Uniden Remote Head Project

[Omega-TI]

I didn't want to mention this and I do appreciate and give thanks for the good words and thoughts but didn't want to seem like I'm simping for sympathy. Thing is, people deserve to know why things basically disappeared. We (myself and a friend) had some grand plans but they vaporized (my fault, not his) when all that happened. When I say not being able to do anything with it since then, I meant since 2021. It was non stop Dr appointments, and a complete rearrangement of life since 2021. We kind of got back to a steady normal during the regular chemo appointments for a couple years but it was still difficult. Eventually, things went into a flat spin and then it was over starting around mid June 2024. I really didn't have any time to sit and study things and dedicate real brain power to the project at all. I kept distracted and busy with other side projects that were more mechanical and intuitive but was in a state of kind of constant panic.

I'm just not the same person still. I'm getting back there but it's going to take time.

My sincere and deepest condolences for the loss of your wife. Sometimes the less said the better.

 

[Omega-TI]

Good News! It looks like Amazon has multiple quantities of RPi4's available for purchase now...

View attachment 125557

There is actually good news in the world (if you can believe it).
The RPi4's from the same source have come down $60.00 in the past two years.

But you would be better off using this link for even more off. ($89.59 at time of this post)

... although this RPi5 is even cheaper.

 

[sallen07]

The RPi4's from the same source have come down $60.00 in the past two years.

But you would be better off using this link for even more off. ($89.59 at time of this post)

... although this RPi5 is even cheaper.

Amazon is a HORRIBLE place to buy a Raspberry Pi. That was especially true during Covid, but is still true today.

Amazon is not an authorized reseller for Raspberry Pi, so you won't find any "Sold by Amazon". What you will find are lots of random sellers who buy from a reseller, jack up the price, and peddle them on Amazon.

You want an 8 Gig Pi 4? How about this:

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B/8GB

American Raspberry Pi Shop. One stop shop for all your Pi needs. Raspberry Pi add-ons, HATs, accessories, Starter Kit, Media Center kit, RetroPi Arcade kit, Ultimate Kit, and many other project kits. PiShop.us is approved Raspberry Pi re-seller and carries all official Raspberry Pi boards and...

www.pishop.us

Or an 8 Gig Pi 5?

Raspberry Pi 5/8GB

American Raspberry Pi Shop. One stop shop for all your Pi needs. Raspberry Pi add-ons, HATs, accessories, Starter Kit, Media Center kit, RetroPi Arcade kit, Ultimate Kit, and many other project kits. PiShop.us is approved Raspberry Pi re-seller and carries all official Raspberry Pi boards and...

www.pishop.us

PiShop.US, Adafruit, and Sparkfun are all US authorized Pi resellers that will sell you a Pi at the price set by Raspberry Pi, not at some small or enormous markup. ThePiHut in the UK is another great place to purchase but you'll pay for shipping back to the US.

 

[Firebuff66]

Is the one scanner master is going to be selling the same thing you guys made?

ScannerMaster 'RH200' prototype at Hamvention

ScannerMaster is showing a working prototype of their RH200 Remote head for Uniden scanners at the Hamvention :

forums.radioreference.com

 

[N9JIG]

Is the one scanner master is going to be selling the same thing you guys made?

ScannerMaster 'RH200' prototype at Hamvention

ScannerMaster is showing a working prototype of their RH200 Remote head for Uniden scanners at the Hamvention :

forums.radioreference.com

No. The Scanner Master unit will be commercially made using specially programmed processers and not based on a Pi.

 

[Omega-TI]

Good luck to them, I hope they succeed. On a personal note, I've really enjoyed the Pi based one I got from @mancow years ago. At my age I'd rather jump at what is available now and enjoy myself, than to wait, sometimes forever, for what "could be" or "might be". I've been burned too many times in the past with vaporware.

 

[emtff1989]

All,

Due to the interest in the thread Jon recently started about a possible Raspberry Pi remote head project, I thought I would post an update on my own project.

In the last several months, I have been working on a remote head project for my BCD996P2. It uses a Raspberry Pi3 as the compute as well as a 480x320 pixel, 3.5" touchscreen. The Pi and screen are mounted in a compact case and the connection to the scanner is via USB. The remote head is for display and control only -- it does not carry audio as that is not possible over USB. It is likely that the project will also work without modification with the BCD326P2 (and possibly other Uniden models that use the same protocol).

