Category Archives: Radio

PMR446 and Schools

A lot of schools use the cheap PMR446 radios that are available. They use them to control traffic on-site, control student flow about the buildings, and to announce when students are being let out.

It is all against Safeguarding Guidelines, and this is why:

From my experience, Schools do not know how radios work.

On PMR446 there are “Channels” and  “Privacy Codes”.

So you can set your radio to channel 7, Privacy Code 4 (or whatever), and think that nobody else can hear you.

Well, it doesn’t work like that.

Anyone who spent about a fiver on a crap radio can hear what you are discussing.

Everything you say, about every pupil, is being broadcast.

 

Recycling Tait 8110 Radios

A while ago, I posted about the Tait 8110 Radio, beloved (hated) by the taxi community, back in the days when we actually had taxi radios, a taxi community, and, actually taxis that weren’t fucking Ubers.

Lately, following the takeover of my company (thankfully by a bunch of lads who hate Uber as much as I do), all our radios have become surplus to requirements.

Continue reading Recycling Tait 8110 Radios

Linux SDR APRS IGate setup

Ok… Firstly, there are many guides to doing this already on the internet, but most of the use a Raspberry Pi. I’m not using one, for reasons that will be made clear later.

Secondly, I couldn’t find any one of the guides that did exactly what we wanted.

Before you read all this rubbish, it is important that to use it you will need an Amateur Radio License and Callsign, and and APRS-IS Passcode. If you don’t have them, then go and get them before continuing.

So, with that in mind…

On with the motley