Handi-Talky Station

This is a Amateur Radio (HAM Radio) tool for the UV-Pro, GA-5WB, VR-N76, VR-N7500, VR-N7600 radios. An Amateur radio license is required to use this software. You can get information on a license here.

This is a base station software build in NodeJS that is tested to run on a Raspberry Pi and pairs to the radio over Bluetooth. Once setup, the software will offer various automated services. In general, the radio should be configured to monitor a home frequency and APRS at the same time. HTStation can run a BBS on the home frequence on one station id (N0CALL-2), and Winlink on a different station id (N0CALL-3) while at the same time monitoring APRS.

Radio Support

The following radios should work with this application:

• BTech UV-Pro
• RadioOddity GA-5WB
• Vero VR-N76
• Vero VR-N7500
• Vero VR-N7600
• Vero VR-N7600

Features

• Packet BBS - Run a bulletin board system for packet radio users to share messages, download files, and play games.
• WinLink Server - Local WinLink message exchange (currently local only, no cloud support).
• Echo Server - Test and debug packet radio connections by echoing back transmitted data.
• APRS Support - Send and receive APRS messages with authentication support.
• Web Dashboard - Browser-based interface for real-time monitoring and management.
• File Downloads - Serve files over packet radio using YAPP protocol.
• Interactive Games - Guess the Number, Blackjack, and Joke of the Day games over BBS.
• Home Assistant Integration - Control the region, VFO1 and VFO2 channels, volume, squelch, scan mode, dual-watch mode, see the battery state and more.

Raspberry Pi Installation

Here is a Quick Setup Guide to get you up and running. At a high level the steps are:

• Install NodeJS and NPM on your Raspberry Pi.
• Install Bluetooth dev libraries.
• Pair the radio to the Raspberry Pi over Bluetooth.
• Install HtStation using npm install htstation
• Setup your own config.ini.
• Run in the background using node htstation --install

Documentation

More extensive documentation is available here.

Configuration

• Configuration Guide - Complete config.ini reference
• Bluetooth Setup - Pairing Bluetooth devices on Raspberry Pi

Services

• Echo Server Guide - Testing and debugging echo server
• BBS Guide - Bulletin Board System features and commands
• WinLink Guide - WinLink server configuration and usage

Integration & Monitoring

• Web Interface Guide - Using the web dashboard
• Home Assistant Integration - MQTT setup and automations
• Authentication Guide - APRS message authentication setup

Credits

This tool is based on the decoding work done by Kyle Husmann, KC3SLD and this BenLink project which decoded the Bluetooth commands for these radios.