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guides › Connect a radio › Handheld + Digirig

weechat-radio:$ Handheld + Digirig

A VHF/UHF walkie-talkie and a USB sound cable. About five minutes.

What you need

  • A VHF/UHF handheld Baofeng, UV-K6, or similar.
  • A Digirig or AIOC USB cable
  • wcr setup already run once
Handheld to computer through a Digirig A USB cable runs from this computer to the Digirig or AIOC, and one audio/PTT cable runs from there into the handheld's speaker-mic jack. The same cable carries sound both ways and presses the radio's transmit button. The radio sends on the air to another station on the same frequency, and the receipt comes back the same way. other station same frequency on the air this computer <G4ABC> hi [ok] > _ Digirig or AIOC USB audio/PTT the Digirig presses transmit for you handheld

One cable into the radio’s speaker-mic hole. One USB cable into the computer.

Steps

  1. Plug in the cables

    Plug the Digirig into the computer. Plug the audio/PTT cable into the radio’s speaker-mic jack.

  2. Set up the radio

    Turn the radio on. Set FM, simplex (one frequency, not a repeater), low power. Turn off voice scramble and VOX on the radio itself — the Digirig presses the transmit button for you.

  3. Find the serial port

    Find the serial port name (the USB “COM” address):

    • Windows: right-click Start → Device Manager → Ports (COM & LPT). Look for something like COM5.
    • Linux: in a terminal, run ls /dev/ttyUSB* /dev/ttyACM*. You want /dev/ttyUSB0 or similar.
    • Mac: in Terminal, run ls /dev/cu.usb*.
  4. Run setup

    Run wcr setup and choose Handheld + Digirig. Type that port name.

  5. Check the audio

    Start with wcr tui. Watch the status bar: audio should read good, not low or hot.

  6. Test with a second station

    Ask a second station on the same frequency to send a short test. You should see their callsign in the heard list. Tell the app your dial: /radio freq 144.950.

How you know it worked

The channel state flickers rx when they transmit, and SNR is a positive number. Your line gets [tx] after you send, then [ok] when it is delivered.

On the move

Out with the handheld while your home station runs internet radio with the tower on? Add the standard suffix to your callsign in setup: /M mobile (moving vehicle), /P portable (set up away from home), /MM at sea, /AM in the air, for example G4ABC/M. Callsigns are 8 characters at most, suffix included.

Plug in a USB GPS (any u-blox type dongle, or a radio with a GPS output) and pick its port under GPS in setup, or set [gps] port = "COM6" in wcr.toml. While it has a fix your grid follows you, about 500 m at a time. Your beacons and receipts carry it, your home tower passes it to the hub, and the map shows your pin with the tag /M and “via” your tower. Without a fix, or with no GPS, the grid from setup is used. The status panel shows the GPS state.

Your position is only sent when you share your station on the public map.

Other paths: VOX cable · HF + CAT. Frequencies: calling.

Next: put up an antenna → VHF and UHF antennas · HF antennas