For Christmas, [Lior] got a Baofeng UV5R radio. He didn’t have an amateur radio license, so he decided to utilize it as a authorities scanner. since the schematics were available, he cracked it open as well as hacked it.

This $40 radio communicates on the 136-174 MHz as well as 400-480 MHz bands. It utilizes a one-time programmable microcontroller as well as the RDA1846 transceiver. With the power traces to the MCU cut, [Lior] was able to send his own signals to the chip over I2C utilizing an Arduino. He likewise recorded the signals sent by the stock microcontroller during startup, to ensure that he might emulate it with the Arduino.

Once communication was working on an Arduino, [Lior] decided to get rid of the stock microcontroller. He desoldered the chip, leaving subjected pads to solder wires to. Hooking these as much as the Arduino provided him a programmable method to manage the device. He got his radio permit as well as implemented transmission of Morse Code, as well as an Arduino sketch is offered in the compose up.

[Lior] explains that his next step is to make a PCB to link a different microcontroller to the device. This will provide him a $40 radio that is completely programmable. After the break, inspect out a video of the hacked radio in action.