this ugly wire on the back.

[@maxmixer]

So what's the frequency range ? Someone going to come up with a 0-6GHZ version for receiving like the Ali Express ones

[@grogxp4459]

Can it also be programme to use the VHF Marine band

[@ziggyvdh5276]

Only for RadioAmateurs?

[@Ztbmrc1]

Interesting project. Does it also receive AM. What is the frequency range?

[@Youtube_kontot]

A Baofeng UV5R is like $20 shipped from Ali. What is the point of this radio module other than you build it yourself?

[@Calvarydima]

Because if you do it yourself you are still alive . If you just order everything from China . Soon we will become dumb consumers.

[@ApocGuy]

Phone compatibility? Easy mesh networking? I for one, love the idea of repurposing old phones into makeshift vhf radios.

[@lampshadesneeded]

you can already buy integrated phone/ht, and a dedicated ht with battery cost less than half as much. why the exitement?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Dedicated phone with radio are most likely closed source, and cost 100's of $. A $35 HT does not have the ability to use software. This costs less than $35 for a single unit, and it's open source. This means that we have a software controlled VHF radio which can yield all sorts of future developments. Hope that helps.

[@helbertgascon]

So what's the range of this?

[@SkillfulHacking]

Are the low and high pass filters software based or additional hardware?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

The filters settings on the app refer to the received audio only.

[@patrickbodine1300]

Does your phone need to have a sim card installed to work with this setup as described? Asking for a friend.

[@bitemykrank1970]

I watched this and was trying to work out WHY IT EXISTS....when you can buy a chinesium radio that does all this and more for $50. Then right at the end it all made sense to me..... When you added that short USB-C cable to the unit, it made it look like something some time travelling cop would pull out of his kit when he's skip chasing a villian across multiple alternate times and era's.....like in all those documentaries they make about that kind of thing.

[@sammiller6631]

Why waste money on a chinesium radio?

[@oidpolar6302]

Nezium can't short messages. Do you see many nezium radios code source is available?

[@Enonymouse_]

​@sammiller6631 they love giving money to a government that uses forced labor from political prisoners to build stuff, I guess?

[@williambaldwin4563]

How about repeater offset ?

[@TaskForce141cod]

how far could transmitter and receiver can communicate between each other?

[@sicarioxyz2sicario86]

I would like to have the device but i am not used to weld and so on. Does anybody sell the composed device?

[@allenhook3042]

Seems really complicated to me, from getting the parts to putting it together! And then what can you do with it?

[@vikings-x8p]

Play with it

[@TTS-TP]

I have been getting back into SDR and HF through linux. I will have to look into this project, and see if I can contribute. Imagine it wouldn't be too hard to do transcription and data parsing

[@hstrinzel]

Can I buy a COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED unit anywhere? Thank you for the fabulous project.

[@TechMindsOfficial]

I have just received a load of 1.7b boards, populated with the filter components. They just need to RF module, ESP module and SMA socket. I MAY give away the bare boards at some point in the future. I also might get some fully made and sell them, depends on demand really.

[@TheBroot0999]

​@@TechMindsOfficialso when are you selling the completed boards 😊

[@DenisUsvh]

Работает с Meshtastic? Возможно прослушивать несколько каналов одновременно? Будет плагин для ATAK ?

[@JohnSeaward]

What is the frequency range of this ?

[@JNET_Reloaded]

Very Nice! hope to see this for sale fully made soon i cant solder these days cba also what is the max output power?

[@slick8086]

> what is the max output power? 1 watt I bet if you asked people in the chat of the project someone would build one for you for a fee.

Given this is still on development it would be a good idea to use sockets for the components, most certainly the main components aren't changing that much from version to version

[@Dukelanovic]

JLPCB is the MC Donalds for electronics. Cool idea with the radio.

[@AlexusMaximusDE]

What? JLCPCB actually produces high quality boards, they are just fast. McDonalds is fast as well but their food is also shit.

[@MINI-4X4-RADIO]

It is powered by the Phones Battery via USB-C Assuming 60% Efficiency circa 500mA current draw at 3.7V from Phone Battery It will be interesting to see how long the Phone Battery Lasts

[@topsac3283]

Hello techmind, was this available for 2 meter band only? How about 70 cm band? Thanks and 73 😊😊😊

[@TechMindsOfficial]

VHF for this design, but should not be too difficult to make one for UHF too.

[@philwilliams899]

Is it just 144-148 or the usual 136 to 174Mhz?

[@loughkb]

That's controlled by the software. As is, it's just the two meter band. just modify the software.

[@SBPepperminion]

Imagine being able to work 1.25m on that...

[@slick8086]

The frequency range is determined by the radio module which is DRA818V/SA818-V. I think this one of the modules from the baofeng UV-5r so it might do that full range. The link to the module is on the project page.

[@braithmiller]

I think you can dual band the antenna if the performance is not optimal. In USA it's 16 centered, ais is at one end.

[@jasonking9727]

You got me thinking about a duel tuncating version already. ;)

[@Qwiv]

Finally something awesome like this for the rest of us. How much juice does it pull?

[@chadsmith8476]

That's great and all. But how do I turn it back into an Android? Better yet, how do I turn a VHF xcvr into an Android? Thanks!

