Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Yup and a special made 3.5mm cable.

 

minor correction..... a radio with VOX.... but otherwise 100% accurate.

 

do you know if the yaesu ft270 have VOX

 

99% of all radios have VOX. Vox is just TXing automatically when the radio hears audio.

 

doesn't look like it, but I could be wrong.

 

there's an optional Yaesu VOX Headset (VC-24) according to the manual, so maybe it does.

 

Here's a picture I just took of APRSdroid working directly with a

$40 baofeng UV-5R ham radio long range handheld UV5R dual band 3800mah rechargeable two way radio walkie talkies for adults with earpiece,speaker mic and programming cable full kit (black-1pack)

baofeng UV-5R using the specially made audio cable and VOX enabled on the TX handheld.

 

And here you can see the map of APRSdroid and how just standing out in my front yard I was able to map another APRS user.

 

I just ordered a cable from mobilkinkd for my VX-7R, as well as a magnet mount 2m SMA antenna from Byonics.
This coupled with the One+ Android Phone I've got (with no SIM) should make a good loaner APRS rig. In addition to being able to pretty easily put it in my wife's car (KC9QKY) if/when we take that on road trips.

 

Did you make that cable?

 

Yea a few years ago when APRSdroid was first released. I don't remember the exact pinout but it's very simple.

Radio audio out -> Phone min in

Phone audio out -> Radio mic in

 

Thought you had to add resistors and a capacitor to make it work?

 

I don't see how a capacitor would do anything but I could see how a resistor might lower the audio DB but it's not needed.

 

This link and one inside it are what have me that impression.
https://willbradley.name/2015/08/09/aprs-via-rf-cable-for-connecting-aprsdroid-to-a-baofeng-radio/

Why would someone go to all that trouble if it's not necessary? Why would someone go to any trouble at all of you could just buy the cable on the mobilinkd site (that says it can't be used to connect a phone and radio)?

I take it you've verified proper 2 way operation (not using cellular data) with your cable?

 

Yea the cable works as it should.

On the site the author says

"The idea is to mute the audio slightly because amplified earphone output being wired straight into amplified microphone input is a surefire way to transmit nothing but distortion."

APRSdroid has the ability to use your phones audio demodulator to clean up the audio output so building a cable with the resistors in it isn't always a necessity.

Also on the simple side of things you can just turn down your volume on your phone... I seem to remember when I first tried it using an older motorola X I had to lower the volume quite a bit to get it to work.

 

Google isnt showing anything that says it does. And i though it was a dual band radio... its a 2m band only. Now I don't know what to get. Any other good waterproof handhelds out there that arn't crazy expensive?

 

http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-GT-3WP-Waterproof-Transceiver-Programming/dp/B01CZU63US/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462935162&sr=8-1&keywords=GT-3WP-K

 

Wasn't really wanting to get a baofeng cause of the quality...but I guess for my first radio it will do for now.

 

Yeas FT-857D is backordered until sometime in June...

 

I have a few different models of the Baofeng's and they all work exactly like you'd expect a HT to work. After using them you'll never even need or want to buy a more expensive HT. The newest baofeng's are even better than the old ones.