Amateur Radio in the 21st Century [Ham-Comp version]

As we are now well into 2017, I am going to persuade you to make this your next new year's resolution. It is time you “built something” in your hobby.

Over the years Amateur Radio has become a tertiary hobby. Low in priority for mostly male people. It has produced an amazing amount of technology and applications in the past. The second world war might not have turned out the way it did, were it not for the amateurs of the 1930's. Your stolen car would not have been found were it not for the 'tracker' Doppler radio or APRS. You might not have had a network of appliances or an “Internet”.

 

The Raspberry Pi and the Radio Amateur

Over the last two decades, we have gone through a “digital revolution”. The “Internet” has become a 'thing we use' for our every day life. Most of us have a cell phone, some have a smart phone. Quite a few have a tablet or a Personal Computer [PC]. Some households have two or more PC's. Most of these have a “router” connecting to the “Internet”. It might well be a 'Linux Appliance' serving the connection to the via Ethernet or WiFi.

What 'Application' are you going to put on it?

Amateur Radio applications are now numbering in the hundreds. Simple hardware applications, such as 'blinking L.E.D'. A temperature sensor using a single chip and resistor. A Morse generator for practising Morse. Use a USB RTL2832 adapter to decode the weather satellite pictures of your area.

We now have the 'Internet', so you can 'search' for the blog/website for the 'app'. What 'Apps' actually 'work' on the Pi? Most do work straight after the download.

Some need compiling from source code. Yes you can do that? You don't need a degree in Computer Science! Some were written for the PC's hardware. These will need 'work'.

[This is why we have a Raspberry Pi session at the club house on the 4th Saturday. So we can 'fix' these sometimes obstinate programs. << Obsolete]

 

Now you have your Raspberry Pi What do you need to get it going?

1. Power supply. 5 Volts stabilised 1 Amp. Connected via micro-USB plug.

2. SD card or Micro-SD card [B+]. Don't worry too much about speed etc. It should be larger

3. than 2GB, so an 8GB will do. 8GB were on 'special' from the CNA for R80 approx recently.

4. You will need it [SD/micro SD] programming with an Operating System. The club or one of the group will program it for you.

5. An Internet connection via Ethernet or WiFi. If WiFi, you will need a USB WiFi 'dongle'. That is if you haven't bought a Pi3.

6. Some form of 'display device'. Borrow the big screen from the living room. [You may have to fight off protesting family members!] Or connect an old monitor with a composite video feed. OR connect a PC via SSH to the Pi via Ethernet or WiFi.

7. Linux PC simply type 'ssh pi@nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn'. You must know the IP address 'nnn etc'.

8. To find the 'Pi', you can install a utility called 'Fing' on your Windwoes or Linux PC. [Who around here has a spare MAC?]

9. Most Pi's will talk ssh directly from booting. Some need setting up requiring plugging into Television. These days an HDMI input on the TV or display are fairly common. But you could use a video connection. You know, the yellow connector on the TV.