G1LRO Hardware Blog

The following guide covers the steps to modify the Universal Radio Controller (URC) or AIOC to use in an AllStarLink node. The benefit of this implementation is: What you will need to make an AllStarLink node: This article does not cover any AllStarLink node setup or configuration; as a recommendation for ease of setup, the…

A good friend of the URC and AIOC is Andreas M0FXB. On Andreas’ channel you’ll find over 40 videos covering aspects of the URC and APRS board and the AIOC, it’s little brother. Andreas has a unique approach to his videos where he learns with you, rather than trying to teach, going though topics in…

Episode 205 of the Ham Radio Workbench podcast covers the Universal Radio Controller and the story behind it development, and the creator G1LRO. Download the episode on your favorite podcast app or listen directly on Libsyn on this link: https://workbench.libsyn.com/hrwb-205-universal-radio-controller-with-mark-herbert-g1lro

Matt, M0DQW has produced a superb review of the Universal Radio Controller and the APRS digipeater card on his Tech Minds YouTube channel. Matt’s review covers some of the more technical aspects of the URC including: You can view the video here on Matt’s channel, it’s definitely with subscribing to the Tech Minds channel as…

Accessing the configuration system The APRS card has a micro-controller running the VP-Digi software. This software is accessed via the serial port in the Universal Radio Controller (URC). Set the URC front panel switches to TNC on the left switch and ON on the right switch, To determine the COM number of your serial port,…

The Universal Radio Controller has an optional Personality Board to provide APRS Digipeater and Packet Radio modem functionality. Amateur Packet Reporting System (APRS) is a digital communication system utilized by amateur radio operators to exchange messages and track locations utilizing GPS. APRS works by transmitting digital packets of information, such as GPS coordinates, to other…

There’s an exciting current project on the G1LRO workbench with a new personality board creation. Working as a collaborative project with Smitty N6MTS (who also supplies the Universal Radio Controller in the USA and internationally), we’re creating an innovative transceiver board for the URC. The single board design supports a UHF or VHF transceiver module,…

Following the publication of the expansion interface on the Universal Radio Controller, and the inclusion of the Creator personalty board, the personality board specification and fabrication is now in the public domain under the Open Hardware licencing program. To support this, the physical design files for the personality board and the front panels are available…

This guide is aimed at creators who are interested using the main board features of the URC for new in innovative applications. The J-MODEM1 connector on the URC main board was added in to the main design to provide the capability to accommodate ‘Personality Boards’ to make use of the URC functionality. Since the entire…

Later version 2.2 models of the URC include the ‘creator’ board behind the front panel. If you have a front panel switch for ‘Serial Port Function’ then you have a creator board inside (or you’ve added the APRS or WinKeyer board already). The creator board performs the basic function of routing the serial port signals…

This post is currently in draft, please contact me if you notice any errors. Overview The latest version (V2.2) of this multi-port ‘universal’ radio controller is a versatile device that sits between your computer and transceiver. The unit provides the following functions: The URC is housed in a 100x88x38mm enclosure with custom silk-screened front an…

Andy Taylor M1NER joined the early adopter program for the VP-Digi APRS Digipeater and Packet Modem personality board. In his blog you can follow his progress through the initial setup and ongoing performance of this interesting low-cost add on to the Universal Radio Controller V2.2 Follow Andy’s blog here to get updates on his expereince…

AIOC All In One Cable For Ham Radio transceivers including Baofeng, Quansheng and many other makes of portable HT transceivers ‘Handy Talkies’. The AIOC and Universal Radio Controller use the same CPU and firmware so if you need more connectivity options and extended features, check out the URC too. I have been building and selling…

Introducing the second option for the Universal Radio Controller V2.2, is the K1EL WinKeyer V3.1 personality board. See this in action on this video: https://fb.watch/owPpiV8SZH/ The WinKeyer 3.1 personality board provides a convenient way to connect your PC to an amateur radio transceiver and send Morse both under computer control and by iambic paddle. WinKeyer…

