Mobile HAM Radio with PC Control?

[John Gnuechtel]

I finally took the plunge and passed my Technician test today. This will allow me to get involved with ARES and spotting; giving me interesting stuff to do locally, as I'm only able to go chasing out on the high plains for a few weeks out of the year. I decided to start with a hand-held radio, but my longer term plan is to install a mobile radio for the car so that I have more wattage to work with. After scouring the internets, I've been able to find plenty of bigger stationary radios that can be controlled by a PC, but I haven't been able to find a mobile one. I was wondering if anybody on here knew of a mobile radio that could be controlled by a PC. I figure it would hook up via USB or serial cable. Reason being is that I've already built and installed a computer in my car for the purposes of handling GPS navigation and displaying weather/radar data from the internet via my phone (I'm into car projects), and I figured it would be convenient to include the interface for the radio on the same screen, so that I don't need to have another thing sticking out of the dash. Any info would be great. Thanks much.

 

[Andrew Herron]

I thought about the same thing before. I'm looking to build a system like yours, I'd love to get more info on yours.

I only spent a moment poking around but I found this http://gnuradio.org/redmine/wiki/gnuradio which might be of some use. Could allow you to build your own SDR which could be quite fun.

 

[Jason Foster]

Looking through my Ham Radio Outlet catalog, I did not see any related to 'mobile' radios. However there is a number of various PC kind of programs that work with computers to do different things (packet radio, APRS, Winlink 2000, Echolink, etc.). However, based on what you trying for, I don't think there is anything for you short of purchasing a 'base' station and using that, which in your Impreza is almost impossible due to the size.

I'm not sure if you've noticed already, but 90% of mobile radios have removable or remote face plates and don't require a significant amount of work to mount out of the way. I'm sure if you browse through many of the 'vehicle' related posts with pictures, you'll find a few examples of interior mounting options. If not, PM, I'll set you up with some ideas.

 

[Joe Dorn]

I am loaded for bear as far as amateur radio goes and none of my radios have 'PC Control' capabilities other than being able to have the frequencies and base settings loaded via radio specific programs.

I personally use a program sponsored by the Amaetur Radio Relay League called "Travel Plus" to create a set of frequencies for the area I will be traveling through and then export them to my specific radio program. The RT Systems software for Yaesu and Icom radios can do this 'automatically'; Kenwood radio programs have to have a cut and paste operation or manual entry.

In Travel Plus you can edit the list to include only the weather related repeaters before exporting them. This eliminates a LOT OF REPEATERS.

Travel Plus uses the same database that the repeater directories available at amateur radio outlets. There is a code (w) for weather (SKYWARN) repeaters.

I have two vehicles set up with similar capabilities, one for my weather and emergency response activities(1998 Z71 Chevy Pickup) and the other (2007 Tahoe) for longer trips. both have a RAM Mount for the computer. The computer is loaded with APRS, travel and weather software. I have at least three GPS units running; one ,a NUVI, for general travel display, one for the computer and one for the APRS radio.

In my pickup I use an Icom 2720 dual bander with one side on the local repeater of interest and the other side scanning the rest of the repeaters. I also have have a Kenwood TM-271 dedicated to APRS tracking.

The Tahoe does not have the room for multiple radio installations so I chose a Kenwood D710 with its built in APRS capabilities. I am more restricted on the repeater side and have to select a particular repeater or scan. since this is used for general travel, it is not a problem.

Both vehicles have a CB radio with NOAA weather capabilities.

I drilled a total of one hole in both vehicles and that was to get the power cable to the Anderson PowerPole distribution panel on the Tahoe. I also have motor driven antenna mounts on the Tahoe so that we can lower the antennas from inside the vehicle for hotel parking garages. These attach to the luggage mount rails.

All of this has grown from my initial H/T (handy talkie) that I used for the first 18 months after getting back into amateur radio. The H/T with a mag mount antenna served for county level storm spotting.

I teach amateur radio classes and for the people just getting started I recommend the Yaesu FT/60 dual bander with a mag mount antenna. The first mobile I recommend is the Yaesu 8800. (I don't own either one since they came out after my initial purchases.) I am not 'brand proud'; I look at the purpose and then choose the radio.

ENOUGH...

Opps, forgot to add, both vehicles have XM radio also.

Now would you like to hear about my Honda MUV (side by side ATV)...

 

[Tyler Allison]

BTW...a like new 8800 is up for sale in the Marketplace...just thought I'd point that out http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22848

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

Hey John,

All I can do is echo the replies of others, I don't believe there is a mobile rig with computer control capabilities. The HF radios have seen some of these integrations, but the mobile rigs just don't have enough call (pun intended) for the option to motivate the manufacturers to put the effort into it.

As Jason mentioned, look for a mobile with a remote faceplate. Some of them have very small faceplates, so this and the mic would be your only visible components. If you do it right, you could probably make these readily disappear as well.

 

[Lou Ruh]

Actually, it depends on what kind of radio you're thinking of. If you aonly want 2 meters/440, then you are pretty limited. The Kenwood TM-D700 (which you can't get new anymore) has an interface with a language that can be used to accomplish what you're looking for. I have not done much of it and I would need to dig to find the language (Kenwood did not document it so folks had to experiment to figure it out) ... but, I found at least one program on the web that says it can control the D700 ... http://www.btinternet.com/~g6odt/d700.html (I have never used it so this is not an endorsement of the program). The replacement for the D700 is the D710 ... I'm not sure if it has the same capability.

There are mobile "all band" rigs that can be computer controlled as well ... such as the Yaesu FT-857 (HF/2m/440) ... maybe more radio than what you're looking for but it does look like there are a number of programs that say they'll control the rig ... such as http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=4541 or http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=8438 .

 

[John Gnuechtel]

Thanks for the useful responses, everybody! The more I read and think about this, the more I think I'll probably spend the first year using the hand-held with a decent mag-mount vertical antenna, and see where that gets me. It should be relatively easy to run a detachable mount for the radio itself alongside the dash, and I can always plug an external microphone into it for a solution that's got just about all the stuff a full mobile setup would have. It's less power, but more flexibility and less additional cost (probably). This should allow me to figure out exactly what I can get out of such a small setup, and I may find that I don't actually need any more power.

To answer Andrew and anybody else that might want to know, the PC I run is a Cappucino PC SlimPRO Fanless. It runs directly off an external DC power supply designed for car PC use, and is mounted under the passenger seat. I have replaced the OEM double-din stereo with a single-din stereo and a single-din motorized 7" touch screen. I often wish the screen itself was bigger, but it's always there, and I can fold it into the dash when not in use for decent stealth. The lack of moving parts on the PC is good, especially in Winter when things like fans can freeze...a problem I've had with previous car PCs I've built. However it can be prone to overheating if I'm not careful. Hard to get air flowing under the seat to the fins on the outside.