Quansheng Ground Station

If you have a Quansheng radio ($27 on Amazon), such as a UV-K5 or UV-K6, you can use it with your CubeSatSim as a Ground Station

You can even use the cheaper Retevis RA79 ($18 on Amazon)

With a cable, you can connect it to the headphone jack of your computer to use it in place of a RTL-SDR dongle to decode telemetry.

Also, you can use it to transmit Command and Control radio messages.

Any UHF (430 MHz) radio, not just a Quansheng, can be used to:

• Decode APRS and SSTV on your computer with decoding software
• Transmit basic command and control (Squelch) including PL tones
• Transmit experimental command and control DTMF including PL tones

With a Quansheng radio refreshed with CEC 0.3Q firmware can also:

• Decode BPSK telemetry with SSB mode
• Transmit experimental command and control APRS messages

You will need a programming cable ($8) such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JVW4MSM/ or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078T5QGFK (Retevis RA79 comes with this cable) Some people have had trouble with these programming cables with Windows 11 and had to install a Windows 10 driver to make it work.

You will also need an audio cable ($23) such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LMIBAZW/

This cheaper audio cable ($10) also worked for me: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D2V1BVZ5

Here is the firmware I use: https://github.com/phdlee/uvk5cec/releases/tag/v0.3q Click on Assets the download the file cec_0.3QC.packed.bin

Next go to the Downloads Center for the Quansheng UV-K5: http://qsfj.com/support/downloads/3002

Download the zip file labeled UV-K5 Firmware which you then should unzip and open.

Install the drivers by running the file CP210x_USB.exe You will be prompted to enter your administrator password. The buttons didn't render correctly, but if you click on the left button to Install, the installer will run.

You will get a popup error saying that the current language isn't supported, but you can click OK and the installer will quit.

Now run the AnonymPSUpdater_Setup_EN.exe Portable Radio Update Tool installer application. You will need to enter your administrator password.

Click Next to start then click the "I agree" radio button then Next again. Click Next two more times to begin the installation. When it finishes, you should get an "Installation Successful" message that you can click Finish to exit.

Open the cover on the right side of the radio and plug in the programming cable. Make sure it is plugged in all the way. Plug the USB cable into your computer.

Next, run the Portable Radio Update Tool application. It should be in your Applications list, or you can search for it by name in the Windows search box. You will need to enter your administrator password.

First, you will need to select the COM port. Look at the COM port drop down items. If only one is listed, that is the COM port to select. If more than one COM port is listed, you will need to exit the application and run it again with the radio USB cable unplugged. The COM port which was present before but is no longer present now is the one for the radio. Exit the application, plug the radio in, and run the application again and select the COM port (e.g. COM21).

Click the Connect button.

In the Program File field, click on the button with ... and select the .bin file you downloaded earlier and select Open.

Turn on the radio while pressing the PTT button (big button on the left side) and the white LED will illuminate indicating it is ready for a firmware update.

Click on the Update button and the progress bar will move and the white LED will blink. You will get a popup saying "Update program successfully!" Click OK.

You can close the application by clicking the X in the top right corner and unplug the radio.

Here's the Menu settings I use on my radio:

 Step 5 KHz
 U.Info CALLSIGN
 U.Info AprsMsg MODE=a
 TxPwr LOW
 W/N Narrow
 ChSave APRS MSG 435
 RxMode Main Only

Note that U.Info has multiple entries - you need to scroll through them to set them.

To transmit command and control Carrier or DTMF, just set the frequency to 435 and transmit.

To transmit command and control APRS packets, use T.APRS MSG