{"id":539,"date":"2023-03-28T14:28:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T21:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/?p=539"},"modified":"2023-04-07T13:58:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T20:58:55","slug":"getting-to-the-heart-of-a-baofeng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/2023\/03\/28\/getting-to-the-heart-of-a-baofeng\/","title":{"rendered":"GETTING TO THE HEART OF A BAOFENG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 15, 2022<\/a> by Dan Maloney<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In amateur radio circles, almost no single piece of equipment serves as more of a magnet for controversy than the humble Baofeng handheld transceiver. It\u2019s understandable \u2014 the radio is a shining example of value engineering, with just enough parts to its job while staying just on the edge of FCC rules. And at about $25 a pop, the radios are cheap enough that experimentation is practically a requirement of ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But stripped down as the Baofeng may be, it holds secrets inside that are even more tempting to play with than the radio itself. And who better than [HB9BLA], a guy who has a suspiciously familiar Swiss accent, to guide us through the RF module at the heart of the Baofeng, the SA818<\/a>. For about $8 you can get one of these little marvels off AliExpress and have nearly all the important parts of a VHF or UHF radio \u2014 an SDR transceiver, a power amp, and all the glue logic to make it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the video below, [Andreas] puts the SA818 module through its paces with the help of a board that pairs the module with a few accessories, like an audio amp and a low-pass RF filter. With a Raspberry Pi and a Python library to control the module, it\u2019s a decent imitation of the functionality of a Baofeng. But that\u2019s only the beginning. By adding a USB sound card to the Pi, the setup was able to get into every ham\u2019s favorite packet radio system, APRS. There are a ton of other applications for the SA818 modules, some of which [Andreas] mentions at the end of the video. Pocket-sized repeaters, a ridiculously small EchoLink hotspot, and even an AllStar node in an Altoids tin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, if you want to get in on the fun, you\u2019re going to need an amateur radio license. Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s easy \u2014 we\u2019ll help you get there<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 15, 2022 by Dan Maloney In amateur radio circles, almost no single piece of equipment serves as more of a magnet for controversy than the humble Baofeng handheld transceiver. It\u2019s understandable \u2014 the radio is a shining example of value engineering, with just enough parts to its job while staying just on the edge of FCC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":544,"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k7rdg.org\/rev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}