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Manual

Using Yapaia Beat

Scan for stations, save favourites, send the sound where you want to hear it.

Connect

  • Plug the RTL-SDR stick into the Home Assistant computer – ideally via a short USB extension cable and not right next to USB 3 ports (they interfere with reception).
  • Antenna for FM and DAB+: a telescopic antenna is enough for strong stations; in a camper, an active roof antenna is ideal.

First scan

  1. Sidebar → Yapaia Beat.
  2. Scan → FM, DAB+ or both.
  3. After a few minutes the station list is ready. Use ☆ to make a station a favourite.

Where does the sound come out?

Like “connect to a device”, you choose the output:

  • Mini-PC – speakers on the Home Assistant computer
  • This device – the tablet or phone you are using right now
  • Other speakers – any media player in Home Assistant that can play music from an address

The radio card for your dashboard

In the dashboard: Add card → “Yapaia Beat”. Choose “retro” (wood and LCD) or “modern”.

type: custom:yapaia-beat-card
entity: media_player.yapaia_beat
style: retro

The radio cards in the dashboard

On the road: station following

When reception gets bad, Beat looks for the same station on a better frequency, on another DAB channel, or switches between FM and DAB+. Turn it on and off with the station following switch.

Two sticks

With a second stick, Beat scans in the background while the radio keeps playing – without interruption. You also get:

  • Compare antennas (below the scan): briefly measures the current station on the other stick as well and shows which one receives better.
  • The Stick switch below the station: Auto moves without a gap to the stick with clearly better reception; Stick 1 or Stick 2 fixes it.

Voice commands

Beat creates the automation “Yapaia Beat Sprachbefehle” (voice commands) in Home Assistant. Through a voice assistant – such as Yapaia Satellite or Assist in the app – the radio then understands German sentences, for example:

  • „Spiel SWR3“ (play SWR3), „Radio an“ / „Radio aus“ (radio on / off)
  • „Nächster Sender“, „Sender zurück“ (next / previous station)
  • „Radio lauter“, „Musik leiser“ (louder / quieter)
  • „Was läuft gerade?“ (what’s playing?)
  • „Wechsle die Ausgabe auf Wohnzimmer“ (switch the output to the living room speaker)

The station must have been found by a scan. You can switch this off with the add-on option Voice commands.