My goals were to build a remote head that is very compact but yet still easily readable. I chose to go with the 3.5" touchscreen as it can be mounted directly to the Pi and put into a compact case. It probably wouldn't be hard to support a larger external display though. In some ways a touchscreen isn't ideal for interaction as it doesn't have the tactile feedback that real buttons do but it is FAR easier to create a remote head this way.

The cost of all of the parts is around $100 which includes the Pi, the case, a power adapter for the Pi and the touchscreen.

I have plans to buy a SDS200 in the next several months and adapt the code to it... the challenge will be with the additional display information that is available on the SDS series and getting it to fit into 3.5". Several changes with the SDS version would be: use of Wifi/Ethernet for the remote head connection, possibly a bigger display and the possibility of carrying audio to the remote head.

I consider my current project in "Alpha" state, but it works well enough to control the basics of the scanner. My initial focus has been on mirroring the display and the most frequent actions that a scanner user will perform -- mostly changing volume/squelch and what banks to scan. I have also had fun trying out lots of different color schemes! Here is a description of the current feature set:

- Mirror the scanner's display. It is updated in almost real time.
- Large signal strength meter at the bottom of the screen (this is the one element that is rendered differently than the built-in LCD does)
- Volume up/down controls (Vu and Vd "buttons" in the photos)
- Squelch up/down controls (Su and Sd "buttons" in the photos)
- Hold / Scan controls (H and Sc "buttons" in the photos)
- Priority key (Pri "button" in the photos)
- Lockout key (Lo "button" in the photos)
- Keypad for entering quick keys (for changing banks)
- Ability to change the display colors (I have many built-in color schemes

All interaction is done via touch screen. I am still playing around with the user interface but it works like this:
- If you touch the center of the screen then an "overlay" set of important buttons is displayed. These touchscreen buttons provide the main controls of the scanner (e.g. volume up / down). Touching the center again will hide the overlay keys.
- If you touch the upper right corner, it will advance one cycle in the built in color palettes
- If you touch the upper left corner, it will display a dedicated keypad page for entering a quick key. The numbers you enter are shown to the right of the pad. Pressing the "E" (enter) key will exit the keypad mode.
- If you are in hold mode, you can touch the left and right centers of the screen to advance forward and back
- If you are in scan mode, you can touch the left and right centers of the screen to change the scan direction

Photos are attached. Some notes
- You can see how compact the remote head (shown with 996 for relative comparison)
- The overlay buttons are shown in one photo -- descriptions of the button labels are above
- The signal strength meter can be seen in one of the photos (segmented white bars at the very bottom of the display)
- The variety of the color schemes is shown
- The quick key pad is shown. To the right of the keypad is the actual numbers entered ("12" in the photo)

I want to state again that this project is still Alpha and not ready to release in any form. I would like to eventually release the software in the public domain and put together a document on how to self assemble one.

Feedback is welcome, especially in regards to the next set of features to add

thanks
MA-radio-guy

View attachment 76661

View attachment 76662View attachment 76663View attachment 76664View attachment 76665

Are you still making these? and will it work on a bct15x?

 

[n1chu]

Hoping this post finds you better…

With the advent of Scanner Master’s remote head display, I would assume you probably have permanently shelved your efforts on production your own remote head for the Uniden SDS200. But since my concern deals with a larger remote head than Scanner Master will provide, and I already own the Connect Systems BFD, it’s that display i’d like to pair with the scanner. Have you given any thought as the larger display would definitely be a selling point?

 

[IC-R20]

Hoping this post finds you better…

With the advent of Scanner Master’s remote head display, I would assume you probably have permanently shelved your efforts on production your own remote head for the Uniden SDS200. But since my concern deals with a larger remote head than Scanner Master will provide, and I already own the Connect Systems BFD, it’s that display i’d like to pair with the scanner. Have you given any thought as the larger display would definitely be a selling point?

if the display head had an external video output port that would be nice. Some of the nicer big yaesu and Icom ham base stations had VGA outputs and I always hooking it up to a monitor. Even before waterfall displays became commonplace it was nice having all the information laid out on a bigger screen.

 

[n1chu]

IC-R20, Sorry, my post was directed at mancow, wondering if he might try and tackle the Connect Systems BFD. But your mention of external video outputs is interesting. I guess I will try other advice to get a small tablet or laptop and use existing software to show a larger display.

 

[IC-R20]

IC-R20, Sorry, my post was directed at mancow, wondering if he might try and tackle the Connect Systems BFD. But your mention of external video outputs is interesting. I guess I will try other advice to get a small tablet or laptop and use existing software to show a larger display.

Yeah a mini-HDMI out on the side wouldn’t hurt.