Blog

Exterior Parts
1. Plastic/Metal housing (The one I used was ABS Plastic 260 x 220 x 100 MM) x 1 
2. Push Button Micro switch (Up/Down Channels) x 2 
3. Eight (8) Pin Panel Mount Microphone Jack x 1
4. Volume (Potentiometer 100KA) x 1
5. Volume Knob x 1
6. Red LED 3mm x 1
7. Green LED 3mm x 1
8. Yellow LED 3mm x 1 
9. Blue LED 3mm x 1
10. LCD Display (20 x 4) 4 Rows HD44780 with Parallel Interface
11. RJ45 female wall socket x 1
12. 3.5mm Mono Panel Mount Jack x 1
13. 6x30 mm Panel Mount Fuse Holder x 1 
14. 1 Amp 250V Fast Blow Glass Fuse x 1
15. 3 Pin SPST Toggle Switch x 2
16. AC Power Cable

Interior Parts
1. Raspberry Pi Model 3 b+ x 1
2. Raspberry Pi Universal Official Power Supply _5.1V 2.5A x 1
3. GOOD 5Hv2 USB Virtual 7.1 Channel 3D Audio External Sound Card Adapter x 1
4. 3.5mm Mono Plug x 2
5. Main Power Transformer 220V to 24-0-24 Volts Center tapped Transformer
6. Electrolytic Capacitor 4700 uF/50V
7. 0.1 uF Ceramic Capacitor x 1
8. TDA2030a mono amplifier Kit x 1
9. Diode 1N4001 x 2 
10. Diode 1N4148 x 1
11. 2SC536 Transistor x 1
12. Resistors 330 Ohms 1/4 Watt 5% for LEDs x 3
13. Resistor 560 Ohms 1/4 Watt 5% for LED x 1
14. Resistor 150 Ohms 1/4 Watt 5% for LED x 1
15. RJ 45 Male Connector + CAT 5e Cable x 1
16. 40 Pin Male 2.54mm spacing single row

Accessories
1. Shrink Tube
2. Electrical Tape
3. Hot Glue Gun
4. Screws & Nuts
5. Metal Standoffs 
6. Colored AWG 22 Wire
7. Colored AWG 24 Wire
8. Shielded Mono or Stereo Cable
9. Cable Ties
10. External Speaker with 3.5mm Mono Plug
11. Solder
12. Solder Flux
13. Female to female jumper wires

Tools
1. Soldering Iron
2. Solder Sucker
3. Hot Glue Gun
4. Drill and Drill Bits of Various Sizes
5. Box Cutters
6. Pliers
7. Screw Drivers
8. Round and Flat Files

Desk Microphone
1. PC Desktop Microphone x 1
2. Plastic Box x 1
3. PTT Micro switch x 1
4. UP/DOWN Micro switch x 2
5. Shielded Cable with 8 Core
6. Eight (8) Pin Microphone plug x 1

I built one desktop microphone and modified one ICOM mic for the talKKonnect

I will be creating a Bill of Materials of the hardware and also creating a github account to share the software shortly.

On the hardware side I will create

• Block Diagram of the system
• Any Circuit diagram(s) for Amplifiers used etc
• Photos of the USB sound card I used
• Photos of the MIC I built
• Shopping Lists
• etc

On the software side I will share

• github source code release
• step by step installation instructions

Building something always has made me happy and feel that I am spending my spare time usefully. I have a passion for radio communications and building my own radios. Electronics and embedded systems are also a passion of mine.

I believe in learning by doing and recently the most cost effective way to learn and break things is in software because there are no costs. You can fail multiple times and all you loose is your time. No risk of blowing anything up. It’s the combination of hardware and software that I find exciting.

I have been wanting to learn and program in “C” after looking at so many videos online and reading a few books I did not get very far. However doing this project and spending about 2 months I have realized the only way to really learn something is just to go ahead and do it.

I want to learn about version control tools such as github, bug trackers and how to create open source software and the open source software ecosystem.

The ultimate goal is to have a community of like minded people who take and improve on the hardware and software. People who test and give feedback. People who create documentation so that others can follow the project and build these units easily. Make friends so that we can teach each other and learn together. Maybe we can create our own server and channel for people to exchange ideas.

Oh and also my wife says I spend to much time watching TV, so since the start of the project I have not watched much.

Hardware Improvements

• Use External Mic and push buttons on the device for Channel Up/Down navigation
• Has a 4×20 LCD Screen
• Has a built in Amplifier using the TDA2030 Chip
• Has a volume adjustment knob
• Self contained unit with all power supplies built in
• Female RJ45 connector at the back for network connectivity
• 4 LEDs that show status such as online, other participants in channel, Transmit Mode and an LED that flashes as there is voice activity

Software Improvements

• Colorized LOGS on debugging terminal for events as they happen
• Can play an alert sound as events happen
• A Roger Beep like effect that lets the remote party that you have released the PTT button
• Mutes Speaker when pressing PTT to prevent feedback and give a radio like experience
• Channel seek
• LCD with useful information for showing status, channel joined, who is speaking, etc.

A list of people /organizations I would like to thank. Without these people talKKonnect would not be possible. I have learned so much and had so much fun and sleepless nights building this device

• Tim Cooper for the gumble library and for barnard a text based mumble client for cli linux
• Daniel Chote for making talkiepi
• The developers who created and maintain the mumble protocol and server
• Raspberry Pi Foundation
• FreeSWITCH, Anthony Minessale II and the freeswitch team
• Linux Foundation and the people who create and maintain linux
• Arduino and ESPRESSIF
• The creators and maintainers of golang
• The solder smoke podcast and those homebrewers who show their work on the internet
• Tayeb Meftah who was always there to test talKKonnect and give me inspiration
• Ariya my little girl who could somehow manage to make talKKonect core dump
• Mumble free online public server FPS Network Server 4 Fillipino Gamers who were always there as a great for testing the sound quality and the functioning of talKKonnect on a live production server
• and so many more of those selfless people who share their knowledge and experience ….