Wouxun – M0AWS Amateur Radio

2 May 20262 May 2026

Bring your old handheld to life with an AIOC

I’m sure there are many radio amateurs around the world today who have an old handheld radio sat on the shelf that works perfectly but, has been replaced by a new, shiny, all singing, all dancing model that gets used on a daily basis. I for one have fallen into this trap with the recent purchase of a very nice Wouxun KG-UV9K full duplex 2m and 70cm handheld.

On my shelf there is a cheap Retevis RT85 that gave sterling service for a number of years and even today is ready to continue that service, if only I had a need?

Well now I do!

Currently I have an AllStarLink node running on a RaspberryPi 3b connected to a SHARI device that operates on the 70cm band. This node works great and gives me the ability to chat with people all over the world from my trusty handheld. It does of course also give me access to the weekly Matrix AllStarLink Net that happens on our Matrix node ( 642332 ) every Thursday evening at 20:00 UK time, a great way of bringing the Matrix HAM Radio community together regardless of propagation.

For some time I’ve been wanting to bring another AllStarLink node online so that I can have a connection to HUBNET/FreeNet whilst keeping my current node connected to the Matrix node for our regular daily chats. Since my new Wouxun handheld is a full duplex unit it makes sense to bring a new node up on the 2m band as I can then monitor both at the same time easily. I do have a spare SHARI node however, it’s a UHF only unit and I don’t want another node on the 70cm band. This is where the old Retevis RT85 comes in to play.

The All In One Cable ( AIOC ) board is a very neat little CM108 compatible sound card and serial interface that is sold by Steve, KM9G of YouTube fame ( Temporarily Offline ) that plugs into any handheld radio that has the now pretty much standard Kenwood ‘K’ type mic connector.

The AIOC board really is tiny but, beautifully put together. The four large solder pads on the top and more on the underside are positioned such that the TRS plug solder lugs line up perfectly for soldering. Attempting to do this by hand would be impossible as it’s critical that the spacing between the two connectors matches that of the spacing of the sockets on the radio.

Searching online I found a very handy soldering jig on Github that enables you to hold both the TRS connectors and AIOC board in the perfect position for soldering.

Downloading the .STL file I quickly printed off a solder jig on my Bambu Lab A1 Combo 3D printer and fitted the components into place ready for soldering.

Fitting TRS connectors into the AIOC solder jig

Fitting AIOC board into the solder jig. — Fitting TRS connectors into the AIOC solder jig

Everything fitted rather snugly into the jig and I soon had the board and connectors soldered together. Test fitting to my Retevis RT85 I found the TRS plugs lined up perfectly and it slid into the sockets with ease.

I then thought about designing a case for the AIOC board so that the bare circuit was nicely protected but, quickly searched online and found that NA6D has already designed a case and made the .STL available publicly for download on Printable.com. I quickly grabbed a copy of the file and punted it off to my 3D printer to get to work on.

Once the print was complete I fitted the AIOC board and snapped it together ready for testing.

Fitting the AIOC into the 3D printed case.

AIOC case with 2 x TRS connectors in place. — Fitting the AIOC into the 3D printed case.

Now that the AIOC was production ready I moved on to getting the latest version of AllStarLink onto my RaspberryPi 4 that I had taken out of my RadioBerry based shortwave receiver that I am going to upgrade to a Hermes Lite 2 in a later project. The RaspberryPi 4 is perfect for AllStarLink 3, a 64bit app and operating system.

Using the RaspberryPi Imager I pulled the image down onto an SD card and slipped it into my Pi4. ( Instructions on how to do this are on the AllStarLink website here )

Booting the Pi4 for the first time I found that it went through a number of reboot and configuration cycles before it was ready for use.

Once ready I went through all the normal configuration of the Pi4 namely, static IP assignment, timezone config, security, port forwarding etc etc.

