My Morse Code Keyer Homebrew Software for the Nintendo 3DS. – EI3LH

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My Morse Code Keyer Homebrew Software for the Nintendo 3DS.

Written by

EI3LH

in

Amateur Radio, Coding, Computing, CW, Gaming

Please look forward to it! きれいですね?

How AI thinks my software would appear in a 1984 Japanese video game magazine!

NOTE: My homebrew software is entirely unofficial and not endorsed by any company, anyone or anything at all whatsoever. This is purely homebrew software made for the love of my personal video game and anime nostalgia, amateur radio and CW.

After working on my Casio VX-4 calulator for a while, I moved away from the world of Bulletin Board Services and got myself a bit more up to date… with a (now out of production) Nintendo 3DS console. Sure what else did you expect?

I noticed that the Nintendo 3DS is quite a capable little console, particularly with it’s glasses-free stereoscopic 3D display which, in my opinion, is still excellent and a fun novelty in 2026.

One thing the Nintendo 3DS doesn’t have, I thought to myself like any sane person would, is the ability to be used as a Morse Code (CW) key.

Of course you thought that too right?

I made a 10 second 100% AI-generated 1980’s style Japanese TV advert teaser for my software. If you’re going to do something, go big or go home!

Calling CQ!

It got me to thinking if there was a way to harness the capabilities of the console and to develop my own homebrew software for it that would be up to the task. Well, I say develop, I’m not a developer at all, far from it. I have a reasonable grasp of BASIC and a smattering of ‘this and that’ but if I was to get the job done I was going to have to vibe code it. Particularly when it comes to a niche console like the 3DS.

It would also be a good test, I thought, of how far someone might actually be able to develop a fully-rounded piece of software using AI and what the results might be.

Spoiler alert, the software is almost finished (but is far enough along that I am happy to write up about my journey with it to date). I am still ironing out problems with connectivity to the ICOM IC-705 access point due to the insufferable way that the Nintendo 3DS determines what constitutes a successful Internet connection. Once I have that sussed (and I am almost there) the rest should just slot in to place as all you are doing is connecting to an AP, nothing fancy. Both the IC-705 and 3DS are well equipped for this but again, it’s the way the 3DS likes to connect that is the problem.

The key factor here (excuse pun) is getting it to work with minimal latency. As an automatic keyer or code trainer for contesting and learning, it should be absolutely fine. The problems come when you want to go F-BKIN and send code in real time.

Currently it comes down to one of two immediate options. Find a way to ensure Luma3DS forces the 3DS to connect to the AP. It sort of does but is very hit and miss. It isn’t stable enough for me to then look to send CW data over to the IC-705 yet. The second option is to place a small AP in the middle and have the two devices talk to each other this way. Though that adds an additional hop, and with additional hops come additional latency.

So what to do?

There are other possibilities but may involve having to build circuits or try other protocols. I’ve also considered trying to use the Azahar emulator for testing my network builds (still might do this but I need to know it works on real hardware too).

Thankfully the IC-705 is fairly open when it comes to connectivity. Heck, ICOM actively encourage community spirit by releasing the STL’s of the IC-705 so customers can build their own 3D prints of accessories for the radio if they want to design something for it. I love that and wish more companies would embrace this.

So close yet, at the moment, not quite there. As a trainer software option I think it would be fantastic fun, so I could still convert my software in to a CW game of sorts.

I’m continuing to work on it and hope though that someone reading this might be able to give me a hand to get it over the line.

A full tour of every feature of my IC-705 Morse Communicator software. Apologies for the Potatovision™.

The Grand (Software) Tour.

To begin creating the software I first created a roadmap in my pocket notebook about the features I would like to see in such software and then what it might look like.

I wanted software that was easy to understand, easy to operate and appealing to look at. As the software was being developed for a games console, a Japanese one at that, and I harbour an absolutely MAHOOSIVE affection for 1980’s Japan and video games, comics, anime, magazines and technology of the era, I felt I had to give the software an anime/gaming aesthetic and try and cram in lots of nods, references and even an Easter Egg. All of which I feel I managed to do with a degree of success (YMMV).

A full tour of my ICOM IC-705 Nintendo 3DS software via an emulator....