[@arifkukar]

brilliant idea!, but if u make it with mounting or grip and easy to stick on back of other phone case's with extra PTT dedicated button i would say its so great

[@madwaxer83]

do you have this completed project available to buy from your Amazon account?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Unfortunately not, you have to get the boards etc yourself. However, I might do a limited run of them if the interest is there. I have a new video coming out on this in a few days with an update.

[@madwaxer83]

@TechMindsOfficial cool I just ordered a 3 pack of the eap32 lora V3 cheers

[@Devo1987]

what (SDR) software are you using at 10:11 ?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

SDRuno by SDR Play. It works with their SDRPlay SDRs.

[@K2PMD]

Can I use it on my current android phone and it works only when it's plugged in? Or do I need to use a different phone that isn't currently on a plan?

[@TechMindsOfficial]

you can use it on any Android phone that supports OTG and the app. Doesnt matter if it is on plan or not.

[@robsixtyfour9204]

"Hamdroid" 😂

[@TechMindsOfficial]

That's a perfect name!

[@mrgoodman6620]

Love it! I think that the first d needs to be capital HamDriod. The idea of emphasis is so its never get accidentally omitted, as "hamriod" is a bit dodgy 😕

[@StormChaserAlgeria]

😂😂😂

[@o.ruoroch9869]

I have an old Android 5.0 tablet that I cannot update (because the bootloader is locked), this project could be a nice project to repurpose it. Thank you!

[@CaptZenPetabyte]

LoRaWAN module + this unit on an old Android phone and this would be an AWESOME little comms device

[@psychodadsn]

Any chance this does ssb? Great video, ill definitely check this out.

[@TrainHer]

Soldering It's about the hardest job I've ever done and I've done a lot of hard jobs.I would recommend you haven't soddered

[@olafelsberry420]

Wowser that sounds like a good project.

[@nomanshah6761]

How far can it transmit message?

[@zeeproduction]

Well... not really "ANY Android". Maybe let people know the minimum Android version for the apk to work?

[@christopherj3367]

awesome, so many possibilities and uses. great find.

[@the_parallax_traveller_]

Good idea to connect this with my car android head unit with this interface and get radio working in car😀

[@slick8086]

definitely need an external antenna, this only outputs 1w

[@stickmenwithrayguns]

I wonder if this transceiver will work with Rattlegram? 🤔

[@TechMindsOfficial]

If rattlegram is open source, then sure, it could be incorporated.

[@sumer9286]

How to make voice incription chip for VHF and UHF

[@themajasticcreature]

only vhf or vhf and uhf? uhf is very useful in my country

[@EvasiveCrow]

Funny thing is that I dont need to do anything to change my phone in to hum radio.. My phone have it already built in. Its a fun project to build

[@mi6xgzjon186]

does anyone know the output wattage and power drain on your phone?

[@m1geo]

@@mi6xgzjon186 1W from DRA818V.

[@SkillfulHacking]

The module 818 is 1 watt, I was curious if the PCB would support the 868 which is 2 watts.

[@mi6xgzjon186]

@@SkillfulHacking thanks, it will be interesting to see how this develops over time. could be usefull as rf for digi modes from morse right through to digi voice. im thinking pota and sota.

[@sk1pp3r65]

This is awesome!

[@EdToml]

Marine VHF?

[@prairiestatepatriots]

Gamechanger. I'll be ordering this weekend.

[@vanhoteen]

The comeback of the pager📟

[@helmargesel3972]

Thanks for Sharing

[@captcardwell3398]

Does this work without cell service or wifi? It'd be great for camping

[@TechMindsOfficial]

Yep, it is a standalone module, you just need to app for it to work.

[@DoctorBruKhar]

put some flux on those joints first and they'll wick up the solder much easier

[@compaqchemlab]

instead of the development board, you could have soldered the module itself. everything would be at least twice as small.

[@TechMindsOfficial]

It was designed that way so everything lined up with the 3D printed case. You are more than welcome to make some changed to the design and submit them via Github, it's an open source project. :-)

[@compaqchemlab]

@TechMindsOfficial Don't take this as hate. I used to do it just like you and it took up a lot of space. Some time ago I created a pseudo-SDR based on an old TV. (KZbin/ELEKTRON1) The TV tuner module is controlled via I2C by a microcontroller. The IF signal from the tuner (approximately 30...39MHz) goes to the NE612 mixer and is mixed at a frequency of 27MHz. I filter the received signal and feed it to SA604. Thanks to this, I can demodulate and quickly measure the signal strength. The project became popular because it could be used to receive railway service radio. I am also a Creator like you, I create projects for my viewers. My latest project is a NEC IC programmer. I found these chips in a water heater and wanted to write Hello-worlld on it (and my mission in life is to run BLINK on every microcontroller possible). You did a great job and you deserve applause. Greetings from Poland, ELEKTRON

[@dennis8019]

we had this like 9 years ago... using a rtl dongle and a otg cable and a app called sdrtouch... but no tx though ... i love it

[@caoimhin7122]

I wish someone would port this to iOS, although there might be problems with the App Store or side loading. It would work with an Android tablet too, right?

[@vickiebeier7979]

😂😂

[@tonylock7657]

A couple of years ago, every Amateur Radio KZbinr was making videos about Meshtastic. It seems to be this gadgets turn now.

[@nbookie]

Thanks for sharing!!!

[@timrogers2638]

Some potentially stupid question from a noob: 1) Does using the android device require that it have cell phone service? 2) Does operating this device require an FCC license in the US?