Having configured an AllStarLink node for myself and only just a few days ago for another HAM I was pretty familiar with the setup. Wanting to make sure there were no “gotcha’s” I also watched a couple of KM9G’s videos on Youtube to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

Using the asl-menu command line app as user root I set about configuring Asterisk to work with the AIOC board. Much to my frustration I could not get Asterisk to recognise the AIOC board as an available sound device. I checked and double checked all the settings ensuring that I had selected “AIOC” in the available devices menu but found that Asterisk constantly errored saying it could not find the selected audio device. This went on for a whole day without success and so, I decided to put it to one side and come back to it later, a method I found that often worked.

A couple of days later I revisited the problem and had decided to take a different approach. Rather than continue going through the asl-menu app I decided to drop down to a lower level and go through the asterisk config files in the /etc/asterisk directory.

It wasn’t long before I found a file called res_usbradio.conf. Inside this file was the config for the AIOC board however, it was all commented out which meant it was disabled.

I’m guessing here but, I imagine this is what should get enabled when selecting AIOC in the available devices menu in the asl-menu command line app but, for some reason it doesn’t happen.

[general]
;usb_devices = 1209:7388    ;comma delimited list of usb
                            ;descriptors to allow.
                            ;format vvvv:pppp in hexadecimal
                            ;vvvv=vendor id, pppp=product id
                            ;
                            ;1209:7388 = AIOC (all in one cable)

Above is the disabled configuration which is easily edited to enable the AIOC device as shown below.

[general]
usb_devices = 1209:7388    ;comma delimited list of usb
                            ;descriptors to allow.
                            ;format vvvv:pppp in hexadecimal
                            ;vvvv=vendor id, pppp=product id
                            ;
                            1209:7388 = AIOC (all in one cable)

Once the updated file had been saved and I restarted Asterisk using systemctl the AIOC burst into life and Asterisk recognised it immediately. The Retevis RT85 switched between TX and RX and I was ready to check out the audio.

Setting the volume levels for both RX and TX via the command line tuning app I connected the node to my already existing node. Sure enough the two nodes connected without error and I was able to send and receive audio between them via the AllStarLink net.

Connecting the new node to the parrot I checked the audio levels to ensure it sounded ok and then connected it to the Matrix node where I had a brief chat with Ben, M8TKK.

All that is left to do now is to 3D print a case for the Pi4 so that it isn’t left naked and at risk of being shorted out on conductive surfaces and it’ll be ready for service.

I also plan to build another AllStarLink node using a 4m band handheld and another AIOC board and then will apply for MB7Ixx callsigns for the two new nodes. This will hopefully help to bring some life to the 2m/4m bands locally and introduce HAM’s both to the weekly Matrix Net and HUBNet/FreeStar via AllStarLink.

More soon …

25 April 202625 April 2026

There’s always someone listening!

I had a fun day on the radio yesterday. It started with the Matrix QO-100 Satellite Impromptu Net at 16:00 BST on 10489.873Mhz. A net that started off as an impromptu event that over the last couple of years has become a weekly staple. Hardly impromptu at all but, we liked the name and so stuck with it.

During the Impromptu net I noticed that my 2m radio was burbling away in the background and that a lot of European repeaters were coming through so, as soon as the net had finished I quickly switched over to my trusty Wouxun KG-UV980PL and started tuning around the 2m band.

2m was alive with repeaters from France, Belgium, The Netherlands and the UK, often beating against each other on the same frequency.

Being near the East Coast and closer to Belgium than I am to many parts of the UK I jumped onto the ON0WV repeater in Bruges. Being S9+ with me I called a few times but, no one came back to me so, I moved on.

Tuning across my Norwich Repeater memory slot I heard two French stations chatting, it was obvious they weren’t on GB3NB as the bell between overs was not the normal chime.

I quickly opened RepeaterBook on my iPhone and searched for repeaters on the same frequency, there are many!

Eventually I worked out that it was ON0HT so I quickly set about loading the repeater settings into the next available radio memory channel. I loaded a few others from The Netherlands at the same time as I was hearing more than normal from that part of the world.

2 French Operators on the ON0HT repeater in Belgium close to the French border.

Having the correct settings in place for the repeater I was now able to call in and have chat with the two stations.

