In the LinkedIn ARRL Ham Radio Operators group, Rick, W7STS, asked, “Has anyone noticed that the radio manufacturers have been slow to offer a USB headset interface?” I flippantly replied that this sounded like a business opportunity to me. Rick answered that since ham radio manufacturers seem to have embraced the USB port for connecting keyboards and computers to their rigs, they should also have included an audio interface as well. I agree with that, but I doubt that we’re going to see that with this generation of radios.
Another thought that I had this morning would be to use a Raspberry Pi to provide that USB to audio interface. It doesn’t seem to me that that would be difficult to do, and I can’t think of a less costly way to do it. Anyone else have an idea as to how to do this?
Reusing old sound-card dongles
An idea that was a bit off-topic, but worth pursuing was contributed by George, VE3YV/K8HI. He said, “Another approach is to cut off the USB plug and re-purpose it as a soundcard adapter for working digital modes. I use old Plantronics headset USB dongles.” I like this idea a lot. I’m going to have to go find a dead headset with a good dongle and try this out.
Manufacturers of computers started to phase out RS-232 in the 90’s, but USB is still rare on many transceivers. The new FT-3000 for example doesn’t have USB at all.
It would be nice though to connect a headset/mic (such as the ones made by Logitech), set your VOX level and get on the air.
Yes, I realise this post was made years ago, but I’ve only just seen it, so bear with me.
One factor as to why the transceivers don’t support other kinds of USB device might be that the USB protocols are fiendishly complicated. It’s a multi-layer stack of protocols, each with their own quirks and requirements.
Many USB keyboards are actually secretly PS/2 compatible (they just need a passive adaptor), and so the microcontroller linking to that USB port can actually skip the USB side of things and just pretend its a PS/2 port … 90% of the time the keyboard you plug in will work anyway.
Plugging in computers: chances are they’ve just taken an off-the-shelf USB serial converter (Kenwood use the SiLabs CP310 in the TH-D72A) and wired that up to the MCU that previously spoke to a RS-232 level converter or was just wired direct to the outside world.
Some newer ones actually do have a proper microcontroller that enumerates as a serial interface and a USB audio interface, but this is only recent. Plenty of code exists for doing this… e.g. look at the Arduino Leonardo (ATMega32U4 dev board) and LUFA.
Not so much exists for making a microcontroller act as a USB *host* (needed to make it talk to a headset), and enumerate peripherals attached to it. Fewer deal with the fun stuff like isochronous transfers needed to make USB audio work.
I understand that the programming can be difficult, but are you saying that it’s too difficult for the folks programming the latest ICOMs, Yaesus, Kenwoods, Elecrafts, and FlexRadios? If I were a marketer or programmer at one of those companies, I’d take that as a personal challenge!