Making GMRS Accessible for Every Family Member
GMRS is an incredible tool for family communication, but traditional radios exclude those who are non-speaking, hard of hearing, or have auditory processing challenges.
To fix this, I built Hearthwave, an open-source, self-hosted base station project. It connects a GMRS radio to your home Wi-Fi via Docker, letting your family read, type, and talk from any web browser instead of struggling with a physical handset.
How it brings everyone onto the channel:
AAC Interface & Type-to-Talk: Non-speaking users can tap symbol/emoji buttons or type out messages. Hearthwave automatically broadcasts them over the air using Text-to-Speech.
Live Transcription: Every transmission is transcribed on-screen with a scrollback history, making it perfect for those who process text better than audio.
Accessible Design: Built with visual alerts, switch-scanning for single-button users, and simplified, kid-safe preset accounts.
Fully Local & Legal: Stays FCC Part-95 compliant by acting as a local remote control with automatic station ID—not an internet gateway. No cloud dependencies or subscriptions.
I built this so that my family airwaves could actually include everyone in my household. If you are in the radio, self-hosting, and/or autism/disability advocacy communities, I’d love for you to check it out.
Open Source -MIT license
Docs & Setup: https://xpiatio.github.io/Hearthwave/
GitHub: https://github.com/Xpiatio/Hearthwave
FCC Legality Breakdown: https://xpiatio.github.io/Hearthwave/legality.html