Here’s an interesting project – an Arduino shield that turns an Arduino into a VHF/UHF transceiver. One interesting feature is that unlike many commercial transceivers, the Ham Shield covers the 2 m, 220 MHz, and 440 MHz bands.
According to Casey, KC7IBT,
We have both voice and data working on the shield right now and also have a powerful library to control it.
We also have it talking to the Chrome browser, so any computer that can run a web browser can operate a packet radio station or voice station. We also have another piece of chrome software called “APRS Messenger”, a text messaging app for APRS. One of our prototypes is in a neat little case that clips right to the back of your laptop (shown in the video). I will launch these apps in the Chrome Store once we get closer to completion.
We have 10 working prototypes currently, but need to raise money to fund the production cost and get the unit prices down to acceptable levels. This means buying parts in bulk and reducing production costs.
I think this is a very cool project, and I hope that you’ll consider supporting the HamShield Kickstarter project. I plan to get one of the early supporter packs, or if I can get someone to go in with me, maybe one of the multiple unit packages.