Jean-Claude F5JOX and Didier F6DKO were surprised to hear an English station call in but, were most welcoming. We had a chat for a few minutes exchanging details and commenting on the great conditions. Sadly the conversation was eventually brought to an end as there were so many repeaters on the same frequency it became impossible for me to hear them clearly so, I gave them 73 and went tuning around.

The 2m band was absolutely full of UK and EU repeaters with many beating against each other on the same frequency. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was more of a split between the UK repeater frequencies and the EU allocation. Would certainly make it easier to use the EU repeaters in lift conditions.

Later in the evening Roger G8VLR, Steve M0XVT and I were having one of our Impromptu Nets on the 60m band. Often there are others from the Matrix that join in too but, on this occasion there were just the 3 of us.

I’m acutely aware that we often have listeners to our on air chats as I quite often get emails from SWL’s and licenced HAMs commenting on how much they enjoy our conversations. Yesterday evening was no exception as it turns out that we were once again attracting listeners albeit, unbeknown to us at the time.

Later in the evening Alan, G1SQB sent me a message via the Matrix with a YouTube link to a recording of us on the 60m band from that very same evening made by @KevinOReillyswl.

Yes, that’s yours truly waffling on about satellites as normal.

Kevin O’Reilly is clearly a very active SWL as he has many interesting videos on his Youtube Channel that are worth a look.

I must confess that I’ve never heard of the MLITE-880 receiver before but, after running a search I found it to be quite a popular radio in the SWL community.

There’s a very good review on swling.com that’s worth a read.

The short video above shows it to be a surprisingly good shortwave receiver in a very compact, portable package that’s ideal for listening whilst out and about on camping trips or other outdoor activities.

A big thanks to Kevin O’Reilly for posting the video and letting us see how we sound on the other end.

More soon …

30 March 20269 April 2026

ISS Astronaut talks to UK students

Students at the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury, Kent UK, today had the opportunity to talk to astronaut Jack Hathaway, KJ5NIV, aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Checking the ISS pass data I could see it was going to be a good pass for me to listen and so I setup my Wouxun KG-UV980P quad bander on 145.800Mhz to see if I could hear Jack.

Having only a Diamond V2000 vertical antenna, I don’t have the best station for satellite communications however, it has worked well in the past.

Sure enough, as the ISS approached the UK from the South West and reached 2deg above the horizon the signal started coming through. Below is the video I took of the pass.

I ended the video at 6min and 35sec as I thought I’d lost the satellite as it was out to the East over Russia and blocked by farm buildings near my QTH however, once I stopped videoing I remembered to move the VFO down 5Khz and sure enough I was able to hear the ISS right up until the point that Jack signed and ended the QSO.

I really should try to see if I can get some QSO’s via the ISS FM Repeater as the received signal really is very good. Whether the transmitted signal would be as good remains to be seen.

More soon …

20 March 202620 March 2026

Wouxun KG-UV9K Purchase

For some time I’ve wanted a full duplex 2m/70cm handheld so I could have a go at working the LEO FM satellites during the summer months from the garden.

Searching through all the handhelds available today I came across the Wouxun KG-UV9K dual band, full duplex VHF/UHF radio.

Since I already own a Wouxun KG-UV980PL Quad bander (6/4/2m & 70cm) I’m familiar with the menu system and the very good build quality so I decided to research it further.

Wouxun KG-UV9K Full Duplex Hand Held — Wouxun KG-UV9K Full Duplex Handheld

Looking at the spec for the handheld it does everything I want and more whilst being reasonably priced.

Jumping onto the Martin Lynch and Sons website I found there were two listings, the radio on its own or the “Pro Pack”.

The radio on its own was £79.00 but, the Pro Pack was only £20 more at £99.00 and came with every option available for the handheld including a programming cable, 2 batteries and a rather nice carry case.

The full specification and other details for the “Pro Pack” can be found on the ML&S website but, here’s a brief summary:

Pro pack contains:

KG-UV9K Transceiver with 2 antennas

Two batteries
Two belt-clips
Software and transfer data Cable
Fast charger dock and Power Supply
Hand speaker mic
Battery eliminator
Manual
Wrist strap
Leather case
In-car charger
SMA-SO239 adaptor
Hands-Free kit

Like my Wouxun quad bander the handheld can also be configured as a cross-band repeater, something I’ve not yet found a use for but an interesting feature. Of course being a full duplex radio with two receivers you can listen to signals on 2m and 70cm simultaneously or transmit on one and listen on the other, a feature I’ve wanted for LEO satellite operations.

