🏆2025 Season

Welcome to the 2025 FRC Season!

Vivid-Hosting is excited to be the radio provider for the FIRST Robotics Competition. Since most FRC teams are using these for the first time, we're provided some quick links and a brief Q&A below:

NOTE: All teams should update the firmware on their radios to version 1.2.6 or later before doing anything else. You can find instructions on updating your firmware here.

Quick Links

CAD Files & Drawings

A STEP file and drawing can be found here:

📐Mechanical

Mounting Your Radio

Since the VH-109 radio uses 6 GHz, the location of the radio on your robot is extremely important. We suggest all teams review our section on mounting your radio.

🔨Mounting Your Radio

Wiring Your Radio

The VH-109 has many robust options for wiring it into your robot. You can see a list of the recommended methods here:

📪Wiring Your Radio

Upgrading Firmware

Vivid-Hosting regularly releases firmware updates that improve the performance and reliability of the VH-109 radio. It's important that your team keeps your radio up to date to ensure peak performance.

⬆️Upgrading Firmware⏩Firmware Releases

Programming Your Radio

How you program your radio has changed. We suggest that all teams read this page to better understand how this process works now:

👩‍💻Programming Your Radio

Practicing At Home

Since the VH-109 radio is a 6 Ghz device, the setup you will need to drive at home will need to change. Learn more about the different ways you can use the VH-109 at home on this page:

🏡Practicing At Home

Q&A

Can I put my VH-109 in a 3D printed enclosure or mount?

You can 3D print custom brackets to help mount the VH-109.

However, we highly recommend that teams DO NOT put the VH-109 into an enclosure. Enclosing the VH-109 will trap heat and potentially reduce the performance of the VH-109.

Can I mount my VH-109 radio near motors?

The VH-109 is a 6 GHz device. Devices that operate on this spectrum have different RF propagation characteristics. We suggest mounting your VH-109 away from motors if at all possible.

Where should I go for support and RMAs?

You should contact WestCoast Products ([e-mail]) for all support issues.

In the event that WCP cannot help you resolve your issue; they will elevate it to Vivid-Hosting.

Do I need a second radio?

Technically no, however, we strongly recommend using a second radio as an access point for several reasons:

• Simplify your at home practice setup.

• Better mimics the setup that will be used at official competitions.

• Take advantage of using the 6 GHz band, which has significantly less noise than the more common 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

How Should I Power My Radio?

After a successful deployment of the VH-109 radio at the 2024 FIRST Championship and many offseason competitions, we have learned quite a bit about how teams should wire radios. Here are some of the best practices:

1. Teams should strive to reduce the number of failure points. This means reducing the number of devices (i.e. removing power modules and regulators) that are between the radio and the robot's power distribution system.

2. If possible, do not use an ethernet switch. Instead, we recommend that teams take advantage of the extra ethernet ports on the VH-109.

3. If you NEED a switch, teams should still plug the RoboRIO directly into the Radio's RIO port.