Depending on who you’re talking to, Google Assistant is either a tool capable of responding quickly and clearly to audio queries in natural language, or a noisier and less useful version of Wolfram Alpha. [William Franzin] decided that it would be particularly cool to offer the service on a radio station – and that is exactly what he did.
[William] got the idea for this project after the first game with the Internet Radio Linking Project, a system that uses VoIP technology to connect radio networks over the Internet. There is already an IRLP node, it seemed quite natural to turn it into a portal to the wider Internet through integration with Google Assistant. Early work involved activating the assistant with DTMF tones, but [William] did not stop there by using Picovoice, it became possible to use the system with the custom keyword “Bumblebee”.
[William]The project can be especially useful when outside the cell cover, but needs little information such as a meteorological report or interesting facts to settle a campfire dispute. In addition, it is even possible to control the IRLP node via voice commands.
If you are just starting out with ham radio, see this compilation to get started for under $ 100. Video after the break.