Ever wished your PMR radio had more functions, such as being properly tunable, configurable auto-repeater shift, supported scan, had alphanumeric channel memories or a decent intuitive LCD display?

In which case, this project MIGHT be of use to you :-)

Using a PIC (programmable integrated circuit) based on the Arduino platform, I am aiming to deliver all of these features in a way that makes it easy to adapt to any synthesized PMR radio (VHF/UHF etc etc) I am also intending it to be possible to mount it remotely from the radio to allow you to 'remote head' it!

The features I have already implemented are :

Twin independent VFOs (that remember where they were when you power off the radio
Fully tuneable across the whole band.
Automatic repeater shift (configurable)
Manual repeater shift
Reverse repeater shift
TX timeout (configurable)
Configurable scan mode

Things I am still working on:

500 alphanumeric memories (Needs a small external EEPROM)
Menu system to allow you to set up preferences
Make the logic power on the radio (soft poweron) using a small radio internally-mounted power relay
Make the logic control volume and squelch for the radio
LCD-screen based S-meter.

If you are interested in having a play, or better still, helping out, that would be great :-)

David