Below is a video demonstration of a fully mobile digital ham radio setup that can be operated anywhere within range of Wi-Fi or cellular networks. With this setup I can connect to any Wires-X room in the entire world. I can be indoors working plugged into AC and WiFi or fully portable using battery power and a Wi-Fi hotspot.
The laptop is handy for quickly finding and switching to rooms, but so long as you have a nearby Wires-X or System Fusion repeater connected to the Internet you could work with just the handheld radio.
Parts to buy:
- A radio cable of connecting to the Wires-X as a node (Yaesu FT3DR, FT2DR, FT1DR, FT-70DR and others).
- Yaesu SCU-39 Complete Wires X System Fusion Interface Cable Kit SCU-39 (check part number for your radio model)
- A USB sound card (The software MIGHT work without it, but they are cheap and it’s a known solution.)
- A laptop (or desktop) running Windows 7.0 or Windows 10 (it may work within a virtual instance, but I didn’t check).
- A WiFi connection or hot spot.
- Power (plugged in or battery operated with enough amps and amp hours to power everything up).
Once you have the equipment, follow the instructions on Yaesu’s website to setup your node.