The first option board created to use the expansion port in the URC is a KISS modem and APRS digipeater based upon the VP-Digi Blue Pill module. This module connects to an attached transceiver and the URC seral port to provide true modem capabilities for packet radio. There’s a video of the URC & modem…

For up-to-date technical information go to this post. https://g1lro.uk/?p=330 V2.2 of the Universal Radio Controller brings some minor tweaks to the V2 design, but importantly opens a road map for future product add-ons. The Version 2 main board in the URC has reached the maximum for the number of ports that could be fitted in…

The Universal Radio Controller is fairly unique in that it can do TX/TX/PTT and programming for a Baofeng (and other two-pin radios) without needing to unplug any wires. The Baofeng radios traditionally lacked any type of Computer Aided Transceiver (CAT) capability, but the Universal Controller can drive the programming capability of the radio at the…

The second version of the Universal Radio Controllers evolves several features of its predecessor and has additional Computer Aided Transceiver (CAT) capabilities. Other than the new CAT feature, the notable changes from the V1 edition are: Jumper Configuration Several functions in the controller are manipulated by internal jumpers. The unit is easily accessible to change…

The version (V2) of this multi-port ‘universal’ radio controller is a simple device that sits between your computer and transceiver and provides the following functions: 1) USB-C sound card to convert the receive/transmit audio from the transceiver to USB, capable up to 48,000 samples per second. 2) Full PTT control to allow automatic receive &…

This week’s HRWB podcast had a great mention for the Universal Radio Controller and in particular its unique OHIS capabilities, USB connected sound card and transceiver PTT controls. George KJ6VU described the URC as “pretty universally useful” You can listen to the entire podcast at https://www.hamradioworkbench.com/podcast – well worth subscribing to. Many thanks to Mark “SmittyHalibut” N6MTS”…

At the heart of the Universal Radio Controller is the STM32F302 cpu running the AIOC open-source firmware. Along with the 32-bit ARM Cortex M4 core are a host of interfaces to manage the radio functions needed such as: The Sound Card, serial port, PTT and CM108 functions are primarily provided by the CPU. The firmware…

I’m a big fan (and Patreon) of the KM6LYW Radio DigiPi Project digipi.org DigiPi contains a comprehensive suite of digital utilities and applications for ham radio. Several of the utilities use the DireWolf AX.25 packet modem/TNC and APRS encoder/decoder. To help users of DigiPi and the URC (and AIOC) I’ve worked though the configuration elements…

This section covers the configuration of the remaining utilities on the DigiPi. I welcome any contributions for pieces I have missed here. When process of configuring these utilities is complete, save the settings with the Save Configs option in the main menu. Configure WSJTX Select the WSJTX FT8 (turn on) in the menu. Choose the…

I’m pretty confident these cables will work with any of the Baofengs/Quansheng etc. that use the dual-jack microphone connector as they would all be wired the same way to use a standard external Mic. Regarding the cables, you need:a 3.5mm stereo (TRS) to 3.5mm stereo (TRS) jack plug wire – these are often off the shelf wires used for…

The Open Headset Interconnect Standard (OHIS) is actively being developed by Mark N6MTS. Information is available at https://ohis.org/ There are so many different standards for microphone, headphone, and PTT that it is improbable that one could take their preferred headset and connect it to any radio without an adapter. In a multi-user environment, such as…

The version (V1) of this multi-port ‘universal’ radio controller is a simple device that sits between your computer and transceiver and provides the following functions: 1) USB-C sound card to convert the receive/transmit audio from the transceiver to USB 2) Full PTT control to allow automatic receive & transmit using either serial port settings (DTR…

The V0.9 of the Universal Radio Controller was an initial proof-of-concept implementation of the AIOC processor into a new chassis and presenting the connections with additional filtering to standard Jack plugs for connection to most transceivers. The V0.9 unit provided: 1) USB-C sound card to convert the receive/transmit audio from the transceiver to USB 2)…