The radio is really easy to programme using CHIRP and easy to setup via the very logical menu layout. The hand held has a good solid feel to it and I’ve found the battery lasts a good 3-4 days even though I use it to chat with other stations via my AllStarLink node most mornings and the radio is left monitoring all day.

The larger of the two supplied antennas works extremely well having a relatively good gain. I can now easily get into my two local repeaters on 2m & 70cm from within the house, something I’ve never been able to do with my old Retevis RT85 even with a high gain antenna on it.

The receivers in the UV9K are head and shoulders better than that of the Retevis RT85, I’m hearing signals much stronger now and can even get into repeaters that I’ve never even heard on the old Retevis handheld.

The display on the Wouxun is bright and easy to read, even in bright sunshine which is great as I plan to use it outside a lot during the summer months.

The supplied speaker mic gets good unsolicited audio reports on transmit and has clear audio on receive with plenty of volume. The speaker mic doesn’t have any radio control buttons on it sadly, something I really like about the Wouxun UV980PL quad bander as you can control every aspect of the radio without touching the front panel. Would be a nice upgrade for the handheld if it every became available.

Overall I’m really impressed with the Wouxun UV9K Pro Pack. The radio performs very well, comes with every optional extra available and is a bargain at just £99.00.

If you’re looking for a full duplex handheld radio then I recommend you grab the Pro Pack before the offer ends.

More soon …

24 October 202431 October 2024

Wouxun KG UV-980PL Quad Band Radio

I recently decided to look into a 2m/70cm FM radio for the shack for use on the local 2m/70cm repeaters and was considering the offerings from Yaesu and Icom however, the Wouxun KG UV-980PL caught my eye as it is a quad band, full duplex radio. Not knowing much about Wouxun radios I had to do some research to get an idea of what it’s like. Generally the radio gets very good reviews and most mention the excellent build quality.

There are two versions of the 980P radio, the 980PL that offers 6/4/2m and 70cm bands and the 980P that offers 10/6/2m and 70cm. The 4m is a band I’ve been wanting to try for some time and the 980PL with it’s 4m band coverage became even more appealing.

Wouxun KG UV-980PL Quad Band FM Duplex Transceiver

I decided to take a trip down to Martin Lynch and Sons (MLANDS), a good 2 hours or more drive for me, so that I could get hands on with the radios that I had been looking at.

I invited Alan, G1SQB along for the ride and a day out playing with radios as he lives 3 miles away and we often chat on air.

Arriving at the store we grabbed a hot brew and set about playing with the great selection of radios on display.

I initially looked at the Icom IC-2730E, a dual band full duplex transceiver that has been around for about 10 years and has good reviews. As expected the build quality is excellent and very easy to use. I found I was soon able to set up memories etc via the front panel controls. The only draw back is that it isn’t supported by the CHIRP programming software that I use. Other than that it certainly meets all the requirements for a 2m/70cm FM transceiver

Icom Ic-2730E Duplex FM Transceiver — Icom IC-2730E FM Duplex Transceiver

Next I moved on to the offerings from Yaesu including the FTM-500DE 2m/70cm transceiver. The colour screen is very nice and the menu system very easy to use however, the price is getting on for close to double that of the other radios and it doesn’t really offer anything more that interests me since I’m only looking for an analog radio.

Yaesu FTM-500DR dual band FM Transceiver

Sadly there wasn’t a Wouxun UV-980PL out on display and so I had to persuade the salesman to get one out of stock for me to play with. Unpacking the radio I was surprised at how good the build quality is, it really is comparable to the other radios that I had been looking at.

The Wouxun menu system is fairly easy to use once you’ve looked at the manual and got to grips the abbreviations used. The big plus is that this radio is CHIRP compatible with an optional programming cable (£19) and so loading the memories with repeaters etc will be extremely easy.

