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A Response to the ToS changes made by Qualcomm. Short Answer Dump the Arduino!

Many including myself have invoked the handwringing over the changes made by Qualcomm on the Terms of Service for the Arduino.  We all abhor the potential loss of freedom, and this can cloud a clear path to a solution.


One response to the ToS... Homebrew, Raspberry Pi5 and SDR


The issue has a simple answer and that is to change the platform. That has a significant advantage of adding capability to our projects. The Raspberry Pi Pico can run circles around the Nano and moving up to the RPi5 puts your project in the SDR playground.

The critical path is not the Terms of Service but the thought of those hundreds of sketches you have written for the Arduino that would be abandoned. You would have to learn a new language and might even retrogress to LC Analog VFO's (poor you). In a short time, new code will suddenly appear on You Tube that facilitates the transition to the Pi Pico. BTW the Pi Pico is competitive price wise to the Arduino, but a lot more capable.

We have a history of this exact situation when we transitioned from CW to Phone to SSB to SDR. It was new territory, new terms, new learning! But just look at what you have sitting on your desktop and the capability to make contacts even under extreme band conditions.

Don't complain about the ToS just stop using the Arduino. The same goes for the current administration, if you are tired of the chaos and your freedoms being eroded, vote it out office in 2026. 

Them that know can make it go.

I keep replaying in my head our wonderful family vacation in Las Vegas. YL's sitting on a concrete bench in a thong bikini has got to grow hair on the bottom of their feet. 

73's
Pete N6QW

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