Getting To The Heart Of A Baofeng
In newbie radio circles, almost no single piece of products serves as more of a magnet for controversy than the humble Baofeng handheld transceiver. It is understandable — the radio is a shining example of price engineering, with just ample areas to its job when remaining just on the edge of FCC guidelines. And at about $25 a pop, the radios are low cost plenty of that experimentation is nearly a requirement of ownership.
But stripped down as the Baofeng may well be, it holds strategies inside of that are even additional tempting to enjoy with than the radio alone. And who greater than [HB9BLA], a person who has a suspiciously common Swiss accent, to manual us via the RF module at the coronary heart of the Baofeng, the SA818. For about $8 you can get just one of these little marvels off AliExpress and have almost all the essential areas of a VHF or UHF radio — an SDR transceiver, a electric power amp, and all the glue logic to make it do the job.
In the online video down below, [Andreas] places the SA818 module via its paces with the assistance of a board that pairs the module with a couple of accessories, like an audio amp and a low-go RF filter. With a Raspberry Pi and a Python library to management the module, it’s a respectable imitation of the features of a Baofeng. But that is only the starting. By adding a USB seem card to the Pi, the setup was able to get into every single ham’s preferred packet radio procedure, APRS. There are a ton of other purposes for the SA818 modules, some of which [Andreas] mentions at the stop of the online video. Pocket-sized repeaters, a ridiculously small EchoLink hotspot, and even an AllStar node in an Altoids tin.
Of program, if you want to get in on the exciting, you’re heading to will need an novice radio license. Really do not worry, it’s easy — we’ll assistance you get there.