The Wouxun has dual receivers built in with a quad-plexer so, you can transmit on one band whilst listening to another band on the other receiver. One thing to note is that the 1st receiver covers all the bands, 6/4/2m and 70cm however, the 2nd receiver only covers 2m and 70cm so, it’s not possible to receive 4m and 6m at the same time. The radio also only has one antenna connection on the rear, would had been great if it had one connector for each receiver.

The really good thing about the Wouxun UV-980PL is that it comes with everything you will need, apart from the programming cable!

After much tinkering I decided to purchase the Wouxun KG UV-980PL, a Diamond V2000 6/2m and 70cm antenna plus 20m of Hyperflex-13 coax cable and connectors.

In the box you’ll find two mounting options for the removable head. There is a short connecting cable for use when the head is mounted directly on the radio body and a 5m long connecting cable for mounting the head remotely. This is really useful as I wanted to mount the head on a mic boom arm so that it’s easily accessible and didn’t clutter the desk space in the shack.

M0AWS Shack — Wouxun KG UV-980PL head mounted on a Mic boom arm

Since the radio also comes with the mobile mount I’ve fixed the radio body on the wall behind the PC monitor out the way. This setup has proven to be extremely good as I can see what’s happening on the display at a glance and easily grab the mic if called.

Programming the radio memories is extremely quick and easy using CHIRP. I had the local repeaters and my AllStarLink node frequencies and offsets uploaded to the radio in no time at all and was soon on air.

Programming the memories on the Wouxun UV-980PL using CHIRP

The microphone that comes with the radio is extremely good. You can operate most of the controls on the radio directly from the mic with ease and it has a good feel in the hand. Audio reports have also been very good and there’s no need to change it.

I’ve not yet got the new Diamond V2000 antenna erected but, I’ve been using the radio with my homebrew 2m/70cm end fed vertical dipole and my 4m band end fed vertical dipole and am getting excellent results. I can access all the local repeaters using the lowest power output setting and only have to use the medium/high setting for the repeaters that are further afield.

On the 4m band the radio performs well and I’ve been surprised at the distances I’ve been able to cover even though my 4m antenna is only 6-7m above the ground currently.

A few days after I got the new Wouxun radio there was an ARISS event whereby a group of Girl Guides would be talking to Astronaut Sunita Williams aboard the ISS. This was a great opportunity to test the receive capability of the radio and so I setup ready for the pass. Using just my simple 2m/70cm end fed vertical dipole I got great reception as can be heard in the video below.

Overall I’m extremely pleased with the Wouxun KG UV-980PL quad band radio and considering it’s much cheaper than the offerings from the main radio manufacturers it’s well built and performs extremely well. If you’re looking for a simple, analog FM radio for 6/4/2m/70cms then you can’t beat it!

More soon …

6 October 2024

ISS Special Event contact with Astronaut Sunita Williams

A special event organised by the RSGB and Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), in collaboration with the UK Space Agency, Girlguiding Surrey West and Brooklands Museum’s Innovation Academy programme took place today and I was fortunate enough to actually receive the signal from the ISS as it passed over Europe.

The contact with NASA astronaut Sunita Williams was also attended by The Duchess of Edinburgh who asked the first question via radio to the NASA astronaut.

Following this a number of girl guides posed questions which were very quickly answered as the ISS passed overhead.

Using my new Wouxun UV-980PL and simple end-fed vertical dipole I got a great signal from the ISS HAM radio station and was able to receive the ISS side of the conversation as the space station approached the N/W Coast of Spain until it eventually dropped below the horizon out of site nearing East Russia.

Below is a short video clip with audio showing the clarity of reception. The ISS peaked at an S9 signal, it was a perfect pass for the special event.

I’m hoping to put up a better antenna for 2/4/6m & 70cm in the next few days so that I can start joining the local nets on these bands and perhaps get contacts through a few more of the FM Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.

I’ll also be writing a full article on the Wouxun KG UV-980PL in the very near future, so if this radio is of interest to you then watch this space.

More soon …