Official Colorado HAM and cheese thread

A 3.5 to 3 5 will not allow the baofeng and the tablet to communicate with eachother. It's like on can listen to the other but the other doesn't say anything. Get a cable from the mobilinkd site and it should be better

 

Isnt that what this cable thing does?
https://willbradley.name/2015/08/09/aprs-via-rf-cable-for-connecting-aprsdroid-to-a-baofeng-radio/

Or is this what I need?
https://store.mobilinkd.com/products/cable-for-baofeng-uv-3r

Or do I need link #2 to start with for building the cable in link #1?

 

https://store.mobilinkd.com/products/kenwood-wouxun-baofeng-tnc-cable. Buy or build this

 

but... "*** This cable cannot be used to directly connect a radio to a smartphone. ***"

 

Odd. Isn't that the type of cable you are using, or that you made from spares?

That's what I used no issue

 

I listen to audio books a lot, and found one for HAM... its called "The Fast Track to Your Technician Clas Ham Radio License" by Michael Burnette. I really enjoyed it. it was geared just to get you to pass your test, like everything else, but the way it was read (by the author) was great and while taking the test I could hear the author reciting the question with the answer. I highly recommend this.

also Ham Radio Test Prep app... great app to test yourself over and over and ver again. I think I took about 100 tests, "mastered" 75% of the questions ie I got that specific question right at least 75% of the time

 

so why do you have to connect the radio to a smartphone or tablet? I must be missing something with all the acronyms.
Won't it work on it's own?

 

it allows you to plot yourself on a map that's accessible to other HAM's. so you can look at the smart phone and see where everyone else is. not overly usefull on short trails, (other than to see leader/tail) but on long trips, helps you see if someone stopped and check to see if it's for pictures or trouble. also allows your friends/family to track if you give them a link to the map.

 

It's so we can rescue the lost, broken down heeps more efficiently.

 

So it works like a cell phone tracking app.

 

yes, but, you don't have to have a cell signal. just a Ham signal. honestly, for $15 for the test, $30-60 for the radio, $20 for better antenna, and 5 for the cable. it's well worth it... especially since you can always stop APRS and use it to call for help.

 

You for got to mention with a broadcast that should reach the "help".

Read the story on the heep rollover on blackbear that all contact with rescue groups (including Police and Medical) was done via HAM.

 

Ok, I thought I saw somewhere back several pages that a cell signal was needed for that aprs, but I can't find the reference now and prolly misinterpreted it.

 

Saturday I acted as a VE for the first time, putting my new Extra Class license to use.
3 new Technician Hams
3 upgraded to General Hams

Successful day!

 

Nope, other nice thing with HAM is you can actually send Texts to cell phones, and they can reply back... all through the HAM network

Awesome! I'm actually thinking I may try testing for my general before Moab... I think I've got the time to study. we'll see how I'm doing, on the practice tests.

 

@ebbs15 You think their is value in those HF freq's in a mobile (Tacoma) application?

 

Seems to be a lot of confusion about aprs.

Don't know if this will help or hurt but I'll try to explain what I found out as I understand it.

The reason you use the cell phone is for it's GPS signal. No, it doesn't have to have cell service for the GPS to work. You would need to have cell service to get access to online maps. An alternative would be to cache or download the maps ahead of time.

I was able to push my location out to aprs using just a 3.5 audio cable connecting the "headphone out" of the phone to the "mic in" of the radio. This is only good for reporting your location to aprs and will only work if you can hit a tower that's aprs enabled.

If you want to be able to see other people's locations, that's when you'd need 2 way communication with the radio. Then you need a cable like the one Andy posted except, for reasons I don't fully understand, there needs to be a couple resistors and a capacitor in the line to make it work properly. To my knowledge, no one sells a ready made cable that will work but there is someone who sells little circuit boards for cheap to which you would solder the correct wires and components to make a working cable.
The alternative to making your own cable is an interface device. There are devices that use cables or devices that use Bluetooth to make the connection wirelessly.

My personal experience so far is limited to the simple audio cable pushing out my location to aprs.
This worked for me and will probably be all I do until I get a better idea of how good the aprs coverage is in the areas I like to go. Without aprs coverage this is all for naught. If you want to use aprs where you have cell coverage you don't need anything but your phone as the whole thing will just take place over the internet.

 

So in reality i wouldn't need any of that to communicate with other HAM operators. It's just for mapping/location purposes.? Really all a dude needs is the radio, license and antenna to be in the loop.? Or no?

 

Picture this.... You're 60 miles from ANYTHING (in my case the southern most edge of North Padre Island on the National Seashore) and you have an emergency. 2m and 70cm "might" reach one of the Corpus Christi repeaters if you're Very Very lucky.

From this same location, I talked to someone in South Carolina, Tennessee, California, and Oregon all in the space of 10 minutes. While none of these people are in a place to offer immediate assistance, they were all within arms reach of a telephone, and knew I was at the 60 mile mark on north Padre Island. Flight for Life is only a phone call away. Where that phone call originates isn't relevant.

 

Right. All this aprs stuff is just a side feature that we're exploring.
If you (or anyone else) get a license, I'd be happy to install my <$100 setup in your truck in about 5 minutes so you can see if it'd work for you.